P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

OPERATIVES of the Nabunturan Munic-ipal Police Station

intercepted an improvised explosive device (IED) inside a passenger bus on Tuesday afternoon before it could ex-plode.

The information office of the Police Regional Of-fice (PRO) 11 said Benja-min Guson, the driver of the Bachelor Express, Inc. bus, sought the help of the police station after a suspected IED was found in the overhead compartment of the bus at around 4:30 p.m. on Novem-ber 18.

Guson decided to drive

straight to the police station after receiving a call from their yardman in Butuan City that a suspicious bag-gage had been conveyed in the bus.

The PRO 11 report said Guson observed that one of the passengers, who board-ed in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, was very uneasy and wanted to get down from the bus.

Guson said he did not stop the bus but instead drove to the police station.

The Nabuntruan Police and the Explosive Ordnance Division of Compostela Val-ley Provincial Police Office

(EOD-CVPPO) immediately conducted a Render Safe Procedure (RSP) on the sus-pected IED.

After ordering passen-gers to disembark from the bus for their safety, the op-eratives recovered the IED inside a plastic bag and took the IED out of the bus.

The operatives placed the IED in front of the police station where they covered it with old tires before explod-ing it.

In a text message, Nab-unturan Police Station com-mander Chief Inspector Julius Borja told PRO 11

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

BOMB FOUNDTimely discovery prevents IED from exploding in bus

FBOMB, 10

SWIMMING WONDER. Special athlete Ernie Gawilan, a legless swimmer who recently won three bronze medals in the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, South Korea, displayed his swimming skills on Tuesday during a brief workout at The Royal Mandaya Hotel pool. Dong Bacalla

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR. AND FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

MODEL HOUSE BLESSING. Escandor Development Corporation (Esdevco) president Glenn Yap Escandor, (second from left) wife Mic-Mic, brother Gerome and mother Violeta lead the blessing of the company’s iconic

project The Matina Enclaves’ model house at The Plains on Tuesday afternoon at The Matina Enclaves along Qui-mpo Boulevard in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

SOME 300 lawyers are expected to converge in Tagum City today and

tomorrow for the Integrat-ed Bar of the Philippines’ 5th Mindanao Convention at the Big 8 Corporate Hotel in Tagum City.

Davao City Mayor Rodri-go R. Duterte is scheduled to keynote the gathering. Supreme Other legal lumi-naries expected to grace the occasion include Supreme Court Associate Justice An-tonio Carpio, Court of Ap-peals Justice Maria Filomena Singh, and national IBP offi-cers led by national chair-man Vicente Joyas.

Tagum City Mayor Allan Rellon will welcome the law-yers to his city.

IBP governor for West-

ern Mindanao Noel Ben said delegates will tackle issues that have relevant to the le-gal profession.

IBP national officers will also render their reports to the jointly convening IBP Western Mindanao and IBP Eastern Mindanao, the two IBP regional divisions in Mindanao.

IBP Eastern Mindanao has 11 IBP chapters while IBP Western Mindanao has 12 IBP chapters that include the IBP Zambasulta (Zambo-anga, Basilan, Sulu and Ta-wi-tawi) chapter.

The incumbent governor of the IBP Eastern Mindanao is Atty. Dale Bryan Mordeno. Other incumbent IBP nation-al officers are lawyers Rosa-

2 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

GONE BANANAS. Davao City Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry, Inc. (DCCCII) president Antonio dela Cruz makes a final inspection of the centerpiece decoration before the formal opening of the 16th Davao Trade Expo (DATE) at SM Lanang Premier’s SMX Convention Cen-ter yesterday. This year’s DATE focuses on the banana industry and is being held back-to-back with the International Banana Symposium. Lean Daval Jr.

A revamp in the To-ril Police Station is looming after a po-

lice officer was relieved from his post for allegedly tipping off a suspected drug pusher who was the subject of a police operation.

Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Sr. Supt. Vicente Danao Jr. said there would “most probably” be a revamp of Toril Police Station “kasi dahan-dahan na lumalabas ang kaloko-han nila dun (because their misconduct is slowly being exposed).”

Toril Police Station commander Chief Inspec-tor Hamlet Lerios said the erring policeman, identified as Police Officer (PO) 1 Luis

Gabrinao allegedly sent a text message to a suspected drug lord when a team was heading to his place to con-duct surveillance operation.

The team failed to ar-rest the suspect because the latter was no longer around when they arrived.

Lerios said a drug user had told police where he gets his supply of drugs. But when they went to the place, there were no drug activities there.

“Pag balik namin, ti-nanong namin yung nahuli namin, nakita namin yung cellphone may naka phone-book na ‘gabby’ tinanong namin sinabi si Gabrinao daw, kaya kinompronta namin umamin din naman

siya, kaibigan niya daw kasi yung suspect (When we re-turned, we asked the drug user, and we saw in his cell phone that there was a cer-tain ‘gabby’ in his phone book. When we asked him, he said it stood for Gabrin-ao. We confronted (Gabri-nao) and he admitted it. He said the suspect was a friend of his),” Lerios said.

He said the number in the drug user’s phone matched Gabrinao’s num-ber.

Gabrinao admitted be-fore reporters that he used drugs a few weeks ago al-though he tested negative in a drug test.

Gabrinao will be facing a case of violation of Repub-

lic Act 9165 or the Compre-hensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002 and an admin-istrative case of grave mis-conduct before the Region-al Internal Affairs Services (RIAS) XI.

Police Regional Office (PRO) 11 director Chief Superintendent Wendy Rosario said he has already directed Danao to take nec-essary the action on the Toril Police Station.

Last September, a mem-ber of the police station, PO1 Jeffer Villegas, was implicat-ed in the death of tricycle driver Manuel Corral VII.

Seven other operatives were also investigated for possible involvement in the crime.

Drug ring ‘mole’ in Toril station? By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 11 burned

seized illegal drugs worth P301,401.50 in Tagum City on Monday afternoon.

PDEA 11 regional di-rector Emerson Rosales said the agency burned 22.4 grams of metham-phetamine hydrochloride

(shabu) and 2,852.3 grams of marijuana last Novem-ber 17 at the at IBP Build-ing, Government Center, Mankilam, Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

Rosales himself led the burning and destruction of the illegal drugs.

It was witnessed by Gov. Rodolfo P. Del Rosario, Re-

gional Trial Court Branch 13 Judge Rowena Apao-Ad-lawan, prosecutor Noel P. Palma, and members of civ-il society groups.

Rosales said the burn-ing was also done to erase the skepticism of the pub-lic drugs seized by law enforcement agencies are recycled or reintroduced to

the market.PDEA Director General

Undersecretary Arturo G. Cacdac Jr. commended the provincial government of Davao del Norte, the Davao del Norte Provincial Police Office, the media, and the community “for their un-tiring support to the fight against illegal drugs.”

F300, 10

FNO ROTATING, 10

PDEA burns P300K worth of illegal drugsBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

300 lawyers to attend5th IBP gab in Tagum

DAVAO City and oth-er franchise areas of Davao Light and

Power Company (DLPC) will have enough power supply even with the fore-casted mild El Niño in the first quarter of 2015.

“We are confident that Davao City will not expe-rience rotating brown-outs early next year,” Ar-

turo Milan, executive vice president and chief oper-ating officer of DLPC, said during the Appreciation Night for DLPC’s Inter-ruptible Load Program (ILP) participants last Tuesday night at The Mar-co Polo, Davao.

Milan said DLPC will have adequate power

No rotating brownoutsnext year: Davao Light

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino said he hopes China’s willingness to

communicate with the Phil-ippines regarding their ter-ritorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea (South China

Sea) would be a good start for the two countries to set-tle their differences.

In the keynote interview during “The World in 2015” Gala Dinner held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Singa-

pore on Tuesday evening, the President mentioned his brief chat with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Co-

THE local and na-tional government should also priori-

tize preserving the cultur-al heritage of indigenous peoples (IP) as the coun-try moves to ASEAN inte-gration in 2015.

Lawyer Alejandro A. Aquino, chair of the Lungga Mangmang Agong Center, Inc., said differ-ent Lumad groups in the country are starting to lose their rich cultural

heritage because of glo-balization.

Speaking in the two-day 1st Health of Lumad Summit yesterday at the Brokenshire Hotel Resort and Convention Center yesterday, Aquino global-ization has caused degra-dation in the cultural her-itage of the IPs.

“The culture, educa-tion, and even food of the country is going global because of this inevitable

phenomenon of globaliza-tion,” he said.

Aquino, a member of the Mandaya ethnic group in Davao Oriental, said the local and national governments have some programs that preserve the culture of IPs just for eco-tourism.

But he said the devel-opment of ecotourism degrades the integrity of their culture because it is

HUNDREDS of resi-dents barricaded the runway of the com-

munity airport in Surallah town in South Cotabato on Monday in protest of the aerial spraying activities of a banana plantation in the area.

Around 300 protesters gathered at the Allah Val-ley Airport in Surallah at around 4 a.m. and occupied a portion of the runway in a

bid to stop aerial spraying by Sumifru Philippines Cor-poration, a multinational.

The company, which op-erates banana plantations in Surallah and T’boli towns, had been using the airport as base of its aerial spraying operations.

Omar Azarcon, coordi-nator of the protest action, said they launched the mo-bilization to pressure lo-cal government leaders to

decisively put a stop to the aerial spraying activities of Sumifru.

He said the protesters are composed of parishio-ners from Surallah and oth-er areas within the Diocese of Marbel, which covers the provinces of South Cotaba-to, Sarangani and this city.

“We’re calling on the provincial government of South Cotabato and the

3NEWSEDGEDAVAO

FACTIVISTS, 10

FGOVERNMENT, 10

FAQUINO, 10

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

IDENTITY CRISIS. Lungga Mangmang Agong Center, Inc. chair lawyer Alejandro A. Aquino gives a presen-tation on the Health Research and Situation and the Lumad Experience during yesterday’s 1st Health of

Lumad Summit at the Brokenshire Hotel Resort and Con-vention Center. Aquino said various Lumad groups in the country are starting to lose their identities and their rich cultural heritage because of globalization. Lean Daval Jr.

HELPING HAND. An information desk attendant from the city government of Davao helps out clients with

their concerns at Sangguniang Panlungsod building yes-terday. Lean Daval Jr.

THE Davao City Wa-ter District (DCWD) will finish the con-

struction of the new main water pipe bridge in Ban-kerohan in June 2015, not December 2015 as it said earlier.

