Edge Davao 4 Issue 48

FIGURES OF THE WEEK

A & A Securities, Inc.JIFFYCAR Bldg., Ecowest Drive

(Beside SM City Davao), Davao CityTel. Nos.: 299-0199, 297-7233,

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Important: The information contained herein is based on sources which we believe are reliable but is not guaranteed by EDGEDAVAO and A & A SECURITIES, INC. This report is provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell the security mentioned herein.

STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE

PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX

US DOLLAR = PHILIPPINE PESO

As of January 27, 2012

VOL. 4 NO. 48JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 05, 2012

T h e B u s i n e s s P A P E R

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EDGEDAVAOTHE BUSINESS PAPER

2 JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 05, 2012VOL. 4 NO. 48

ON THE COVERIT FIGURES

Motorbikes now half of Davao’s vehicles $2 billionESTIMATED cost of a

new high-speed rail project in place of the suspended NorthRail linking the Ninoy Aquino International Air-port and the Diosdado Macapagal Airport. Accord-ing to Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, the amount is a table top es-timate, as the amount is uncertain in the absence of a detailed engineering design.

P45 billionBUDGET of Megaworld

Corp. in investing in the de-velopment of the 15-hect-are integrated township project in Bonifacio Global in Taguig City during the next 20 years. The project will feature up to 18 towers, offering a total potential development of 500,000 square meters of residential space, 400,000 sq. m of of-fice space and 90,000 sq.m of retail space.

7.78 MMTESTIMATED production

of unmilled rice in January to June 2012 as a result of the expansion of harvest area and improvement in yield. According to the Bu-reau of Agricultural Statis-tics, the projected output for the period is 2.7 percent higher than the actual un-milled rice production last year.

40.2 percentPERCENTAGE of all Fili-

pino workers in the coun-try engaged in low-paying jobs and have to contend with difficult working con-ditions, according to the International Labor Organi-zation. The ILO also said that after the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, there is a backlog of global unem-ployment of 200 million –an increase of 27 million since the start of the crisis.

3.6-4 percentGROWTH of the Philip-

pine economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). The National Statis-tics Office reported that to-tal imports growth slowed down to0.6 percent for the second straight month in November last year to $4.98 billion from $4.96 billion in the same month in 2010.

400 million plusNUMBER of new jobs

will be needed over the next years to absorb the es-timated 40 million growth of the labor force each year. This global situation will also affect the Philippines. In its latest annual Global Employment Trends Report titled Global Employment Trends 2010: Preventing a deeper jobs crisis, the ILO said workers in what it called “vulnerable employ-ment” comprised around 40.2 percent of the labor force.

P58.07 billionAMOUNT remitted by

the Malampaya consortium to the government, said the Department of Energy last week. The consortium is composed of Shell Phil-ippines Exploration BV and Chevron Malampaya Ltc. Each owns a 45-percent interest in the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project; the Philippine Na-tional Oil Co. Exploration Corp. holds a10-percent in-terest in it.

BAD news for Dabawenyos annoyed by the presence of too many motorcycles in

Davao City. The sale of this kind of vehicle is steadily rising.

According to statistics, 48 percent of the registered vehicles in the city now are motorcycles.

These do not include the unregistered ones which are still being used usually during night-time.

In every kilometer of the city’s 1,856.24-kilometer road network composed of national. city and barangay roads, there is an average of 33 motor vehicles. Nearly half of these (48 percent) are motorcycles.

The city’s land transport sector started to change in 2005 when the motorcycles accounted for 38 percent of the total num-ber of motor vehicles, a dramatic increase from a mere 25 percent in 2000.

In 2010, or ten years after, 48 percent of the 55,858 of reg-istered vehicles plying the city’s roads are motorcycles.

Ranked second are PUJs with 30 percent, followed by private cars with 13 percent and trucks with 6 percent. The rest are trailers and buses.

“The increase is largely due to the appetite of the middle class for motorcycles,” said the draft land use plan prepared by the Davao City Planning and devel-opment Office.

Sustained increaseThe accessibility and af-

fordability of motorcycles are

identified as key contributory fac-tors to the sustained increase in the number of motor vehicles in Davao City recorded at an annual average growth rate of 44.14 per-cent starting 2001.

“As population grows and urbanization takes place, the demand for transport industry grows as well. This poses im-provement of transportation infrastructure such as roads and bridges to cater vehicles and pe-destrians,” said the draft docu-ment.

Davao City has three major ingress and egress points that al-low linkages to other cities and provinces.

According to the City En-gineer’s Office (CEO), of the city 1,856.24 kilometers of roads and highways, seven percent are na-tional roads, 39 percent are city roads and 54 percent are baran-gay roads.

Of the road network, 67 percent are paved with concrete and asphalt while the remain-ing 33 percent are still unpaved gravel and earth. Ancillary to the roads and highways are the 65 bridges in the entire city, 54 per-cent of which needs either repairs or total replacement.

AccidentsMotorcycles rank third

among motor vehicles involved in traffic accidents, according to the initial data generated by the Davao City Police Traffic group in 2001.

Of the 6,048 total accidents initially recorded, 39.58 percent

involved private vehicles, fol-lowed by taxi with 16.87 percent, motorcycles with 11.81 percent and PUJs with 11.23 percent.

The next four are vans with 5.90 percent, trucks with 3.79 percent, buses with 1.46 percent and tricycles with 1.19 percent. The rest are assorted types of vehicles including armored cars, government-owned vehicles, bicycles, trisiboats, trisikads and even ambulances comprised the remaining 6.61 percent

Police Chief Inspector Rolly Almonte of the Police Traffic Group said the main factors caus-ing the vehicular accidents are human and mechanical errors and road defects.

He reiterated the basic advice for the drivers to prop-erly observe the safety inspection standards such as the need to check tires before a trip for sign of wear, damage or wrong infla-tion, to check brake pedal for too much travel, fluid level and brake adjustments, to check lights such as signal, headlights, tail, parking lights and brake lights, to check windshield including wiper, washers, defrosters, for clear vi-sion, to check steering for exces-sive play and to check the oil, bat-tery and water before a trip.

Sure best sellerMeanwhile, the Japanese

compact car and motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki Philippines Inc (SPH) rolled out last week what it describes as a sure best seller—the Suzuki GD110.

The Suzuki GD110 is an ad-

vanced commuter bike that will usher a new level of riding expe-rience, as it comes packed with highly user-friendly features that even first-time motorcycle own-ers can easily understand.

The Suzuki GD110 fea-tures a newly designed compact and lightweight 4-stroke engine for high-combustion efficiency, 4-speed transmission for less gear changes and simpler op-eration, Suzuki PAIR system for lesser emissions, high visibil-ity meters, indicator lamps and round shaped headlamps with

park light indicator lamps for en-hanced safety and convenience.

“We are optimistic about the launch of the GD110 because we are anticipating it to be one of our sure best sellers. We believe that the GD110 is packed with features that answer the com-muting needs of the public—af-fordability, user-friendliness and durability, which very much complements our campaign, “Bakit Di Ka Pa NakaMotor,” said Eiji Kobayashi, general manager of motorcycle sales and market-ing said.

Fr. Tabora says ‘no responsible mining activityin the country’; Chamber of Mines says ‘not true’

Ungab, Zamora-Apsay: Corona trial not delaying House legislative work

The new ‘King of the Road’

By Greg G. Deligero

SUZUKI GD110

THE Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (Chomp) mem-bers are responsible and are

ready and willing to prove it to the group that wants mining to-tally out of the country.

The Chamber’s members have adhered to their four-point policy which would show that they are indeed responsible, Rocky G. Dimaculangan, Chomp vice president for communica-

tions, told media practitioners af-ter the conference on mining held at the University of Southeastern

Philippines.Dimaculangan volunteered

to invite Fr. Joel Tabora, Catholic

Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) advocacy committee national chair, to join the group on a visit to mining projects under “responsible” com-panies.

“We are inviting him (Tabo-ra) to visit one of the responsible mining companies. This is an open invitation,” he said. “This is in response to the charge made by Fr . Tabora, president of the Ateneo de Davao University, that there is no responsible mining ac-tivity in the country.”

Tabora’s group had earlier held an international mining con-ference at the AdDU, to which representatives from the mining group were not invited. Media practitioners who were not in the list of invited were also barred from entering the Finster Hall, venue of the two-day conference.

Regional Director Con-stancio A. Paye Jr. of Mines and Geosciences Bureau for Region 12 said that before 1995, mining activities in the Philippines were governed by Presidential Decree 463 which did not have provi-sions for social equity and envi-ronmental protection.

The previous law, he pointed out, was only to ensure economic growth and not protect the environment and that “social equity and environmental protec-tion” provisions in the 1995 Min-ing Act ensured that mining com-panies would practice responsible mining.

“The (mining malpractices) were sins of the past, we (mining industry) are today haunted by the sins of the past,” he said, add-ing that the government is mak-ing sure that mining companies adhere to the law so that they would not be accused of commit-ting similar malpractices.

Dimaculangan’s colleague, lawyer Ronald S. Recidoro, vice president for legal and policy, said he could vouch that members of the association are following re-sponsible mining standards.

Recidoro said that last year, mining companies which are

members of the chamber spent a total of P6.1 billion to protect the environment.

The association took up th cudgels for local government units who ask that mining taxes they are entitled to be first directly remitted to them instead of being remitted to the national treasury.

This was also among the is-sues brought up by local govern-ment units in the region, particu-larly by Governors Arturo T. Uy of Compostela Valley and Corazon N. Malanyaon of Davao Oriental, two of the main mining areas in the region.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio B. Abad had earlier said that the issue was among those being considered to be part of the national govern-ment policy which is still under review by the Office of the Presi-dent.

A provision of the Lo-cal Government Code of 1991 states that local government units should get 40% of the min-ing revenues. Of the 40-percent share for LGUs, 20 percent goes to the provincial government, 45 percent to the city or municipal government and the remainder to the barangay government.

The association also criti-cized Mr. Tabora’s group for holding an international mining conference which did not wel-come miners. “This is ironic,” Di-maculangan said.

In refusing participation of the so-called mining industry sup-porters, Mr. Tabora said what his association was doing was an ex-ercise of its “academic freedom.”

The association invited in-ternational experts on the min-ing industry, including Clive Montgomery Wicks, a conserva-tion and development consul-tant specilizing on the impact of extractive industries, who ear-lier claimed that the Tampakan mining project of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. in Tampakan, South Cotabato as among the world’s most dangerous mining projects. [AMA]

TWO members of the House of Representatives from the Davao Region who signed

the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona said the ongoing trial in the Senate has not disrupted legislative work in the House.

“The trial has not affected the regular meetings and hear-ings in the lower house since there are only few members who are in the prosecution team,” Rep. Isidro T. Ungab of Davao City’s Third District said, add-ing that the committees can still function and quorum can still be mustered.’

Rep. Maria. Carmen “Mari-car” Zamora-Apsay of the First District of Compostela Valley said bills continue to be processed and acted upon not only by individual lawmakers but by committees and the body as a whole.

“I must admit that the im-peachment is affecting work of the legislature, especially for us who are active participants in it,” Zamora-Apsay said. “We need to focus attention on the impeach-ment, and it requires time on our part.”

“However, we will not be remiss in our duties as represen-tatives of the people, both in our legislative work and in the im-peachment trial of the chief jus-tice,” Zamora-Apsay said.

The lady lawmaker said that she and 187 other represen-tatives signed the impeachment complaint “in our collective drive to achieve reform and justice in our countrTy.”

“So much effort has been poured into seeking redress by so many people, both private and public persons, and by no less than President Aquino himself,” she said

She said the Chief Justice, in assuming the leadership of the judiciary, had already laid him-self open to challenge for accept-ing his midnight appointment.

“However, instead of prov-ing his merit and rightness for the position, he has shown himself to be far more faithful to those whom he owes debt of gratitude, rather than the Constitution and our people,” she said.

I fully believe and know that the 188 representatives who have challenged Chief Jus-tice Corona, have turned the key to open the door for our nation’s access to true justice,” Zamora-Apsay said.

Explaining why he signed the impeachment complaint, Ungab said he believes the charg-es in the articles of impeachment

are sufficient grounds to convict the Chief Justice

He said the trial is a good opportunity to look at the details of the Judiciary Development Fund, something that is not cov-ered in the budget deliberations of Congress.

“Also his non-disclosure to the public of his SALN (State-ment of Assets, Liabilities and Networth) and the acceptance of a position by his wife in the executive department puts trans-parency and accountability of public officials especially those occupying high positions in ques-tion,” Ungab, who now heads the ways and means committee of the House.

Other lawmakers from the region who signed the com-plaint were Reps. Mylene Garcia-Albano of Davao City, Anton F. Lagdameo of Davao del Norte, Rommel Amatong of Composte-la Valley, Nelson Dayanghirang of Davao Oriental, and Franklin Bautista of Davao del Sur. [AMA]

REP. SID UNGAB REP. ZAMORA-APSAY

EDGEDAVAO THE BUSINESS PAPER

3JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 05, 2012 VOL. 4 NO. 48

Camella extends ‘Lucky 888’ Chinese New Year promoPROPERTY FORUM

WITH the success-ful week-long run of its ‘Lucky 888’

promo for the Chinese New Year, Camella spreads the luck to more homebuyers by extending the promo un-til January 31.

“More Camella home-buyers are in luck as they can still avail of the lowest packages for Camella North-point studio units until the end of January,” said Bella Comidoy, Camella Davao marketing staff.

With only a few units left in Camella Northpoint’s third building still at pre-selling prices, there is good reason for buyers to rush to get their studio units through the ‘Lucky 888’ promo. This triple promo offers studio units at an all-time low reservation fee of P8,000, a huge drop from the original rate of P30,000.

Tripling the homebuy-er’s luck is the 8% discount on the down payment and the reduced down pay-ment rate of P8,000 for the first eight months of the 18-month stretched down payment term. Camella urges buyers to take ad-vantage of the ‘Lucky 888’ before they commence con-struction of the 10-storey condo building.

“This is the chance for those who want to own the city’s most premiere address to acquire their studio units before prices go up once development starts,” said Comidoy, adding that they

entertain all inquiries at 222-0963 and 222-5223.

Excavation and actual construction of Camella Northpoint’s third building is expected to begin in Feb-ruary, with a target comple-tion date within the middle of 2013. Once construction starts, prices are seen to in-crease and down payment terms are shortened.

Camella Northpoint is a British colonial-themed condo community that is another landmark develop-ment of Camella, subsidiary of the largest homebuilder in the country, Vista Land & Lifescapes.

Its well-appointed stu-dio units remain the best choice for those looking for single-room homes. Studio units are versatile, serving the needs of many types of unit owners, from young professionals, newlyweds, corporate executives, start-up families, entrepreneurs, transient students, even empty-nesters.

Its location at the junc-tion of J.P. Laurel and Bu-hangin Road makes it stra-tegically located at the pulse of north Davao’s growth area. With the continuing development in this part of the city, Northpoint home-owners have everything they need within close reach.

Camella Northpoint is a class by itself, with its de-luxe facilities and amenities such as its clubhouse named Wakefield Manor, a fitness gym, cabanas and grill pits,

a salinated wellness pool, open parks, playground, manicured lawns, sculpted landscapes, lush pocket gar-dens and the preserved Aca-cia trees.

It is the only condo community in the city that is filled with imported Ca-ribbean pine trees, further greening its environs and giving off a cool, pine-scent-ed ambiance. It is managed by a professional property management team that keeps the whole property in top-notch shape and ensures its residents are safe and sound under a tight 24/7 se-curity system enhanced with CCTVs.

Inquiries are welcome at the Camella offices at 2/F Delgar Building (be-hind Phoenix station), J.P. Laurel Ave., Davao City, or at [email protected] (email) and www.camella.com.ph.



