Banana firms to chop down trees

By Jade C. Zaldivar

A P1-million reward awaits anyone who can give information leading to the arrest of the killer of Sagittarius

Mines Inc. (SMI) executive Cristituto Bual

who was gunned down in Davao City last September 16.

The reward, increased from the origi-nal P500,000, was announced by Davao

City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte yesterday in a press conference at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.

“We are raising the ante, raising the reward to P1 million. Kung sino man ang makakapagturo kung saan nagtatago ang

EDGE

By Lorie A. Cascaro

During this peak season, when China’s demand for bananas is high, their overly strict measures

on the entry of Philippine bananas have resulted in a huge surplus of the fruit, thereby forcing big corporations to de-cide to chop down their banana trees.

While some plantations are still un-

decided whether to chop or not, others have already begun cutting down their trees, said Stephen A. Antig, president and executive director of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Associa-

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.net

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26 , 2012

SportsPage 15

Rody offersP1-M reward

AgritrendsPage 7

Serving a seamless society

FRODY, 13

FBANANA FORMS, 13

n Bounty upped to identify suspect

Follow Us On

DAVAO

RENEWED STRATEGY. Nokia Philippines General Manager and Head of Sales, Dharmesh Goshalia presents to the members of the press in Davao City on Thursday the company’s renewed strategy. He revealed that the future of the company is bright in the country. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

IndulgePage A1 For SMI man’s murder

Huge surplus

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012

By Jade C. Zaldivar

AN emergency meet-ing was held last May 23 regarding

the city’s ban on plastic and polystyrene foam, commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam, as manufacturers and suppliers of said products were unprepared.

A staff from City En-vironment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) yesterday admitted that the businessmen ‘plead-ed’ for the nullification or postponement of the ban.

Engr. Fortunato de Castro, Cenro’s head for IEC (information, educa-tion, and communica-tion), said he was sur-prised by the reaction as the office “did its job to inform.”

“Hindi kami nag-ku-lang sa pag-inform,” De Castro said during the I-Speak Media Forum at the city hall.

The matter stems from ‘Davao City Eco-logical Solid Waste Man-agement Ordinance of 2009’ (SWM Ordinance) which was passed by the City Council June 28 of 2010.

Articles 4 and 5 of the ordinance state “non-bio-degradable plastic bags

and polystyrene foam as food containers shall be banned two years after the approval of the ordi-nancel.”

During the meeting between the City’s Waste Management Board and plastic manufacturers, the Board gave in to the latter’s request that im-plementation of certain provisions shall be de-layed.

“Some asked for ex-cemption and we told them to submit a posi-tion paper. The resolution reached at the meeting was that plastic bags used as food containers shall be banned by June 28 but there will be an extension in the enforcement of the ban on Styrofoams,” he said.

“The Board agreed that there is still an ample quantity of Styrofoams which will not be immedi-ately disposed of. Plastic bags may still be sold and used but by June 28 it will be prohibited,” he added.

Re-manufactureThe Cenro representa-

tive said manufacturers and suppliers of plasrics

were advised to re-manu-facture their plastic prod-ucts and convert them from non-biodegradable to biodegradable.

“There is a way to make plastics biodegrad-able. By adding an oxo additive to the plastic it deteriorates quickly, un-like non-biodegradable plastics which will not de-compose for 100 years,” he said.

“It’s very cheap. The oxo biodegradable addi-tive would cost only 0.035 cents per plastic and the manufacturing would cost 15 centavos per plas-tic,” he said.

Asked about the eco-nomic implications of the ban to the citym from manufacturers to the ven-dors who would have to adjust, De Castro was un-able to provide a figure.

If manufacturers pro-duce biodegradable plas-tics, the implication is that their prices will go up, eventually affecting the buying public.

The matter was brought into public atten-tion following City Coun-cilor Melchor Quitain’s

privilege speech weeks previous to remind of the provision’s effectivity.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Monday said there is a “gray area” as to the scope of plastics to be banned, making the clari-fication that not all plas-tics will be banned but only those with handles which are used as food containers.

Article 4 of the SWM Ordinance, titled Reduc-tion of Use of Non-biode-gradable and Single-Use Plastic Bags states that all stores in Davao City shall provide only the fol-lowing check-out bags or containers to customers:

- Recycled or recycla-ble paper bags;

- Biodegradable plas-tic bags;

- Bags made of indig-enous materials, such as buri, abaca, anahaw, bam-boo, and pineapple; or

- Used corrugated box-es or cartons.

Meanwhile, Article 5 Ban of Non-biodegrad-able Plastic Bags and Polystyrene Bags and Polystyrene Foam as Food Containers states that “Only recyclable, biode-gradable, or reusable con-tainers are allowed to be used as a food and bever-age containers.”

2 THE BIG NEWS EDGEDAVAO

n Plastics with handles banned by June 28, Styrofoam ban postponed

n Cenro advice to re-manufacture plastics to become biodegradable

By Lorie A. Cascaro

Limping due to a gunshot wound in his left thigh, “Jes-

sie” (not his real name), 16, entered the room, glad to be reunited with his family in a press con-ference yesterday at the Karapatan headquarters in Torres St., Davao City.

After more than two weeks of detention in the military medical facility inside Camp Evangelista of the 4thInfantry Divi-sion, Philippine Army in Cagayan de Oro City, he was released by the mili-tary to Karapatan and KABIBA Alliance for Chil-dren’s Concerns, Inc., last Tuesday.

After an armed en-counter between the soldiers and elements of the New People’s Army (NPA) that caused the evacuation of the com-munity in Barangay New Visayas, Trento, Agusan del Sur, the wounded “Jessie” showed up limp-ing at the evacuation cen-ter last May 8.

Karapatan said sol-diers at the evacuation center arrested Jessie, branding him a one of the “child warriors” of the NPA.

“Dili ko NPA (I’m not a member of the NPA),” he told reporters, add-ing that he was an active member of a church’s youth group in his village before the encounter.

Lovey Caragao, advo-cacy officer of KABIBA, said Jessie’s arrest and detention violated the United Nations Conven-tion on Children’s Rights signed by the Philippine government because he is still a minor, and that “it was not necessary for the military to bring him to their camp to treat his wound,” she added.

Jessie was confined in a hospital room where he was subjected to in-terrogation by the mili-tary.

Melchor Malimbasao, Jessie’s father, said he hopes his son would no longer bear the tag “NPA child warrior”.

NPA ‘child warrior’ ‘rescued’ by NGOs

HEAVY LOAD. “Kargadors” who are also known as the kings of the narrow alleys of Bankerohan Public Market take a break after a day of hard labor carrying various types of merchandise in their improvised pushcarts. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

Plastic ban

Emergency meet held to clear the airfor unprepared plastic bag suppliers

THREE state univer-sities and colleges (SUCs) in the Davao

region will be receive P3.4 million funding each for fisheries production and mangrove rehabilitation through the Philippine National Aquasilviculture Program (PNAP).

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional direc-tor Fatma Edris said that the Southern Philippines Agribusiness and Ma-rine and Aquatic School of Technology (SPAMAST) in Davao del Sur, the Davao del Norte State College (DNSC) in Davao del Norte and the Davao Ori-ental State College of Sci-ence and Technology are among the SUCs identified as beneficiaries of PNAP.

PNAP funding per SUC covers the implementa-tion of Community-based Multi-Species Hatchery Project allocated with P1.2 million; Aquasilvi-culture Project , P1.099 million; and Mangrove Rehabilitation, P1.154 million. DNSC will get double funding allocation from the program, Idris said.

BFAR and the Commis-sion on Higher Education (CHED) inked their agree-ment to implement the PNAP on December 16, 2011, and that the imple-menting rules and regu-lations had already been released for the program to take off.

Idris said BFAR, early this year, made initial funding releases for the cooperating SUCs to start implementing the pro-gram designed to “ensure resource sustainability, attain food security and al-leviate poverty.”

PNAP binds to-gether the mandate of BFAR which is tasked to “promote sustainable development of fisher-ies resources and reduce poverty incidence among fisher-folks”, and CHED which has the capability to “direct or redirect purpo-sive research to meet the needs of agro-industrial-ization and development.”

PNAP implementing guidelines define “Aquasil-viculture” as environmen-tally- friendly enhanced production in the wild that involves the growing of fish and other aquatic organisms within a man-grove area without cutting down a single tree.

Among implementing strategies of PNAP include the creation of a National Steering Committee, Re-gional Steering Committee and a Project Management Office.

It also includes capac-ity building or training component that the Re-gional Steering Committee will conduct for commu-nity organizers, project coordinators, SUC coordi-nators and program bene-ficiaries. [PIA 11/ JEANEVIVE DURON-ABANGAN]

P3.4 M allottedfor Davao SUCs

SOME banana-based cooperatives are now going organic

triggered by the growing health consciousness of its overseas consumers.

Roseller M. Adla-wan, training coordina-tor of the Foundation for Agrarian Reform Coop-eratives in Mindanao (FARM-Coop) bared the

organic ventures of FARM-Coop which he said is in the process of introduc-ing organic farming to its 21 members which are primary agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB) coop-eratives.

“Eventually, (our) syn-thetic farms will be con-verted into organic or low

Banana coops go organic to match market needs ‘THERE is no require-

ment that we open up our bank deposits. Because if that’s the case it would be disastrous to the banking system.’

--Senator Franklin Drilon on the challenge of Chief Justice Renato Corona for him and the 188 Impeachment congressmen to sign a waiv-er for the opening of their bank accounts.

Quips

FBANANA COOPS, 13

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 3THE BIG NEWSEDGEDAVAO

n Kin hope autopsy will solve mystery

‘THE ISSUANCE of the war-rants of arrest against Delf-in Lee and his co-accused just shows that the law is on the side of ordinary workers duped bu Globe Asiatique.’