DCWD spokesperson Imelda Magsuci said the water firm will also be asking for an extension from the Department of Public Works and High-ways (DPWH) which had allowed it to lay tempo-rary pipes on Governor Generoso Bridge 1 for only two years ending this December.

The old pipe bridge, which carried 600 milli-meter and 750 mm main pipes, was destroyed on December 16, 2012 due to strong river currents that pushed logs and de-bris to the pillars of the structure.

Magsuci said it was only on the first week of this month that project contractor Allado, Poli-carpio and TGV Builders submitted the design for

the new bridge, which will then be presented to the DCWD board of direc-tors for approval.

The P105-million project was awarded to the contractor last June and the latter immediate-ly started to survey in the area, conducting soil bor-ing under the river to de-termine what design can withstand long years.

Magsuci said the soil boring phase lasted for a month, after which the contractor proceeded to do the design of the pipe bridge.

Magsuci admitted that the water district’s board of directors has not even approved the design made by the contractor for the new pipe bridge even though it is already the third week of the month.

She said the board will meet “next week or within this month” to dis-cuss the design.

“If the design of the pipe bridge will be ap-proved next week, the

construction will prob-ably start by December,” she said.

Magsuci said the con-struction phase will last for only six months, not one year as she had ear-lier told Edge Davao in an interview.

Once finished, the pipe will be supplying water to areas starting Bankerohan up to Pana-can, Davao City.

The collapse of the bridge in December 2012 rendered more than 33,000 connections wa-terless and more than 12,000 others with low water pressure for sev-eral days at the height of the Christmas holiday season.

DCWD installed two pipes measuring 400 mm each over the Governor Generoso Bridge 2 as a temporary solution, but this only partially solved the problem because many areas still experi-enced low water pres-sure. (With reports from Armando Fenequito)

DCWD targets completion of pipe bridge in June 2015

Activists vs aerial spraying block runway in SouthCot

Gov’t urged to help preserve IP culture

Aquino hopes China changesapproach to settle sea row

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 20144 EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

AN official of the Pro-vincial Government of Davao Oriental pre-

sented updates on the Ty-phoon Pablo rehabilitation in the province during the 12th Mindanao Communicators Network (MindaComNet) Congress in Zamboanga City.

Dolores Valdesco, cultur-al heritage in-charge and pro-vincial government assistant department head, said with almost two years, the prov-ince regained normalcy and was healed from the Pablo experience.

“One year and 11 months seemed too short to regain some semblance of normal-cy and heal from our Pablo experience, yet we have done it and achieved so much,” Val-desco said.

Valdesco said the re-habilitation activities were anchored on Building Back Better Agenda, which was the framework plan for the reconstruction and develop-ment of the Pablo-stricken municipalities of Baganga, Cateel, and Boston for the pe-riod of 2013-2016.

She said the development agenda were classified into three stages: Emergency Hu-manitarian Response, Early Recovery and Build-Back-Better.

Valdesco said for the pe-riod of seven months from December 2012 to June 2013, they have covered all affected families in food pack distri-bution and the provision of clean and safe drinking water and medical services.

“On shelter program, we already completed and distributed close to 10,000

permanent houses excluding transition houses and tem-porary and emergency shel-ter kits benefiting more than 12,000 families,” she said.

She added that another 9,000 houses are undergoing construction and will be fully turned over early next year.

Valdesco also disclosed that 326 makeshift class-rooms were provided during the emergency and recovery phase, while 536 new school buildings were constructed as of October.

“Aside from the school

building, the Department of Education (DepEd) also pro-vided textbooks and learning materials for the students,” she said.

Valdesco said accessi-bility to isolated towns was restored with the quick re-sponse of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in repairing bridg-es and replacing totally de-stroyed bridges with bailey panels.

“Functioning commu-nication system and power were also restored in all af-

fected barangays,” she add-ed.

Valdesco said the 257,554.50 cubic meters of debris from uprooted and fallen trees were converted into livelihood projects sup-porting more than 11,000 beneficiaries.

Valdesco also took ac-count of the milestones in restoring the agriculture and economic condition of the province, like the distri-bution of planting materials, boats, and livestock. (PIA 11, Michael Uy)

THE Sangguniang Pan-lalawigan of Davao del Norte approved

on Monday the 2015 Annu-al Budget of the Province of Davao del Norte in the amount of P1,241,100,000.

Members of the Provin-cial Board on their 46th reg-ular session approved Pro-vincial Ordinance No. 2014-004 enacting the budget of the province for next year.

Governor Rodolfo del Rosario expressed his grati-tude to Vice Governor Victo-rio Suaybaguio Jr. and the SP members for their prompt approval of the measure.

He said the budget is crucial in establishing a legacy of inclusive growth

and sustainable and bal-anced development for the benefit of all the Dabaonon people.

The annual budget, which is 11.99 percent higher than the previous year’s, projected expendi-tures to the various sectors in line with the governor’s P.E.O.P.L.E. agenda.

Del Rosario said the budget supports his ad-ministration’s over-arching goal of “making our com-munities adaptive to cli-mate change and resilient to disasters, while increas-ing the competitiveness of our people, both in skills and products.”

He said his adminis-

tration is committed to effectively deploy scarce resources where they are needed the most, built on strong foundations of transparency, accountabili-ty, and efficiency.

Reflecting the gover-nor’s human development priorities, P70 million or six percent of the budget is allotted to health, while P30.9 million (3 percent) will go to social services.

Education, culture, sports and human resource development will also get P77 million (6 percent); economic services P215.8 million (17 percent); eco-nomic enterprise P153.9 million (12 percent); and

general public services P614.4 million (50 per-cent).

The province further increased its allocation for other purposes amounting to P78.8 million, which is 695 percent higher than the previous year’s share of only P9,920,000.

A big chunk of the al-lotment for other purposes is earmarked for the five percent calamity fund that adds up to P62,055,000.00.

The disaster-resilience and climate-adaptive fi-nancing seeks to build the defenses of the province against the long-term and uncertain impacts of cli-mate change. Noel Baguio

TO address the need for disaster preparedness and emergency re-

sponse planning and to sup-port the implementation of RA 10121 of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction Man-agement Act, the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) took the lead in exe-cuting the Regional Disaster Science and Management (RDSM) S&T Capacity Devel-opment project.

Together with the Univer-sity of the Philippines Min-danao (UP-Min), Southern Philippines Agri-business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (SPAMAST), Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology (DOSCST), and Davao del Norte State College (DNSC), the RDSM project started on February 1, 2013 and was completed in July 2014.

The entire project was funded by the Commission on

Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Science and Technology, Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

The objective of the proj-ect is to estimate the earth-quake risks using the Rapid Earthquake Damage Assess-ment System (REDAS) that creates an exposure database and calculates possible losses.

REDAS was developed by DOST-PHIVOLCS to provide a quick and near real-time simulated earthquake hazard map, integrated with expo-sure data and risk elements for determining the extent of the potential damage caused by the seismic hazard. Fur-thermore, REDAS provides the information about the se-verity of the impact to popula-tion, buildings, lifelines, road networks, and other elements at risk. (UseP PIO)

APPRECIATION. Governor Rodolfo del Rosario hands over to Davao del Norte DepEd Division Superintendent Dr. Josephine Fadul the Plaque of Appreciation for gracing the Capitol monthly convocation program sponsored by the Office

of the Secretary to the Sanggunian. Joining the governor are Vice Governor Victorio Suaybaguio Jr., and Board Members Atty. Joey Raymund Millan, Vicente Eliot, Hernani Duco, Edgar Castillo, and Ernesto Evangelista, with

Secretary to the Sanggunian Dennis Dean Castillo. Ondoy Laguitao

Dads okay P1.24Bas DavNor budget

USeP leads Region 11quake valuation project

Davao Oriental cites ‘Pablo’ rehab accomplishments

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 5EDGEDAVAO

THE ECONOMY

DABAWENYOS from all walks of life are urged to take time out to see

today and tomorrow the ex-hibits of close to 200 booths featuring various products and services in the Davao Trade Exposition (DATE) 2014 at the SMX Convention Center at the SM Lanang Premiere, Davao City.

No less than past pres-idents and chairpersons of past DATE staging endorse the event in separate state-ments made before and during the opening yester-day of DATE 2014, now orga-nized by a select committee headed by Luciano Freder-ick “Dicky” Puyod III, vice president for agriculture of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. Dicky is the son of Luciano Frederick Puyod II who also headed DATE 2004.

Now on its second day, DATE has been described by Wilfredo “Evoy” Teves, a past chairman of the event, as “important to the entire Mindanao as appropriate agricultural technologies are

always showcased on target industries.”

Teves said “it is also an avenue where important issues and policies can be discussed with national and local agri agencies by the private sector and is champi-ons.” He was referring to the symposia and workshops that always accompany DATE events.

Chamber trustee Agatha Ellen “Angga” S. Valencia, an architect, said DATE is “the commitment of the DCCCII to help strengthen the agri-culture sector in Davao as it is the economic driving force of the region.”

Valencia said Mindan-ao is the food basket of the country, and encouraging agri entrepreneurship will result in the empowerment of the farmer.

“The Davao trade expo is the ideal platform to show-case products, services and technologies to not just the local but also the interna-tional market,” Valencia said.

Earlier, DCCCII past presidents, some of them

Dabawenyos urged to visit DATE 2014

Wilfredo “Evoy” Teves, Valencia

Duerme

Lim

Puyod Jucutan

also DATE events chair-men, took turns in urging stakeholders from various sectors to support the trade

expo, as the year’s biggest event of its kind in Mindan-ao.

The endorsement came

from chamber past pres-ident Sebastian “Anggie” Angliongto, John Gasiano Jr., Domingo Duerme, Sofronio

“BJ” Jucutan, Simeon Mar-fori II, Robert “Boyet” Quin-to, Daniel Lim and Dr. Ma, Lurdes G. Monteverde. AMA

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 20146 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

JUST 15 months after breaking ground, Peak-power Energy, Inc. (Peak-

power) inaugurates today (November 20) the 20.9MW bunker-fired power plant in Peakpower Soccsargen, Inc. (PSI) in Barangay Apopong, General Santos City.

PSI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Peakpower, which is itself a joint ven-ture of A Brown Company, Inc., Enterprise Holdings Corp., WorldPower Alliance Ltd., and Power Mavens Holdings Ltd.

The 3X6.9 MW power plant is located within the compound of South Cota-bato II Electric Cooperative (SOCOTECO II) and will supply the peaking power requirements of the cooper-ative for the next 15 years.