THE ECONOMY

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - January 2011)

Month 2011 2010 2009Average 45.11 47.637December 43.95 46.421November 43.49 47.032October 43.45 43.44 46.851

September 43.02 44.31 48.139August 42.42 45.18 48.161

July 42.81 46.32 48.146June 43.37 46.30 47.905May 43.13 45.60 47.524April 43.24 44.63 48.217

March 43.52 45.74 48.458February 43.70 46.31 47.585January 44.17 46.03 47.207

1. GNP Growth Rate(At Constant 1985 Prices) 2. GDP Growth Rate(At Constant 1985 Prices)

3. Exports 1/

4. Imports 1/

5. Trade Balance

6. Balance of Payments 2/

7. Broad Money Liabilities

8. Interest Rate 4/

9. National Government Revenues

10. National government outstanding debt

11. Peso per US $ 5/

12. Stocks Composite Index 6/

13. Consumer Price Index 2006=100

14. Headline Inflation Rate 2000=100

15. Core Inflation Rate 2000=100

16. Visitor Arrivals

17. Underemployment Rate /7

18. Unemployment Rate /7

INDICATIOR LATEST1.9 %

2nd Qtr 2011

3.4 %2nd Qtr 2011

USD 4,128 million

Jun 2011

USD 4,503 millionJun 2011

USD -376 millionJun 2011

USD 222 millionJun 2011

P4,423,849 millionJun 2011

4.48%Apr 2011

P100,139 million Jun 2011

P 4,777 billion May 2010

P 42.81Jul 2011

4,503.6Jul 2011

126.4

Jul 2011

4.6Jul 2011

3.7Jul 2011

317,443Apr 2011

19.4%Apr 2011

7.2 %Apr 2011

STAT WATCH

Cebu Pacific Daily 5J961 / 5J962 5:45 Manila-Davao-Manila 6:15Zest Air Daily Z2390 / Z2390 5:45 Manila-Davao-Manila 6:25Cebu Pacific Daily 5J593 / 5J348 6:00 Cebu-Davao-Iloilo 6:30Philippine Airlines Daily PR809 / PR810 6:10 Manila-Davao-Manila 7:00Philippine Airlines Daily PR819 / PR820 7:50 Manila-Davao-Manila 8:50Cebu Pacific Daily 5J394 / 5J393 7:50 Zamboanga-Davao-Zamboanga 8:10Cebu Pacific Daily 5J599 / 5J594 8:00 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 8:30Cebu Pacific Daily 5J347 / 5J596 9:10 Iloilo-Davao-Cebu 9:40Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri/Sun 5J963 / 5J964 9:40 Manila-Davao-Manila 10:10Philippine Airlines Daily PR811 / PR812 11:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 12:20Cebu Pacific Daily 5J595 / 5J966 12:00 Cebu-Davao-Manila 12:30Silk Air Mon/Wed/Sat MI588 / MI588 18:55 Davao-Cebu-Singapore 13:35Cebu Pacific Thu 5J965 / 5J968 12:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 13:25Cebu Pacific Tue/Wed//Sat 5J965 / 5J968 13:35 Manila-Davao-Manila 14:05

Silk Air Thu/Sun MI566 / MI566 18:55 Davao-Singapore 15:20Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri 5J507 / 5J598 15:00 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 15:30Philippine Airlines August 15:55 Mani2Mani 16:50Zest Air Daily Z2524 / Z2525 16:05 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 16:45Cebu Pacific Daily 5J967 / 5J600 16:35 Manila-Davao-Cebu 17:05Philippines Airlines Daily PR813 / PR814 16:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 17:45Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat 5J215 / 5J216 18:00 Cagayan de Oro-Davao-Cagayan de Oro 18:20Cebu Pacific Daily 5971 / 5J970 18:40 Manila-Davao-Manila 19:10Cebu Pacific Tue/Sat/Sun 5J973 / 5J974 20:00 Manila-Davao-Manila 20:30Cebu Pacific Daily 5J969 / 5J972 20:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:00Airphil Express Daily 2P987 / 2P988 20:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:00Philippine Airlines Daily except Sunday PR821 / PR822 21:20 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:50Philippine Airlines Sunday PR821 / PR822 22:20 Manila-Davao-Manila 22:50

as of august 2010

Mactan airport to become partof BIMP-EAGA air route linkage

AN official of the South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat,

Sarangani, and General Santos Federation of Fishing and Allied Indus-tries, Inc. (SFFAII) said the United States remains the top export market for Philippine tuna.

During the Pro-gram on Traceability for Revitalized Agricul-tural Competitiveness Enhancement (Program P-TRACE) at The Marco Polo Davao on Thursday, SFFAII executive director Rossana Bernadette Con-treras said the US market receives 53 percent of the country’s total tuna ex-ports.

The meeting was organized by the De-partments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Ag-

riculture (DA) with the United Nations Industrial Development Organiza-tion (UNIDO).

The other export markets are Japan, with 24 percent share, North America with nine per-cent, Middle East with six percent, Europe with three percent, other Asian countries with two per-cent, and Africa, South America, and Australia with one percent share each.

In 2011, the value of exported Philippine tuna reached 366,271 million US dollars, which was higher by almost two per-cent than 2010’s 359,380 million US dollars.

Contreras said over 60 percent of the coun-try’s tuna production is based in Mindanao, par-

US still top market for PHL tuna

PHILIPPINE efforts supporting the es-tablishment of a

strong transport con-nectivity as a pillar for growth in the four-country grouping BIMP-EAGA have gained ground following the concurrence of Mactan Cebu International Air-port Authority recently to become part of the sub-regional route.

The Mindanao De-velopment Authority (MinDA), which serves as the Philippine Coor-dinating Office for the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malays ia-the Philippines - East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) reported the confirmation of Mactan Airport’s inclu-sion as one of the drop off points for EAGA air routes.

MinDA said this lat-est development in the BIMP-EAGA air linkages was among the items discussed at the four-country BIMP-EAGA Strategic Planning held last week in Manila.

Under the proposed Protocol Amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of the four countries on ex-pansion of air linkages, Cebu was designated as one point outside of BIMP-EAGA under the cargo and passenger co-terminalization, with own stop over rights. The Amended MOU is expected to be signed by July 2012.

This would mean that airlines planning to open for instance a Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia-Davao route can stop by Cebu to drop off passen-gers and cargo en route to Davao as it final des-tination. As it flies back to Kota-Kinabalu it can again drop by Cebu to pick-up Malaysia-bound passengers and cargo.

Under the proposed agreement, Indonesia identified Solo, a city in Central Java Indonesia, as its co-terminalization traffic right outside of BIMP-EAGA, while Ma-laysia has tentatively

identified Johor Bahru, capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia.

“The expansion of our air linkages with BIMP-EAGA partner countries is one of the strategies to foster eco-nomic activities in Min-danao and Palawan, as the transport of people and goods with our re-gional neighbors will become much easier,” said MinDA Chair Luw-alhati Antonino.

Antonino, who also serves as Philippine signing minister for EAGA, stressed MinDA ensures that Mindanao and Palawan are active-ly involved in the over-all EAGA initiatives, more particularly in terms of transport con-nectivity.

She added that MinDA has had a se-ries of talks with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (PCCI) and Philip-pine representatives to the ASEAN Business Advisory Council where transport connectivity

had been cited as cru-cial for the sub-region.

The proposed air link expansion is one of the flexible approach-es of the BIMP-EAGA Transport, Infrastruc-ture, ICT Development (TIICTD) Cluster to have more sustainable air services on exist-ing routes and new sub-regional air con-nections. The Depart-ments of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), and Tour-ism (DOT), lead agen-cies for connectivity and tourism clusters in BIMP-EAGA, have joint-ly collaborated for this initiative.

The implementa-tion of co-terminaliza-tion scheme is also be-ing pushed as a viable solution for those routes having large geographi-cal areas the proposed policy operates around the premise that more traffic can be generated on a region to region basis.

To further facili-tate the expansion of

air linkages in the sub-region, Philippines has committed to spearhead an airline summit this year, which is expected to bring airlines and other stakeholders un-der one roof to discuss possible ways to boost airline operations with-in BIMP-EAGA.

The BIMP-EAGA is an economic coop-eration formally created in 1994 covering the border areas of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Phil-ippines with the goal of spawning increased investments, trade, and tourism within this sub-region of the ASEAN.

It specifically cov-ers the island economies of island economies of Brunei; North, Central, South and Southeast Sulawesi, Central, East, West and South Kali-mantan, Maluku and Irian Jaya in Indonesia; Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan in Malaysia; and Mindanao and Pal-awan in the Philippines. [MINDA]

TUNA

ticularly in General San-tos City.

The country has sev-en canneries, six of which are in General Santos

City while the other is in Zamboanga City.

Contreras added that the 15 fish proces-sors and exporters in

General Santos City com-prise 80 percent of the to-tal number of processors in the Philippines. [PNA/

JENNY GRACE M. MENDOZA]

5


JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 05, 2012 VOL. 4 NO. 48

BizQUIPS‘DON’T drown me out by

screaming in this courtroom! Only I can scream here and my fellow judges!’

-Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago scolding private prosecutor Arthur Lim during the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

PH poised to reclaim top rankin prawn exportation to Japan

DA eyes 2013 rice self-sufficiency

NEDA okays irrigation, climate changeprojects in Mindanao, Central Luzon

BFAR has P1.9B for fisheries program

Sugarcane rebounds in 2011SUGARCANE rose from

the doldrums and outper-formed other Philippine

crops in 2011, registering that year four successive quarters of production increases high-lighted by triple-digit growth rates during the April-June and July-September periods.

Data released by the De-partment of Agriculture (DA) this week show the country’s 2011 sugarcane production volume totaled nearly 28.40 million metric tons (MTs) - 58.27 percent higher than the 17.93 million MTs this crop posted in 2010.

In 2010, nationwide sugarcane production dipped 21.82 percent below its 2009 level of 22.93 million MTs.

The data further show value of sugarcane production at constant prices hit P22.42 billion in 2011, exceeding the P14.16 billion such crop post-ed in 2010.

DA also reported the country’s sugarcane produc-tion volume during 2011’s first and fourth quarters reached 12.75 million MTs and 8.14 million MTs, respectively.

Such outputs were the

highest in the crops sub-sector during both reference periods.

Nationwide sugarcane production in 2011’s first and fourth quarters also corre-spondingly surpassed by 26.73 percent and 24.26 percent the country’s 10.06 million MTs and 6.55 million MTs output for this crop throughout the same periods in 2010, DA data likewise show.

For 2011’s second and third quarters, DA reported the Philippine sugarcane pro-duction reached 6.90 million MTs and 594,000 MTs.

Such volumes were 511 percent and 208.46 percent more than the 1.12 million MTs and 192,000 MTs of sug-arcane produced during the same reference quarters in 2010.

The data show none in the crops sub-sector except sugarcane registered triple-digit production growth rates during last year’s second and third quarters.

Earlier, DA came up with the block farming system to help boost domestic sugar production and local farmers’ income.

Such system consolidates into a single block of 30 to 50 hectares farms below 10 hect-ares in size to realize the econ-omies of scale needed for cost-efficient production of sugar.

DA said farms can be consolidated and integrated through contract arrange-ments, joint venture schemes, partnerships, sharing agree-ments and other modes.

Last week, the govern-ment launched a 927-hectare sugarcane block farm in Batan-gas province’s Tuy municipal-ity.

At least 919 agrarian re-form beneficiaries (ARBs) be-longing to four cooperatives there are involved in such project, DA noted.

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) clarified own-ership of farms concerned will remain despite consolidating these into a block.

DAR gave such assur-ance, noting the ARBs will retain their respective land titles.

The agency, DA and Sug-ar Regulatory Administration are partnering on the project. [PNA]

CONFISCATED. Emiliano Dakingking, Jr. of Tagum City’s Bantay Dagat Forces shows the beach seine locally called baling his team con-fiscated midnight of January 24, 2012 in Sitio Garinan in Barangay Madaum, Tagum City. This,

along with a row boat and a pump boat (inset photos) are now impounded at the headquarters of Bantay Dagat in Barangay Liboganon, Tagum City. [LEO TIMOGAN OF CIO TAGUM]

IN the 1990s, the Philip-pines ranked fourth among the top exporting countries

of prawn to Japan, but diseas-es hitting local shrimp produc-tion and the farmers’ inability to sustain the required quality caused a massive decline in export.

Today, the country is poised to reclaim lost glory with more hatcheries being put up for a prawn-based multi-commodity enterprises that will reopen the door for exportation of prawn to Ja-pan.

The Bureau of Agricul-tural Research (BAR) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is supporting multi-com-modity enterprises as a devel-opment strategy being put up initially through the Visayas State University (VSU) in Bay-bay, Leyte in order to remove those critical stumbling blocks in prawn production for ex-port.

VSU, according to a statement mde by BAR Direc-tor Nicomedes Eleazar here recently has developed tech-nology for increased produc-tion of prawn and other com-modities following a model of outstanding farmer, Benjamin Gerona Jr.

Gerona added fresh-water prawn or ulang to his existing vegetable crops and tilapia and realized a return of investment of 32 percent from his P34,400 investment.

VSU researchers Veron-ica Reoma, Nestor Morales and Tamar Mejia Jr.,found in a study filed with BAR that Gerona’s multi-enterprise sys-tem could enable farmers to maximize their earnings, El-eazar said.

When prawn was in-tegrated into the farm, the

owner earned a net income of P3,474 in the first crop-ping, P12,890 in the second cropping, and P16,182 in the third, or a total of P32,546. This was based on the VSU-Southern Leyte State Uni-versity (SLSU) study called “Integrated Giant Freshwater Prawn and Vegetable Produc-tion.”

“The production of high value products like prawn will significantly raise farmers’ income. Diversifying sources of farm income is something that BAR supports,” Eleazar said.

VSU’s College of Fisher-ies has started planning for hatchery expansion since de-mand for prawn products in Leyte alone has been brisk.

“Farmers cannot accom-modate demand for prawn. They proposed that they be taught to put up their own hatcheries for raising supply of fries. We are helping them to expand the hatcheries in strategic areas where they can be readily available for farm-ers for easier transportation,” Eleazar said.

VSU is further seeking an intensified partnership with BAR on a proposed integrated prawn production that will target the local market for prawn and an export market in Japan awaiting huge ex-port opportunities for Filipino prawn producers.

With a replication of Gerona’s system in his farm in Sogod, Leyte, freshwater prawn production in many suitable areas in Leyte and other Visayas provinces would help increase national prawn production, Eleazar added.

The technology on fresh-water prawn is not yet popu-lar in Leyte due to the lack

of prawn fingerlings. But the lucrative return in prawn cul-ture along with the demand could encourage farmers to shift from tilapia alone to prawn with vegetables in their ponds serving as trellis and shade,” he said.

The multi-enterprise commodity system of Gerona involved a 300 square meter (sq.m.) pond for the first cy-cle, two 300 sq.m. ponds on the second and one 300 sq.m. pond on the third cycle.

For feed, he uses prawn commercial feeds mixed with crushed golden kuhol (golden apple snails), fish trashes, and some kitchen leftovers.

The system becomes multi-commodity with the planting of vegetables such as upo and squash whose vines complement growing of prawn by providing shade for prawn growing which ap-parently helps raise yield and income.

An important recommen-dation of the VSU researchers was for the integration of pro-duction of freshwater prawn fry or seed as part of technol-ogy for which farmers should be trained and ensure that they have easy access to seed supply and that they may also have this in disease-free form since disease may cause a ma-jor loss for prawn farmers.

Southern Leyte is suit-able as a prawn farming area. Specifically, with clay soil in the ponds, water has higher retention property. Other pa-rameters for a good prawn pond are the maintenance of a water pH of seven to eight, dissolved oxygen of three to seven parts per million, and temperature of 27 to 30 degrees centigrade, Eleazar added. [PNA]

THE Department of Ag-riculture (DA) is main-taining its 2013 rice self-

sufficiency bid despite palay damage from the onslaught of inclement weather last year.

”We’re not reneging on such bid,” DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said during a briefing on Tuesday.

He said the country is on the right track in its bid for rice self-sufficiency, noting that the DA continues imple-menting interventions aimed at further boosting nation-wide production of palay.

Among such interven-tions are increased irrigation and use of improved palay varieties.

DA’s quick turnaround strategy also helped cush-ion the impact of inclement weather’s damage to palay production in 2011.

Nationwide volume of production for palay reached 16.68 million metric tons (MTs) last year, exceeding by 5.78 percent the country’s 2010 output of 15.77 mil-lion MTs for this staple grain, data DA released on Tuesday show.

Gains in palay produc-tion helped Philippine agri-culture grow 2.34 percent in 2011, the data also indicate.

Alcala said DA’s earlier studies forecast 2012 palay output to reach some 18.46

million MTs. DA forecasts palay out-

put to further rise to about 20 million MTs by 2013.

”That’s doable,” Alcala assured.

He reiterated the coun-try’s 2012 rice importa-tion volume will remain at 500,000 MTs as there is still no reason to increase this quantity.

He said the private sector will bring in half of such rice while farmers’ groups will im-port the balance.