--Vice President Jejomar Binay

Quips

BRIG. Gen. Ariel B. Bernardo, com-mander of 10th In-

fantry Division, awarded three of his men who survived the sneak attack conducted by the New People’s Army in two separate incidents this month.

Bernardo awarded the Wounded Personnel Med-al to Private First Class Efren V. Lacuesta of 69th Infantry Battalion when he was sniped by a mem-ber of OCG – NPA on May 19 at Brgy. Malabog, Pa-quibato District, this city.

Two other soldiers were also cited for their heroism. Staff Sergeant Nepomuceno B. Danga Jr. and Corporal Robert J. Aquino, also from 69th IB, received the Wounded Personal Medal after be-ing wounded in action during a landmine explo-sion followed by sporadic

gun fires from undeter-mined number of OCG – NPAs at Sitio Maripon, Paradise Embac, also in Paquibato District.

“We recognize the courage of our soldiers who have risk their lives in line with their duties. What happened will even boost the desire of our men to protect and serve the people,” Brig. Gen. Bernardo said.

“We will continue to fight in diminishing in-surgency especially in re-mote areas which is why we continue to promote and implement our Peace and Development Pro-gram (PDOP),” he added.

He also added that sneaky attacks from OCG – NPAs will not hamper the will of the Army to outreach far-flung areas to deliver the basic servic-es needed in order to ad-dress social issues. [10TH ID PA]

Soldiers cited for heroism

VOLUNTEERS. Employees of Holcim Davao construct mini bleachers for students of Sixto Babao Elementary School in Brgy. Ilang, Tibungco, Davao City on Thursday. [LEAN DAVAL, JR.]

By Lorie A. Cascaro

AN overseas Filipi-no worker (OFW) who died after fall-

ing from a building in Singapore last May 11, was buried yesterday in her hometown of Lupon, Davao Oriental.

Apple Gamale’s body was autopsied last Wednesday at St. Peter’s Chapel, Km. 14 National Highway, Davao City.

It was her family’s ini-tiative to conduct their own investigation on her death to disprove the re-port of Singaporean po-lice and the Philippine Embassy that she may have committed suicide.

Rey Gamale, her elder

brother, together with Migrante Davao Chapter, requested the Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs (DFA) 11 last Monday for a recommendation letter required by the lo-cal government of Davao Oriental to facilitate the autopsy.

He said they are hope-ful that the autopsy re-sults, expected to be re-leased in two to three weeks, will lead to achiev-ing justice for Apple’s death.

In an interview yes-terday, DFA 11 adminis-trative officer Conegundo

Fernandez said the de-partment does not have the authority to issue rec-ommendation letter for autopsy.

“It’s the family’s pre-rogative to conduct the autopsy as part of their own investigation. No need for recommenda-tion letter from the DFA,” he told Edge Davao.

Asked whether or not the Philippine govern-ment is conducting an in-dependent investigation on Gamale’s case, he said the Philippine Embassy is there to monitor the investigation by the Sin-gaporean government.

Lani Oñada, spokes-person of Migrante Davao, said the Philip-

pine government must conduct its own investi-gation.

“Dili man ta dapat magpakaigo sa kung unsa ang resulta sa in-vestigation sa receiving countries kay normally pagdapig man gyud na didto base sa kasinatian (We don’t have to rely on the results of the inves-tigation by the receiving country because, normal-ly, they are bias based on experience),” she added.

Meanwhile, Fernan-dez said, if ever Gamale’s family will file a com-plaint based on the au-topsy results, the DFA 11 will immediately inform the Singaporean govern-ment.

OFW who fell to her death in Singapore, laid to rest

THE Department of Tourism in Region 11 is still wooing tour-

ists or bakasyonistas going on their last-minute summer holidays.

May panahon pa na-man (there is still time) says Art Boncato, regional director of DOT11 urging people to vis-it varied tourism destinations in the region as the month of May comes to an end.

Meron pa tayong two-weeks bago mag-opening ang classes in June (We still have two-weeks before classes opens in June) Boncato said adding that it would be a perfect time for last-minute travels.

The DOT is in its last phase of One Summer Fun regional tourism program. According to Boncato vari-ous summer presentations of the provinces began last April with the Davao Oriental showcase as its last.

Boncato said that the province of Davao Oriental who held a summer tourism presentation at the Abree-za Mall in Davao City last Wednesday is an ideal last-minute destination for sum-mer.

“Davao Oriental best ex-emplifies our positioning as an Island-to-Highland Des-tination.” Boncato said. He

adds that a large part of the province faces the Pacific Ocean which provides a va-riety of eco-adventure activi-ties for tourists like surfing and skimboarding.

Dashielle Indelible Jr. City Tourism Officer of Mati City in Davao Oriental said that the city government is cur-rently prioritizing tourism infrastructure. Among the projects include the comple-tion of the Mati City Baywalk, the development of the Dahi-can-Lawigan Road network and the setting up of the Tourism Information Center in Dahican.

The P20-million Tour-ism Information Center aims to develop Mati City’s main tourism attraction which is Dahican, a long stretch of white-sand beach which fac-es the Pacific Ocean, popular among skim boarders, surf-ers and other adventurous tourists.

Indelible said that the city is hoping to sustain a 10-15% increase in tourism ar-rivals for this year. He bared that last year’s tourism arriv-als to the city reached 60,000 visitors. As of recorded ar-rivals for this year, it regis-tered a total of 40,000 visi-tors. Indelible is confident of reaching the 100,000 visitors mark. [PIA/RG ALAMA]

DOT woos last-minute summer bakasyonistas

WITH three tila-pia hatcheries already estab-

lished in the province, the provincial government is bent on expanding and strengthening the tilapia village enterprise pro-gram.

The province is focus-ing in areas with potential for fresh water culture as it gears towards fish suffi-ciency. The tilapia village enterprise program was implemented last year, the program has pro-duced 1,300 tilapia fish farmers including a Ga-wad Saka Awardee.

The three tilapia hatcheries were estab-lished Brgy. Tibanban in the municipality of Gov. Generoso, with the Gawad Saka Awardee Mr. Rudy

Rubio, in Brgy. Cocornon and Calapagan in the mu-nicipality of Lupon, and another tilapia hatchery will soon be launched in the municipality of Manay, with two baran-gays suitable for tilapia production, Barangay Rizal and Taocanga.

This is in consonance to the program of the Dept. of Education, par-ticularly in Manay Divi-sion, urging schools to have a tilapia hatchery.

Seeing also the po-tential of the two lakes in Manay, the provincial government is now mak-ing a development plan for Diomabuc Lake and Lake Danao.

Diomabuc Lake has a 20-hectare area, while Lake Danao has a 6-hect-

are area, all bound for aqua culture production.

The municipality of Boston is set to start with its tilapia hatchery in Brgy. Ca-atihan, covering 2 hectares. The local gov-ernment unit allocated 50 thousand financial as-sistance for the establish-ment of the hatchery, also designed to sustain the fingerling requirement for tilapia. The proponent also agreed to give his counterpart.

“The Province already validated the area, but it will be for the final vali-dation of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. The BFAR just wanted to be sure every-thing is in place,” said Mr. Felipe Montera, Chief of the Provincial Agriculture

Office Fisheries Division. He disclosed that the

province is now looking into areas that are po-tential for aqua culture, while the province now has 72 hectares of pro-ductive area for tilapia. It also aims to be instru-mental in reducing the price of tilapia, through keen focus in the fish vil-lage enterprise.

“Each of our farmers in the tilapia village enter-prise takes care of 500 to 2 thousand square meter hatchery, while the pro-vincial government re-lentlessly works on cop-ing its target production of 3 tons a year for every hectare,” he explained.

Such undertaking is designed to make the

Davao Oriental gears for fisheries sufficiency

FDAVAO, 13

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 20124 EDGEDAVAOSCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT

THE United Nations Convention to Com-bat Desertification

(UNCCD) on Wednesday launched a report that fo-cuses on achieving zero net land degradation by 2030.

The policy brief says the time is ripe to agree on a sustainable develop-ment goal at the upcoming Rio+20 summit on zero net land degradation to secure productive land for present and future generations.

The report notes achieving zero net land degradation by 2030 “will require the commitment, the support and the active investment of all public and private sectors.”

“When we consider the trend of land degradation and the need for us to pre-serve forest and land, it will be mission impossible un-less at Rio+20 the interna-tional community commits a sustainable goal for land use,” UNCCD Executive Sec-retary Luc Gnacadja told Xinhua.

Zero net land degrada-tion is achieved by avoid-ing land degradation and offsetting it by land resto-ration.

The report also out-lines drought policies and preparedness measures in

UN convention outlines measures to halt land degradation by 2030

drought-prone regions and countries by 2020.

UNCCD, the sole legal-ly-binding international agreement linking envi-ronment and development issues to sustainable land

management, says an addi-tional 120 million hectares of productive land will be needed to support the de-mand for food production, which will grow by 50 per-cent in 2030.

However, each year 12 million hectares of pro-ductive land are lost due to land degradation and desertification. Globally, 1.5 billion people are directly affected by land degrada-

tion.Established in 1994,

Bonn-based UNCCD ad-dresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands. The Convention’s

195 Parties work together to improve the living con-ditions in the drylands, to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought. [PNA/XINHUA]

CARE must be taken not to spread deep-sea creatures

around the world during exploration of the remote ocean floor.

Scientists using the famous Alvin sub say the vehicle picked up limpets from a depth of almost 3,000m and inadvertently transferred them alive to another location more than 600km away.

It is surprising be-cause the animals had to cope with huge pressure changes as Alvin conduct-ed its dives.

The researchers re-port the event in the jour-nal Conservation Biology.

Spreading organisms artificially beyond their range in this way could have damaging effects on marine ecosystems, they warn, either by introduc-ing competitors or even disease.

The team urges other deep-sea explorers to exercise extreme cau-tion, and to assume hardy stowaways could be hang-ing on to their vehicles.

The curious case of the limpets is described by Janet Voight, from the

Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

She and colleagues were studying lifeforms living around hydrother-mal vents off the north-west coast of the United States.