SOCOTECO II’s franchise area comprises of General

Santos City, the municipal-ities of Glan, Malapatan, Alabel, Makungon, Kiamba, Maasim, and Maitum in Sa-rangani, and the municipal-ities of Polomolok and Tupi in South Cotabato.

Energy Secretary Jeri-cho Petilla, city officials of General Santos, officers of the General Santos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, management and board members of SOCOTECO II, officers of the project finan-cier Asia United Bank, and other stakeholders will wit-ness the inauguration of the much-awaited power gener-ation facility.

In a press statement, Peakpower president Roel Z. Castro expressed his en-thusiasm for this major milestone.

“We embarked on proj-ects like these to address

the shortfall in the supply of electricity in Mindanao, and we’re very happy to see the hard work of everyone come into fruition here in Peak-power Soccsargen,” Castro said.

“This will help im-mensely in the development and progress of the region,” he added.

In July this year, PSI held a pre-inaugural event to celebrate the placement and unveiling of the bun-ker-fired engines provid-ed by global manufacturer Wartsila Finland Oy, a listed corporation in Helsinki, Fin-land with nearly 170 loca-tions in 70 countries.

A global leader in com-plete lifecycle power solu-tions for energy market, Warstila’s portfolio includes unique solutions for peak-ing, reserve and load-fol-

lowing power generation, as well as for balancing inter-mittent power production.

As of 2014, the compa-ny has 55GW of installed power plant capacity in 169 countries around the world. Headed by country manager Bing Tomas in the Philippines, the company has been supplying and con-structing power plants in the country since the power crisis in the early 1990s.

Peakpower’s pow-er plant is equipped with three engines of the Wartsi-la 16V32 type as the prime mover and can run on heavy fuel oil (as main fuel) and light fuel oil (as back-up fuel. They are designed and developed for continuous operation and/or for peak-ing operation with high effi-ciency in terms of Heat Rate

GALAXY OF WISHES. Samsung Mobile Philippines product manager Han-nah Joyce Tan (leftmost), regional trade marketing manager Melissa Lim (second from left), sales manager Ferdinand Yapcinco (second from right), and Raymond Planos, sales manager of Samsung Mobile distributor Banana

Telecommunications, show off the latest models of the leading smartphone maker in time for the announcement of Samsung‘s Galaxy of Christmas Wishes promo yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

Peakpower startsnew power plant

FPEAKPOWER 10

THE Embassy of Malay-sia Trade Office (MA-TRADE) Manila said

Malaysian companies were able to book $25.21 million in sales and business deals in the recent BIMP-EAGA trade fair in Davao City.

MATRADE Manila Trade Commissioner Nyaee Ayup said 49 Malaysian companies participated in the Brunei Darussalam Indonesia Malay-sia Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) and the Indonesia Malaysia Thailand – Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) trade fair and busi-ness leaders’ conference on October 22 to 26 in Davao.

“We were able to gather

49 companies and held 584 business matchings generat-ing total sales of $25.21 mil-lion, including trade deals,” Ayup said.

Of the $25.21 million sales, the services sector con-tributed $14 million; house-hold and industrial products, $5.12 million; confectionery, $3.44 million, beverages, $2.36 million; processed food, $166,000; health and beauty, $120,000.

Majority of the Malaysian delegation represent sectors from the food and beverages, service, health and beauty and household and industrial products.

“MATRADE Manila to-

gether with the Malaysian delegation was able to explore opportunities for business collaboration between Malay-sian and Philippines compa-nies. We are happy that Ma-laysian companies have come up with quality business part-nerships in Davao. Fortunate-ly, we were able to create new opportunities for export in the two sub-regions in Southeast Asia,” Ayup said.

In May this year, the trade and investment mission (TIM) in Manila led by Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry, Dato ‘Sri Musta-pa Mohamed generated sales of $50.6 million.

The TIM was attended by

18 Malaysian companies and 12 Malaysian officials along with 63 Philippine companies.

“Businesses are growing in the Philippines and so Malay-sian companies must take the opportunity of capitalizing on its niche market, particularly Halal food products,” she said.

She noted that Malaysian food products such as bever-ages, confectionery, noodles and frozen food, spices con-diments, sauces and paste, pickles, services, and other products have created a strong following in the Philippines, as evidenced by the increased inquiries from Filipino import-ers about the Malaysian export products.

Malaysian firms take $25.2 M sales in Davao

THE ICT Council Davao will spearhead a series of free information com-

munication technology (ICT) training workshops for the dig-itally uninitiated in Davao City on November 21 and 22.

ICT Davao said it is joining other ICT councils under the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines in ensuring all Filipinos are digitally literate to harness the power of tech-nology to improve lives. The national volunteer movement on digital literacy and citizen-ship is referred to as the Digi-Bayanihan movement.

Simultaneous free ICT trainings will be conducted in various locations in Davao City. On November 21, grade 4 pupils from Zonta Elementary School will be trained on Basic Drawing and Digital Art using Windows Paint conducted by volunteers from the Davao Graphic Designers Communi-ty, Enhance the Creativity Club of the University of the Immac-ulate Conception, ICT Davao, and Tambayan, a Davao-based NGO.

Meanwhile, persons with disabilities will learn from volunteers from the Google Business Group, Davao Vir-tual Assistants Association, and ICT Davao on how to use applications for e-mail, word processing, and presentation slides as well as required skills and specialization options to become virtual assistants.

Adding to the line-up of digital training content is a specialized workshop on No-vember 22 that was developed to address a vital national concern regarding the safety of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

Conducted by Mynd Con-sulting, ICT Davao, and DC-IGDD, abandoned family mem-bers of OFWs, members of the Davao City Social Services Division Office (CSSDO), and the Davao City Integrated Gen-der and Development Division (DC-IGDD) will be taught how

to use an online mobile and PC application called OFW Watch, which interconnects Filipinos working abroad to their fam-ilies and loved ones as well as monitor their conditions.

OFW Watch is a com-munity service initiative of Davao-based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, Mynd Dynamic Team, which was founded in 2006 by a for-mer OFW, Myrna Padilla.

As an OFW for over 20 years, Padilla established OFW Watch (www.ofwwatch.com) to keep track of weak and vul-nerable Filipinos abroad.

Digibayanihan partici-pants of the OFWWatch ses-sion will gain familiarity with the use of the OFW Watch plat-form and become members of the OFW Watch Virtual Com-munity, whi loople half of them will be able to report their missing OFW relatives.

“Digital literacy is a critical skill to develop towards the at-tainment of inclusive growth. Our people need this skill for effective participation and em-powerment,” ICT Davao Pres-ident Atty. Samuel Matunog said. “ICT Davao is pleased to be part of this nationwide en-deavor as the umbrella organi-zation of ICT trade associations in Davao region,” he added.

Aimed at raising the level of digital literacy among the Filipino population, the work-shops form part of DigiBayani-han, the unified efforts of the government, academe and IT industry to equip a greater numbers of Filipinos with 21st century skills that will enhance global competitiveness, work-force employability and entre-preneurship.

“In the spirit of bayanihan, we have been amplifying our efforts to advance digital liter-acy as a priority in the Philip-pines’ human and economic development agenda,” said Yvonne Flores, Intel Philip-pines Corporate Affairs Group Manager and Secretariat for DigiBayanihan.

THE Philippines and Turkey are set to have direct flights – the first

time between the two coun-tries – early next year.

Turkish Airlines, the na-tional flag carrier of Turkey, will have its inaugural flight next year after Turkey and the Philippines signed an air agreement early this week allowing direct flights be-tween the two countries.

P h i l i p p i n e s -T u r k e y Business Council Chair Er-nesto Chua told reporters that Turkish Airlines will start its direct flight to Ma-nila and Clark in Pampanga from Ankara and Istanbul in March 2015.

Chua added that Turk-ish Airlines will offer both passenger and cargo air ser-

vices three times a week.“It will cut three hours

of travel time between Is-tanbul and Manila from the normal 12-hour connecting flight via Dubai,” said Chua.

The Philippines and Turkey signed the air pact during the visit of Turk-ish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu this week when he also met President Be-nigno S. Aquino III in Mala-canang.

The air services agree-ment grants the country’s flag carrier Philippine Air-lines (PAL) and Turkish Air-lines to have three frequen-cies a week both for passen-ger and cargo services.

The Philippines and Turkey have 65 years of bi-lateral relations. (PNA)

Training to make city folksdigitally-literate launched

Phl, Turkey to inaugurate direct flight in March 2015

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

Golden rice to the rescue

7EDGEDAVAO

SCIENCE

EVERY night, an aver-age Filipino joins at least 3.7 billion other

people who go to sleep hun-gry. Their hunger, however, is not the growing, aching kind. Rather, it is silent, in-sidiously stunting their bod-ies and brains, weakening their immune systems, and sapping their energy – and prospects for living produc-tive lives.

Their hidden hunger is malnutrition, which report-edly contributes to killing an estimated 40,000 people each day. That’s about 133 plane crashes (with about 300 passengers) every day!

“The impact of hidden hunger on people’s health is very real,” the Internation-al Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said in a statement. “It can result in more fre-quent and severe illness and complications during preg-nancy, childbirth, infancy, and childhood.”

“We’re losing one gen-eration after another to malnutrition and this just shouldn’t be happening anymore,” said Dr. Howart Bouis, a senior research fel-low at the Washington, D.C.-based International Food Policy Research Institute.

Most of the victims of hidden hunger are impover-ished women and children, who eat mostly rice.

Rice, known in the sci-ence world as Oryza sativa, helps feed almost half the people on the planet. And in the Philippines, rice is the leading staple food. In fact, Filipinos spend more on rice than any other food. As the late food epicure Do-reen Fernandez wrote: “If we did not have rice, our deepest comfort food, we would probably feel less Filipino.”

Although rice is basical-

ly a complex carbohydrate, its protein contains all eight of the essential ami-no acids and complements the amino acids found in other foods. Low in sodium and fat, with no cholesterol or gluten, rice is a boon to weight worriers and those allergic to other grains. Aside from carbohydrates, rice also contains protein, minerals, vitamins, and fi-ber.

Balancing cereal-based diets with vegetables and animal products is one ap-proach used in some devel-oping countries to address malnutrition problems. But results were frustrat-ing. Vegetables and animal products are expensive, and seasonal, subject to spoilage because of limit-ed storage and transport. Moreover, their availabili-ty in some countries is not even one-fourth of what is required to meet the needs of the people.