”Such importation’s guidelines are finished al-ready so we hope to com-mence bidding by February,” he said. [PNA]

THE Investment Coordina-tion Committee (ICC) of the National Economic

and Development Author-ity (NEDA) Board recently ap-proved government projects on irrigation, flood control and education that are geared to-wards promoting agricultural growth, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

Two irrigation projects approved by the ICC’s Cabinet Committee (CabCom) are the Umayam River Irrigation Proj-ect (URIP) and the Casecnan Multi-Purpose Irrigation and Power Project-Irrigation Com-ponent, Phase II (CMIPP-IC).

The URIP is a medium-scale irrigation project that aims to provide water supply to agricultural lands of Adgaoan, La Paz and Umayam, Loreto in the province of Agusan del Sur. It involves the construction of an overflow diversion dam across the Umayam River, an irrigation canal network, pro-tection dike, and improvement of waterways, among others.

“The URIP enhances the standard of living of the people in the project area by increas-ing rice production through irrigation development and agricultural support services,” said Socioeconomic Planning Cayetano W. Paderanga, Jr.

Paderanga, who is also NEDA Director-General, add-ed that given the long-term productivity-enhancing nature of the project, it can address sectoral, regional and local de-velopment plans such as the Food Staples Self-Sufficiency

Roadmap of the Department of Agriculture and the Mindanao Strategic Development Frame-work for 2010-2020, among others.

Meanwhile, the CMIPP-IC Phase II aims to continue pro-viding full irrigation to 20,321 of the 37,200 hectares of new areas in the towns of Munoz, Guimba, Talugtog, Cuyapo in Nueva Ecija, and Anao, Ramos and Victoria in Tarlac. It also in-tends to stabilize the irrigation supply to the 40,000 hectares of existing areas of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Ir-rigation System.

The first Phase, completed in December 2008, already benefitted 16,879 hectares of new irrigation areas.

“This project is consis-tent with the objective of the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 to improve food security and increasing house-hold income in the countryside through agricultural modern-ization. It also addresses Cen-tral Luzon’s objective of making food affordable and sufficient in and out of the region,” the Cabinet official said.

The CMIPP-IC Phase II is estimated to cost PhP7.05 bil-lion The NIA is proposing that the Government of China fund at least 75 percent of the total cost of CMIPP-IC Phase II.

For the URIP, which is es-timated to cost PhP1.56 billion, the agency is proposing that the Government of China fund at least 87 percent of the total cost.Aside from the two irriga-tion projects, ICC-CabCom also

approved the Integrated Disas-ter Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Measures in Low-Lying Areas of Pampanga Bay Project.

The project aims to reduce the extent, level and duration of flooding in the municipali-ties of Sto. Tomas, Minalin, San Simon, Sasmuan, Apalit, Ma-cabebe and Masantol in Pam-panga.

“This project will directly alleviate the plight of school children in Pampanga in their water-soaked and severely de-teriorated school surroundings. They can look forward to a bet-ter future as they can complete their education in an environ-ment conducive for learning,” said Paderanga.

Spearheaded by the De-partments of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Education (DepEd), the project involves site heightening of 26 schools to eliminate school site flooding and stagnant water ponding; reconstruction of 232 school rooms in 47 flood-affect-ed and naturally deteriorated elementary schools; construc-tion of 11 deep well pumps in 11 schools without secured source of potable water; and establishment of flood control measures in the area’s rivers.

Of the PhP4.66 billion total project cost, DPWH and DepEd is proposing to secure 83.77 percent through a loan from the Economic Develop-ment Cooperation Fund of the Government of Korea and the rest through Philippine Govern-ment funding. [NEDA]

THE Department of Agri-culture (DA) has set aside P1.9 billion for its Bureau

of Fisheries and Aquatic Re-sources (BFAR) this year for the implementation of major initiatives in the fishery indus-try that includes an integrated, pro-poor and community-based fisheries and aquacul-ture program.

The program aims to pro-duce adequate supply of qual-ity, world-class yet affordable fishery and aquaculture prod-ucts and at the same time lift small fisherfolk families from poverty.

This allocation is for the entire BFAR operations nationwide. It includes the implementation of integrated community-based multi-spe-cies hatchery and aquasilvicul-ture projects; maintenance of

the existing mariculture parks and municipal fishports in the region and the construction of several others; and expansion and intensification of the “fish cage-for-livelihood program.

The others are the provi-sion of training and technical assistance in various areas in

aquaculture, municipal, com-mercial, post-harvest, and regulatory services; establish-ment of hatcheries and nurser-ies; implementation of Coastal Resource Management (CRM) projects; and operation of the Monitoring, Control and Sur-veillance (MCS) system. [PNA]

AGRITRENDS



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AGRI TRENDS

ONLY sans pork and bago-ong, their garden is a caul-dron of pinakbet.

The 7-hectare sprawl of congregated farm land of 11 farmers in Nabunturan, Compos-tela Valley Province is planted to ampalaya (bitter gourd), squash, eggplant, string beans tomato collectively known as pinakbet, a native Filipino delicacy whose main ingredients are these veg-etables.

This site, now the source of their higher income, is a revival of the greenery and the lucrative income from vegetable farming in years past.

“We’ve been vegetable farmers before. But when the in-surgent group NPA (New people Army) invaded this area most of the farmers abandoned the place to escape from the strife,” said Alberto Osorio, chairman Up-land Barangay Linda association (UBLA).

“Majority of Brgy. Linda was devoted to vegetable farm-ing even beyond the seven hect-

ares garden that we have now. Plus, we were given an addi-tional rubber production project from the Upland Development Project (UDP),” he added.

When the insurgency prob-lem was resolved, farmers were left with no capital, nothing to start with when they were about to go back to their farming.

But the POs enthusiasm and hope in vegetable garden-ing was renewed when the local government identified them as beneficiaries of the Department of Agriculture – Mindanao Ru-ral development Program (DA-MRDP).

MRDP is a poverty allevia-tion initiative implemented un-der DA with funding from the World Bank, National Govern-ment and the Local Government Units in Mindanao.

Under the Community Fund for Agriculture Develop-ment (CFAD), the livelihood component of the Program the association received a total amount of P250,000.00 which

BITTER GOURD. Rogelio Cariada has tasted sweeter side of bitter gourd, locally known as ampalaya, after his income has significantly

increase allowing him to send his children to school and buy modest appliances for his home.

the group bought for the inputs of their vegetable farming and rubber seedlings.

“Under the CFAD fund we proposed two projects, one is vegetable farming and rubber production to expand our pre-vious project under DA-UDP,” Osorio said.

UBLA has 35 members, the first eleven members who

were selected to do the vegetable farming where chosen based on their experience and expertise. The rest of the members did the rubber production project.

The 11 vegetable farmers already had their third round of planting the pinakbet vegetables which earned the association a gross income of over P500 thou-sand. [SHERWIN B. MANUAL/DAMRDP]

7



Watershed management framework approved

Ochoa enjoins public servantsto back ‘Bayanihan ng Bayan’

Environment added as 4th strategic pillar for EAGA

Davao City eyesspeed cameras

Davao Chinatown council eyes bigger, relevant presence

GOVERNANCE

DAVAO City came a step closer to the implemen-tation of the Davao City

Watershed Code when the multi-sectoral Watershed Man-agement Council (WMC) head-ed by Mayor Sara D. Carpio approved last week a strategic framework for the protection, conservation and management of the city’s major watershed areas.

The framework, a result of a series of consultations with stakeholders last year, addresses at least a dozen major issues and concerns, according to City Administrator Zuleika T. Lopez, WMC vice chairperson, who presided over the meeting with Councilor Arnolfo Ricardo B. Cabling and acting City Agricul-turist Leonardo Avila III, who co-authored the watershed code in 2007.

Lopez said the framework was drafted by a technical work-ing group (TWG) and was sub-mitted for discussion and com-ments with representatives of various government agencies, barangay captains in identified watershed areas, members of barangay watershed manage-ment councils (BWMCs) orga-nized last year, the indigenous peoples, landowners, small and big agricultural plantations and various other stakeholders, such as non-government organiza-tions, the academe, the religious sector, the Davao Medical So-ciety, Davao City Chamber of Commerce, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and media.

The framework, a dynamic document subject to revisions as the need arises, will serve as reference in crafting a specific management plan for each of eight major watershed areas in the city. It lays down six goals and addresses 10 major issues identified during the series of multi-sectoral meetings and consultations last year.

Avila said the watershed areas were pinpointed through a terrain analysis conducted by the city government in a joint undertaking with the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau of the De-partment of Environment and Natural Resources.

The framework provides for a set of objectives and strate-gies seeking

--to delineate boundaries of identified conservation ar-eas, agricultural non-tillage and prime agricultural areas through a perimeter survey;

--to conserve groundwa-

‘DID the coco farmers benefit from the levy imposed on them 35 years ago? Not at all. Zero.’

--Senator Joker Arroyo, lamenting on the ruling of the Supreme Court t h a t 24 percent of San Miguel Corp. shares is owned by the government.

BizQUIPS

THE Davao City Traffic Management Center (TMC) is eyeing the pur-

chase of speed cameras to de-tect overspeeding vehicles in city streets and highways.

This according to TMC head Desiderio Cloribel, who said the mobile camera, which automatically records the speed of vehicles, would roam Davao streets and high-ways to check on overspeed-ing vehicles, including public utility jeeps or PUJs which are mandated to follow a 30 kilo-meter per hour speed limit

However, Cloribel said such cameras are so expen-sive TMC may have to use manual cameras using or or-dinary video cams which are cheaper. But he says there is a need for an ordinance in case the manual system is adopted to catch speed limit violators.

Cloribel said catching overspeeding vehicles with-out cameras is a difficult task because the pursuing vehicles nay have to resort to over-speeding to catch the violator.

Meanwhile, figures re-leased by the TMC showed that 27,794 traffic violators have been apprehended by the Center which is made up of the elite Traffic Eagle Squad, Motorcycle units and field personnel while 23,838 driver’s licenses were confis-cated, 1,395 license plates taken and 1,344 vehicles im-pounded.

On violation of City Or-dinance 52, or the prohibition of trisikads (pedal driven tri-cycles) plying city streets and highways, 1,806 such vehicles were confiscated. Revenue generated thru fines amounted to P585,900.00. [PIA 11/RG ALAMA]

ter for future domestic use by rehabilitating and developing 93,080 hectares of open land, brush and mangrove areas through a reforestation program and related activities;

--to harmonize national and local policies and regula-tions and strictly enforced them;

--to provide alternative livelihood programs for occu-pants/ settlers within conserva-tion and non-tillage areas;

--to develop sufficient re-sources needed to implement policies and programs on water-shed management through the promotion of multi-sectoral, in-ter-agency and community par-ticipation and the generation of funds through co-management agreements, submission of pro-posals to local and international donor institutions and collection of environmental users tax; and to implement a massive continu-

ing information, education and communication (IEC) program designed to make all stakehold-ers understand and internalize the life-and-death importance of protection, conservation and management of the city’s water-sheds.

Councilor Marissa S. Abel-la, current chairperson of the SP committee of environment, said there should be no letup in the WMC’s consultations with stake-holders, especially those initially feel threatened by the water-shed code’s implementation.

Abella, one of two coun-cilors who are members of the WMC, bared that the frame-work also tackles some ticklish issues such as titled lands within the protected areas, expansion of agricultural plantations with-in conservation and agricultural non-tillage areas, deliberate misinformation on the water-

shed code provisions, weak enforcement and monitoring of provision on buffer zones, and improper waste management and presence of pollutants in rivers and other bodies of water in the city.

Ms Lopez added that other major issues included in the WMC’s “perpetual concerns,” are climate change, disaster preparedness, rapid population growth of the city, in-migration, finite ground resource and in-trusion of salt water into the aquifers and implementation of the Rainwater Harvesting Ordi-nance.

The newly-approved framework will now be the basis of a comprehensive, sys-tematic and community-based approach to protection, conser-vation and management of the major watersheds in the city, she said.

WMC Vice Chairperson Lyca Lopez and Councilor Arnolfo Ricado B. Cabling

WMC members Imelda Magsuci and Eddie Rosete

THE Davao City Chi-natown Development Council is seeking a

greater and relevant pres-ence in the Chinatown dis-trict this year.

According to Edgar Te, head for special projects of the DCCDC, the implement-ing rules and regulations (IRR) are subject for final approval by the city mayor who is chairs the DCCDC executive committee.

“We hope we can in-tensify the relationship of the council with the stake-holders, it will take a little bit of time,” Te said during a guesting at the Club888 media forum at The Marco Polo Davao.

Te said the council is hoping that the body will be understood by the Chinese-Filipinos, particularly the el-ders, as something that can help them in the area and be recognized and not just known during events like mooncake and Chinese New Year festivals.

“We are already eight years old,” Te said of the Council which coincided with the signing of an or-dinance establishing the Davao City Chinatown Dis-trict within 44 hectares of the City, an area of which

70% of the residents are Chinese or with Chinese blood.

He said that if the IRR is approved they will be fo-cusing on regulations for the Chinatown; one such regulation is requirement of a Chinatown council sig-nature in the building plans of any structure built within the Chinatown area.

The regulation will mandate building project owners to conform to Chi-nese motifs so as to slowly transform the area into a more Chinese character.

The DCCDC is also eyeing Magsaysay Park to be part of the Chinatown district which the council hopes they can beautify.

One of the plans would be to use the seaside park as the venue for Chinese cultural presentations and Chinese film showings twice a month. The activities will serve to highlight Chinese culture and enhance the re-lationship between the resi-dents and visitors.

The DCCDC is also eyeing to help the city in beautifying and develop-ing Sta. Ana wharf which they consider as part of the Chinatown District. [PIA 11/RG

ALAMA]

EXECUTIVE Secretary Pa-quito N. Ochoa Jr. is urg-ing government officials

and employees to promote and participate in the “Bayanihan ng Bayan” project of the admin-istration to help rebuild lives of typhoon victims in Mindanao.

Ochoa issued Memoran-dum Circular No. 26 enjoining all public servants to support the Bayanihan ng Bayan from January 25 to 28 in Iligan City after Tropical Storm “Sendong” ravaged the area and Cagayan De Oro City over a month ago.

“The event aims to illus-trate the collective response and various ways Filipinos can help victims of the typhoon,” Ochoa said in the memoran-dum. “It also intends to gather commitments from all over the country to rebuild devastated areas in Northern Mindanao.”

On Wednesday, President

Benigno Aquino visited relo-cation sites in Iligan City and Cagayan De Oro City, where he launched the shelter program for typhoon victims. The Presi-dent also assured local gov-ernment units of the national government’s support as they rehabilitate areas affected by Sendong.

Memorandum Circular No. 26, signed on January 25, specifically orders officials and employees of all departments, bureaus and agencies of the national government, as well as government-owned and -con-trolled corporations to support and take part in the Bayanihan ng Bayan.

IN lieu of the global issues on climate change, the Bru-nei Darussalam-Indonesia-

Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) min-isters have adopted environment management as one of its stra-tegic pillars for the sub-regional cooperation.

“The Philippines success-fully pushed for the inclusion of environment as a new strategic pillar in addition to the three ma-jor pillars of the sub-region,” re-ported Mindanao Development Authority Chairperson Luwalhati Antonino.

The other three strategic pillars of BIMP-EAGA are food basket/food security, ecotour-ism, and enhancing connectivity.

Antonino, who also serves as the Philippines Signing Min-ister for BIMP-EAGA, added that the new environment pillar will

significantly lay the foundation for food security and ecological integrity in the sub-region. The Working Group on Forestry and Environment crafted recently a list of possible projects under this strategic pillar.

“We have already proposed to the group a carbon sequestra-tion mechanism through mas-sive tree planting in BIMP-EAGA areas,” said DENR 11 Planning and Management head Naomi So, who sits as member of the Working Group.

An exploratory study on es-tablishing a carbon trading bank for BIMP-EAGA countries to be led by the DENR in partnership with MinDA was also proposed.

Other proposed projects include setting up a coordinat-ing link between the major en-vironment working group in BIMP-EAGA, such as the Heart

of Borneo, Coral Triangle Initia-tive, and Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion.

Brunei Darussalam will also lead an integrated coastal resources management and de-velopment training workshop.

“We are advancing the country’s environmental prior-ity programs and projects for Mindanao through our water-shed management program or the MindaNOW (Nurturing our Waters), which we intend to ex-pand across the sub-region,” An-tonino said.