Such vents are among the key study targets of modern oceanographic science - places where amazing collections of animals and other organ-isms thrive in mineral-rich, hot waters that gush up from volcanic cracks in the seabed.

Indeed, it was Alvin that first discovered these ecosystems in 1977.

On one dive to a depth of 2.7km on the Gorda Ridge, the team gathered various specimens with the submersible’s sam-pling tools.

The group then climbed back up the wa-ter column and moved Alvin, via its support ship, to a new dive location 600km to the north, on the Juan De Fuca Ridge, to take yet more specimens.

When the scientists examined their haul back in the lab, they found ex-amples of a limpet (Lep-

etodrilus gordensis) thought to live only on the Gorda Ridge existing also on the Juan De Fuca Ridge. The team thought it had discovered an en-tirely new population.

But doubts started to creep in when the re-searchers realised condi-tions at the second site could not have met the limpets’ nutritional re-quirements.

Chemical analysis then confirmed the two populations were in fact one - Alvin, despite being cleaned en route to the second dive, had carried stowaways in its sampling gear.

“It remains a mystery, but we suspect we didn’t fully clean the suction sampler,” Dr Voight told BBC News.

“Perhaps they were in a little crack somewhere. The hose on the suction sampler looks much like the hose on your vacuum cleaner, and perhaps they were hiding in the cor-rugations. We were late coming up from the dive and it was a bit dark - maybe they just weren’t seen.

Warning over deep-ocean stowaways

UN Secretary-Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon Tuesday called at-

tention to the fragile state of the world’s oceans and the importance of ma-rine diversity for global survival, pressing for strengthened protection of marine life.

“Oceans cover almost three-quarters of the sur-face of the globe. They are home to the largest animal known to have lived on the planet -- the blue whale,” said the UN chief on the International World Biodiversity Day.

“From sandy shores to the darkest depths of the sea, oceans and coasts support the rich tapestry of life on which human communities rely on,” Ban added.

The UN General As-sembly marked Interna-tional Day for Biological Diversity last May 22 to increase awareness of is-sues affecting global ma-rine life. With its theme on marine diversity this year, the UN chief em-phasized on the impact of

commercial exploitation of fish stock.

In his message, Ban said, more than half of world’s fisheries have ex-hausted their stock, with an additional third of the world’s fisheries in com-plete depletion.

Moreover, an esti-mated 30 to 34 percent of marine environment consisting of coral reefs, mangroves, and sea grasses have been de-stroyed.

“Increased burning of fossil fuels is affecting the global climate, mak-ing the sea surface warm-er, causing sea level to rise and increasing ocean acidity, with consequenc-es we are only beginning to comprehend,” said the

UN chief.While concerns over

marine life for the future were raised, the UN chief remains positive on the overall outlook for the fu-ture. “There is hope,” he said, noting that despite the damages done to the marine wildlife and habitats, an estimated 50 percent have shown recovery once the threat imposed by human pres-ence was decreased.

“Lately, some prog-ress is being made, par-ticularly with the estab-lishment of large-scale marine reserves and doc-umenting areas of eco-logical or biological sig-nificance in open-ocean and deep- sea habitats,” Ban said. [PNA/XINHUA]

World’s oceans need greater protection: UN

‘SMALL people in rural areas now have access to modern-ized banking.’

--President Alex V. Buenaventura of One Network Bank

Quips

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 THE ECONOMY 5EDGEDAVAOStat Watch

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)

Month 2011 2010 2009

Average 43.31 45.11 47.637December 43.64 43.95 46.421November 43.27 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

3.5%4th Qtr 2011

3.7%4th Qtr 2011

USD 3,342Million

Nov 2011USD 4,985

MillionNov 2011

USD -1,643Million

Nov 2011USD -114

MillionDec 2011

P4,442,355Million

Nov 2011

4.71%Oct 2011P128,745

MillionNov 2011

P 4,898Billion

Oct 2011

P 43.65Dec 2011

3,999.7Sept 2011

128.1Jan 2012

3.9Jan 2012

3.4Dec 2011

284,040Sept 2011

19.1%Oct 2011

6.4%Oct 2011

1. Gross National IncomeGrowth Rate(At Constant 2000 Prices)

2. Gross Domestic ProductGrowth Rate(At Constant 2000 Prices)

3. Exports 1/

4. Imports 1/

5. Trade Balance

6. Balance of Payments 2/

7. Broad Money Liabilities

8. Interest Rates 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 2006=100

15. Core Inflation Rate 2006=100

16. Visitor Arrivals

17. Underemployment Rate 7/

18. Unemployment Rate 7/

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

THE Sy-led National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has upgraded its power dispatch and monitoring sys-

tems at its System Operations (SO)-National Control Center (NCC).

The facility, located at NGCP’s head office in Quezon City, serves as the nerve center of power grid operations for the entire country. This is where monitoring and controlling the operations of the grid, distribution sys-tem or user system, and balancing of power supply and demand are done. Simultaneous upgrades were also done at the Visayas and Mindanao Regional Control Centers.

SO-NCC acts as a power hub that dis-patches all generation facilities and loads directly or indirectly connected to the trans-mission system. This is done in accordance with the Dispatch Schedule submitted by the Market Operator, the rules of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), Grid Code, and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

SO-NCC uses the SCADA/EMS system in its day-to-day operations of the nationwide power grid. An upgraded version of this sys-tem called the OPEN3000 replaced the old GE System previously used at the Luzon, Vi-sayas, and Mindanao Regional Control Cen-ters.

This will translate to more efficient, reli-able, and secure grid operations -– consis-tent with NGCP’s goal of building “stronger transmission for a stronger nation.”

SCADA or Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition refers to a collection of comput-ers, equipment and application software in-tegrated into a system to acquire real-time data on power system parameters and to provide monitoring and control facility for remote devices such as breakers.

EMS or Energy Management System, on the other hand, is basically composed of a SCADA system with integrated advanced applications used in the management of the power grid. (PNA)

NGCP upgrades power monitoring system

HEDCOR, a subsidiary of AboitizPower, is now on its 34th year of gen-

erating clean energy through its run-of-river hydropower systems in Benguet, Davao

and Ilocos Sur. In Davao, it cur-rently generates 47 megawatts (MW).

The energy crisis Mindanao is currently facing encouraged Hedcor to build five (5) more

Hedcor to add 54 MW in Mindanaoplants with a total capacity of 54 MW to help address the situation.

The Tudaya project, an ex pansion of the 42.5 MW Sibu-lan Hydropower Plant in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur Hedcor, will soon start its construc-tion after the Renewable En-ergy contract of Department of Energy will be given.

In the province of Bukid-non, necessary permits are presently applied for by the company for the 28.2 MW Si-ta-Simod project. The project will harness the Sita and Si-mod rivers. The two host ba-rangays and the Municipality of Kitaotao already endorsed the proposed project after signing the memorandum of agreement with Hedcor offi-cials.

Another project is in Davao City with 12 megawatts.

“We feel very strongly that we are part of the solution to

Mindanao’s power woes rath-er than the problem,” Aboitiz-Power President and CEO Er-ramon I. Aboitiz said.

Hedcor is the largest de-veloper of run-of-river hydro-power in the country, which owns and operates 19 hydro-power plants in Benguet, Ilo-cos Sur, and Davao with a total capacity of 154 megawatts.

AboitizPower is the hold-ing company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, re-tail and power services. It is a major producer of Cleanergy, its brand for clean and renew-able energy in the Philippines with several hydroelectric and geothermal assets in its gen-eration portfolio, and also has non-renewable power plants located across the country. The company owns distribu-tion utilities that operate in high-growth areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

POWERHOUSE. This Talomo Hydro Power Plant in Davao City is one of the oldest hydro plants of Hedcor, producing clean energy for over 30 years now.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 20126 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

It figures

NUMBER of right-of-way claims of Mindanao landowners with the Na-tional Transmission Corp. (Transco) for immediate settlement. According to Pili-pinas Para sa Pilipino (PPP), a non-gov-ernmental organization. The landowners are asking for just compensation and or rentals for the use and occupation of their lands used for transmission facilities.

SELLING PRICE of GMA Net-work Inc. according to GMA Network chair Felipe Gozon. This as officials con-firmed that the group of Manuel V. Pan-gilinan was one of the groups seriously interested in buying the network.

PERCENTAGE growth in vehicle sales in the first four months of the year in the country. According to the Associa-tion of Vehicle Importers and Distribu-tors Inc. (Avid), a total of 10,633 units were sold from January to April, com-pared to only 8,119 units a year ago.

NUMBER of Filipinos across the world who have registered during the past six months in order to be able to vote in the elections next year, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Of these, 62,312 are new overseas absentee voters (OAVs).

CONSUMER loans at end-De-cember 2011 which showing a growth rate 15.5 percent annually, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Of the amount, P508.37 billion are current or performing loans while another P37.32 billion are past due or non-performing loans (NPLs).

NUMBER of bank accounts placed in the Export & Industry Bank, whose depositors will be paid by rthe Philip-pine Deposit Insurance Corp., after EIB was ordered closed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last month. PDIC said deposi-tors with accounts of P10,000 and below could expect to receive deposit insurance payments through postal money orders.

P100 billion

29,31497,000

12231 percent

P546 billion

AMIDST weaken-ing markets for exports, the best

prospects for the Philip-pines to maintain high growth rates, create more jobs, and reduce pov-erty are through greater investments in produc-tivity-enhancing infra-structure and further eco-nomic integration with its trading partners, says the World Bank in its latest East Asia and Pacific Eco-nomic Update released on Wednesday.

The report, entitled “Capturing New Sources of Growth” projects that 2012 annual growth in the East Asia and the Pa-cific region will moderate to 7.6 percent with slower expansion in China pull-ing down the regional ag-gregate. Excluding China, growth will increase to 5.2 percent as Thailand returns to normal levels of production. Commod-ity exporters, which expe-rienced a boom in 2011, may be vulnerable in the event of a faster than an-ticipated slowdown in China, which could trig-ger an unexpected drop in commodity prices.