In the Philippines, fortification and supple-mentation programs were launched. An attempt was made to enrich rice by fortifying it with the much-needed nutrients. But it didn’t linger on for some economic reasons.

Some scientists thought of packing more nutrients into rice as one of the best methods to attack the mal-nutrition problem. And this is where golden rice came into the picture. It was in the Philippines where the first generation golden rice was first tested in advanced field trials in IRRI in 2008.

It is called golden rice because it contains beta carotene, which is con-verted to vitamin A when eaten. “Because rice is so popular in the Philippines,” says IRRI, “providing rice

Text and Photos By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

that is more nutritious and that contains beta carotene could help boost people’s vitamin A status. In turn, this could reduce the extent and impact of vitamin A de-ficiency among Filipinos.”

Consuming adequate amounts of vitamin A re-duces overall child mor-tality by 23-34 percent. A research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009 showed that daily consumption of a cup of rice, about 150 grams uncooked weight, could supply half of the Recommended Daily Al-lowance of Vitamin A for an adult.

Vitamin A is found nat-urally in many foods, in-cluding liver of chicken, beef, pork, and fish. Most of them, however, can be

found in root crops (carrot and sweet potato) vegeta-bles (broccoli and tomato), and milk products (cheese and butter), and fruits (pa-paya, mango, melon).

Most of these sourc-es, however, are beyond the reach of poor people, particularly those living in shanty places, upland ar-eas, and rural communities. So, some scientists came up of an unthinkable idea: that of putting vitamin A in rice, as 89 percent of Filipinos consume rice on a daily ba-sis.

Normally, rice plants produce beta-carotene in their green parts, but not the grain that people eat. Golden rice is genetically engineered to produce be-ta-carotene in the edible part of the plant.

Using genetic modifica-tion techniques, respected scientists developed golden rice using genes from corn and a common soil micro-organism that together produce beta carotene in the rice grain.

According to IRRI, con-ventional breeding pro-grams could not be used to develop golden rice be-cause rice varieties do not contain significant amounts of beta carotene.

In addition, plant breeders at IRRI are also developing nutrient-rich rice with iron and zinc. Iron improves the cognitive performances of children, increases productivity of

adults, and reduces low birth weights and deaths caused by anemia. Zinc, on the other hand, is known for its potency in promot-ing the growth of children and is associated with de-creased diarrhea incidence.

“Even slightly more nu-tritious rice could mean healthier people,” IRRI said. “If the iron and zinc content could be doubled – or tri-pled – the health of those at-risk people could be dra-matically improved.”

But despite the good things that golden rice brings, there are those who are against its commer-cialization. “A rip-off of the public trust,” said the Rural Advancement Foundation International, an advocacy group based in Canada.

One of the key argu-ments is that golden rice, once sold, will serve only the interest of multination-al companies, an issue that is well-anchored on intel-lectual property rights.

Others claim that the golden rice was just a ploy of agrochemical companies. To quote the words of Fa-ther Shay Cullen in an arti-cle he wrote recently: “They own and supply the specific fertilizer that makes the seed grow and upon which it is dependent. In this way, the corporations control the food supply through their genetically-modified seed and food products.”

International group Greenpeace, which has

made a concerted effort to block golden rice’s in-troduction since it was an-nounced in 2000, claims that vitamin A-fortified rice may not be effective in de-livering vitamin A to chil-dren.

So the questions are: Is golden rice really healthy? Does it really help the en-vironment? Dr. Antonio Alfonso, project leader and chief science research spe-cialist at the Philippine Rice Institute (PhilRice) and di-rector of the Department of Agriculture Biotechnology Program, told Oryza.com: “As a scientific organiza-tion, it is very important to us that golden rice is safe to human health and the environment, which is why we have to conduct all the required trials and pass the strict approval process in our country.”

So far, the results of its trials have shown that golden rice is safe to the environment in terms of re-action to pests, weeds and other environmental enti-ties. “On its effect to human health, what we currently know is that: first, beta-car-otene has been declared as a safe source of vitamin A; second, that the novel pro-teins in Golden Rice are non-allergenic and nontox-ic; and, third, there is no ev-idence that consuming be-ta-carotene in any amount from foods leads to vitamin A overdose or toxicity,” Dr. Alfonso said.

Golden rice (Photo from IRRI)

Rice is the staple food of Filipinos

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 20148 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

A Christmas present for Filipino workersEDITORIAL

THERE is a pending bill in the Senate that proposes for those earning up to P82,000 annual income to be included in 13th month pay tax exemption.

That means, if the bill seeking to increase the tax exemp-tion cap for 13th month pay and other benefits would be passed into law, those earning up to P82,000 would also be covered.

Senate Bill 2437 which originally proposes the tax ex-emption to P75,000 from P30,000 will be admitting the new revision to raise the tax exemption cap to P82,000.

The Senate on Tuesday evening approved on second reading the bill that seeks to raise the take-home pay of Fil-ipino workers by increasing the tax exemption cap for 13th month pay and other benefits from the current P30,000.

The BIR has also concurred with the same figure (P82,000) when BIR Commissioner Kim Henares in one of the hearings when she said that P30,000 in 1994 would be worth around

P82,000 today. The figure was also based from the National Economic Development Authority using the inflation rate as of October this year.

SB 2437 seeks to amend Republic Act 7833, enacted in 1994, which mandates that the 13th month pay and other benefits, such as productivity incentives and Christmas bo-nuses not exceeding P30,000 given to both government and private sector employees are exempted from tax.

The proposed measure also mandates that adjustments be made every three years after the law takes effect, taking into account inflation.

If passed, revenue impact would amount to a loss of about P3 billion to the government from taxes, not P30 billion as originally reported. Half a million employees are bound to benefit from the amendment.

Passage of this bill should be a welcome Christmas pres-ent for the Filipino workers.

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

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • HENRYLITO TACIO • MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • VIDA MIA VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

A careful reading of the Local Govern-ment Code (R.A. 7160)—particularly in creating the barangay and its Barangay

Assembly—would reveal that the governing mode it prescribes for our basic communi-ty is Direct Democracy. It’s a variation of the democracy practiced since the time of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates in Greece where it was devised to enable people to participate in gov-ernment.

Direct Democracy continues to operate today in villages of Switzerland, Israel, and other places. It’s also called “pure democra-cy”—allowing everyone to participate.

The right to participate is inherent in the constituents of a political jurisdiction. Since government acts affect them directly, they have a right to take part in self-governance—directly, not just indirectly.

This right is acknowledged by our local government code, providing the venue and process for its exercise, namely, in the Baran-gay Assembly—of which everyone of voting age is a member.

*****Literally a constituent assembly (being

composed of all the constituents) this Baran-gay Assembly is the community’s supreme governing body.

Its supremacy is indicated by its powers, namely: to initiate legislation or regulations, to pass upon the acts of the officials (who they can remove or replace), to remedy improper or unacceptable decisions through initiative or referendum, and to discipline errant or unreliable officials in the interest of good gov-ernance through recall (removal from office

even before the end of their term).Vested with such powers, there’s no rea-

son why Filipinos can’t govern their barangay directly, doing it together by making collegial decisions, voting on policy initiatives, and vet-ting proposals affecting the common good.

In other words, they manage local affairs collectively like members of a cooperative or credit union association routinely do.

*****Like Congress, however, the Barangay As-

sembly can act only if it is in session; an in-dividual citizen’s power is tied to the Assem-bly’s collective power as the local legislative governing body, a parliament by definition.

It is real power and it is wielded directly, not through a representative or elected offi-cial (who is a mere public servant).

Switzerland has been the most consistent practitioner of Direct Democracy, inheriting it from Greece and the early Roman Republic. Their villagers get together even today and raise issues or concerns for the community’s information, decision, or action. They raise and discuss issues, make suggestions or mo-tions, and approve or disapprove proposed actions.

Really a simple process, it entails modest arrangements only, and everyone has equal right to speak or participate, inhibited only by parliamentary rules and the demands of courtesy.

*****There are photos of Direct Democracy in

action on the internet. A community or village of as many as 5,000 or more engage in orderly deliberations—addressing issues, resolving problems together, forging consensus, decid-ing what measures to take by voting.

Pretty much the same process takes place today in the kibbutz villages of Israel and oth-er places where direct democracy is practiced.

Governing together, they serve the pur-poses of democracy while avoiding the kind of abuse or corruption obtaining in hierarchical systems that let decisions be made by auto-crat-minded or oligarchic leaders.

Where the population grows too large, such that it becomes impossible for everyone to convene in one site and take part in the de-liberations, direct democracy has had to yield to the Representative Democracy that every-one is familiar with today.

*****In our case, a typical barangay of a few

thousand citizens can convene and deliberate on issues inside a gym or a church, or even in an open yard to make collective decisions. A real Barangay Assembly.

It’s an occasion for sovereign citizens to deliberate on issues directly, approve or disapprove budgets and projects, agree on a common stand about an issue, or even make hiring or firing decisions.

In large barangays where no one bothers to re-district their bloated populations, it may be impractical for all of the people to convene and govern together. But there’s no reason it can’t take place in the typical barangay.

Unfortunately, there’s a serious lack of ini-tiative in implementing the Local Government Code, our so-called autonomy law. No one rec-ognizes the value of having Filipinos experi-ence hands-on governing!

*****Our failure to convene as a community—

regularly and in a proper way—accounts for the weakness of our democracy. Instead of being a vibrant venue of citizen sovereignty, or a durable foundation for our Republic, our barangay is a sputtering generator of People Power.

We have persistent power failure caused by a bureaucracy and a civil society that seem to have ruled out the practice of Direct Democracy altogether.

In effect we are delaying our society’s political maturity despite the fact that we are the first in all of Asia to declare ourselves to be a Republic and a Democracy. And yet all that’s needed is to habituate everyone to convene periodically and engage in open and free deliberations—if only to confirm, affirm, or awaken the sense of sovereignty in every Filipino that should underpin a strong republic.

(Manny is former UNESCO regional direc-tor for Asia-Pacific; secretary-general, South-east Asia Publishers Association; director, De-velopment Academy of Philippines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN; vice chair, Local Government Academy; member, Cory Govern-ment’s Peace Panel; awardee, PPI-UNICEF outstanding columnist. He is president/na-tional convenor, Gising Barangay Movement Inc. valdehuesa@gmail.com)

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!