MindaNOW is MinDA’s flagship environmental undertak-ing that pushes for the adoption of river basin and watershed as key platforms for planning. It seeks to provide an enabling mechanism for achieving environmental in-tegrity and sustainable economic development. [MINDA]



EDITORIAL

VANTAGE POINTS

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All losers, except one

WHILE the nation’s attention is glued to the television coverage of the historic

impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, some guys are scratching their heads trying to think of a solution to a common problem. The guys are the chief executives of local government units. In the Davao Region, LGUs mean the four provinces, five cities ad 43 municipalities, not to mention the hundreds of barangay governments. The common problem is their greatly reduced share of the IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment).

In this region, all LGUs will lose an aggregate amount of P1.1 billion down to P10.9 billion this year from last year’s P11.5 billion. The reduction in income is caused by the decrease of the country’s tax collection in 2009 and the controversial creation of 16 new cities.

The Davao Region’s five cities –

Davao, Digos, Tagum, Panabo and Island Garden City of Samal(IGaCos) – will lose a combined total of P589.7 million in IRA shares with Davao City as the biggest loser at P359,965,125 from P2.757 billion in 2011 to only P2.397 billion this year. Indeed, all are losers. Except one –the newly created city of Mati, capital of Davao Oriental. By virtue of its creation into a city with 15 other former municipalities despite the vehement objections more than 120 old cities, Mati gets an IRA of P492.6 million this year, indicating a whopping increase of P316.6 million.

How would the LGUs cope with the huge reduction of their IRA? That is the question.

The fiscal scenario is worsened by the fact that a few months from now, it would be another election season when voters, rightly or wrongly, expect to get a piece of the action, that is to say, part of the usual largesse in abundance during a political season.

Better, but not good enough

BizQUIPS‘TO the extent that the Fed

action sustains the positive growth outlook in the United States, this should also be positive for our own trade prospects.’

--Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr.

I have heard the word “competitiveness” more than 100 times for the last

10 days and this pertains to the recently released results of some surveys on the com-petitiveness of countries and economies worldwide.

The most recent of these competitiveness indices is the World Economic Freedom which was released middle of January 2012 by the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington and Wall Street.

The index rates coun-tries in 10 categories – labor freedom, business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal free-dom, government spending, monetary freedom, invest-ment freedom, financial freedom, property rights and freedom from corruption – and the results are averaged to create an overall score.

In this index, the good news is that the rank of the Philippines improved from 115th in the previous year to 107th in the current year’s result; the bad news is that the survey covered 179 coun-tries. On the whole, while the country is improving, it still belongs in the lowest 40% of all nations. To put it simply, 60% of all nations are better than the Philippines.

There are other mea-sures of global competitive-ness, such as the World Eco-nomic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report, the International Finance Cor-poration/World Bank (IFC/WB) Doing Business Survey, IMD World Competitiveness Report, and Future Brand’s Country Brand Index. In all these surveys, the Philippines is among those in the lower 50%.

Perhaps, it’s too much to expect the country to be in the top 30% or even in the top 50%. Those spots are most probably “reserved” for the bigger states, the more advanced nations, and the leading economies of the world. After all, we are but a developing economy (for a long time now!). How can we ever compete?

Then, with whom should we compare the Phil-ippines?

Let’s take the ASEAN countries. The results are more disturbing. For the WEF and IFC/WB, we are number 7 out of 8 ASEAN countries in 2011. In both surveys, Cambodia (No. 8) was our saving grace. For the IMD, we ranked 5th out of 5 ASEAN countries covered by the survey!

Why do we have to com-pare our performance with other countries?

With these exercises, countries do not necessar-ily compete, as Krugman says. However, these indi-ces of competitiveness show us where we are in terms of macroeconomic manage-ment, technological readi-ness, market efficiency for goods and services, and gov-ernance. In short, it gives us an idea of how good we are in handling the affairs of our country, how good we are in bringing about progress that is felt by everybody, how good we are in pursu-ing common development goals, how responsive we are to international trends, and how good we are in creating opportunities for investments and employment for the ben-efit of our people. They show us the reality, the relevance of what we believe are our achievements, and our status and significance in the global scene.

These indices provide an objective benchmark which we could use to mea-sure whether we are good enough, good or not so good. Without an appropri-ate benchmark, our achieve-ments in terms of economic growth, poverty reduction, employment rate, lower prices, higher wages, etc. could mislead us into believ-ing that we have a strong economy.

Having seen our per-formance in these indices, what then should we do? While the results are quite disturbing, the right attitude is to verify and scrutinize the more specific sub-indicators of each of the indices and find out where we are lag-ging behind and do some things about them. Now is not the best time to ignore the facts. It’s not the time to challenge the methodolo-gies. And it’s not the time to claim that we think we are better than what the results suggest.

Take an honest and humble position and em-brace reality. By doing something with these reali-ties, we do justice to those amongst us who badly feel such realities in their day-to-day existence. And it’s everybody’s responsibility to make them “competitive” as individuals, as communities, at par with their counter-parts in some other parts of the globe.



WITH the last second of the Chinese lunar year of the Rabbit

being counted down on Sun-day, joyous Chinese people erupted in cheers and glit-tering fireworks displayed against the night sky to greet the Chinese lunar year of the Dragon.

The Chinese dragon, opposite to its western coun-terpart, is perceived as an auspicious, powerful and dynamic icon, always coura-geous enough to face daunt-ing challenges.

China’s efforts to strike a balance between promot-ing growth and restructuring its export-driven economy along a path full of unex-pected twists and pot-holes have best defined the spirit of the Chinese dragon.

Despite facing stiff headwinds from a flagging world economy and a fes-tering eurozone debt crisis, China still managed to reach a growth rate of 9.2 percent in 2011, dwarfing any other major economy in the world.

More to the point, a breakdown of China’s GDP growth reveals that the country is shifting away from its lopsided growth

model toward a more bal-anced and sustainable one, with consumption contribut-ing a larger share to China’s GDP growth than previous years.

The latest data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed that in-vestment and consumption contributed 54.2 percent and 51.6 percent to China’s GDP growth in 2011, while net exports registered a neg-ative 5.8 percent.

The better tone should also be fed into retail sales, a key indicator of consum-er spending, which rose 18.1 percent year-on-year in December, up from the 17.3-percent growth seen in November.

These figures have sent out a strong message that

China’s unfolding economic restructuring, aimed at re-ducing its over-reliance on exports to fuel growth, yield-ed some desirable results in 2011, the first year of Chi-na’s 12th Five-Year Plan.

Around the world, at the stroke of midnight, many may have approached the Chinese lunar year of the Dragon with more un-easiness than joy. Stock markets are in a funk. The eurozone is in danger of dis-integration. Jobless rate is stubbornly high in the Unit-ed States. Much of the rest of the world is struggling to avoid the collateral dam-age from sluggish economic growth in the developed world.

Under such circum-stances, the painful yet

relatively smooth restruc-turing of the Chinese econ-omy could prove to be good news not only to China, but also to the world.

If the strong domestic demand can take hold for years to come, it will not only beef up China’s abil-ity to defend the protracted global financial crisis, but also give a boost to the world economy.

That’s because a con-sumer-led China would be likelier to buy more of prod-ucts and services from all corners of the world, which will support jobs and uplift-ing economies both at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, a huge Chinese market, with its 1.3 billion people, means more exports and investment op-portunities for other coun-tries, thus helping them to offset a dwindling demand from the West.

China, with the spirit of the Chinese dragon, is ready to work with the rest of the world and show more courage to bid farewell to the beaten path so as to pull through the current economic downturn. [PNA/XINHUA]

SHORT POLITICAL PUNCH – Judging the way events are ongo-

ing nowadays, you would think that the political op-position, notably remnants of the Arroyo administration, had transformed into an infa-mous group of rabble rousers who seem to use every petty issue under the present PNoy leadership as an opportunity to make sense.

SYMBOLIC OF CHI-NESE ECONOMIC MATU-RITY – Ever wondered about the hard work, patience and perseverance of the Chinese entrepreneurs in dealing with their trade, either big or small? On well-paved and crowded streets of a mega city like Toronto, Canada, stands a monument to Chi-nese entrepreneur spirit: dominating specifically the mini convenience and gro-cery store business and op-erating wet markets. Well, I can say this with certainty because I and my wife spent a one-year vacation in Cana-da’s largest city.

Most Chinese, probably those who migrated to the different places in Canada, are hard-working and well-

trainedafter being engaged in obscure jobs in China’s vast state-owned sector in the 60s and 70s. These traits are the key factors why they were able to succeed in their business ventures in foreign lands. Today, in the Greater Toronto Area or GTA specifi-cally, if you go to any con-venience and grocery store or prefer a sumptuous meal, you’ll doubtless find a place owned or operated by suc-cessful Chinese entrepre-neurs. Moreover, in keeping with Chinese tradition, their businesses remain a purely family affair where members have tortuously taken on much of the day-to-day op-erations of their trade.

Business competition in Canada, similar to the US, is extremely tough therefore leaving big enterprises and other giant publicly owned

corporations in the control of mega wealthy Canadian and American business clans. Obviously, Canadians actu-ally are not interested in ven-turing into small store and wet market businesses. This disinclination opened the op-portunity for business-mind-ed Chinese immigrants who ventured into small to me-dium businesses with other nationalities like the Indians, Koreans, Japanese and Jews filling in the gap and sharing a chunk of it. Clearly enough, the Chinese entrepreneurs’ dream is to make their busi-nesses eventually ubiqui-tous in all of Canada if not throughout the world.

There is more. Per-haps, not surprisingly, the Chinese entrepreneurs’ deep self-confidence, perse-verance and hard work are symbolic of their economic

maturity and the kind of opportunity they seized along with other nation-alities several years back remain ripe in Canada and other friendly neighboring countries. Hence there is some degree of confidence and faith in the small en-trepreneurship enabling the Chinese and their peers to get on with the business of running it aggressively and confidently.

Some renowned econ-omists observed that the entire concept of the mi-grant entrepreneurs’ way of “making money,” however, seemed foreign: taking them years to earn substan-tial amount of money until things would start to turn in their favor. That’s where people like the Chinese and other migrants to Canada come in.

Although many if not all them still work long days at their own small busi-ness turfs, their greatest desire and aspiration is for the yields to be extremely abundant and manageable and, of course, conducive to a good night’s sleep af-terwards.

IT’S so nice to hear from people who also share our frustrations in our column

last month on “Doing busi-ness with government”. It was even “timely” as Ms Risteta Du-magan Roldan, a lawyer from Digos, was on her way to city hall to follow up collection of an overdued bill for shirt and uniforms her small outfit sup-plied to the city government.

Sharing similar experienc-es like this has a way of waking people up to these problems and eventually find solutions to them.

It wasn’t clear how long she had been trying to follow up her payment. But between me and Roldan, she deserved to be paid sooner. She is an AC-CREDITED supplier, a member of PHILGEPS (whatever that means) and better qualified to bid for projects in the city gov-ernment. She runs a “:micro-enterprise” and has a business permit and license to operate a legitimate business. In other words, she has all the legal

qualifications to do business with the government.

We’re wondering if city hall accounting is aware that small businesses doing busi-ness with the government need to generate a regular monthly cash flow coming from paid bills. If there’s no cash flow, there’s no money to pay for workers’ wages.

And if workers don’t get their wages, there’s no food on the table for the poor Filipino family. If there’s no money col-lected, the small supplier can’t pay her taxes to the city gov-ernment. It’s as simple as that.

All these things are linked to-gether.

In her email to this col-umn, Ms Roldan wrote that she brought a copy of Edge Davao and showed my Trading Post column to CTO employees who all agreed with what was written, but were resigned to what they’re going thru--- too much delay in the processing of vouchers.

Following up the pay-ment for several months, she admitted :

”Nahilis na lang and ligid sa akong lowly FX sa sige balik balik ug sige ko kahutdan ug

load sa sige tawag” She said they kept assuring her that “dali ra daw ma process” (it’s easy to process the payment) . Now, she said, they no longer reply to her text messages or take her “pestering” calls.

Now, she has second thoughts about participating in future biddings by the city government. “I don’t know if I have to participate in future biddings with these unfortu-nate experiences I’m suffer-ing”, she wrote.

One can see they’re very scared of the Commission on Audit (COA) and have to fol-low official “systems and pro-cedures” to the letter. This is the “check and balance” set in place to prevent graft and corruption in the government. One city hall staff admitted “Mao gyud ni ang bureaucra-cy. Palohon nato ang proceso. Wala tay mahimo:” (This is the bureacracy. There is nothing we can do.)

[COMMENTS? EMAIL ME AT: TRADING-

[email protected] ]

vantage POINTS

Coping with the bureacracy

WHAT is love?This question has been asked a thou-

sand times before, but hasn’t been answered quite ad-equately at all.

It seems that the more one tries to define love, the more difficult the effort be-comes. Love is so encom-passing that no single defini-tion can completely explain it.

“Love is a many-splen-dored thing” is the first line of a song of the same title. I think many will readily agree that that line is a good defi-nition of love. People who have been in love know that it is so.

For, in a manner of speaking, a person in love feels that he/she is in heaven, and everything about him / her is beautiful. To a person in love, the world becomes forever bright and everything eternally rosy. Love sees no ugliness, because it is blind, says Shakespeare.

But the definition I find most accurate is the one that says that love is an over-powering force. Yes, so over-powering that a person struck by it goes on to defy rhyme and reason, custom and tradition rule and logic. In short, love conquers all – anybody and all odds, the whole world even.

Teen-age lovers Romeo and Juliet just couldn’t con-tain the force of love and chose death over the pain of separation.

But for sheer dream and intensity nothing can beat the abdication of a throne for the love of a woman by King Edward III of England who gave us his kingdom 1937 in exchange for an Ameri-can divorcee. Now, what greater force is there than that? Imagine giving up all the power, the glory and the grandeur of a kingship for a second hand wife!

King Edward was later reduced to the rank of a Duke, but in the eyes of his beloved, he was still king – not of England, but the king of her heart. And that to Ed-ward, was the greatest king-ship of all.

As a driving force, love can catapult you to incred-ible heights of success, or drag you down to the deep-est depth of sorrow.

Love can make you ac-complish the impossible, do the bizarre, and commit the abominable.

A salesman in Texas, USA so loved his wife that he locked her in the basement of their house whenever he travelled out of town for busi-ness. Of course, he left her enough food to last for days.

In Denmark, a man had a unique way of disciplin-ing his wife everytime she neglected some household chores. He tied her up in her room three hours a day. She confessed later that the punishment made her love her husband more, and that she felt grateful to him for his brand of discipline.

In Brazil, a two-timing wife prepared her husband’s favorite cake on his birth-day. He thought it was sweet of her to do that. What he didn’t know, however, was that the icing on the cake had poison. Expectedly, the man died. And the woman lived happily ever after – with an-other man.

Love can destroy too. Take Samson, the biblical strongman who fell so mad-ly in love with Delilah that he revealed to her the se-cret of his strength. Delilah promptly delivered him to the Philistines who captured Samson and chained him like an animal.

Love is a good equalizer. It bridges the gap between the rich and poor, the edu-cated and the unlettered, the old and the young, the nor-mal and the abnormal (the politically correct term now is differently abled).

We are too familiar with stories of the unequals – rich girls running away with poor boys, executives falling in love with their secretar-ies, priests marrying parish assistants, wealthy matrons messing their lives in affairs with their younger chauf-feurs, teachers marrying their students, the blind marrying those who are ot.

Crazy? Illogical? Weird? Call it what you may, but the fact remains that the world go round. These strange things will happen again, and again, and again, and again.

Some psychologists say that love is a disease. Do you agree?

BizQUIPS‘WHEN most economies

began to suffer the effects of the Euro crisis and a weakening US economy, the Philippines was protected by remittances.’

--I-Remit Inc. president Harris Jacildo

That many-splendored thing called love

By Wang FanCOMMENTARY

Year of the Dragon Changing Chinese economy amid

global uncertainlty is assuring

Monumental entrepreneur spirit



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Nationwide search startsfor Outstanding Teachers

Globe beefs up concept stores

2012 a good year for Davao City,Mindanao, says Feng Shui expert

NCCA sets stage for Philippine Arts Festival 2012

BizQUIPS‘WE will have our profits

reduced in 2011 primarily due to higher oil prices. We do expect though to show a healthy profit and still be one o the most profitable low-cost carriers in the entire world.’

--Cebu Pacific President Lance Gokongwei, announcing the acquisition by Cebu Air Inc. of four new Airbus aircraft this year.