In 2011, East Asia and the Pacific Region grew by 8.2 percent (4.3 per-cent excluding China), a sharp decline from the nearly 10 percent growth rate recorded in 2010 (7.0 percent excluding China).

In the same year, growth was about 2 percentage points higher than the de-veloping country average world-wide, and poverty continues to fall.

“The number of peo-ple living on less than US$ 1 a day is expected to de-crease in 2012 by 24 mil-lion. Overall, the number of people living in poverty has been cut in half in the last decade in East Asia and Pacific,” said Pamela Cox, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President. “Despite this success, about one-third of the people in the re-gion, roughly half a billion men, women and children still live in poverty. In an uncertain global environ-ment, more needs to be done to create new sourc-es of growth that provide opportunities for all.”

The slowdown in 2011 was largely due to lower than expected growth in manufacturing exports as well as supply disruptions in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and se-vere flooding in Thailand. Domestic demand and in-vestment were generally strong, aided by loosen-ing of monetary policy in some countries.

The EU, along with the US and Japan, accounts for more than 40 percent of the region’s exports, and European banks pro-

vide one-third of trade and project finance in Asia.

As external demand is likely to remain weak, countries in developing East Asia and Pacific need to rely less on exports and more on domestic demand to maintain high growth. Already, many countries are moving in this direction, but there is further scope for rebal-ancing.

“Some countries will need to stimulate house-hold consumption. In oth-ers, enhanced investment, particularly in infrastruc-ture, offers the potential to sustain growth pro-vided this does not exac-erbate domestic demand pressures,” said Bryce Quillin, World Bank Economist and lead au-thor of the report. “With a changing financial sec-tor in the aftermath of the financial crisis, new ways to finance higher levels of infrastructure investment need to be developed. Governments would need to focus on accelerating the prepa-ration of infrastructure projects.”

The report says that the Philippines needs to address the key impedi-ments to accelerating in-clusive growth through strengthening public financial management, improving tax revenues

efficiently and equitably, ramping up investments in infrastructure, and en-hancing competitiveness to attract more invest-ments.

“Successful imple-mentation of these key reforms would allow the Philippines to take ad-vantage of new oppor-tunities arising from the global economic rebal-ancing, given rising pro-duction costs in the rest of the region,” said World Bank Lead Economist for the Philippines Rogier van den Brink.

In East Asia and the Pacific Region as a whole, more investment will en-hance productivity and drive growth through higher value-added ac-tivities and innovation in the medium-term. Al-though large gains have been made in labor pro-ductivity across the re-gion since the Asian fi-nancial crisis of 1997-98, there is still large room for further gains.

Policies to support the movement of labor among countries can also be improved, suggests the Report. Improved re-gional migration policies could enhance the gains from regional economic integration and allow countries with declining working age populations to meet labor demand. (PNA)

Infra to boost PHL econ: WB THE Davao Region

(Region XI) regis-tered P3.6 billion

worth of investments in the first quarter of 2012.

Department of Trade and Industry-XI regional director Marizon Loreto said that the investments accounted for about 43% of the 2012 investment target of P8.4 billion.

If the amount of in-vestments were sustained in the next three quarters it could surpass the 2011 investment figure for the Davao Region (Region XI) which registered P10.9 billion, she added.

Much of the invest-ments were centered in Davao City and poured on property develop-ment, resorts, hotels and restaurants. In other provinces investments were geared towards ag-ri-business.

Loreto credited the region’s favorable invest-ment climate for this ac-complishment, adding that the goals were not of DTI’s sole doing but also of the local government and the private sector.

She also said that the launching of the the Busi-

ness Permits and Licens-ing System which cuts down business process-ing time to as early as 12 minutes has encouraged businessmen to venture into businesses in the region. BPLS enacts a standard that limits the processing time in which local governments would issue business permits to a maximum of 10 days from the date of the sub-mission of the applica-tion form.

Loreto said that many local governments are interested in implement-ing BPLS, among these include Davao City which has declared it as a prior-ity program of the City Government.

Other initiatives un-dertaken in conjunction with the Board of Invest-ments is the pursuit of CEO dialogues where the DTI and BOI meets with chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies to discuss plans and busi-ness expansions. Among those tackled in the CEO discussion is the possible government interven-tions these businesses would need. (PIA/RG ALAMA)

P3.6-B investments poured in 1st quarter

AFFIRMING its support to the peace and de-velopment initiatives

in Mindanao, the US govern-ment, through the United States Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID), recently signed a bilateral assistance agreement with the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) for the implementation of its major activities in Mindanao.

The agreement was signed by USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Stein-berg, USAID Philippines Mis-sion Director Gloria Steele, and MinDA Chairperson Lu-walhati Antonino.

“This bilateral signing comes at an opportune time as we all gear up for an ac-

celerated implementation of major peace and develop-ment initiatives in Mindan-ao,” Antonino said.

A cumulative amount of $127.7 million is allocated through the agreement to strengthen the Mindanao Peace and Development Pro-gram (MPAD) implemented in six conflict-affected areas in Mindanao: Cotabato City, Isabela City, Zamboanga City, Marawi City, Jolo, and South-ern Basilan.

MPAD, a USAID grant as-sistance currently under the oversight of MinDA, aims to promote economic growth in the identified areas through expansion of economic op-portunities, infrastructure development, improvement

in governance and social ser-vices.

Antoniono said that the USAID-MinDA partnership has been one of the most formidable tandems in the sphere of collaboration be-tween the Philippine gov-ernment and official devel-opment assistance.

Some of the MPAD proj-ects under the oversight of MinDA are Growth with Eq-uity in Mindanao Program, Microenterprise Access to Banking Services, Transpar-ent and Accountable Gover-nance Project, Barangay Jus-tice Service System Project, and Credit Union Empow-erment and Strengthening (CUES) Project. Barangay Justice for Peace Project and

CUES ended in February 2010 and December 2011, respectively, while the three other ongoing projects will all close in September 2012.

Bilateral agreements were also signed between the USAID and the Depart-ment of Health. The allocat-ed funds will be used for the implementation of universal health care and family health programs.

These assistance agree-ments are inline with the pri-orities outlined in President Benigno Aquino’s Social Con-tract with the Filipino People as well as with the Mindanao 2020 Peace and Develop-ment Framework Plan and the Philippine Development Plan.

MinDA, USAID sign pact on peace and development

SOUTHEAST Asia’s largest budget carrier, AirAsia Berhad posted

in the first quarter an 11 percent increase in rev-enue at 1.17 billion ringgit (371.95 million U.S. dollars), from the 1.05 million ringgit (333,809.7 U. S. dollars) re-corded last year.

The airline said the rev-enue growth came on the back of 12 percent growth in passenger volume and higher capacity.

Net operating profit ex-panded by four percent to 167.97 million ringgit (53.4 million U.S. dollars) year-on-year while profit after tax rose slightly to 172.43 mil-lion ringgit (54.81 million U. S. dollars) year-on-year.

“This remarkable per-formance, relative to our peers, signifies our resil-ient business model in the volatile and cyclical airline business coupled with the current stubborn high oil prices,” group CEO Tony Fer-nandes commented on the company’s positive result.

“We have reduced our net gearing further to 1.26 times with a healthy cash balance of 2.06 billion ring-git (654.9 million U.S. dol-lars) through strong rev-enue production, efficient cost and fleet management,” he added.

The airline currently has 57 aircraft operating in Ma-laysia.

The airline carried 4.8 million passengers in the quarter, 12 percent more than it did the previous cor-responding quarter.

Cost, measured by total expenses before interest and tax divided by avail-able seat per kilometer was six percent higher year-on-year at 13.44 sen.

AirAsia’s Thai affiliated meanwhile posted a 22 per-cent lower year-on-year net profit of 621.6 million Thai Baht (19.72 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter but revenue increased 18 percent to 4.87 billion Thai Baht (154.5 million U.S. dol-lars).

AirAsia posts 11% increase in revenue

In the Region

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 7AGRITRENDSEDGEDAVAO

“It has more vitamin C than citrus; the edible rind alone has five times the vi-tamin C of an orange.» That is how Bill Daley de-scribes guava in an article which appeared in Chicago Tribune.

Nutrition experts claim that vitamin C -- mainly in the skin, secondly in the firm flesh, and little in the central pulp -- varies from 56 to 600 milligrams. It may range up to 350-450 milligrams in nearly ripe fruit. When it is fully ripe and soft, the vita-min C content may decline to 50-100 milligrams.

Aside from vitamin C, guava is also rich in potas-sium, calcium and iron. Like-wise, guava contains both ca-rotenoids and polyphenols – the major classes of anti-oxidant pigments -- giving them relatively high dietary antioxidant value among plant foods. As these pig-ments produce the fruits› color, guavas that are red or orange in color have more potential value as antioxi-dants sources than yelllow-ish-green ones.

Raw guavas are eaten out-of-hand, but are pre-ferred seeded and served sliced as dessert or in sal-ads. There are innumerable recipes for utilizing guavas in pies, cakes, puddings, sauce, ice cream, jam, butter, marmalade, chutney, relish, catsup, and other products.

Dehydrated guavas may be reduced to a powder which can be used to flavor ice cream, confections and fruit juices, or boiled with sugar to make jelly, or uti-lized as pectin to make jelly of low-pectin fruits. In the Philippines, guava is used in dishes like sinigang.

A report from the Bu-reau of Plant Industry, a line agency of the Department of Agriculture, carries this information: «Guava has a great potential for extensive commercial production be-cause of its ease of culture, high nutritional value and popularity of processed products. Most common ar-eas where guavas are grown in abundance are: open ar-

eas, second-growth forests, backyard, or as a part of a mixed orchard.»