The reason for this season

Why we remain politically immature

“Let us keep Christmas beautiful with-out a thought of greed that it might live forevermore. To fill our every

need that it shall not be just a day, but last a lifetime through. The miracle of Christmas time that brings God close to you.” – Garnett Ann Schultz

What is Christmas? If you pose this ques-tion to people, you will definitely receive dif-ferent answers. To office workers, it means bonus and 13th month pay. To children, it is the time of receiving gifts from parents. To teachers, it’s a break from work. To business-men, it is the season of sales and more sales.

To most people, however, Christmas is the time of eating, drinking, and merry-mak-ing. “For centuries men have kept an ap-pointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home,” said W.J. Ronald Tucker.

“Christmas – the very word brings joy to our hearts,” Joan Winmill Brown comment-ed. “No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given-when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.”

Christmas is the time of giving and re-ceiving gifts. Carolyn Wells shares, “I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this, each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, but how I love the gifts I give!”

George Matthew Adams was right when he said, “Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts

for almost two thousand years.”

Most chil-dren, however, equate Christ-mas with Santa Claus. In fact, one child wrote New York Times if Santa Claus is for real. Francis P. Church an-swered, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.”

This brings us to this anecdote. Just be-fore Christmas, an honest politician, a gener-ous lawyer, and Santa Claus all got into the elevator at a famous hotel in Manila. As the elevator travelled from the 5th floor down to the ground level, one-by-one they noticed a 1,000-peso bill note lying on the elevator’s floor.

Which one picked up the 1,000-peso bill, and handed it in at reception? Answer: Santa Claus, of course, the other two don’t actually exist!

Speaking of Santa Claus, I received this story through an email which was forward-ed to me by a friend. I don’t know who wrote this story but I am sharing this to you as it tells us the true meaning of Christmas:

Just a week before Christmas I had a vis-itor. This is how it happened. I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise

in the front of the house. I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise, Santa Claus himself stepped out next to the fireplace.

“What are you doing?” I inquired. The words choked up in my throat and I saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager, boisterous soul we all know. He then answered me with a sim-ple statement: “Teach the children…”

I was puzzled. What did Santa Claus mean? He anticipated my question and with one quick movement brought forth a minia-ture toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood bewildered, Santa said again, “Teach the chil-dren! Teach them the old meaning of Christ-mas, the meaning that modern Christmas has forgotten.”

Santa Claus then reached in his bag and pulled out a fir tree and placed it before the mantle. He explained, “Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all the nee-dles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man’s thoughts turning toward heaven.”

The Father Christmas again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant star. “Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago,” he said. “God prom-ised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfilment of His promise.”

Then Santa Claus reached into his bag once more and pulled out a candle. “Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness,” he said.

Once again Santa Claus reached into his bag and removed a wreath and placed it on the tree. “Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love,” he said.

“Real love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection.”

Santa Claus then pulled from his bag an ornament of himself. “Teach the children that I, Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of Decem-ber,” he pointed out.

He then brought out a holly leaf and then explained, “Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior. The red holly berries represent the blood shed by Him.”

Next Santa Claus pulled from his bag a gift and said, “Teach the children that God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son.” (Please read John 3:16.)

Santa Claus then reached in his bag and pulled out a candy cane and hung it on the tree. “Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds’ crook,” he said. “The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the sym-bol that we are our brother’s keeper.”

Father Christmas reached in again and pulled out an angel: “Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior’s birth. The angels sang Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men.”

Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a bell. “Teach the children,” he said, “that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring mankind to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return.”

Santa Claus looked back and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the twin-kle was back in his eyes. He reminded, “Re-member, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship him, our Lord, our God.”

This reminds me of the words of Frank McKibben. “This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the car-ols,” he wrote. “But the humble heart that re-ceives anew the wondrous gift – the Christ.”

To end this piece, allow me to quote the words of an author: “Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display-so much tinsel and deco-rations. For it isn’t the holly, it isn’t the snow. It isn’t the tree not the firelight’s glow. It’s the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again.”

Merry Christmas!

BY MANNY VALDEHUESA

THE WORM’S EYEVIEW

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 201410 NEWS EDGEDAVAO

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Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation

and CommunicationsLAND TRANSPORTATION

FRANCHISING AND REGULATO-RY BOARD

Regional Office No. XIDavao city

Petition for Renewal of a Certif-icate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ DUAL Ordinary Regular Service

NELIE J. GUMAPAC, Case No.2000-XI-01582 Petitioner

x- - - - - - - - -- - - -----x

NOTICE OF HEARING

Petitioner is a grantee of a Certificate of Public Convenience issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular Service on the route: MATINA PANGI and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which certificate will expire on December 28, 2015. In the pe-tition filed on October 30, 2014, petitioner request authority to extend the validity of said certif-icate to operate along the same route with the use of the same unit previously authorized.

NOTICE, is hereby given

that this petition will be heard by this Board on DECEMBER 01, 2014 at 09:40 a.m. at this office at the above address.

At least, TEN (10) days prior to the above date petitioner shall publish this Notice once in a one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Mindanao

Parties opposed to the grant-ing of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or be-fore the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documen-tary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evi-dence.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Region-al Director, this 30th day of Octo-ber 2014 at Davao City.

TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transportation Development Officer

information officer Superin-tendent Antonio Rivera that the IED was a small one was apparently intended only to threaten people and not harm them.

“May nakuha kaming iniwan na gamit suspected na bomba. Kinontain namin, buti na lang nalagyan nam-ing ng gulong sumabog… wala nmang natamaan pero initially IED talaga (We have intercepted something which is suspected a bomb. We contained it, and it was a good thing we put old tires before it exploded. There was not casualty in the ex-plosion. We determined ini-tially that it really was an IED),” Borja said in his text message to Rivera.

A report from DXAB 1296 Radyo Patrol said the suspect who conveyed the IED immediately fled after all passengers disembarked.

However, the police im-mediately conducted sur-

veillance and arrested the suspect.

During the interrogation, the suspect denied the alle-gations against him and said he was a farm caretaker in Agusan del Sur. The suspect is still under the custody of Nabunturan Police.

CVPPO director Police Senior Superintendent Al-bert Ignatius Ferro said that they are looking into the possibility of extortion as motive for the attempted bombing.

He said Rural Transit, which is a sister company of Bachelor Express, had been also bombed in Maramag, Bukidnon last week. Compo-nents found in the IED used last Tuesday were similar to the IED that hit the Rural Transit bus.

PRO 11 Director Police Chief Superintendent Wen-dy Rosario said that they are currently probing if the two incident are related.

rio Setias-Reyes, the national vice chairman and chapter governor for Greater Manila, and IBP chapter governors Oliver Cachapero for North-ern Luzon, Maria Imelda Tu-azon for Central Luzon, Ra-mon Esguerra for Southern Luzon, Avelino Sales, Jr. for

Bicolandia, Jose Vicente R.M. Opinion for Eastern Visayas, and Von Lovel Bedona for Western Visayas.

As preliminary salvo, the IBP Eastern and West-ern Mindanao Regions held its joint regional legal aid summit yesterday, Wednes-

day, at the IBP Building in Capitol compound, Tagum City.

The summit tackled issues, problems and chal-lenges on legal aid services as “the backbone of the IBP” in the IBP’s bid of delivering more legal services to indi-

gent litigants and “in our pursuit of correcting social imbalance,” said Atty. Ben.

IBP Davao del Norte and Comval chapter pres-ident Atty. Marisue Llanes said her chapter is prepared to host the convention. Cha Monforte, Correspondent

supply because of the commissioning of the ini-tial 150 megawatts (MW) of the Aboitiz subsidiary coal-fired Therma South Inc. (TSI) by March 2015.

Rodger S. Velasco, vice president for engi-neering of DLPC, said the generating capacity of the Agus-Pulangi Hydroelec-tric Power Plant (HEP) will decrease because of the effect of the drought on the water level of reservoirs in Lanao and Bukidnon.

Still, DLPC will have a tight excess supply even during the drought sea-son that is expected to run from February to June next year, Velasco said.

He said DLPC will have a tight excess supply of

35MW from the estimated 387 MW total supply from National Power Company (Napocor) at 194 MW; Upper and lower Talomo HEP at 4MW; Talomo and Sibulan HEP of Hedcor at 49MW; TSI at 40 MW; Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) at 30 MW; Bajada Diesel Plant at 40 MW; and ILP at 30 MW.

Velasco said DLPC is expecting an 80 MW cur-tailment from NPC once the drought season starts.

He said if the five-month drought season does not happen, DLPC will not experience power curtailment from Napo-cor. DLPC will then have a higher excess power sup-ply of 128 MW that will come from the 488 MW

supply at normal situa-tion.

On the normal basis, he said that DLPC’s pow-er supply will come from Napocor at 276 MW; Up-per and lower Talomo HEP at 4 MW; Talomo and Sibulan HEP of Hedcor at 49MW; TSI at 67 MW;TMI at 23 MW; Bajada Diesel Plant at 40 MW; and ILP at 30 MW.

“Let us pray that PA-GASA is wrong with its forecast, but in case the El Niño happens we can assure that DLPC is pre-pared,” Velasco said.

Milan, on the other hand, stressed the role and importance of the active participation of big establishments in the city.

He said the contribu-

tion of various Davao City-based companies helps DLPC augment some of its supply to its other cus-tomers comprised mostly of residential and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) scattered in its franchise area of Davao City, Panabo City, and some municipalities of Davao del Norte.

At present, DLPC has a total of 14 participants participating the ILP gen-erating 38 MW. CRC

municipal governments of areas affected by the aerial spraying activities to pass ordinances that will totally ban them,” he said in a radio interview.

Citing results of their re-cent fact-finding mission in the affected areas, Azarcon claimed that they have doc-umented three deaths and numerous cases of various illnesses that were directly caused by the aerial spray-ing activities.

He said the three fatali-ties came from communities situated near the banana plantations of Sumifru in T’boli town.

He said they found a sig-nificant number of residents who have been suffering from various illnesses like asthma and contact derma-titis in the affected commu-nities.

“These were caused by herbicides and fungicides sprayed by airplanes com-missioned by Sumifru these past several years,” Azarcon said.

Fr. Joy Pelino, coordina-tor of the Diocese of Mar-bel’s Social Action Center, said that aside from health hazards, the aerial spraying

activities also pose serious threats to the area’s envi-ronment.

He said the chemicals sprayed by Sumifru’s air-planes could contaminate the Allah river system, which traverses the prov-inces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

Pelino said Allah River’s headwaters are located in the municipalities of Lake Sebu and T’boli, where the banana plantations are lo-cated.

Azarcon said they will sustain their protest actions until local officials would act on the matter.