THE Philippine Arts Festival will showcase the arts all over the country

THE Year of the Water Drag-on for 2012 is a good year for the island region of Min-

danao and the City of Davao. Feng Shui expert Master

Richard Yu, who flew into this city on Monday last week, cour-tesy of SM Davao, to conduct a forum on the classic school of thoughts Feng Shui and the Chinese Lunar New Year, said “lots of good things will hap-pen in the Mindanao area, and there will be less disaster here.”

But he said there is a lot of work to be done, especially pertaining to issues of attaining justice and peace.

And because of the hard work that Davao City will be doing this year, a lot more good will happen next year.

He said Davao City will be the start off point of many good things that will be realized in the southern part of the coun-try this year.

“And next year you will reap the fruits because of your hard work this year,” he said.

Yu has been conducting fora and consultancy for the past nine years. He worked formerly at the National Sta-tistics Office, Manila with his

educational background in en-gineering, but decided to come up with his own calling and landed in Feng Shui analysis to which he had been exposed when he was a kid because his father practices the craft. [DIGNA

D. BANZON/PNA]

THE National Commission for Culture and the Arts’ (NCCA)—the country’s

prime agency for arts and cul-ture—is gearing up for the 2012 Philippine Arts Festival (PAF), a month-long fete that will banner the flagship projects of the seven committees of the NCCA’s Sub-commission on the Arts (SCA), embracing architecture, cinema, dance, literature, music, dramat-ic arts and visual arts.

Under its chairman, Prof. Felipe de Leon, Jr., the NCCA has taken the theme “Tradisyon at Inobasyon” (Tradition and Innovation) for next year’s cel-ebration, which aims to further advance local creativity in the arts. PAF will feature workshops, exhibitions, forums and perfor-mances by practitioners of the arts and will take place all over the country. Eminent local and foreign artists will take part in this biggest and grandest month-long cultural gathering.

The annual celebration of National Arts Month began with the signing of Presidential Proc-

lamation 683 in 1991, declaring February as National Arts Month. Through the years, the NCCA in partnership with various private and government agencies have organized events and activities to highlight Filipino artistic excel-lence and creativity.

Popular television and film icons Boy Abunda and Dingdong Dantes have lent their stellar power for the 2011 festival as NCCA Art and Youth Ambassa-dors, respectively. For 2012, they will be joined by Piolo Pascual as NCCA Culture Ambassador to further popularize the festival.

Next year’s PAF will em-phasize the interface of tradition-al and contemporary art forms and genres. A festive launching is set at the Rizal Park, to be high-lighted by a kite making work-shop, kite flying, and sumptu-ous samplings of the seven arts. Closing the PAF is the Ani ng Dangal awarding ceremony that will recognize the contribution of individuals and institutions to the promotion of Filipino cultural heritage.

During the entire month of February, the public is invited to come and witness the seven arts committees present their flagship projects.

ArchitectureThe Committee on Archi-

tecture and Allied Arts, headed by Architect Gerard Lico, will be holding several exhibitions, conferences, lectures and com-petitions to mark the celebra-tion. The exhibitions will revolve around themes and topics on the morphology of Filipino build-ings, Philippine styles, the works of IP Santos, and discourses on design. These events are under the “Achi[types/texts] 2012” project. Some of the exhibits in-clude “Salumpuwit, Bangko, Si-lya, Atbp.: A History of Chairs in the Philippines”; “La Vida Verde: The Landscape Architecture of National Artist IP Santos”; and “Imeldific Modernity: A Dic-tatorship of Style.” There will also be a design competition on architectural innovation for architecture students, as well as conferences, and lectures.

PUBLIC and private schools in all levels may now nominate deserv-

ing educators in the region to vie for the nationwide 2012 Search for Outstanding Teachers.

The Metrobank Foun-dation, Inc. has opened the nominations for the SOT to teachers who “manifest pro-found commitment to the development of the youth through exemplary compe-tence, remarkable dedica-tion to their work, and effec-tive educational leadership.”

This year’s Search car-rying the theme: “Raising Educational Excellence” will be giving recognition and awards to ten outstanding educators who have served as “role models to their students” and who have in-spired to “follow a path of excellence.”

On its 28th year, Me-trobank Foundation has opened the SOT to elemen-tary, secondary, and higher education teachers with a ten-year minimum teaching experience.

MBFI senior program officer Allan A. Reyes said each school in the elementa-

ry category could nominate two of their teachers, one from the primary (Kinder to Grade III) and one from the intermediate (Grade IV to Grade VI).

Schools in the second-ary and higher education are entitled to nominate only one teacher each, Reyes stated.

He added that satellite campuses of private colleges and universities and state universities and colleges, which are not autonomous, are now allowed to partici-pate in the nomination.

Past Regional and Na-tional finalists who have met the basic eligibility require-ments and have shown sus-tained good moral standing in the community, are con-sidered automatic Provincial Finalists, Reyes said.

Reyes disclosed that the 2012 ten awardees will each receive a cash prize of P350,000, while their respective schools will be given a medal, trophy and a plaque of recognition.

The National Final-ists will still receive cash incentive of P20,000, while Regional Finalists will get

P10,000 cash incentive. The finalists and nominators of the awardees will also get certificates of recognition.

Reyes said that nomi-nees just need to submit two page Basic Information Sheet (BIS) to the MBFI Sec-retariat or to the nearest Me-trobank branch on/or before February 6, 2012.

No additional docu-ments are required, he add-ed.

The BIS forms are read-ily available in all the bank’s branches, at the Depart-ment of Education (DepEd) regional and division of-fices, and at Commission on Higher Education (CHED) regional offices nationwide.

Reyes said that those found to be eligible will be asked to submit the official nomination forms on Febru-ary 29. The forms may also be downloaded through MBFI’s website at www.mb-foundation.org.ph.

He said MBFI, a corpo-rate social responsibility arm of the Metrobank Group, has already provided recognition to 306 educators all over the country since 1984. [PIA 11/CA-

RINA L. CAYON]

GLOBE Telecom on Thursday said that it has converted about 50

percent of its total store chan-nel nationwide to full-service concept stores.

“Our aim is to please our customers and address even their special needs and concerns,” Ramon Matriano, head of Globe’s Consumer Sales said.

“We will continue to ex-pand our Concept Store to more areas in the country as we continue to hone and de-velop highly-engaged, profes-sional and competent store personnel as well as make constant improvements in our

stores to provide the best pos-sible customer experience,” Matriano said.

Globe is the first tele-communications company to transform its stores from utilitarian payment and trans-action centers to a one-stop shop that showcases the latest gadgets and consumer mobile technologies. Inspired by cut-ting-edge retail concepts from some of the world’s biggest telecom and retail companies.

The blueprint Globe pioneered the model for the retail concept now being im-plemented by other telcos in the country.

In 2011, Globe has also

added new features to the Concept Store to further re-flect the company’s thrust of putting its customers first. A dedicated hotline was also set up for on-the-go custom-ers who don’t have the time to queue at the stores for their after-sales concerns.

The Globe Concept Store features a trendier contemporary design layout, featuring a wide array of working mobile phones and gadgets that customers can actually try and test. There are also laptops with Wi-Fi and broadband connections for customers to do in-store surfing. [PNA]

BUSINESS TALK. Lawyer Tristan Dwight Do-mingo, head of Davao City’s Business Bureau, updates members of the media on the number of newly registered business establishments in the

city. With Domingo during the weekly ISPEAK media forum at City Hall was Traffic and Man-agement Center Chief Desiderio Cloribel. [JOSEPH

LAWRENCE GARCIA]



competitive edge

BizQUIPS‘FOR 2012, I am projecting

a growth of 3 to 4 percent because I incorporated the implications of possible climate disturbances. Kung wala ‘yong mga disturbances na ito, the DA target may be achievable.’

--Dr. Rolando T. Dy, executive director of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA).

Davao sports tourism potentialsto be discussed in Jan. 31 forum

New opportunity to becomea successful entrepreneur

DENR 11 starts bird counting

INDUCTION. The newly organized Association of International Recruitment Agencies (AIRA) in Region 10 inducted its new set of officers and board of directors during its first fellowship activity last month. Elected are (left to right): president - Leopoldo B. Zerrudo Jr. of MMML Recruitment Services, Inc., vice president - Joseph Supangan of Admiral Overseas Employment Corp., secretary - Teresita Abrogar of Ed-Fro-Bon Manpower Services, treasurer - Jesela L. Daniel of Naptron International Placement Agency, auditor - Charity A. Morales of H.M.O. International

Human Resource, board of directors - Joy Tan of Pacific Mediterrenian Int’l. Manpower Agency Inc., Aubrey Bariquit of Safe Future Manpower Agency Inc., Jeanesa I. Ratunil of Pisces International Placement and press relations officer - Jerry T. Gratil of United Placeman Phils., Inc. Inducting officer is Mr. Jeremy Cabrera of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) -10.

2012 is a good start for Samal Dairy Farm (Bottled Milks) as it has been awarded with the Davao Branding Program’s Seal of Excellence, a manifestation that they produce safe and premium quality products for people to patronize. Awarding the seal of excellence are (from left to right) IGACOS City Administrator Cleto “Jon” Gales, Jr., DOST XI Asst. Regional Director

Elsie Solidum, Davao Branding Program Manager Leny Castillo, DCCCII Prexy Dr. Malou Monteverde, Samal Dairy Gen. Manager Kathy Jane Cortez, Samal Dairy Mktg. Manager Dixcyl Roda, FDA XI TWG Member Arnold Alindada & DCCCII Trustee and Outgoing Chairman of the Board John Gaisano.

THE Sports Tourism Fo-rum, to be held in Davao City on January 31 at the

Waterfront Insular Hotel will focus on the tourism potential of Davao and its prospect as a sports destination.

Presented by the Davao City Tourism Office and the Department of Tourism, the one day forum is organized by Selrahco Management, a leading sports and tour-ism marketing company in the country. Charles Lim, the founder and director of this major sports conference stated in Davao recently that there are not enough regional and international sporting events being staged here in Davao to boost its tourism ef-forts.

Lim said that the golf tournaments in Davao, Mt Apo climb, whitewater raft-ing and wake boarding are some of the sports activities

that could attract a large num-ber of tourists to the city. He hopes that more organizers will take the initiative to stage more of these sporting events using whatever facilities are available.

Meanwhile, more com-panies are supporting the forum to boost the tourism industry through sports. Sun Cellular, one of the country’s leading telecommunications company, has joined Duty Free Philippines, Waterfront Insular Hotel and Cebu Pacific in lending their support to the forum.

The forum has been held on different regions of the country since 2005 Some of the destinations which ben-efited from this initiative are Cebu, Subic, Puerto Princesa and Clark.

Top caliber speakers in the Forum include, Ms. Princess Galura of IMG Phil-

ippines, Mr. William Ramirez – Former Chair of Philip-pines Sports Commission, Mr Cesar Cruz of Philippine Tour Operators Association, Mr Nimrod Quiñones, pro-ducer and host of TV show Full Point: Cebu City Sports Show and Mr. Matthew Cul-len of Philippine Rugby Union (of the Philippine Volcanoes). Also in attendance to share their expertise are Ms. Masri-na Mohd Bakri – Tourism Di-rector of Malaysia, Manila, Mr. Charlie Manio of Cebu Pacific Air and Department of Tourism Regional Director, Art Boncato.

Registration fee is P1,000.00 which includes lunch and two snacks, regis-tration kit and certificates.

Interested participants may contact (082) 301-7008 or call 0922.8218111 or may email [email protected] for inquiries.

THE Protected Areas and Wildlife Division (PAWD) of the Department of

Environment and Natural Re-sources 11 has started its bird watching/bird counting activity in three municipalities of the region.

In line with the An-nual Asian Waterfowl Census (AWC) for migratory birds, the bird watching is being conduct-ed at Malalag Bay in Malalag town, Davao del Sur; Carmen, Davao del Norte and Banay-banay, Davao Oriental.

DENR-11 regional execu-tive director Jim O Sampulna said the activity will end on January 29, 2012.

The municipalities of Malalag, Carmen and Banay-banay are the only three iden-tified temporary habitats of migratory birds in the month of January after crossing the continents.

This activity aims to ob-tain information on the popu-lation of migratory birds at wetlands in the region as well

as to monitor on an annual ba-sis the status and condition of wetlands.

Residents of this region are however warned not to enter into this venture as these birds maybe carrying the dan-gerous avian flu virus.

Last year, Sampulna said a total of 7,836 migratory birds were counted by the three teams from PAWD.

A total of 3,705 birds were counted in Malalag, 1,566 birds

were counted in Carmen and 2,565 birds in Banaybanay.

These migratory birds are a mixture of different species, like Godwit, Sand Plover, Common Greenshank and Black-winged Stilt to name a few.

AWC is an annual event which takes place during the second and third weeks of Janu-ary. The census was initiated in 1987 in the Indian subcontinent and has grown rapidly to cover over 32 countries.[DENR-11]

FROM February 11 on, and during the follow-ing two Saturdays, bizz-

Boost organizes the first ses-sion of the interactive entre-preneurial workshop ‘ Your Own Business” in Davao.

Your Own Businessis a hands-on course on entre-preneurship and designed for all entrepreneurs who want to start their own busi-ness, now or in the future.

The three sessions of the workshop cover the most important topics that are clearly explained with em-phasis on avoiding pitfalls.

During the sessions of “Your Own Business” the participants will work on their own business plan and are coached by ‘entre-preneurial coach’ RafVlum-mens, a former banker and

professor at Syntra, School of Entrepreneurship in Brus-sels (Belgium). His objective is to train and coach the par-ticipants so that they have a solid vision and plan to start-up their business at the end of the workshop.

Besides the topics cov-ered by a successful business plan such as entrepreneurial skills, idea development, or-ganizational aspects and ac-counting aspects, the work-shop will also discuss the funding needs of new busi-nesses and the possibilities to get support from foreign financial institutions and the special programs they have for startups in the Philip-pines.

Participants will also receive a copy of the CD of the book “Becoming an En-

RAF VLUMMENS

trepreneur” including a busi-ness plan worksheet.

The workshop “Your Own Business” is supported by the Rotary Club of Davao as part of its efforts to devel-op the community and pro-vide opportunities for future generations.



COMMUNITYSENSE

BizQUIPS‘WHEN you go to the

Sandiganbayan, humongous files of unheard and unresolved cases would welcome you. This should be addressed if the government is reforming our justice system.’

--Senator Franklin Drilon, proposing to amend the Sandiganbayan Law.

‘Care for School Chairs’ program benefits Compostela, Panabo schools

DLPC conducts Oplan Linis Estero

Lutheran World Relief provides needed water supply in PHL

IT’S a division of labor for the father-and-son tan-dem of Tagum to carry

out the success of the “Care for School Chairs Program” initiated by the City Gov-ernment of Tagum, gain-ing positive feedback and praises not only in the city but from nearby cities and municipalities as well.

City Councilor De Carlo “Oyo” L. Uy intensified ef-forts to distribute brand new school chairs to schools in Tagum City, particularly the different day care centers in the Barangays while Tagum City Mayor Rey T. Uy is busy doing the same to nearby towns, reaching schools in City of Panabo, Province of Davao del Norte and the Municipality of Compostela, Province of Compostela Val-ley last week.

Manay National High School, a remote school in Panabo received two hun-dred fifty nine (259) pieces of armchairs last January 19 while six hundred fifty six (656) pieces were also distributed to three differ-ent schools in Compostela

National High School last January 20.

Teacher Hilda Gales of Compostela National High School can’t believe her classroom was among the beneficiaries, saying that she only wished Mayor Uy’s team will go to their school each time the news about this program is reported on television.

“Salamat sa dakong ta-bang ninyo, sa inyong paki-gtambayayong sa DepEd para sa kalambuan sa atong mga estudyante,” she said, who tagged the new chairs as a “dream come true.”

Accompanying the lo-cal chief executive during his distribution were Com-postela Mayor Jesse Bolo, Board Members Neri Barte and Roel Gonzaga of Com-val’s Sangguniang Panlala-wigan and Barangay Pobla-cion Captain Wilfredo Ang.

As to date, more than 18,346 pieces of school fur-niture, to wit; armchairs, desk, kiddie chairs, kiddie table has already been dis-tributed by the Local Gov-ernment of Tagum to dif-

ferent schools in the region, which are made from the confiscated logs given by the Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources (DENR).

According to Mayor Uy, the fabrication and distribu-tion of school chairs will take until December this year, with the large bulk of logs given by DENR which are placed at the city’s mo-tor pool. With this, he called on the public to volunteer in painting chairs.