Currently, however, there are no existing records for big planting and production of guava in the country. To think of, guava has an inter-national market and waiting to be tapped as long as we know what and how much they need.

Since 1975, Brazil has been exporting large quantities of guava paste, concentrated guava pulp, and guava shells not only to the United States but to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Japan. Canned, frozen guava nectar is an important product in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. In South Africa, a baby-food manufac-turer markets a guava-tapio-ca product, and a guava ex-tract prepared from small and overripe fruits is used as ascorbic-acid enrichment for soft drinks and various foods.

Like most tropical fruits, guava has a thousand uses. In fact, guava has been touted as an all-purpose medicinal plant. If it is «an apple a day keeps the doc-tor away» in Europe and the United States, it must be «a few guavas in the season keeps the doctor away for the whole year» in the Phil-ippines and other countries where guavas grow.

The roots, bark, leaves and immature fruits, be-cause of their astringency, are commonly employed to halt gastroenteritis, diarrhea and dysentery, throughout the tropics. Crushed leaves are applied on wounds and ulcers. The leaf decoction is taken as a remedy for coughs, throat and chest ail-ments.

The bark and leaf ex-tracts of guava have shown to have in vitro toxic action against numerous bacteria. The leaves of guava are rich in flavonoids, which have demonstrated anti-bacterial activity. This anti-bacterial property of guava leaves is what causes benefit to the teeth and gums.

Because of this rea-

son, guava has been used for centuries to cure prob-lems related to the teeth and gums. Leaves are chewed to relieve toothache and to cure bleeding gums and bad breath.Guava leaf decoction is gargled to relieve mouth sores and inflamed and bleeding gums.

Julia F. Morton, in Fruits of Warm Climates, writes: “Guava has been effective in halting vomiting and diar-rhea in cholera patients. It is also applied on skin diseas-es. A decoction of the new shoots is taken as a febri-fuge. The leaf infusion is pre-scribed in India in cerebral ailments and nephritis. An extract is given in epilepsy and chorea and a tincture is rubbed on the spine of chil-dren in convulsions. A com-bined decoction of leaves and bark is given to expel the placenta after childbirth.”

Guava helps reduce cho-lesterol in blood and pre-vents it from thickening, thereby maintaining fluid-ity of blood and reducing blood pressure. Studies have shown that foods which lack fiber (such a refined flour) add to blood pressure, due

to quick conversion to sug-ar. Guava, being very rich in fiber and hypoglycemic in nature, helps reduce blood pressure.

Guava is also very help-ful for those who want to lose weight without com-promising with their intake of proteins, vitamins and fi-ber. Guava, being very high in roughage and very rich in vitamins, proteins and min-erals, but with no cholester-ol and less digestible carbo-hydrates, is very filling and satisfies appetite very eas-ily. Ironically, guava helps gain weight among lean and thin people. This is probably due to its richness in nutri-ents, which keeps their me-tabolism right helping prop-er absorption of nutrients.

Those who want to look younger should eat gua-va. «Guavas can help improve your skin texture and avoid skin problems more than the best of beauty creams or skin toner gels can do,» a beauty expert said. This is chiefly due to the abundance of as-tringents in its fruits (more in immature ones) and in leaves.

Guava has several other

uses. Morton, in her book, cited the following:

Wood: The wood is yel-low to reddish, fine-grained, compact, moderately strong, weighs 650-750 kilograms per cubic meter; is durable indoors; used in carpentry and turnery. In India, it is val-ued for engravings. Guatema-lans use guava wood to make spinning tops, and in El Sal-vador it is fashioned into hair combs which are perishable when wet. It is good fuelwood and also a source of charcoal.

Leaves and bark : The leaves and bark are rich in tannin (10% in the leaves on a dry weight basis, 11-30% in the bark). The bark is used in Central America for tanning hides. In Southeast Asia, the leaves are employed to give a black color to cotton; and in Indonesia, they serve to dye

matting.Wood flowers: In Mexico,

the tree may be parasitized by the mistletoe producing the rosette-like malformations called “wood flowers” which are sold as ornamental curi-osities.

One of the most gregari-ous of fruit trees, the gua-va (known in the science world as Psidium guajava) is almost universally called by its common English name or its equivalent in other languages. In Spanish, the tree is guaya-bo, or guayavo, the fruit guay-aba or guyava. The French call it goyave or goyavier; the Dutch, guyaba, goeajaaba; the Surinamese, guave orgoeja-ba; and the Portuguese, goia-ba or goaibeira. Hawai-ians call it guava or kuawa. In the Philippines, it is known as bayabas.

Guava: The ‘apple’ of the tropicsBy Jims Vincent T. Capuno

A study of Philippine Rice Research Institute (Phl-Rice) had recommended

the indirect engagement of youth in rice farming as results revealed that farmers’ children care about the livelihood that had supported their family.

The study of Jaime A. Manalo IV titled, Really, they don’t want to farm?: Chal-lenging existing orthodoxies on youth perceptions on rice farming in the Philippines challenged wide perception on youth wanting to leave the farm. This perception resulted in fears that the country might

have a scarcity of future food producers.

Results gathered from youth in Aurora and Albay revealed that young farmers’ children have expressed desire to go abroad, but this does not disconnect them from farming as respondents expressed that they have “heart for the farm-ing family and vision for the farm.”

Manalo, a development communication specialist, fur-ther said that many of his re-search participants wanted to be connected to rice farming in various capacities but actions

are yet to be implemented for them to be actively engaged.

“There’s this belief that younger generation is not interested in farming, which resulted in almost zero efforts to engage the youth on rice farming. This needs rethinking as many of my research par-ticipants said, ‘Once a farmer, always a farmer,” Manalo em-phasized.

He recommended that initiatives enabling youth to perform their tasks in school, while they remain connected to rice farming, must be craft-ed.

AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT. Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala (left) and Compostela Valley Governor Arturo T. Uy ride on a power tiller, which is part of more than P6-million worth of agricultural projects, farm ma-chinery and equipment, inputs and fruit tree seedlings provided by the Department of Agriculture as its coun-

terpart with the Provincial Government of Compostela Valley to increase the productivity and incomes of small farmers and fisherfolk. The DA is also eyeing to develop a 6,000-hectare cluster in Compostela into a production area for fancy rice like Basmati, and other high value crops. [ALAN JAY JACALAN, DA INFORMATION SERVICE]   

Study urges

Engage youth in farming

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 20128 VANTAGE POINTS

Imperiousness EDITORIAL

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EDGEDAVAO

A lateral solution to unemployment

THE five-month impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato C. Corona on his

fitness to remain in office is about to end, with the senator-judges on the verge of casting their votes for acquittal or conviction, as the case may be.

Covered by media, particularly by obstreperous cameras of television networks, it has been a gripping courtroom drama like no other. The reality show, watched by mil-lions of Filipinos here and abroad, will reach its climactic phase today, Friday, when Corona takes the wit-ness stand once more, this time to answer pointed questions from his accusers, members of the prosecu-tion panel from the House of Repre-sentatives.

There’s no use belaboring here what happened in his first appear-ance before the impeachment court last Tuesday. Everybody knows what

transpired. Suffice it to say that the highest magistrate of the country certainly was not at his best. He was at his worst.

Ordered by the impeachment court’s presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, to re-turn to the witness stand, Corona, no longer showing the slightest hint of bombast, was returned in a wheelchair, looking meek and help-less after reportedly suffering from the effects of his two-decade bout with diabetes.

Corona’s earlier show of imperi-ousness by walking out of the court-room without asking the permission of the court was doused with cold water when the man he insulted by his walkout exacted a measure of revenge by ordering all exits closed, thereby preventing the leader of the country’s judicial system and his family from leaving. Tit for tat!

Will the re-sults of the new Social

Weather Station (SWS) survey make the hopes of the la-bor sector dimmer?

SWShas re-leased the results of its latest survey. It says that the coun-try’s unemployment rate grew by 10 points or about 4.1 million in-dividuals from December 2011 to March 2012. In more precise terms, the survey found 34.4 percent of about 18.8 million unemployed Fili-pinos!

This result of the survey might be a wel-come development. It somehow justifies the fears and alleged insensitivity of the leadership.

On May 1, 2012, the President rejected the demand of the labor sector for a P125 increase in the daily minimum wage. He cited that such proposal would be detrimental to the economy as it could lead to mass layoffs and business closures. In short, the result would be unem-ployment and less economic activities.

Nobody seemed to believethe calculation of the President that the demanded wage in-crease will benefit 40 million workers and will cost P1.43 trillion. Research institutions and labor organizations said that the figures cited by the President are quite bloated, and alleged that the intention is to unleash fear and confu-sion. Otherwise figures, further calculations and economic assumptions were circulated to prove their point. And for those who might have missed it, the corrected figures as pre-sented by labor organizations indicated only less than 4 million employed workers that stand to benefit from the proposal and it will cost P194.9 million, which represents only 12 percent of the country’s total corporate earn-ings.

The point is that the long-standing demand for a P125 minimum wage increase is urgent and necessary. What could be more dreadful than outright unemployment – at least from the perspective of the administration - is the potent adversarial reactions of the private sec-tor and these might have been the reason for the seeming inaction of our legislators (read: politicians). Like the labor sector, the private and business groups also have their own lobby-ists and allies in congress; only, they are more quiet yet equally or even more powerful than the legislators. They can make things happen, and if further put into the losing end they can make things happen through most of our leg-islators.

While the proposal is now in congress, it might be more beneficial to mobilize groups that could help forward the cause of the labor sector. At this time, it is no longer a matter of the whole economy; it’s about allowing ordinary Filipinos to live in dignity. It’s about sharing and distributing the wealth that this so-called economy generates. A vibrant economy, i.e., more investments, more products produced and more profits, does not necessary mean lesser people living in poverty. This is particu-larly true for economies, like the Philippines, where the middle-income group is lessening, and where the lowest income group is thicken-ing, while 90 percent of the wealth resides in only about 10 percent of the population.