The municipal govern-ment of Surallah issued a five-day permit or until No-vember 23 for the protest actions.

“But we might extend our mobilization if we will not get decisive actions from our officials,” he said.

Sumifru officials were not immediately available for comment.

Sources said the compa-ny already pulled out from the airport on Sunday the aircraft and chemicals that it uses for the aerial spray-ing activities. (MindaNews)

becoming an income-driv-en industry.

He also said only a few tribes practice and preserve their cultural heritage. There are over 100,000 lumads in Davao Oriental belonging to the four major tribes, namely Mandaya, Manobo, Kalag-an, and Mansaka.

“Honestly, the Lumads are already forgotten,” he said.

Aquino said the Pan-tawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the De-partment of Social Wel-fare and Development (DSWD) is not developing the cultural integrity and heritage of different tribal groups.

“What Lumads need is the institutionalization of a program that will bring

back the richness of our culture because what’s happening now is that the lumads are not engaging anymore in tradition-al jobs like farming and hunting because of the cash assistance,” he said.

Aquino said the monthly cash assistance to IPs is not assurance that the IP families will have enough for their daily needs.

He said the cultural heritage of IPs are also violated when research-ers from both private and public sectors conduct researches without con-sidering what is already present in the communi-ty.

“Lumads have their own knowledge,” he said, adding that there are in-

stances that IPs are not even cited as a source of an essential information.

Aquino also said that health and social services of government should be also sensitive to IP cul-ture.

“For instance in ma-ternal and infant health, we have our own tra-ditional medicine and methods that could be developed by the gov-ernment instead of intro-ducing modern technolo-gies,” he said.

Aquino said that re-searchers from both government and private should not bring their own agenda in conduct-ing community research because IPs are more experts on their own cul-ture. CRC

operation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Beijing.

Asked if he detected any change in the Chinese ap-proach in dealing with the West Philippine Sea issue, the President said he hopes that there is change.

“We hope that it does represent a change. The mere fact that we’re talking again is already a substan-tial change. Previously, there was a lot of rhetoric that stated one position to the exclusion of the other,” he said.

“Now, we are talking, and the mere fact that we’re talking hopefully signifies to really arrive at a com-promise and a just solution to the issue,” the President

noted.He also told the event

participants that the Phil-ippines has been pursuing two tracks: crafting a bind-ing Code of Conduct and ele-vating the issue to the inter-national tribunal.

Previous Philippine ad-ministrations tried to adopt a Code of Conduct (COC) and were only able to come up with the so-called Dec-laration of Conduct of Par-ties in the South China Sea, a non-binding agreement reached in 2002.

The President said he hopes preliminary meetings would lead to formal meet-ings in the ASEAN to draw up all of the parameters for a Code of Conduct.

“All of the parties have reiterated their desire to come up with this Code of Conduct at the soonest pos-sible time. But soonest in their diplomatic sphere is not exactly soonest in a cor-porate world,” he said.

The Philippines has filed a memorial at the interna-tional tribunal to boost its claim in the West Philippine Sea. China, which has until December to respond, has rejected the Philippines’ move to elevate the issue to the international tribunal.

Aside from China and the Philippines, other coun-tries laying claim to the ter-ritory, in whole or in part, include Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. (PNA)

or Specific Fuel Oil Con-sumption, over the whole load range and in any op-erating profile. The plant is modular in design that enables it to be optimized for specific needs of the project, utilizing well-prov-en standard units and com-ponents.

Peakpower chair Dr. Walter Brown said the launch of PSI “could not have come at a better time.”

“It is the cooperative spirit of the people of Gen-eral Santos and the stake-holders of Peakpower that facilitated the completion of this project,” he said.

As the availability of generating capacity from PSI would insulate SOCO-TECO II from any supply deficiencies that result in rotating brownouts, the long-term security and re-liability of power supply would mean more compet-itive rates and a marked improvement in electricity costs for both households and businesses.

“We are hopeful and confident that PSI will be the first of many such suc-cess stories of Peakpow-er in terms of communi-ty-building and collabora-tion,” Brown said.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 11EDGEDAVAO

COMPETITIVE EDGE

SMART BACKS UNIGAMES. For the third year, wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) backed the Philippine University Games (Unigames), the only privately run national collegiate sports event in the country. Held in Iloilo from October 21 to 28, the 19th Unigames brought together 42 colleges and universities from all over the Philippines to com-pete in 13 sports disciplines including basketball, badminton, football,

sepak takraw, swimming, taekwondo, and volleyball. De La Salle University emerged as the “winningest” school with five titles, for men’s badminton, men’s lawn tennis, and women’s chess, lawn tennis, and volleyball. In the photo are (second from right) Unigames president Roger Banzuela with (from left to right) Paolo Dizon, Epok Quimpo, and Rafi Silerio of the Smart sports marketing department. Smart’s support for the Unigames is in line

with its commitment to sports development, especially at the youth and grassroots levels. The company is known for its sports advocacy, having sup-ported national athletes such as Gilas Pilipinas and the Azkals, as well as the activities of various sports organizations.

FOR a change, golfers who normally attack the greens to score

better in a hole are making that theme as their expres-sion to a greener environ-ment.

Greentee.org thus came up with a brilliant project called 3 Fore Tree, a golf tournament for a cause aimed at rehabilitating the Davao City watershed by

planting 1 million trees.Last November 14-15,

close top 200 golfers in-cluding visiting celebrities Tonton Gutierrez and part-ner Glydel Mercado, Dai-sy Reyes, Epi Quizon, and Cesar Montano joined the third edition of the unique two-day tournament with individual and team play.

“It’s a different tourna-ment because we wanted to

make it an expression of our advocacy for the environ-ment,” said Wendell Adlao, spokesperson for Greentee.org.

“We are also holding it in time for the Environment Month,” said Adlao.

After two days of golf, a team with two lady mem-bers, Startrek, took the overall team championship in a close finish to cap the 3

Fore Tree golf tournament at the Rancho Palos Verdes over the weekend.

Led by Richard Bad-ang, Startrek relied on lady parbusters Evelyn Quimsay and Virgie Hermiston to score an aggregate 61.16 on Modified Stableford scoring format to win the team title over the team of Jorge Mar-tinez, Ryan Co and Leo Yap who scored 62.66 and the

troika of celebrity golfer Epi Quizon, Jeff Bernaldes and Alrey Ceniza with 63.83.

Individual champion Jing Gavino’s team com-posed also of single-hand-icappers Karlos Alba and Vince Gumapac finished 3rd runner on a 64 while peren-nial champion Joel Yamyam-in, Rainer Cruz and Randy Cadiogan finished fourth runner up with 64.33.

Gavino won the green jacket signifying the overall gross winner with 40 points while Hermiston made it a double victory after she also won the net overall title with a 44. Cristine Powell won the ladies gross overall plum with 28.

With the tournament’s huge success, organizers are looking forward to another edition next year.

Golfing for the Davao watershednjb@edgedavao.net

By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 201412 CLASSIFIED

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INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

EDGEDAVAOFOOD

EVERY YEAR on the last Thursday of No-vember, the president of the United States would ceremonially pardon a turkey, thus sparing it from the axe and ultimately, as the main course of Thanksgiving dinner. Other turkeys though are not that lucky, but as the saying goes, one’s bad luck could be the good luck of others, and in my case I was lucky to be part of a select group of diners to preview Park Inn by Radisson Davao’s Thanksgiving dinner.

“It’s a Thanksgiving dinner fit for royalty, for which we’ve modified the usual buffet setup into generous set meals to give discerning palates an op-tion to order what’s suited to their taste and cravings. Prices at only Php750 net per person, you get to choose from our se-

lections from starter to dessert, plus 2 glasses of wine,” shares Park Inn Hotel Davao’s general manager Mr. Pavan Ka-kar. And generous the Thanksgiving set menu is! For starters, guests get a sliced butter French bread which they can pair with either Creamed Spinach with Bacon, Chif-fonade of Spinach with Cream Cheese and Thick Cream topped with Melt-ed Cheese and Bacon, or Baked Camembert Cheese drizzled with olive oil. I love the baked cheese but my favourite appe-tiser is the Chiffonade of Spinach with Cream Cheese and Thick Cream thanks to its salty and sa-voury topping paired with

creamy spinach. A choice between Roasted Butternut Squash soup and a Cream of Broc-coli with Parmesan Chip follow, both pair well with the entree choices such as an oven roasted Pork-loin with Mango-Cilantro Salad as well as an Orange Liqueur, Smokey Grilled turkey. Dessert rounds up the meal with a choice between a Chocolate Meringue Pie and a tra-ditional Pumpkin Pie topped with rich whipped cream and lightly dusted with Cocoa or Cinnamon. Follow me on Insta-gram or on Twitter @ken-nethkingong for more trav-el stories, foodie finds and happenings in, around, and beyond Durianburg.

My turkey dinner

Guests get a sliced butter French bread which they can pair with either creamed spinach with bacon

LEADING hotel booking web-site, Agoda.com and part of Nasdaq-listed Priceline Group (Nasdaq:PCLN), announced today the results of its most re-cent Travel Smarts study which shows where to find the best hotels in the world. The study looked at nearly seven million customer re-views on Agoda.com to see which destinations had the highest rated hotels. Overall, Cape Town, South Africa took the number one spot with the highest-rated hotels of any des-tination, scoring an average of 8.43 out of a possible 10. The Maldives, the ever popu-lar honeymoon spot, came in second with an 8.33 average hotel review score. Zermatt, a skiing village in the Swiss Alps at the base of the Matterhorn, was number three at 8.29. Though the Maldives and Zermatt are known for pricey, luxurious hotels, some of the destinations that made the top

25 list are very budget friendly. Some of the highest ranked ho-tels in Cape Town are inexpen-sive B&Bs and small boutique hotels. In Budapest hotels for less than $100 per night are the

norm and Hoi An in Vietnam is filled with small B&Bs for far less; accommodations in both places consistently get very high review scores from agoda.com customers.