Last January 23, heads of the different depart-ments, divisions and sec-tions heads in the city hall took the time to participate in the Bayanihan despite it was declared a special non-working holiday because of the Chinese New Year cel-ebration. On their part, the Provincial Government of Compostela Valley had pro-vided five carpenters to aug-ment the workforce making school chairs. 1, 200 pieces of chairs can be made in one week, according to the local chief executive Mayor Rey T. Uy.

HELPING HANDS. To carry out the success of the “Care for School Chairs Program” initiated by the City Government of Tagum, gaining positive feedback and praises not only in the city but from nearby cities and municipalities as well, the department heads, divisions

and sections heads of the City Government of Tagum spent the whole day of January 23, 2011 - a special non-working holiday due to the Chinese New Year Celebration - painting school chairs in the fabrication section of the Tagum City Motorpool.

BRAND NEWS. Students of Manay National High School in the City of Panabo helped in carrying brand new school armchairs to their classroom. A total of

259 pieces of armchairs were given to their school last January 19, 2011 by the City Government of Tagum led by Mayor Rey T. Uy.

RELOCATION. Philippine President Benigno Aquino , Vice President Jejomar Binay, and Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman are joined by World Food Programme Regional Director for Asia Kenro Oshidari, WFP Philippines Country Director and Representative Stephen Anderson, WFP Philippines Iligan City sub-

office head Baicon Macaraya, and WFP National Ambassador Against Hunger KC Concepcion during groundbreaking rites at the Barangay Sta. Elena relocation site at Iligan City. WFP is supporting the government’s relief and early recovery efforts for persons highly affected by Tropical Storm Sendong.[WFP PHILIPPINES/VOLTAIRE DOMINGO]

SATURDAY may be a time for relaxation from a long and tiring week but for

some Davao Light and Power Company personnel it is going to be all about cleaning up.

Hence, last January 21, the Power Plant and Safety Departments of the electric utility conducted a canal water-way clean up activity dubbed “Oplan Clean-up Estero” in Barangay 19-B behind the company›s Bajada Power Plant.

Some 30 personnel and volunteers banded together to declog and clean the esteros which have caused flooding and the spread of the dengue virus in the area.

The campaign, spear-

headed by Engrs. Ferdinand Cabalhin and Edelito Fernan-dez, department managers of Power Plant and Safety, respectively, stemmed from the successful participation of Davao Light in the Linis Estero campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last June 2011.

We want to show the residents how vital it is to have unclogged esteros through this clean-up effort,” Fernan-dez said. “We also want to continue this project in other areas within our franchise in the hope of reducing flooding in the metropolis, especially during heavy rains,” Cabalhin added.

The activity was also par-ticipated in by Brgy. Kagawad Edwin Sobrecary and Purok Leader, Gloria Butron, whom Davao Light coordinated with to conduct the activity.

“Our barangay is fortu-nate to have been chosen as part of this campaign, which proves that Davao Light really cares for us,” Butron said.

The clean-up drive is a proven strategy that is cheap-er, easier, and a more effective solution for floods in the city. Hopefully, more barangays will be part of the campaign and more residents will be encouraged to start cleaning their own waterways accord-ing to Fernandez. [DLPC PR]

NO sweat for Davao Light contractors in cleaning the waterway in the area.

THE view of the estero after the clean-up activity.

LUTHERAN World Re-lief is providing emer-gency water services

to families who still have no access to clean drinking water more than a month after a devastating typhoon ripped through the Philip-pines island of Mindanao, killing 1,257 people and af-fecting more than a million others.

The storm, which hit on December 16 and de-stroyed more than 14,000 homes, also disrupted water supply in the city of Cagay-an de Oro. Repairs to the water supply system are un-derway, but families in the western part of the city will not have access to piped wa-ter until at least the end of January.

“I do not know where to get water now,” said Mary-ann Lagara, 24, a mother of two in the affected area, who lost her home in the storm. Speaking to an LWR staff member in early Janu-ary, she reported that with-out assistance, she would be forced to get water from the nearby river, which is not safe to drink.

Thanks to a $31,500 grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, LWR is now delivering water to 230 families in an impoverished area in western Cagayan de Oro through the end of January. Each family will receive 15 liters per person per day for drinking, cook-ing and personal hygiene, in accordance with Sphere standards, the generally ac-cepted best practices in hu-manitarian response. Fami-lies will also receive jerry cans for water storage, and

training on how to properly clean and care for the cans.

“These are very poor families, many of whom lost their means of earning and livelihood as a result of the storm, so they have no way to purchase water even if it were readily available,” said Joanne Fairley, LWR’s re-gional director for Asia and the Middle East. “Thanks to this grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, they will have access to clean water until the city water system is repaired.”

In addition to emer-gency water delivery, LWR is reaching out to flood-affected communities with emergency cash assistance to buy food, medicine and other necessities. LWR is also distributing Quilts, Per-sonal Care Kits, and School Kits from its warehouse in Mindanao, as well distribut-ing other critically needed items to flood-affected fami-lies.

LWR is also planning a longer-term response that will include cash-for-work programs, provision of

clean water, building shel-ter and rehabilitating homes for more than 900 families.

WHAT IS LWR? Luther-an World Relief, an interna-tional nonprofit organiza-tion, works to end poverty and injustice by empowering some of the world’s most im-poverished communities to help themselves. With part-ners in 35 countries, LWR seeks to promote sustainable development with justice and dignity by helping com-munities bring about change for healthy, safe and secure lives; engage in Fair Trade; promote peace and reconcili-ation; and respond to emer-gencies. LWR is headquar-tered in Baltimore, Md. and has worked in international development and relief since 1945.

Lutheran World Relief is a ministry of the Evan-gelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lu-theran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), individuals and parish groups in inter-national relief, development, advocacy and social respon-sibility.

13



ICTHUB

BizQUIPS‘I think the middle of

February will be an opportune time to finish all their inputs and will come up w i t h a very clear policy with regards to the mining industry not later than the end of February.’

--President Noynoy Aquino

Myrna Y. Padilla: The techie DH Facebook forces Timeline; tips to hide users’ past

Samsung hits high profit

Apple reports record quarterlyrevenue, net profit earnings

Notice is hereby given that the INTESTATE ESTATE OF EU-FRACIO A. DE JESUS with waiv-er, deed of donation and special power of attorney has been the subject of extra judicial settle-ment by his heirs per Doc. No.91, Page No. 19, Book No. VIII, Se-ries of 2011.

EXTRA JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE WITH WAIVER, DONATION AND SPECIAL POWER OF ATTORNEY

MYRNA PADILLA

FACEBOOK will start requir-ing people to switch to a new profile format known

as Timeline, making photos, links and personal musings from the past much easier to find.

Timeline is essentially a scrapbook of your whole life on Facebook, compared with a snap-shot of you today found on Face-book’s traditional profile page. Once activated, Timeline replaces the current profile.

Although some people have already voluntarily switched to Timeline, Facebook hadn’t made that mandatory. Beginning Tues-day, Facebook is telling some users that they have seven days to clean up their profiles before Timeline gets automatically acti-vated. Facebook is rolling out the requirement to others over the next few weeks.

At some point, even those who haven’t logged on to Face-book in a while will be automati-cally switched.

Timeline doesn’t expose anything that wasn’t available for sharing in the past. Many of those older posts had always been available. People could get to them by continually hitting “Old-er Posts,” although most wouldn’t have bothered. Timeline allows people to jump to the older mate-rial more quickly.

Timeline also doesn’t neces-sarily reflect the fact that your cir-cle of friends has likely expanded in recent years. A party photo you posted in 2008 to a small group of friends would be more visible to relatives, bosses and others you may have added as friends since then.

You’ll have a week to cu-rate the Timeline by moving stuff around, hiding photos or featur-ing them more prominently on your page.

Some things to consider:— You can change privacy

settings on individual items to control who has access. You might want to narrow embarrass-

ing photos to your closest friends or delete some posts completely, or at least hide them so only you can see them.

— You can change the date on a post. For example, if you took a few months to post photos from a trip to Portugal, you can move them to appear with other posts from the time you took that trip. You can also add where you were, retroactively using a loca-tion feature that Facebook hadn’t offered until recently.

— For major events in your life, you can click on a star to feature them more prominently. You can hide the posts you’d rather not showcase.

— Besides your traditional profile photo — your headshot — you can add what Facebook calls a cover photo. It’s the image that will splash across the top and can be a dog, a hobby or any-thing else that reflects who you are. Keep in mind the dimensions are more like a movie screen than a traditional photo, so a close-up portrait of your face won’t work well, but one of you lying hori-zontally will. But you don’t even have to be in it.

— You can add things be-fore you joined Facebook, back to when you were born. Life events can include when you broke your arm and whom you were with then, or when you spoke your first word or got a tattoo. You can add photos from childhood or high school as well.

— If you feel overwhelmed with so many posts to go through, start with your older ones. Those are the ones you’d need to be most careful about because you had reason to believe only a few friends would see them.

— Click on Activity Log to see all of your posts at a glance and make changes to them one by one. Open Facebook in a new browser tab first, though. That way, you can have one tab for the log and the other for the main Timeline.

SHE is Myrna Y. Padilla, no relation with the action star heartthrob

Robin Padilla of movieland. But if the internet applica-tion that she has created will go viral, there’s a possibility that she’ll become as popular as Robin if not more.

Mynd Consulting, the company of this technolo-gy-savvy former domestic helper, intends to make its Internet application linked up with each over 10 million overseas Filipino workers. Indeed, the platform can be a tool to empower and im-prove the lives of millions of Filipinos living in other countries.

“The lives of tens of thousands of OFWs became miserable simply became they lack information what to do, when they are in trou-ble,” Myrna, a Bohol native said. “It would all change now because help and be-coming knowledgeable of

vital things will just be a matter of touching the com-puter keyboard or clicking the mouse.”

She said almost all OFWs now have a laptop and are crazy about Face-book and other social media platform .

Myrna who worked for two decades in Singapore and then in HongKong, said that what motivated her to develop the OFW Watch application is her advocacy to help Filipinos working abroad so that they could either communicate with one another and with their families, or they could get im-mediate help when they are in need for some assistance

either from their kin or from the government.

“The government can-not do everything for us (Fili-pinos working abroad). So the OFW Watch would allow OFWs to connect (with one another). By connecting via social media, we are also em-powered to

help one another,” said Ms. Padilla.

The application that can be downloaded either via its website (www.ofwwatch.com) or the Android market.

Ms Padilla said she will soon migrate those 70,000 Filipinos working abroad who are members of her Facebook page to the appli-cation. “By doing so, I will

SOUTH Korea’s Samsung Electronics on Friday re-ported a record operating

profit of 5.3 trillion won ($4.72 billion) in the fourth quarter, thanks largely to booming smartphone sales.

The company also an-nounced a 25 trillion won in-vestment in its chipmaking and panel-making business.

However, the world’s larg-est technology firm by revenue slipped to back second place behind rival Apple in terms of smartphone sales, according to research.

Samsung’s telecoms busi-nesses accounted for 2.64 tril-lion won out of the total quar-terly operating profit, with the flagship Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note brands largely credited for the strong result.

“Despite intensified com-petition amid the global eco-nomic slowdown, our telecom-munications businesses contin-ued to post solid earnings with an enhanced line-up of high-end smartphones, resulting in higher average selling price,” said senior vice-president Rob-ert Yi in a statement.

The overall quarterly operating profit figure, a 76

percent increase year-on-year, was largely in line with the earnings guidance issued early this month by the firm.

Revenue in October-De-cember was 47.3 trillion won, a 13 percent rise year-on-year. Net profit of four trillion won was up 17 percent on a year earlier.

For the whole of last year the company logged a net profit of 13.7 trillion won, down 15 percent from the pre-vious year. Revenue rose 6.7 percent to a record 165 tril-lion won and operating profit declined 6.05 percent to 16.2 trillion won.

Samsung overtook Apple in the third quarter of last year to become the world’s largest seller of smartphones.

But Apple reclaimed the crown in the October-Decem-ber period thanks to its new iPhone 4S, but the Korean firm was the top smartphone brand for all of 2011, according to data from two research firms.

Apple reported fourth-quarter sales of 37 million units, while researcher Strat-egy Analytics estimated that Samsung shipped 36.5 million during October-December.

APPLE has posted record quarterly revenue of US$ 46.33 billion and

record quarterly net profit of US$ 13.06 billion in the first quarter of the fiscal 2012 which ended on December 31, 2011.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it had achieved an all-time re-cord in quarterly sales of its iPhones, iPads and Mac com-puters.

Apple sold 37.04 mil-lion iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth year-on-year.

The company sold 15.43 million iPads during the quar-ter, a 111 percent unit in-crease year-on-year, and 5.2 million Macs, a 26 percent

unit increase year-on-year. “Apple’s momentum is

incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

According to unofficial sources, Apple may introduce two new iPad models in the next few weeks. Apple’s tab-let computers dominate their segment, occupying about two-thirds of the world mar-ket.

“Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about US$ 32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about US$ 8.50,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. [PNA/RIA NOVOSTI]

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation and

Communications

LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND

REGULATORY BOARDRegional Office No. XI

Davao city

Petition for Approval of Sale and Transfer of a Certificate

of Public Convenience to operatea PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular

Service..

LIZEL C. BURGOS, Case No.2011-XI-01025Petitioner-Vendor (2003-XI-00205)FRANCISCO P. TAMPUS,Petitioner-Vendee

x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -xNOTICE OF HEARING

Petitioners request authority for the Approval of Sale and Transfer executed by LIZEL C. BURGOS in favor of FRANCISCO P. TAMPUS of a Certificate of Public Convenience with Equipment issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular service on the route: SASA VIA J.P. LAUREL AVENUE ROUTE and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of One (1) unit, which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to March 13, 2013. NOTICE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on FEBRUARY 21, 2012 at 10:00 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 granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary evidence on or before 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 documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive additional documentary and/or oral evidence.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Regional Director, This 13th day of December 2011 at Davao City.

TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZChief Transport Development Officer

/hocCopy furnished:Petitioner-Vendor, Lizel C. Burgos, No. 28-4 Km. 30, Panacan, Davao CityPetitioner-Vendee, Francisco P. Tampus, Iban, San Isidro, Davao Oriental Counsel, Atty. Magin C. Natividad, Balusong Avenue, Matina, Davao CityNOTE: Affidavit of Publication and newspaper where notice was published must be submitted three (3) days before the scheduled hearing.

be able to connect them with one another and with their families as I will encourage others to become members,” she told newsmen attending Club 888, a media forum held weekly at the Marco Polo Davao during the launch-ing of the application which her company developed for about two years.

Erriberto P. Barriga Jr., executive vice president of ICT-Davao, Inc., said Ms Pa-dilla’s efforts to develop a website, and application, for Filipinos working abroad, is another laudable achieve-ment of the former domestic helper.

“Myrna is looking at ways on how could she help her fellow OFWs and this (Internet) application is one way of doing it,” said Mr. Barriga, himself a former en-gineer in Saudi Arabia who now has gone into technol-ogy consultancy.

Barriga added that Pa-dilla’s platform can even become a profit-making venture considering that it already has a niche for a mar-ket: Filipinos working abroad and their families.

Based on the record of the Philippine Overseas Em-ployment Administration, in 2009 there were 1.4 million Filipinos working deployed in 190 countries, or 15.1% higher than the recorded number the previous year. Based on estimates, there were about 12 million Filipi-nos working abroad, said Ms Padilla.

The agency also report-ed that these people remitted an unprecedented $17.348 billion (P747.35 billion @$1=P43.08) that year.

Mr. Barriga said Ms. Padilla can capitalize on this niche market if she wants to earn more. “But I think Myr-na does not need additional funding to make her applica-tion viable. She has already made it her advocacy for OFWs to have better lives,” he added.

Aside from facilitating communications, the appli-cation also helps a Filipino working abroad to find the location of the embassy in the country where he or she is working and how to con-tact the embassy, it also has the directories of government agencies in charge of working abroad, licensed recruitment agencies and list and contact information of members of Congress.

The application also has its currency converter and a translator that helps the per-son to familiarize with the language where he or she is based.