The more significant challenge that we have to face however should the proposal gets the nod of the legislators and eventually the President – just keeping our fingers crossed - is layoffs and retrenchments of workers. Hope-fully this will not happen all at once. Yet the good side of it – if it will indeed happen - is that we allow businesses to employ only the right size and the right kind of labor. We then improve the quality and productivity of labor. In the long term, this will benefit the whole economy.

What then would we do with retrenched, laid off workers? And what about the rising level of unemployment in the Philippines? Again, my answer to that at this time is not a matter of economics neither a matter of the number of new investment coming into the country to accommodate these people. I don’t really expect a small country (in geographic sense) like the Philippines to have a conges-tion of business and manufacturing establish-ments, food processing facilities, BPO centers, etc. Each country has its own carrying capacity. What I expect is the right size of population in such a small country, and this calls for a genu-ine and workable policy framework - not on labor economics but on demography.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 9VANTAGE POINTS

Monkey Business

EDGEDAVAO

BY CARMINA GEENE N. MALLARISPECIAL FEATURE

Bastos

Dragon fruit, an all-cure natural healer?

Tree farmer laughs all the way to the bankI STILL can’t i m a g i n e that simply

planting trees to save our envi-ronment and re-duce the effects of global warm-ing can also be a multi-million peso business venture for anyone who is keen on doing commercial tree planting.

One of my climbing buddies, Herbie Molina, who has a 15 hectare piece of co-conut land in the hinterlands of Magsay-say town, Davao del Sur is bent on turning that land into a forest of commercial trees that could be sold five years later to ready buyers of raw logs to supply lumber and plywood factories in Davao.

Right now, Herbie is still trying to fig-ure out what type of trees to plant on that piece of land that covers both mountain-ous and flat farm areas, all planted to co-conut trees, as well as some fruit trees like durian and marang. What he has in mind is either gmelina or falcatta, but lately he bought some seedlings of lawaan or ma-hogany and other indigenous trees that he wants to plant in some smaller areas of his farm.

But another friend of mine, Jojo Doro-mal, who runs a rather successful banana farm somewhere in Calinan, had already made up his mind several years ago to turn his 28-hectare farmland in Laac, Davao del Norte into a commercial tree farm. When this banana farmer chose to plant 40,000 falcatta trees and nothing else, he didn’t waver and stuck to his plan with the help of foresters from the Department of Envi-ronment and Natural Resources (DENR).

It is so easy to see that Jojo is also suc-ceeding in his five-year old falcatta tree plantation by the way he laughs and jokes

with his friends all the time these days. To him, planting falcatta is a protective “hedge” just in case something terrible happens to the banana industry. A large fellow with a round, jolly face, this new tree farmer would make a perfect Santa Claus during Christmas even without a white beard.

Jojo knows his falcatta trees are ready for harvest when he can no longer em-brace the trunks of the trees. When they were still young, he treated his falcattas like his children, embracing them one by one whenever he visited Laac.

“Now, when I embrace my falcatta trees, the fingers of my two hands cannot reach out to each other,” he laughed aloud. “Three years ago I could shake my own hands around the trees. Now, I can’t!”

Of course, when Jojo laughs out loud, it means he’s ready to laugh all the way to the bank if and when he starts harvesting his five-year old falcattas. This could eas-ily mean a couple of million in his bank account, but Jojo told me he’s not in a hurry to rake his few millions because he can still make more if he could only wait a little longer, say three more years, or a total of eight years for all his falcatta trees in Laac to mature to their right harvest-ing age.

Waiting that long will mean something like five million or more pesos in his bank account from plywood factories which pay more than log traders which supply the raw logs to factories in Mindanao. When I asked him how much they pay for falcatta trees, he couldn’t remember the exact fig-ure per cubic meter at the plywood fac-tory in Lanang, this city.

“I really don’t mind that much as long as I get the total amount into my bank ac-count,” he laughed. “Anyway, these falcat-tas grow on their own. After planting, we just leave them. No need to fertilize or to

spray pesticides. They just grow wild, fast and tall.”

This tree planting business, Jojo pointed out, isn’t like the banana export business where he need to look after his farm all the time, everyday. It’s a very te-dious business with so many things to do at the farm to keep the plants and fruits healthy at all times. On top of that, he has to know how much he’s paid per carton box by his Japanese clients who buy from him directly.

Since my friend Herbie, at this stage, is still planning to go into tree planting like Jojo, he wants to know where he can buy falcatta seedlings so he could start planting in Magsaysay.

“Go to Nabunturan, look for them alongside the highway, they’re all over the place. Maybe you can get them for one peso or two pesos a seedling,” Jojo said, still grinning.

Well, I just passed this little info to Herbie last week and he seemed more worried than excited, knowing where he can buy falcatta seedlings and for how much, complaining that he needs to hire a small truck to buy all those seedlings in Nabunturan.

“Why can’t the DENR make these seedlings available at their forestry offices in Digos or Bansalan for people out there who want to plant falcatta as a full time farming venture?” griped Herbie over a cup of herbal tea.

Just to calm him down, I bought him a piece of hot French cinnamon bread to go with his tea. “You see, pare ko, Digos and Bansalan are only good for rice, sugar and mango,” I said, trying to convince him. “Most farmers there want crops with fast returns after planting. They’ll laugh at you if you plant falcatta.”

(Comments? Email me : tradingpost_davao@yahoo.com)

EVER heard of a fruit that enhances me-tabolism, improves memory, digestion and immune system?

Although not popularly known to Filipi-nos before its introduction in the 90s, dragon fruit, commonly known as “saniata” or “pi-tahaya” from Central and South America has

several uses, according to original Dragon Lady propagator Editha Dacuycuy’s daugh-ter, Nini.

Dacuycuy, an outstanding rural woman

and an awardee for high value crops, said during the recent “National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development Summit”, organized by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Re-sources and Department of Interior and Lo-cal Government spoke of dragon fruit’s sev-eral benefits.

She said researchers have discovered that dragon fruit also helps maintain clear vision, reduces fat, bad cholesterol, nor-malizes hypertension and blood glucose, strengthens bones and teeth development, promotes tissue development, improves ap-petite, moisturizes, prevents constipation and good for urinary tract infection, and smoothens skin.

Dacuycuy also mentioned that the fruit also has a relaxing effect on cerebral palsy as experienced by one of her relatives.

Her mother, Editha, recommended drag-on fruit to a relative based in Macau to re-

duce her daughter’s frequent constipation which is common among cerebral palsy pa-tients with much success.

She said dragon fruit can be processed as meat replacement in lumpia, burger pat-ties, longganisa and bola-bola. In addition, the flowers of the fruit can be turned into a potent flower tea.

The fruit, which is covered by green-tipped overlapping scales in pink or red, is said to be also helpful in bringing down blood sugar levels in type II diabetes.

Its taste is similar to pear, watermelon and kiwi that is sweet and juicy.

Named as Queen of the Night or Moon-flower, dragon fruit is oblong in shape and contains tiny black seeds which can bloom at evening just before daybreak.

It commands a rainfall between 600 to 1,300 millimeters with 38 to 40 degrees Cel-sius temperature.

The fruit has three variants: Hylocereus Undatus with red-colored skin and white-colored flesh, Hylocereus Polyrhizus with both red colored skin and flesh, and Sele-nicerus Megalanthus with yellow-colored skin and white-flesh. [PNA]

‘She said dragon fruit can be processed as meat

replacement in lumpia, burger patties, longganisa and bola-bola. In addition, the flowers of the fruit can

be turned into a potent flower tea.’

CHIEF Justice Renato Co-rona has a lot

to thank the Senate for. Senate Presi-dent Juan Ponce Enrile was too lenient in letting him read an open-ing statement, and later to proceed to a narration of facts with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation, instead of subjecting him to the standard question-and-answer format for witnesses, when he appeared on Tuesday for his trial at the impeachment court.

The opening statement allowed Coro-na to lash at President Benigno Aquino III, the prosecutors, the media, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, and even a de-parted relative of his wife in relation to an intra-family feud over a piece of property and a family-controlled corporation that has become an issue in the impeachment trial.

If one is to make a quantitative apprais-al of the impeached Chief Justice’s opening statement, much of it dwelt not on facts that can either be refuted or validated in a cross-examination. In a manner of speaking, he was speaking like he was addressing loyal, subservient court employees in one of the several rallies and masses held in his turf, the Supreme Court.

When the prosecution tried to stop him from reading further his statement, Corona shot back saying he should be al-lowed to talk to the Filipino people. And each time Enrile asked how much longer it would take him, the respondent would say “sandali na lang po” (it would not be long). The “sandali” however proved to be an eternity for the audience that had expect-ed the Chief Justice to answer categorical questions on the floor.

Luckily for Corona, Enrile showed ex-treme liberality by allowing him to go on with his tirade and irrelevant declarations despite the objections made by the pros-ecution. The prepared opening statement alone took around two hours, mainly be-cause the Chief Justice proved to lack savvy as a writer as shown by the repetitive, if an-noying, narration of his personal angst over what he perceives to be the real motive behind the impeachment. Or maybe, the bad writing was deliberate so as to cause further delay to the proceedings.

Corona’s utter disregard of rules gov-erning testimonies showed his disdain towards the idea of testifying at the Sen-ate, if not at the Senate itself, sitting as an impeachment court. If he appeared at the trial, it was only because he had no option left after his lawyers committed the gross blunder of making Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales testify as hostile witness.

Deep in his mind however Corona re-mains convinced that as Chief Justice his position is superior to the constitutional authority of the impeachment court. In fact, Chief defense counsel Justice Serafin Cuevas today told the Senate that Corona’s appearance on Tuesday did not mean that he was withdrawing [his] petition at the Su-preme Court questioning the jurisdiction of the impeachment court. Cuevas added they have even asked the Supreme Court to ex-pedite its decision on said petition.