“People assume that you need to spend a lot of money to have an amazing vacation, but that is not true. There are fantastic places to stay at all price points and star ratings if you know where to look,” said Errol Cooke, Vice President, Global Hotels. What these destinations do seem to have in common is a beautiful physical landscape, lots of activities or attractions for tourists and a reputation for

excellent service. Agoda.com users can submit reviews for hotels after every stay. In addition to their written remarks, they score hotels on a scale of 0 to 10 in six categories. A hotel’s total review score is an average of those numbers. To connect with Agoda.com and learn about special deals and promotions on hotels world-wide, like us on Facebook or fol-low us on Google+, Instagram, or Pinterest.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

Hotel booking website reveals where to find the best hotels in the world

Abreeza Mall kicks off holiday season with great eventsABREEZA MALL rings in Christmas-time—always the most wonderful time of the year—with a flurry of delightful activities to truly get Davao shoppers in the holiday mood. To formally open the Christmas season at Abreeza Mall, OPM legend Basil Valdez per-formed at the Activity Center accompanied by the Ateneo Chamber Sing-ers on November 15. His Abreeza performance is part of a promotional tour in support of his latest al-bum, The First Christmas. Also launched on the same date was the Christ-mas Village, which takes over the Abreeza Cor-porate Center from No-vember 15 to December 20. For five weeks, the Abreeza Corporate Center transforms into a one-stop Christmas shop, its three floors becoming home to various merchants offer-ing holiday needs. Expect gift items and services,

holiday sweets and Noche Buena treats, a toy fair and kids’ activities, DIY workshops, and more. A unique feature of the Christmas Village is a col-lection of Christmas tree installations by different companies at the Ground Floor, each of which comes with a donation

box for the benefit of each company’s chosen ben-eficiary. On its opening weekend, the Christmas Village also let kids expe-rience an early Christmas with a Santa Corner at the Third Floor. The entire week has been an activity-filled ride at Abreeza Mall. On No-

vember 10, the mall-wide Pre-Christmas Whirlwind Sale kicked off, giving shoppers discounts worth up to 70% until Novem-ber 16. Singer and actress Agot Isidro also regaled mall-goers with an en-chanting pre-Christmas performance on Novem-ber 14. And to celebrate

the opening of Brazilian flip-flop brand Ipanema at the Ground Floor, show-biz heartthrob Tom Ro-driguez graced Ipanema Selfeet Sunday on Novem-ber 16, an exciting event that brought together the brand’s fresh footwear and cool gimmicks for the self-ie generation.

For inquiries and up-dates on Abreeza Mall news and events, please vis-it the Main Concierge at the ground floor or call (082) 321-9332. Stay updated by liking www.facebook.com/AbreezaMall and following @abreezatweets on Twitter and @iloveabreezamall on Instagram.

THE groundbreaking se-ries My Husband’s Lover adds another feather to its cap as its director, Dominic Zapata and one of its lead actors, Dennis Trillo, are nominated in the 2014 Asian Television Awards in the Best Direc-tion and Best Actor in a Leading Role categories, respectively. Just last month, the first gay-themed series on Philippine television, which also stars Carla Abellana and Tom Rodri-guez, was nominated for an International Emmy Award under the Tele-novela category. My Husband’s Lover was aired from June to October 2013, and told the story of Vincent, a

gay man married to Lally, and was secretly having a homosexual affair with his first love, Eric. It won

five citations in the 5th Golden Screen TV Awards last March, and was also nominated in the 9th

Seoul International Dra-ma Awards a couple of months later. Direk Dom and Dennis are currently working to-gether in the primetime drama Hiram na Alaala. Now on its 19th year, the Asian Television Awards is the Asian TV in-dustry’s most significant and celebrated event, recognizing excellence in programming, produc-tion and performance. Other Kapuso stars that have been nominated in the previous years include Marian Rivera, Lorna To-lentino, and Michael V. The winners will be an-nounced at the Awards gala ceremony in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore on December 11, 2014.

Way before his successful hosting stints, Drew Arellano was first an actor. He starred in the youth-orient-ed series Click with JC de Vera, Bianca King, Valerie Concepcion, Mark Herras, Jennylyn Mercado, Yasmien Kurdi, and Rainier Cas-tillo, among others. It may have been a long time ago but he has vivid memories of the experience and couldn’t help but laugh at himself. “Natatawa lang ako sa sarili ko kasi [kapag] naaalala ko ‘yun. Na-tatawa ako sa sarili ko kasi alam kong hindi ko baluarte ‘yun,” he said. The host of Biyahe ni Drew,

AHA!, and Bonakid Pre-School Ready Set Laban has gladly found his niche and shared how he knew from the beginning that his friend JC de Vera was made for acting. ”Si JC, kasama ko ‘yan [sa Click] eh. Nakita ko [na] si JC talaga was made for acting. I mean, kanya kanya rin ‘yan eh,” he added. Though he laughs at his experi-ence in being an actor, he is deep-ly grateful for the life-changing opportunity as he did not only gain an experience, but also met the love of his life. “If I can get anything from act-ing, that’s where I met my wife. Nag-click kami eh,” he laughingly remarked.

ABS-CBN president and CEO Charo Santos-Con-cio was awarded the Gold Stevie Award in the Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia, or New Zealand category at the prestigious Ste-vie Awards for Women in Business held in New York on Friday (Nov 14). The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are the world’s top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run. All individuals and organizations world-wide are eligible to sub-mit nominations – pub-lic and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2014 awards received entries from 22 nations and territories. “I share this recogni-

tion with my fellow Fili-pinos and my family at ABS-CBN, whose passion

to serve Filipinos around the world and provide help to those in need

makes me so grateful and proud to lead a company that puts public service at the heart of its business,” Santos-Concio said. Nicknamed the Stev-ies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards were presented to win-ners during a dinner event attended by more than 400 people at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Santos-Concio was cit-ed by the award-giving body for the achieve-ments of ABS-CBN last year under her leader-ship, such as its contin-ued reign in TV ratings, increase in company rev-enues, Star Cinema mov-ies’ box-office sales, ABS-CBN’s high credit rating for its P10 billion bond offering, groundbreak-

INdulge! A3

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ENTERTAINMENT

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014EDGEDAVAO

Dennis Trillo, Dominic Zapata nominated at the 2014 Asian Television Awards

Drew Arellano admits he’s not actor material

ABS-CBN president - CEO Charo Santos-Concio wins gold Stevie award for women in business

ing business ventures such as ABS-CBNmobile, theme park Kidzania Ma-nila, and TV home shop-ping channel O Shop-ping, and public service initiatives for the victims of Bohol quake, Zambo-anga siege, and typhoon Yolanda, and the success of its 60th anniversary celebration. Stevie Award winners were selected by more than 160 executives worldwide who partici-pated in the judging pro-cess this year. Santos-Concio also received the Gold Stevie Award for the Woman of the Year category for all

Asia-Pacific nations (ex-cept Australia and South Korea) at the 2014 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. She was also named Asian Media Woman of the Year by ContentAsia, a premier information resource that covers the entertainment media industry across Asia-Pacific region. Two other Filipinas also won the Gold Ste-vie at 11th Stevie Awards for Women in Business, namely Atty. Darlene Marie Berberabe, Pag-IBIG Fund CEO, and Jena Fetalino, president of Mosman NewMedia Inc., which publishes Medical Observer.

A4 INdulge!FOOD

A delightful heaven for all WITH eight branches, and counting situ-ated all over Davao, it is no wonder that Bre-adDelight is considered not just a bakery but also a lifestyle.

From simple everyday favorites to hot off their industrial kitchen sweet creations, this red and yellow shop has already proven that profit not only means cash flow but more so, acceptance and patronage by the people around. Operating more than over a year, BreadDelight has too struggled to carve its niche in the public. Nevertheless, with pas-sion and dedication, the dream is slowly turning into a reality. With the many other bread and bakeshops in town, one could easily mistake one from the other. However, one could most certainly distinguish one’s palate cravings from the other.

. (BreadDelight operates and is separate and dis-tinct from that of Pan De-light.) “It’s cheap gourmet” – something that we all could relate to. Wanting to taste something ex-ceptional is a mantra but not all can. With Bread-Delight, you not only ex-perience ‘what-you-see-is-

what-you-get” breads but also, taste something out of the ordinary. To state, they are fluffy, sweet and delicious with every bite! Personally, I love how expensive looking their breads are but, at the same time, just right on the budget. The moment you smell their fresh bakes (they constantly stock their trays all through-out the day and no stale breads are ever on display or sold), you are trans-ported to a gastronomical nirvana unlike any other. The smell of melted but-ter brushed atop a bread, the sweet filling blending with the flour and the egg tart setting in place is just too much to bear. That’s not all. Bread-Delight not only make sweet and everyday breads, they too have

an assortment of savory breads that are packed and delicious . . . just like those sold in the malls and big chain shops. Take a bite off their pizza like mushroom and ham bread, crispy ham empa-nada and whole wheat pan de sal any day of the week! For a day, say goodbye to your carb-less diet and give in to the temptation! Visit any of BreadDelight’s 8 branches all over the city and experience breads in a whole new light. They not only specialize in breads but they too offer and ac-cept cake orders for any occasion. Call them now! Make #TheRoyalChef your Thursday habit! Fol-low and tag me on insta-gram (herroyalheiress) for your delicious pics and food finds!

The smell of melted butter brushed atop a bread, the sweet filling blending with the flour and the egg tart setting in place is just too much to bear.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 13CLASSIFIED

Layout Artists (2)- Male / Female, not more than 30 years old- Willing to work under pressure, flexible, persuasive- A team player- Must have an extensive knowledge (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign and Corel Draw)

Responsibilities:- Design and layout magazine pages, ads, brochures, flyers and marketing collateral for multiple clients

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HR DepartmentEDGEDavaoDoors 13 & 14 Alcrej B;dg., Quirino Ave., Davao CityTel. No. (082) 221-3601 Email: edgedavao@gmail.com

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ANNOUNCEMENTTo serve you better Edge Davao and Zion Accuprint Publishing Inc. have added a new telephone line: (082) 224-1413

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 201414 EDGEDAVAOSports

THE “Boss Bros” tandem of Bong Go and Glenn Escandor steered the

City Mayor’s Office to its sev-enth win at the expense of Task Force Davao, 100 – 64, in the lone morning clash of the Mayor Rody Duterte and Vice Mayor Pulong Duterte – 12Th AFP – PNP Basketball Tournament at the Davao City Recreation Center Almendras Gym yesterday.

Go pumped in 42 points and Escandor debuted with 11 points – all in the first period - as the CMO took the

solo lead anew in the stand-ings with a 7 – 1 slate.

CMO was in a tie with BFP (6-1) at the top of the standing entering this game that ended in lopsided fash-ion in favor of the City Hall dribblers who have since won two straight after tast-ing their first debacle at the hands of Davao City Police Office.

The Executives surged to 16-points early lead, 31 – 16, behind the shooting-buddies Escandor and Go who had 25 first half points.