14 JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 05, 2012VOL. 4 NO. 48SUBURBIA

Curfew for minors restored

3,500 hectares more eyed in Region 12 greening program Road rehab to boost veggie

industry in South Cotabato

Sarangani’s PPP housing projectopens its doors

DavNor pursues climate change adaptation

SOCSKSARGEN government unionsjunk ‘oppressive’ budget memo

BizQUIPS‘RICE and corn output will

be the main drivers of growth this year. The production of cassava is also good. These are the reasons why we are expecting higher production output this year.’

--Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala

AUTHORITIES in Glan, Sarangani have re-newed a crackdown

on youth offenders with the re-imposition of the curfew for minors.

This, following an ap-parent resurgence in street crimes usually attributed to juvenile delinquents, such as thefts, burglaries and break-ins at the public mar-ket.

The curfew for minors is contained in Ordinance 92-05, which was put on hold after the general peace and order condition had

vastly improved following the assumption to office of the new administration in June 2010.

With the restriction temporarily back in effect, anyone under 18 must now be safely tucked in bed by 10 p.m.

On Tuesday, police rounded up six youths aged 6 to 17 in subsequent op-erations.

The youngsters were later turned over to their parents after the proper documentation.

In Wednesday’s Man-

agement Committee meet-ing, Mayor Victor James B. Yap, Sr. underscored the need for parents to keep track of their children, es-pecially at night.

“Parents of curfew violators can be held li-able if their children are caught again for the same offense,” he said. “They can be charged with child abuse, among other viola-tions.” For more news and updates, please visit the <a href= http://www.saran-gani.gov.ph/.[GLAN INFO & NEWS

SERVICE] PANTAWID. Some Matigsalog families in Sitio Namnam, Marilog, Davao City who underwent validation through the DSWD National Household

Targeting System for Poverty Reduction [NHTS-PR] are now enjoying the benefits under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. [DSWD/CARMELA CADIGAL-DURON]

ENVIRONMENT officials in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) are targeting the inclusion

of an additional 3,500 hectares in the National Greening Pro-gram (NGP) of the national government for implementa-tion this year.

Alfredo Pascual, Depart-ment of Environment and Nat-ural Resources regional direc-tor, said a team from the Forest Management Bureau is set to validate the additional target area as part of the full imple-mentation of the NGP.

Last year, the regional of-fice of the DENR initially tar-geted 9,000 hectares for the NGP’s implementation in the four-province, five-city region.

The program is part of a nationwide reforestation proj-ect that aims to plant 1.5 billion trees on 1.5 million hectares from 2011 to 2016 for poverty reduction, food security, liveli-

hood development, biodiver-sity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adapta-tion.

“We are consolidating our efforts in a bid to jumpstart the implementation of the NGP this year [in Region 12],” Pascual said.

Earlier, he said the refor-estation project is one of the priority programs guided by President Benigno Aquino’s “social contract with the Fili-pino people as a platform to-wards reform.”

Last week, Pascual net with officials of the Commu-nity Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) to discuss this year’s NGP imple-mentation in the region.

Region 12 covers the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kuda-rat and Sarangani and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal,

Tacurong, Kidapawan and Co-tabato.

As part of the activities in the project implementation, Pascual ordered the CENROs to conduct survey, mapping and planning in order to iden-tify the exact location of each project.

Late last year, DENR Sec-retary Ramon Paje directed all regional directors to instruct the CENROs to prepare their annual procurement plan for the required seedlings.

To assist in the imple-mentation of the NGP this year, Pascual said they will be hiring forestry or agriculture graduates as contractual ex-tension officers.

Sixteen government agencies have joined hands for the implementation of the NGP program as volunteer planters, long-term plantation stewards, or donors. [PNA]

PROVINCIAL officials and employees of Davao del Norte have committed

themselves to adapt measures and coping strategies in re-sponding to the life-threatening impact of climate change.

At the Forum on Climate Change Adaptation at the Bul-wagan ng Lalawigan in Tagum City, Governor Rodolfo P. del Rosario led provincial officials and personnel, as well as, guests in signing the pledge of com-mitment to reduce disaster risks and vulnerability through cli-mate change adaptation.

Realizing that the world is in danger, the participants com-mitted themselves to help “pre-vent global warming and ensure a cleaner, safer and healthier future for our children up to the next generations through climate change adaptation.”

Joining the governor were Vice Governor Victorio Suayba-guio, Jr., Board Members Shir-ley Belen Aala, Daniel Lu and Hernanie Duco, DNPPO Direc-tor PSSupt. Edgardo Wycoco, Asuncion Mayor Joseph Nilo Parrenas, and the Capitol execu-tives and personnel, led by OIC-Provincial Administrator Norma

Lumain.The signing of the pledge

was done in response to the illu-minating lecture of Rodne R. Ga-licha, Country District Manager of The Climate Reality Project (TCRP), on the pressing con-cerns about climate change and how to effectively cope with the crucial issue.

TCRP was founded by No-bel Laureate and Former US Vice President, Al Gore.

As he emphasized the need

for urgent action to address cli-mate change, Galicha asked the province to invest in the restora-tion of its critical watershed areas, which act as a natural ‘sponge’ to absorb excess rainwater.

He likewise asked for the installation of barangay geo-haz-ard maps in order to help com-munities better respond to the impact of climate change.

He challenged everyone to help save Mother Earth by ob-serving the eight Rs of environ-

mentalism, that include; reuse, reduce, recycle, repair, refuse, rethink, re-buy and restore.

In his opening statement, Gov. del Rosario said the cam-paign to promote and protect the environment has become more necessary, as flooding in the province has become more destructive and more frequent.

“People should positively respond to these environmental programs, while we still have time,” he warned.

GOV. Rodolfo del Rosario leads Davao del Norte officials and employees in signing the pledge of commitment “to prevent global warming and en-

sure a cleaner, safer and healthier future for our children up to the next generations, through cli-mate change adaptation.” [NOEL BAGUIO/DAVNOR PIO]

GOVERNMENt employees’ unions from all over SOC-SKSARGEN launched

a signature campaign among their members Wednesday in a petition protesting Budget Cir-cular No. 2011-05 they dubbed “oppressive”.

The Department of Bud-

get and Management issued Budget Circular No. 2011-05 on December 26, 2011 provid-ing for supplemental guidelines on the grant of Collective Nego-tiation Agreement (CNA) incen-tives.

The guidelines stipulate that “savings from only the fol-

lowing MOOE (Maintenance and Other Operating Expense) items may be used as fund source of the CNA incentives such as Travelling Allowance, Communication Allowance, Repair and Maintenance, Trans-portation and Delivery expense, Supplies and Materials and Util-

ity expense.” The unions claimed the

granting of CNA incentives has become impossible under the accounts mentioned which were usually used up at the end of each year, according to Anacleto Saya-ang.[COCOY SEXCION/

SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE]

THE marketing potentials of vegetables produced in a remote village in the

town of Tupi, South Cotabato is getting a major boost with the rehabilitation of a farming road there, an official said.

Tupi Mayor Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. said the road to Barangay Miasong, considered the “vegetable bowl” of South Cotabato, will be improved to enhance the area’s trading ac-tivities.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released a special purpose fund worth nearly P9 million to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to re-habilitate the Cebuano-Linan-Miasong farm-to-market road.

“Soon, vegetable prod-ucts from Miasong will reach

the town’s ‘bagsakan’ [trading] center easily,” he said.

Miasong, the remotest vil-lage of Tupi, can be accessed through Barangay Maltana by way of a grueling two-hour ride.

But with the 24-kilometer Cebuano-Linan-Miasong road, local officials say the travel time will be cut by half once the rehabilitation is completed, re-portedly in the next few weeks.

Miasong supplies 80 per-cent of the vegetable require-ments of South Cotabato, Sa-rangani and General Santos City.

The provincial agriculture office earlier estimated that there are 300 hectares of veg-etable farms in Miasong.

Vegetables produced in the village are bell peppers, car-

rots, broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, eggplants, radish and potatoes, among others.

Many of the wet markets in the big malls in Davao City and General Santos City are selling vegetables produced in Miasong.

Reynaldo Legaste, South Cotabato chief agriculturist, earlier proposed the possible expansion of the Roll On-Roll Off (Roro) transport system either in General Santos City or Glan in Sarangani province to facilitate the fast transport of perishable goods from Region 12 to other domestic markets.

He said the Department of Agriculture has been work-ing to develop parts of Region 12 or Central Mindanao region as the country’s next “vegetable basket.” [PNA]

THE first-ever PPP (Pub-lic-Private Partnership) initiated housing project

in Sarangani finally opened its doors to the first batch of occupants Tuesday (January 24) in time for the awarding of certificates of occupancy to 11 beneficiaries.

Called The Capitol Resi-dences, it is the housing proj-ect of the provincial govern-ment, in joint venture with Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) and Sarangani Land and Development Cor-poration, which translates the commitment of provin-cial leaders to provide bet-ter shelter through medium grade but affordable housing facility for its employees.

The local government unit (LGU) –led housing proj-ect was implemented pursu-ant to Section 8 of Republic

Act (RA) 7279 otherwise known as Urban Develop-ment and Housing Act in conjunction with Section 17 of RA 7160 also known as the Local Government Code of 1991.

HDMF Chief Executive Officer Atty. Darlene Marie Berberabe said there have been a lot of negotiations ongoing nationwide for the PPP housing program for the LGUs, but that Sarangani’s project was the first ceremo-nial turn-over she had wit-nessed.

“Una ko po itong (The Capitol Residences) napun-tahan na tunay naman na nakatayo na ang mga bahay, tapos na ang land develop-ment, at may take-out na na labing-isang bahay,” Berber-abe said.[BCP/SARANGANI INFORMA-

TION OFFICE]



E-mail: [email protected]

MIXING and matching often-times creates the most interesting

of experiences, and Eugene Lee, Far East Hospitality’s Business Development Man-ager promised me and fellow traveller, Jinggoy S., just that for our transfer to Albert Court Village Hotel, one of Village Hotels and Residences’s seven hotels and residences in Sin-gapore. True enough, our transfer came pedaling along in the form of Singapore’s classic form of transportation, the trishaw. One would say that a car would be more appropriate and i was actually a bit hesitant to try but after a block, I was giggling like a little child tak-ing in the sights of the city as pointed out by uncle trishaw driver and at the same time en-joying with the wind in my hair and many a pedestrian star-ing at me and Jinggoy in utter envy (or was it pity for uncle trishaw driver?) It was a blast! So after around 20-minutes of biking, and a bit of pushing uphill, we arrived at the stately

courtyard of the Albert Court Village Hotel and greeted by hotel manager Koh Yan Leng and Far East Hospitality’s Se-nior Marketing Communica-tions Executive Dennis Yong. Located in a complex of pre-war shophouses and named after Prince Albert, The Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria, the Albert Court Vil-lage Hotel is a charming bou-tique hotel that reflects the dynamism of the growing arts culture scene. The hotel is also a mixing and matching of old and new as its 210 rooms are all located in what used to be old shophouses, but with mod-ern amenities made for every discerning traveller. Its amazing that when you look at one side of Rochor Canal Road, you can see the many shophouses and eater-ies of Little India selling every-thing from extravagant gold

jewelry, to Bollywood movies on DVD, and uber sweet In-dian desserts complete with edible silver leaf; and on the other side of the road you see every techie’s dream mall, Sim Lim Square that houses every gadget, camera, or computer from A to Z. What also fascinates me are the new art schools around the area like the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the Lasalle College of the Arts, that answer to the City State’s need to inject more apprecia-tion of the arts and culture. I love the ultra modern campus of Lasalle, with its classrooms and galleries that are literally open for everyone to see since everything is in clear glass. One can even look in through glass portals on the floor and have a peek at the dance re-hearsals being done in the stu-dios below. If you really have

the guts then aim for your fifteen minutes of fame at 15 minutes. A cafe that has open mic sessions that are open for everyone who was balls of iron and a performance that can kill a crowd. And as the day wound down, and thanks to the Al-bert Court Village Hotel’s cen-tral location and having the Little India MRT station mere minutes away, it is easier to go from shophouse to art house and I would definitely love to go back and explore the nooks and crannies of Little India some more. Village Hotels and Resi-dences, is owned and oper-ated by the Far East Hos-pitality Group, and offers authentic, friendly, comfort-able and memorable stays, where guests get a unique experience of the Singapore’s local culture and indigenous offerings of the communities where its properties are locat-ed. You can learn more about the Albert Court Village Hotel and suites by visiting their website at www.stayvillage.com/AlbertCourt.

From shophouse to arthouse


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TO bring in luck and prosperity this 2012, the hotel festivities started with a lively dragon dance by students of Davao Central High School, who tra-versed all four buildings passing by Wa-terfront Insular’s restaurants, function rooms and offices. But the highlight of the celebration was the exemplary New Year feast presented by Executive Chef Kiko Tugnao who excitedly told every-one to sample the expensive and most sought-after delicacy, the Shark’s Fin Soup. Café Uno transformed into a mini-Chinatown with servers decked in their red cheongsams and bright Chinese lanterns on display. One of the honored guests of the night was Ms. Cherry Man-ing of Una Ka Bai, GMA Davao’s morn-ing show. She sampled the Singapor-ean style Roast Peking Duck expertly

wrapped in wanton baskets by Chef Stephen Reyes. Also in attendance that night were Mr. Sammy Uy and his family, as well as Ms. Jean Ang who celebrated with her brood. For those who missed last Sunday’s merriment, the food fes-tivities continue as Café Uno’s lunch buffet spread features Singaporean and

Chinese cuisine from January 23 to 31.

THE Marco Polo Davao celebrat-ed the coming of the Chinese New Year with a unique show-case of Chinese cultural arts and cuisine. A Chinese cultural presentation kicked-off the festivities as select third year and fourth year students from Co-legio de san Ignacio performed various Chinese folk dances. Fourth year stu-dents also performed the song “Eastern Pearl” in tribute to the never-changing face of Chinese culture. An energetic lion and dragon dance followed after the ceremonial “dotting of the eyes” lead by Marco Polo Davao General Manager Bruno Simeoni and Patricia Dominguez. Dinner was served at the Lotus Court with a sumptuous buffet featuring Roast Peking Duck, Chili Crabs, Yin Yang Ga-roupa, and other seafood best sellers. Golden packets with good wishes for the Year of the Dragon and fortune cookies were also given away much to the delight of all the guests present.

UP AND ABOUT

MRS. Itang Ang, Mrs. Rosie Dominguez, Mr. Paul Dominguez, Mr. Edgar Ang, Gov. Miguel Dominguez, Mrs. Patricia Dominguez and Mrs. Virginia Andersen

EASTERN Pearl duet by Fourth year High School students.

DRAGON dance performers from davao central high school.

DRAGON egg salad GUESTS take photos with the dragon.

Waterfront Davao Hotel manager Rouel Guanzon and family.

ROAST pork.

MARCO Polo Davao General Manager Bruno Simeoni.

Third year High School students of Colegio de San Ignacio perform “The Twisted Willow Tree” at the Marco Polo Lobby.

WIRELESS leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) is the exclu-sive Philippine carrier of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the flagship device of technology giant Google, and the world’s first smart-phone powered by Android 4.0. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus showcases all the new features of Android 4.0 – codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, and the latest ver-sion of the world’s most popular mobile device operating system. The changes include an entirely new look and feel to the home screen, Web browser, email, and everything in between. They also include a revamped handset user interface, seamless integra-tion with Google’s Web services including Google+ Hangouts, and other new features like facial recognition, voice typing, Near Field Communication (NFC), and more. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus’ faster processing with 1.2 GHZ dual core processor and the 4.65” large HD AMOLED display are also ideal for its productivity, multi-tasking, multimedia capture, and new built-in photo-editing features. “The Samsung Galaxy Nexus brings more excitement to our lineup of power handsets exclusively available to our subscribers,” said Gio Bacareza, head of Smart’s Broadband Internet and Data Services team. “As the flagship device of innovation leader Google, it is natural that it be carried exclusively by the country’s telco leader – this way, Filipino mobile users can have access to the best smartphones and use them on the best network.” The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will soon be available in Smart Stores nationwide, free at Smart Postpaid Unli Data Plan 2000. Smart’s Unli Data Plans provide unlimited mobile Internet, and free calls and SMS. To be among the first to own one of the world’s most anticipated handsets, interested subscribers can pre-order the Samsung Galaxy Nexus until January 27, 2012, via http://smart.com.ph/samsung-nexus. “The emergence of advanced Android smartphones like Sam-sung Galaxy Nexus coincides with Filipino consumers’ rapid shift to more data-driven devices,” added Bacareza. “To maximize the Samsung Galaxy Nexus experience, as with other smartphones, it is important that the user is with a strong, reliable network. And Smart is the only telco with a data network capable of providing the best connectivity to the world’s most advanced devices.” For more information about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – its features and detailed specifications, visit http://smart.com.ph/samsung-nexus or visit your nearest Smart Wireless Center.