No wonder that when he was through with his PowerPoint presentation that sought to refute allegations concerning his dollar accounts that were not disclosed in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, he casually declared: “The Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused.” He then stood up, picked up his folder, and left without ask-ing permission from the presiding officer, to the consternation of Enrile and the other senators.

As the Chief Justice, nobody expected Corona to ignore an elementary courtroom courtesy. But arrogance could blind a per-son to the point of irrationality.

Arrogance aside, many observers opined that the apparent walkout sug-gested that Corona did not wish to be cross-examined, as he knew his own narration had weak points that can be exploited by the prosecution.

But whatever the reason, Corona was plainly being bastos. [H. Marcos C. Mordeno writes mainly on the environment, human rights, and politics. He can be reached at hm-cmordeno@gmail.com]

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012

To celebrate this mile-stone year, the organiza-tion and its scholars, both alumni and existing, recog-nizes the many people who have helped them make

their dreams a reality, espe-cially Carlos P. Dominguez, its founder. The celebration also paves the perfect opportuni-ty for the organization to look back and recognize the choic-es, the sacrifices, and the ups and downs of the journey to-wards excellence.

From General San-tos City is Podia Kudanding. An AB-Economics graduate of NDDC, she is now working as part of the staff of Saran-gani Provincial Hall. People are amazed by her passion. She aims to serve the Saran-gani constituents and hope to bring improvements in her work.

Social worker Pasu-tan Norhata Paglas is a UM graduate who is now work-ing as a teacher at Manindolo, Datu Paglas National High School. Her dreams include educating the youth while encouraging her constituents to improve the lives of their families and community as a social worker graduate.

Lily Grace Barlizo, RN took Nursing at San Pedro College and graduated in 2003. Presently, she is the Head Nurse at Rivera Hos-pital. Being a self-motivated

individual helped her to gain the admiration of the people she worked with and the in-stitution as a whole.

Edres Sacurat from Tagum City is a UIC graduate of 2003. Presently, he is the Supervisor at Mead Johnson, Dubai, KSA. He once worked as a dietitian at Tagum Pro-vincial Hall. He is one per-son who is optimistic, open-minded, and persuasive.

Abdulnasser Salahi of Tibungco, Davao City is an AMACC graduate of BS-Infor-mation Technology in 2003. His expertise in technology allowed him to become an IT Supervisor at Nazrani Group of Companies, Saudi Arabia.

From Paglas, Maguin-danao is Noraisa Tudon. She is a graduate of Social Work at the University of Mindanao and is seeking to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of those in need. Presently, she is a Municipal Link Of-ficer at the Department of Social Welfare and Develop-

ment Field Office, Region XII. Life has been so good to

Engr. Jerome Sabdula of Sta. Maria, Davao del Sur. A UIC graduate of BS-Computer En-gineering in 2004, he is now an Analyst Engineer at Accen-ture Philippines, Makati City.

Engr. Jessimer Enriquez of Tagum City “made his dreams happen” while bag-ging numerous academic awards along the way as he

studied at USEP and pass-ing the Electrical Engineer-ing Licensure Examination in 2004. Presently, he is a Transmission Line Engineer at Aboitiz Power Generation at Navotas City.

Another one from FD-TEI’s second batch of schol-ars is Tammy Kakim Egkayo-gen from Paglas, Maguin-danao. He took Agricultural Engineering at Mindanao State University, General San-tos City. He has come a long way and is now a Software Engineer at Mazroe Techni-cal House and Computers, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Odessa (Ulambay) Ma-mayog from Datu Paglas, Ma-guindanao graduated with a degree of BS-Agriculture at the University of Southern Mindanao in 2004. However, things took a slight turn when she became a policewoman at Sultan Kudarat.

We also have a Doctor of Medicine. From Davao City, Dr. Wiljun Pangarintao

graduated at Davao Medical School Foundation in 2004. Presently, he is a Resident Doctor at Mati Provincial Hospital.

Another noble profes-sion is teaching at Madrazah, Pantukan. The teacher’s name is Esnayra Parium of Pantukan, Compostela Valley. She is a graduate of BS-Com-puter Science at UM-Tagum. She hopes to bring his con-stituents closer to God and make them more responsible and productive citizens.

Monniza Ishmael, RN of General Santos City gradu-ated with a degree in Nursing at NDDC. Presently, she is an ICU Nurse at Medina, Saudi Arabia. Her subtle personal-ity has made her admirable and her courage and enthusi-asm brought her success.

From Maitum, Saran-gani, we have a graduate of MSU. Her name is Asma Usman-Akmad and she took AB-Economics. She is cur-rently working as the Local Legislative Staff Officer II at the Vice Gov Office, Alabel, Sarangani Province. And she has recently earned her masteral degree on Business Administration at NDDC in 2012.

From Batch 2 of FDTEI, we have a girl who took BS-Economics at the Ateneo de Davao University and gradu-ated in 2004. From Maco, Compostela Valley, Edmee Malepiro Linasa is now an Administrative Officer of the Provincial Budget Office at the Provincial Government of Davao del Norte.

Rene Quibo, a Phar-macist, graduated at UIC in 2004. Presently, she is con-nected with NCCC-HBI and at the same time an instructor at Mindanao Medical Foun-dation College.

A smart, female engi-neer who can work equally with male engineers in a mining industry is Johanny Brillantes. She took Chemi-cal Engineering and gradu-ated in 2006 at the Ateneo de Davao Universty. She is now working as a Metallurgist at Greenstone Resource Corpo-ration, Surigao del Norte.

Another engineer from FDTEI’s fourth batch of schol-ars graduated at the Ateneo de Davao University in 2006. She is the resourceful and highly adept Engr. Lolita Es-tores from Tagum City. She has worked at Wireless DATA Middle East, Abu Dhabi, Unit-ed Arab Emirates. Presently, she’s back in the Philippines as a Software Development Engineer at NCR Cebu Devel-opment Center, Inc.

Another engineer that goes by the name of Joffel Pompong. Engineer Pom-pong is from Brgy. Manin-dolo, Datu Paglas, Maguin-danao. He graduated at the Mindanao State University, General Santos City with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering. He is now an Agricultural Technologist at the Depart-

ment of Agriculture-Maguin-danao.

To endure sleepless hours of providing compas-sionate care to patients of all ages is a noble task. This is the kind of life that Cyrian Lumuma, RN from Madaum, Tagum, Karen Andang-Ab-bas, RN from General Santos City, Jonalyn Asani, RN from Tibungco, Davao City, and Laysa Causing, RN from Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur chose. Coming from FDTEI’s third and fourth batch of scholars, their keen response towards the needs of others is a mani-festation of a responsible and reliable nurse.

Goal-oriented and self-motivated Karen is presently a nurse and technical assis-tant at the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Manage-ment Office in Alabel, Saran-gani. She graduated in 2006 at Notre Dame University, GenSan.

When offered a hosting job by GMA Davao, Cyrian turned it down to serve those in need. He is now working as a Staff Nurse of the Cardiac Catheteriza-tion Laboratory (CCL) at King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Annalie Edday of Malun-gon, Sarangani, a petite but persuasive woman, can pen-etrate the hearts of her con-stituents as she has served as a Manager of QUEST (Quality Education for Sarangani To-day) Program of Sarangani Province under Gov. Miguel Dominguez.

An unassuming woman of simplicity, Relane Mon-delo, a computer Engineer, graduated at UIC in 2006. Presently, she is a Cadette En-gineer at Davao EFSR Farm Corporation.

Another promis-ing lady is Faudzia Adams-Abdullah from Paglas, Magu-indanao. She is a Computer Science graduate specifically Cum Laude at AMA Computer University in 2006. Presently, she is a Senior Software Com-puter Engineer at Accenture, Cebu City.

Hasser Waraji from Samal, is a graduate at UIC-Pharmacy in 2006 and is now a Pharmacist at Riyadh Na-tional Hospital.

FDTEI’s sixth batch of scholars includes Sholyn Rose Yagco Mangob, Valen-zuela Reygon, RN, and Yaser Darindigon, RN. All of them graduated from Davao Doc-tors College in 2009. All of them also dedicate their lives to serve those in need by be-coming nurses.

Sholyn’s in-depth knowledge and unique skills allowed her not only to assist doctors but to become a pre-school teacher as well. She is currently a clinical instructor at Mati Doctors College.

Yasser passed the Philippine Nursing Licensure Exam in 2009 with a PRC rate of 80%. From being a nurse volunteer of Operation Smile at Davao City Chapter to a

trainee at SMH, he is now also a member of Operating Room Nurses Association of the Philippines. Presently, he is connected at Southern Philippine Medical Center Hospital (SPMCH).

Maido Hasim from Pa-glas, Maguindanao is a gradu-ate of BS-Computer Science at UIC. He is now a segment producer and television ads producer at GMA-7 Network, Magsaysay, Davao City.

Maila Banzil from Laak, Davao Norte, is a graduate of the Ateneo de Davao Univer-sity in 2010. She took BS-Ac-countancy and is now a Certi-fied Public Accountant since October 2010. She works as an Auditor at Tagum Coop-erative and aims to study Law in the future.

Two graduates of BS-IT are Abskan Abdul and Sofia Labawan. Both of them are from Davao City. Smart and outgoing Abskan is a gradu-ate of UIC in 2010. He is presently working as an EDP Engineer at Call Box, Landco, Davao City. Meanwhile, Sofia Labawan is working as EDP Staff at NCCC, Davao.

Another group of four nurses in Batch 4 are Roldan Diambulang, RN, Dianil San-tiago, RN, Junifel Taglos, RN, and Almera Tudon, RN. All of them graduated in 2010 and passed the licensure exam in December of the same year.

Roldan is from Davao City and he is a graduate of BS-Nursing at DDC in 2010. Now, he works as a Nurse at Rivera General Hospital, Panabo City.

Dianil is a trainee nurse at Bishop Regan Memorial Hospital, Tagum City.

Junifel is a nurse trainee at the Southern Phil. Medical Center, Davao City.