CMO widened the gap 54 – 26 late in the second peri-od that put the game out of reach for the Army men who remained winless in eight games.

John Toyco had 12 for the TF Davao.

On Tuesday night, Na-tional Support Unit clob-bered Philippine Air Force, 100 – 80, to end its four game losing skid and boost its Final Four chance.

Louie Tangaro scored 26 and Ron Ibanez put up 25 for the NSU that rallied to 4 – 4

record.NSU is fighting it out with

Regional Public Safety Battal-ion, Police Regional Office-XI and 10th Infantry Division for the No. 4 spot in the Final Four.

The victory of RPSB over Philippine Navy, 93 – 81, made them as the front-run-ner for the spot and formally shut the latter’s door to join the chase.

The first three spots in the Final Four is a clear toss in between CMO, BFP and DCPO. (Rico Bilrian)

It’s all systems go for the 4th Gene Boyd R. Lumawag Cycling Fundraising event (Padyak Para Kay Boyd Para sa Burn Unit 4) on December 14, 2014, Sunday.

The fun ride will start at Ma-a Central Elementary School (Ma-a Gym) at 730 a.m. This will coincide with the young slain journalist’s 37th birthday.

Eleven indigent patients admitted at the Dr. Rizal D. Aportadera SPMC Burn Unit benefitted from last year’s cycling event. The fundrais-ing event was able to gather P15,138.25 from cyclists and sponsors.

This year’s event will consist of a total of 14 kilo-meters ride in major roads of Davao starting from Ma-a Gym with category short track races inside the Ma-a Central Elementary School’ oval.

Categories for this event are Beginners A, Beginners B, Juniors, Seniors, Veterans, Masters, Fat Boys, Ladies, Golden Boys and a special category race for bike mar-shals.

Registration fee is pegged at P350 inclusive

of souvenir cycling jersey, lunch, certificate and raffle. The event is presented by MindaNews and supported by the Federation of Off-Road Cycling Enthusiasts (FORCE) headed by former Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Dominic Carpio, RaceLink Davao head Rafael Cruzada, Davao Pobre Bikers Association (Dapoba) and Cycle For Life.

“Padyak Para Kay Boyd 4” is sponsored by Globe Tele-com, Camera Club of Davao (CCD), The Royal Mandaya Hotel, Columbia Comput-er Center, Anflocor, Holcim, Ideal Vision, Nature’s Spring, Matina Town Square, Derm-Path, Miko’s Brew, Lapanday Foods, Davao Light, Sweet Advocate, Anflocor, H2Zero Walton & Company, JLP De-sign Digital Advertising, San Iker Garments, 3MJ Trading Cycle, Bikerboy, Angkol Bik-ers, GT Bicycles, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mindanao Times and 95.5 Hit Radio.

For more inquiries you can contact 0908.6132238, 0 9 1 8 . 5 2 0 5 8 3 2 , 0933.4648855 or email at padyakparakayboyd@gmail.com

KOBE Bryant scored 28 points and passed the 32,000-point mark for

his NBA career to spark the Los Angeles Lakers over the host Atlanta Hawks 114-109.

The Lakers, who snapped a four-game los-ing streak, recorded their first road triumph of the season and only their sec-ond triumph in 11 starts while the Hawks fell to 5-5 in the young campaign with their first loss in five home games.

NBA scoring leader Bry-ant made 10-of-18 shots and added four rebounds, three assists and a steal for the Lakers, finishing on 32,001 points with a 3-point play off his final jump shot.

The total puts Bryant 291 points behind Michael Jordan for third on the all-time NBA scoring list.

The Lakers welcomed back Nick Young, who had been sidelined so far this season with a torn right thumb ligament. Young

scored 17 points off the bench while Carlos Booz-er added 20 points and 10 rebounds and Jeremy Lin contributed 15 points and a game-high 10 assists for the Lakers.

Paul Millsap scored 29 points to lead the Hawks, who also had 23 points from Jeff Teague and 15 points from Al Horford.

The Lakers led 67-52 at half-time but Atlanta scored the first 13 points of the sec-ond half only to falter and

never move ahead of Los Angeles the rest of the way.

A left-handed running shot fell for Bryant to put the Lakers ahead 105-100 with 2:25 to play and after two Kyle Korver free throws for Atlanta, Bryant made the key 3-point play.

The Lakers, who had been the only Western Con-ference club without a road victory, opened a three-game road swing that in-cludes visits to Houston and Dallas.

Padyak Para Kay Boyd set Dec. 15CMO hands TFD 8th loss

New scoring milestone for Kobe

BOSS BROTHERS. Glenn Escandor (left) and Bong Go (right) once again conspired for CMO to beat Task Force Davao in the 12th AFP-PNP Basketball Tournament at the Almendras Gym yesterday. Go fired 42 points while Escandor sizzled with three triples for CMO and a total of 11 all in the first period. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO

ZACH Hodskins doesn’t know what it’s like to play basketball with two

hands. Maybe that’s why he’s so good with just one.

Hodskins, who made headlines last year when Flor-ida offered him a spot on its men’s basketball team, made his college debut as a freshman for the Gators just days ago.

With the Gators blowing out William and Mary in its season opener, coach Billy Donovan inserted Hodskins and other reserves into the game for the final two minutes.

Hodskins didn’t score, but he hustled on defense and nearly scored on a driving layup that began outside of the three-point line. The freshman walk-on received a thunder-ous ovation when he took the

court, and the arena was on pins and needles hoping he would score.

Hodskins has a reputation as a three-point ace, which could come in handy for the Gators down the road. The fact that he was given playing time in his first-ever college game does bode well for his future at Florida.

With his parents in atten-dance and 2:06 left to play, a walk-on headed to the scorers table to check into the game and received the biggest cheer of the night.

Zach Hodskins is not an ordinary basketball player. The 6-foot-4 freshman from Alpharetta, Georgia, has been without the lower half of his left arm since birth and over-came the odds to earn a spot

on Florida’s roster.Friday night, Hodskins’

toughest opponent though was his nerves.

“It’s kinda like the first time I did public speaking. I was really nervous, then after I did it once I was fine. I think that I’m gonna be fine if I get in again,” Hodskins said.

Despite the pleas for him to pull the trigger anytime he touched the ball, his only shot attempt came on a looping layup attempt that wouldn’t fall, much to the disappoint-ment of the remaining 10,861 people in attendance.

But for Hodskins, it wasn’t about individual performance. His mind was on the status of teammate Dorian Fin-ney-Smith, who left the floor in the first half with a wrist inju-

ry. He also mentioned multiple times that the most important thing to him was that his team pulled out the victory, whether he scored or not.

“I’ve always dreamed of being here, and tonight I feel like I fulfilled that dream and now I’m just gonna take the next step forward,” Hodskins said. “…It didn’t really matter (if I played tonight or not), I was hoping I would, I’m glad I did but I’m glad that my team-mates played well. I hope that Doe-Doe’s wrist heals and we’ll be fine.”

His teammates notice his efforts too. Guard Michael Frazier said it was “Great for him,” to get in the game and highlighted how Hodskins al-ways has a positive attitude in practice.

ZACH ATTACK

Born with only one hand, Florida freshman overcomes his handicap

HE’S over 6 feet tall and plays on a major college basketball

team — but one glimpse of his left arm and you’ll un-derstand why his story is ‘surreal.’

Zach Hodskins, a fresh-man walk-on to the Uni-versity of Florida’s basket-ball team, might have been brought into the season opener Friday with only two minutes remaining, but he got the loudest applause from the crowd.

Hodskins, a guard who stands well over 6 feet tall, was born with only one full arm.

Though he missed his only shot during the game, which the Gators won 68-45 against the College of Wil-liam & Mary, he said he’ll do better next time.

“It’s surreal,” Hodskins told Florida Today. “I’ve

always dreamed of being here, and tonight I feel like I fulfilled that dream and now I’m just going to take that next step forward. It’s kind of like the first time I did public speaking. I was a little bit nervous, but after I did it once, I was fine. I think I’m going to be fine if I get in another game.”

Hodskins told the Flor-ida Independent Alligator that the biggest adjustment to college play compared to high school ball is the speed. He also said he’s thankful for how his teammates treat him.

“I love it, I mean as long as they treat me like a nor-mal human being and a player and their friend I’ll be just fine,” Hodskins said.

Hodskins story first went viral with a video that showed off his skills a cou-ple of years ago.

A dream that’sfinally fulfilled

TEAM Manila West’s come back to the FIBA 3x3 All start on De-

cember 12 is still uncertain.Manila West member

and Meralco gunner Rey Guevarra said that there is still no certainty on their stint to the FIBA game be-cause of the ongoing game on the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

“Hindi pa sure yung FIBA 3x3 namin kasi may ongoing PBA game pa kam-ing lahat at that time,” Gue-varra said shortly after their lost to Rain or Shine last Sat-urday night at Davao City.

However, the 27-year-old small forward from Meralco Bolts assures that if ever their mother team will give the go signal, they will immediately prepare for their comeback on the pres-tigious 3x3 basketball game.

“Pag pinayagan kami, paghahandaan namin yan -- mag lalaro kami ng maayos, gagawin namin yung best namin kasi yung makaka-laban namin dun mga best teams din galing sa buong mundo. yung mga mali namin sa Japan, itatama namin yun,” he said.

The former Letran

Knights player also ex-pressed his gratitude that his squad is among the few teams who are chosen to play to the FIBA All Star 3x3 game in Katara Beach, Doha Qatar.

Team Manila west was chosen by the FIBA orga-nizer after its member Ter-rence Romeo was classified by FIBA as the number one player from ‘the rest of the world’ pool.

Romeo was named as the player outside Europe, Americas and Qatar earned his team a slot in the All-Star exhibition next month.

The international bas-ketball organization based its selection on the individu-al 3x3 world ranking where the Batang Pier guard ranked 64th in the world.

The Team Manila West landed on the quarter finals after they were eliminated by the Kranj of Slovenia in Tokyo Japan last October 11 and 12.

Romeo and Guevar-ra will be joined by NLEX Road warriors’ players KG Caneleta and Aldrech Ra-mos if ever they will get the go signal to represent the country.

PH stint in FIBA 3x3 in limbo

UNFAZED. Florida guard Zach Hodskins (24) tries for the basket but is hampered by William & Mary forward Jack Whitman (41) during the second half of NCAA College basketball in Gainesville, Fla.,recently. Florida defeated William & Mary 68-45. (AP/Phil Sandlin)

By FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

16 VOL. 7 ISSUE 178 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014EDGEDAVAO