Smart is sole PHL carrier of Samsung Galaxy Nexus - world’s first Android 4.0 phone

Singaporean delights liven up Waterfront’s CNY festivities

Macro Polo in theYear of the Dragon



POPEYE knew it. Moms and dads who urged their children to eat their veggies

did, too. Not only are vegeta-bles delicious, they can work wonders for your health. Veg-etables, in all their glorious colors, are powerhouses of good nutrition -- full of vita-mins, minerals, phytochemi-cals, antioxidants, fiber, and “good” carbohydrates. Not only are they naturally fat free, these nutritious nuggets help prevent cancer and other dis-eases. Over and over again, re-search redeems the sage ad-vice to “eat your veggies.” A study published in the Febru-ary 2004 issue of the Ameri-can Journal of Clinical Nu-trition suggests that eating plenty of vegetables and fruits can help lower “bad choles-terol” and improve the health of your heart. Eating plenty of produce can also reduce your risk of stroke, according to a 2003 study. It showed that eating green and yellow veg-etables almost every day, in-stead of once or less per week, reduced the risk of death from a stroke by 26%. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hyperten-sion (DASH) study found that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat pro-tein and low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol can help lower blood pressure. And the American Cancer Society also urges everyone to eat at least five servings a day of fruits and vegetables -- to load up on the cancer-preventing phytochemicals and antioxidants they con-tain. This movement was called the “Five A Day” Move-ment wherein the American Government promoted eating five servings of fruits a veggies a day. The Philippine Govern-ment adopted said approach through the National Nu-trition Council in the nine-ties and it was called “Give Me Five!” The Give Me Five movement promoted among Filipinos eating five servings of fruit and veggies to keep healthy. So simply by eating more vegetables, you can lower cho-lesterol, ward off stroke, cut your blood pressure, help pre-vent cancer, and lose weight! And which vegetables should you make sure to put on your plate? Foods that reign su-preme in the vegetable king-dom include:• Tomatoes, which are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that protects against cancer, vi-tamins A, C, and potassium. Cooked tomato products of-fer more lycopene than raw tomatoes. Pink grapefruit and watermelon also contain lyco-pene.• Broccoli, which contains a

wealth of wonderful vitamins (B vitamins, C) and miner-als (calcium, potassium). It also has the compound sul-foraphane, which has cancer-fighting capabilities. Other cruciferous vegetables, such as brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale also con-tain sulforaphane.• Pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots are rich sources of beta-carotene -- which enhances your im-mune system, reduces those dangerous “free radicals” (disease-causing molecules in the body), aids vision, and protects your skin. Dark leafy greens including our popular moringa (malunggay) and peppers are more good sourc-es of beta-carotene.• Spinach is thought to protect against a host of diseases, in-cluding cancer, heart disease, and macular degeneration (which can cause blindness).Despite their status as nutri-tion superheroes, vegetables rarely find themselves on personal favorite lists. Some adults still shun vegetables, setting a less-than-perfect example for children around the table while missing out on the health benefits for them-selves. Here are recommendations aiming for five servings daily. If you have trouble fitting in that many, try some of these suggestions -- or come up with your own creative solutions:

• Add sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, sliced red peppers, or shredded carrots to sand-wiches.• Munch pickles, jicama, baby carrots, celery, or grape toma-toes as snacks.• Drink vegetable juice.• Slip a variety of vegetables into salads, soups, stews, to-mato sauce, and meatloaf.• Enjoy salads before meals. When you start off with a large, low-calorie green salad, you may end up eating fewer total calories during the meal, according to research.• Roast veggies with a little ol-ive oil for an interesting varia-tion in taste.•T ry grilled vegetables, which are delicious alone or added to pasta dishes.• Add nutrition to breads and muffins with shredded veg-etables such as zucchini or carrots.• Experiment with new veg-etables to add variety to your repertoire.• Use leaves of dark lettuce, pechay or cabbage instead of bread to hold sandwich or bur-rito fillings. Raw vegetables are high in fiber and low in fat and calories. And vegetables that can be eaten raw retain the maximum amount of nutri-ents. Cooking vegetables kills bacteria, renders certain veg-etables digestible, enhances taste, texture, and aroma -- and, in the process, loses

some of the vitamins and minerals. Here are some tips on how to retain nutrients of your veggies:• To retain the most nutrients, cook your vegetables in the least amount of water and for the shortest period of time possible. Microwaving is one of the best methods, as it’s quick and requires little to no water.• Before you start chopping or cooking, it’s important to properly prepare your pro-duce. Along with all those nu-trients come some risky resi-dues that need to be washed away. So carefully wash all your vegetables -- scrubbing them or washing them with a forceful stream of water or a bottled vegetable wash -- to remove bacteria and any chemical residues from the outer layer.• And when you cut vegeta-bles, always use a clean knife and cutting board to avoid cross-contamination from other foods. It’s a good idea to have a designated cutting board for your produce -- one that is never used for meats, fish, or poultry. A little preparation precau-tion is a small price to pay for all the benefits vegetables bring to your body. Along with regular physical activity, eating a variety of vegetables is one of the best things you can do for your health. So get moving and eat your veggies every day -- to prevent can-cer, stroke, and other diseases while you watch the pounds melt away. Keep healthy…Give me 5!

HEALTH

Give me five!




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Davao JAPANESE compact car and motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki Philippines Inc (SPH) rolls out a sure best seller—the Suzuki GD110. The the most affordable motorcycle in its class in the market - the Suzuki GD110 is an advanced commuter bike that will usher a new level of riding experience, as it comes

packed with highly user-

friendly features that even first-time motorcycle owners can easily understand. The Suzuki GD110 fea-tures a newly designed com-pact and lightweight 4-stroke engine for high-combustion efficiency, 4-speed transmis-sion for less gear changes and simpler operation, Su-zuki PAIR system for lesser emissions, high visibility meters, indicator lamps and round shaped headlamps

with park light indicator lamps for enhanced safety and con-venience. It also has a spare parts ad-vantage as most parts can be bought piece-by-piece and not per assembly, making Suzuki’s GD110 one of the most antici-pated models to date.“We are opti-mistic about the launch of the GD110 because we are antici-pating it to be one of our sure best sellers. We

believe that the GD110 is packed with features that answers the commuting needs of the public—afford-ability, user-friendliness and durability, which very much complements our campaign, “Bakit Di Ka Pa NakaMotor”, Mr. Eiji Kobayashi, general manager of motorcycle sales and marketing said. “For the Suzuki GD110, we are looking at the first time motorcycle owner mar-ket and the shifters—from commuters to riders,” Mr. Kobayashi added. The Suzuki GD110 retails at a suggested retail price of Php 47,900 and comes in Pearlescent Black, Metallic Jade Royal Blue, and Metallic Silk Red.

MOTORING

Suzuki launches all new GD110

Showing off the all-new GD110’s etra bright headlights.

19



GAMES

Golfer of the week1st midnight run to highlight Condura Skyway marathon

Holmes ready for PGA Tour return Battle of the Generals 2012set Feb. 4 and 5 in Taguig

Brittany Lang

FAVORITE Color: BlueFavorite Food: Choco-late

Favorite Music: I like all kinds of music: Country, Pop, Hip Hop/Rap

Favorite Holi-day: Christmas

Favorite Animal: DogFavorite Golf Course:

Superstition Mountain in Arizona. Favorite Char-ity: Colin County Childrens Advocacy Center (This is an amazing charity, it is a non profit organization, they help abused and neglected children. The people who help run this organization are unbelievable and they do a terrific job.

This charity is a charity that I donate to and try to help out with, I would love to be more involved and it is the best charity I have ever heard about).

My Caddy: My brother (Luke). Started caddying amateur events prior to coming on tour with me in 2005.

My Coach: Dave Stock-ton and Ron Stockton

Sports Psychologist: Lynn Marriott and Pia Nils-son

Off the Course:Working out, shop, watch movies, sleep, relax, take walks, download and listen to music

on my ipod, watch and play all types of sports (favorite to watch is football) and fi-nally spend time with my friends and family. I am very close with my family. Mom (Pam), Dad (Jeff), Brother (Luke) and dog (Amy).

How It All Got Started: I grew up playing all kinds of sports: golf, tennis, basket-ball, softball and soccer. I still enjoy playing all sports, but GOLF of course is # 1

I started playing golf when I was 8 years old, my dad introduced my brother and I to it and I have been hooked ever since.

My dad was going to the golf course and he was taking my brother with him to go play golf. I asked my dad if I could go with them and play, he told me no.

I was so angry and con-fused as to why I could not go with them? So I asked my dad, why cant I go with you? He replied, because I didn’t know how to play and I didn’t know the etiquette or the rules. He told me I had to swing a golf club in the yard everyday until I learned the motion before I could go to the range and the course. So I did it! To his surprise every evening when he got home from work I would go in the yard and ask him to watch

BizQUIPS“You are men and

women of courage, heroism and dedication.”

--Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario in commending the Filipino crewmembers of doomed Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia.

me swing the club. We did this for a very long time. He couldn’t believe that I actu-ally did this! We eventually made it to the range and we practiced. He gave me a bucket of range balls and a 7 iron and told me to hit the eletrical box about 100 yards away, he said he wanted to hear some noise. He went to hit some golf balls himself and he eventually heard me hit the electrical box, he was shocked!

This is how my golf ad-venture started, my dad real-ized I had a talent and an in-terest for the game. I started playing every day.

My first golf tournament I had a hole in one, from 100 yards, with the 7 iron!! :-) Thanks Dad! [HTTP://WWW.BRIT-

TANYLANGGOLF.COM]

WINNERS. Golf patron Ricky Razon (sixth from left), chairman and CEO of International Container Terminal Services, Inc., poses with last year’s leg winners of the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour during the launch of the circuit’s new season at The Country Club last Wednesday. They are (from left) Jay

Bayron, Elmer Salvador, Mhark Fernando, Order of Merit champion Juvic Pagunsan, Frankie Minoza, Artemio Murakami, Jhonnel Ababa, Angelo Que and Robert Pactolerin.[Contributed]

SOME 15,000 runners are expected to par-ticipate in the Condura

Skyway Marathon 2012: Run for the Mangroves - the Philippines’ first-ever mid-night marathon - on Feb. 5 beginning and ending at Fil-invest in Alabang.

Now on its fifth edi-tion, the game-changing annual footrace raises the bar once more by challeng-ing marathoners to do their stuff in a midnight race that will have them traverse the cities of Muntinlupa, Pa-ranaque, Taguig, Pasay and Makati via the Metro Manila Skyway.

Five other events - 3K, 5K, 10K, 16K, and 21K runs - will be held in this year’s Condura Skyway Marathon, which is committed to sup-port the group’s mangroves reforestation project in Sibugay Bay, Zamboanga.

“We are proud to cel-ebrate our fifth anniversary as we run through five cit-ies in one go with all race categories going up the Sky-way for the first time,” Ton Concepcion, founder and organizer of the Condura Skyway Marathon said dur-ing yesterday’s PSA Forum.

One of the most antici-pated running events in the country, the Condura Sky-way Marathon has distin-guished itself as a supporter of efforts to protect and care for the environment. Since 2008, the event has raised over P2 million for projects aimed to protect marine en-vironment, such as Tubba-taha Reefs, the whalesharks of Donsol and Dolphins of Bohol.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to run in the race. Take this opportunity to see the coun-try in a different way,” said Concepcion.

Registration is ongo-ing at Riovana, Bonifacio Global City, Riovana in Re-gis Center, Katipunan and Festival Supermall Alabang with deadline set on Jan. 29.

For on-line listup, log-on to www.conduraskyway-marathon.com.

For this year, Concep-cion said for each runner, there will be three man-grove trees donated to the 10-hectare Condura Skyway Marathon Mangrove Forest in Sibugay Bay, which cov-ers three barangays and will benefit thousands of fami-

lies in the coastal areas.Beaut i fu l ly -cra f ted

medals, cash prizes, tro-phies and gift items are in store for the top finishers in the Open and All-Filipino categories in the 2012 race, organized by runners for runners and co-presented by Skyway Operations Man-agement Corp., Summit Water, 100Plus, Asics and Filinvest Alabang.

The annual footrace will also put emphasis on the safety and security of the participants by provid-ing well-spaced and well-stocked hydration stations, professional medical teams and seasoned race marshals.

As a treat after the race, the event, backed by Coors Light, QuestWorks Production, Festival Super-mall and the Rotary Club of Paranaque, will culminate in the Condura-Filinvest Village where runners, to-gether with their families, can enjoy loads of entertain-ment, fireworks and prod-uct sampling. A mangroves wall will also be painted and decorated as a symbol of the runners’ commitment to save the Philippine man-groves. [PR]

BIG-HITTING American J.B. Holmes has lost swing speed and driving

distance but is simply thank-ful to be back competing on the PGA Tour this week after undergoing brain surgery last year.

Sidelined since August after being diagnosed with Chiari malformation, struc-tural defects in the part of the brain which controls balance, Holmes says he has gained a deeper appreciation of his good fortune to be a profes-sional golfer.

“It feels like it’s been for-ever, but I’m just happy to be back,” Holmes, a double win-ner on the U.S. circuit, told reporters on Tuesday while preparing for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

“I’ve been working pret-ty hard the last few weeks and I’m ready to get back out here, get back into the com-petitive tournament and just see how it goes.

“It was a long process last year, but I guess com-pared to a lot of people that have had that, I caught it fairly quick.”

Holmes had been experi-

encing vertigo-like symptoms since the Players Champion-ship in May and he pulled out of the Barclays Classic in Au-gust before having the condi-tion diagnosed followed by surgical treatment in early September.

“It’s scary at first,” Holmes, 29, said of how he felt after his diagnosis. “Talk-ing to the surgeon and stuff, he said for a brain surgery, difficulty-wise for him it was only about a one out of 10.

“It’s still brain surgery, but that at least made me feel better. Then I got to the hos-pital and started putting on the gown and everything else and it was like, ‘Wow, I’m about to have brain surgery.’ So it really hits you then.”

ADVERSE REACTIONThe surgery went well

but one week later Holmes reacted adversely to the ad-hesive used on the webbed ti-tanium plate which had been inserted in his skull.

He was put back on pain-killers and then air-lift-ed from his home in Camp-bellsville, Kentucky, back to Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore where he had a second surgery.

“After that, everything’s gone pretty much according to plan,” said Holmes, who led the PGA Tour in driving distance last year with an average of 318.4 yards. “My swing is gradually coming. When I first started playing (in December), I was hitting it like 240 (yards).

“My swing speed start-ing out was like 106, 107. Now it’s up to 115. Last year I averaged around 120 and I could get it up to 125 if I wanted to. So it’s coming back. I’ve just got to get out here and play a little bit, and it will get back to normal.”

As a permanent remind-er of his surgery, Holmes has the small piece of his skull which was removed by doctors sitting on a window ledge in his closet at home.

“I asked the guy if I could have it because I grew it, so I figured I may as well keep it,” Holmes smiled. “I see it every day.

“It’s just a reminder that I’m very fortunate to be able to go through something like that and be able to come back and play, very fortunate to have this job and be able to play a game for a living.”

TOP military and po-lice officials will try to prove their mettle

in marksmanship during a two-day shooting com-petition dubbed “Battle of the Generals 2012”. The shootout, slated on Febru-ary 4 and 5 at the National Capital Region Police Of-fice (NCRPO) Firing Range in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bi-cutan, Taguig City, is spon-sored by President Benigno Aquino, himself a shooting aficionado.

Director General Nica-nor A. Bartolome, PNP chief, and Deputy Direc-tor General Emelito T. Sarmiento, Directorial Staff chief, will join the shooting competition.

Sarmiento is the de-fending champion of the “Battle of the Generals 2011” where he topped the 3rd and 4th stages of the event last year.

Top shooters from the

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Philippine Coast Guard, Presidential Security Group, Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy will participate in the shootfest.

Bartolome said the competition will sharpen the skills of police and military generals and foster comradeship and establish friendly relationship among memberts of the uniformed

services. He said the focus of

the PNP leadership is to augment the shooting skills of all police officers.

The organization is continuously upgrading the skills of ordinary police per-sonnel insofar as shooting and handling of firearms is concerned. This skill is vi-tal in the protection of the public and response to any threats of violence. [PNA]



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