Almera is is now a staff nurse at Dr. Leila H. Medical Center, New Rayyan, Doha-Quatar.

The following are three graduates of BS-Management Accounting.

Baihenia Diga from Gen-eral Santos City is a graduate of the Ateneo de Davao Uni-versity and is now working as a Staff of Sarangani Capitol, Sarangani Province.

Farida Sandigan from Paglas, Maguindanao is a graduate of the University of the Immaculate Conception and is presently connected with Retail Specialist, Inc., Davao Branch as a book-keeper.

Irvin Nacito from Asun-cion, Davao del Norte is also a graduate of UIC and is now working at CD Technologies Asia, Inc., Davao City as a Marketing/Customer Service Representative.

These brilliant people have grown so much. From them, we learn that scholar-ship is not merely about get-ting straight A’s. It is a life-long love of learning and applying these learnings to meaningful and fruitful endeavors. FDTEI aims to embrace more people and change more lives.

10 COMMUNITY SENSE EDGEDAVAO

15 years of empowering through educationTHE Foundation for Development

through Education, Incorporated (FD-TEI) has changed lives of hundreds of

students by empowering the youth through their scholarship programs for the past 15 years.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 11COMPETITIVE EDGEEDGEDAVAO

     

   

 

 

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THE growing tour-ism industry in the city and the

neighboring provinces has prompted industri-alist and trailblazer Joji Ilagan-Bian to launch a series of workshops that will boost businesses in the tourism industry.

“Tourism is growing fast in the city and we need to constantly up-date ourselves,” Ilagan-Bian told restaurateurs and hoteliers during the launch. “The training never stops.”

The Institute of In-ternational Culinary and Hospitality Entre-preneurship (ICHEF) launched a series of workshops designed to develop the personal-ity, communication and management skills of Managers, Supervisors and Service Personnel of Hotels and Restaurants in Davao City. The first ever workshop concept tagged as “Service Excel-lence Plus” aims to bring about opportunities to hone the necessary skills for hoteliers and res-taurateurs initiated by known Personality and Mindanao’s icon, Ms. Joji Ilagan Bian, Chairper-son of JIB International Schools and Group of

ICHEF launches trainings for Davao tourism industry

Companies. “I would like to share this workshop to all the industry work-ers of Culinary, Hospital-ity, Tourism and Manage-ment field so that they would be updated of trends and get the chance to develop themselves and become better, effec-tive individuals”, Ms. Bian says.

Mr. Rene Lizada, Training Consultant of JIB Group of Schools and Companies will facilitate the training supported by personality, communica-tion and hospitality ex-perts. Training program may be customized ac-cording to the needs and requirements of hotels and restaurants.

Ms. Joji Ilagan Bian

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 201212 NATION/WORLD EDGEDAVAO

NATION BRIEFS WORLD TODAYSuing

A Filipina former nanny of Sharon Stone is su-ing the US film star

for wrongful dismissal and harassment, including by allegedly making deroga-tory remarks about her eth-nicity and religion.

But the star’s publicist slammed the lawsuit as “absurd,” claiming the ex-nanny was simply trying to “cash in” on Stone.

Arrest

FORMER Isabela gov-ernor Grace Padaca, a founder of Kaya Natin,

said she trusts the Supreme Court will treat her fairly in a petition she will file ask-ing it to review a warrant issued for her arrest over alleged graft.

This, despite her group’s involvement in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Har-vey Keh, lead convenor of Kaya Natin, was a witness at the impeachment trial, and was even castigated by senator-judges for “trying to influence the court” by handing Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile an en-velope of documents. The documents were purport-edly records of Corona’s bank accounts.

Revenue

DIVERSIFIED con-glomerate San Miguel Corp.(SMC)

said it expects to hit its $20-billion revenue tar-get for 2015 this year on in-creased contributions from new acquisitions.

“We believe by end of 2012, we will have $20-bil-lion sales revenue,” said SMC president Ramon Ang, adding that SMC initially aimed to hit the $20-bil-lion target by 2015 but now sees reaching this level by the end of this year, or three years ahead of schedule, through its acquisitions.

Charged

A member of the Phil-ippine National Police-Special Ac-

tion Force (PNP-SAF) was charged with murder yesterday after he was positively identified by wit-nesses as the one who al-legedly planted the bomb that exploded inside a bus in Makati Citythat killed five passengers last year.

Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona, direc-tor of the Southern Police District (SPD), said mur-der raps have been filed against Police Officer 2 Ar-nold Mayo before the De-partment of Justice (DOJ).

No ban

THE acceptance by China of at least 30 containers of Phil-

ippine bananas has given some relief to small and big growers in Mindanao.

For the team of Filipino experts led by director Dr. Clarito Barron of the Bu-reau of Plant Industry (BPI), it means redemption for the top fruit export to China, which earned more than $366 million in revenues in that market last year. The Philippines supplies practi-cally 83 percent of bananas in the Chinese market.

CHINA has deployed more ships to a dis-puted shoal in the

South China Sea amid a tense stand-off with the Philippines, officials and state media said on Wednesday.

As of Monday night, there were five Chinese government vessels -- up from three -- and 16 fish-ing boats in the area, the Philippine foreign depart-ment said.

Manila has lodged a fresh protest with the Chinese embassy over the build-up, department spokesman Raul Hernan-dez said.

Using the shoal’s Phil-ippine name, Hernandez added: “The Philippines, therefore, demands that China’s vessels immedi-ately pull out from Bajo de Masinloc and the Phil-ippines’ exclusive eco-nomic zone.”

China’s official Xinhua news agency said controls have been “strengthened” in the area and quoted a foreign ministry spokes-man as saying it had “about 20 fishing boats” near the disputed Scar-borough Shoal, “roughly

China sends more ships to Scarborough

PROTEST. Anti-China protesters gather outside of the Consulate General of China in San Francisco on May 11. China has deployed more ships to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. [AFP]

the same number as in previous years”.

China claims the shoal along with most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its Asian neighbours, while the Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nau-tical-mile exclusive eco-nomic zone.

Cranking up tensions, both countries have had ships posted around the

shoal since early April, when Chinese vessels prevented a Philippine Navy ship from arresting Chinese fishermen.

The two claimants had vowed to de-escalate the tensions and both imposed separate fish-ing bans in the area from May 16, while Philippine President Aquino stopped a planned protest trip to the shoal by a Philippine

ex-soldier.Hernandez said Chi-

nese fishermen appeared to be breaking their own ban.

“They are fishing and collecting corals,” he said.

He said the two gov-ernments were still in talks over the dispute, and the alleged Chinese build-up only served to “escalate tension” around the shoal.

INDIE artist Phillip Phil-lips won “American Idol” on Wednesday,

becoming the fifth male singer in a row to take the title and a guaranteed re-cording contract.

The 21-year-old guitar player from Georgia, who brought an indie vibe to the top-rated TV contest, beat ballad singer Jessica Sanchez, 16, of California in the public vote.

“American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest said a world record 132 million votes were cast by phone, text and online for the two

finalists.The winner was an-

nounced at the end of a two-hour finale on Wednesday featuring per-formances by Rihanna, Neil Diamond, Reba McEntire as well as “Idol” judge Jen-nifer Lopez and Steven Tyler’s band Aerosmith, which closed the show by going back to their hard rock roots with the 1976 classic “Walk This Way”.

Phillips looked stunned as Seacrest announced his name, and could not fin-ish his performance of his new single “Home” as he

fought back tears. Instead, he unstrapped his guitar and with eyes brimming walked off the stage to hug his family in the front row of the audience.

Sanchez, bidding to become the youngest ever winner of “American Idol,” was thought to have the edge after dominating social media and Twitter mentions in the last few days.

But Phillips’ goofball humor and individual style earned him a large, young female fan base, and he had never appeared in the bot-

WINNER. Phillip Phillips holds the winner’s trophy after being named the winner during the 11th season finale of “American Idol” in Los Angeles, California May 23, 2012.

Phillips crowned ‘American Idol’tom three in public votes during earlier stage of the Fox TV show.

The “Idol” judg-es also raved over his singing at Tuesday night’sperformance show finale of what will now be his first single - the folk-rock ballad “Home.”

VULNERABLE AND REAL

“He’s real, we watched him pull out of his soul ... he can really sing a mel-ody right. He’s just really evolved and he’s been vul-nerable and I think Amer-ica loves that,” Tyler told reporters after the finale.

Phillips, who worked in his father’s pawn shop be-fore auditioning for “Idol” also won sympathy for a recurrent kidney problem that has plagued his health during the season.

Sanchez was praised in the contest for her big voice but sometimes fault-ed for lacking the emotion needed to deliver power ballads such as those made famous by Whitney Hous-ton, Mariah Carey and Ce-line Dion.

She was saved by the judges from elimination in April after placing at the bottom in public vot-ing, and the show’s judges disliked her third song in Tuesday night’s perfor-mance finale.

Travel

MYANMAR pro-democracy lead-er Aung San Suu

Kyi will travel overseas next week for the first time in more than two decades to attend an eco-nomic forum in Bangkok, according to her party.

The former political prisoner’s plan to leave her homeland for the first time since 1988 is the latest sign of dramatic political change sweep-ing through the country, where decades of outright military rule ended last year.

Lambasted

RIGHTS group Am-nesty International lambasted the Unit-

ed Nations Security Coun-cil on Thursday as “tired, out of step and increas-ingly unfit for purpose”.

In its annual report, Amnesty said the failure of world powers to take stronger action on Syria was evidence that a scle-rotic security council was hamstrung by vested in-terests, and also warned of abuses arising from Eu-rope’s economic crisis.

Bold debut

AT his first meeting of EU leaders, with the hotly contested

issue of shared euro-zone debt top of his discus-sion list, France’s new president made it clear on Wednesday that he in-tends to stand up to Berlin on European policy.

As Francois Hollande arrived for the summit in Brussels, the Socialist leader told reporters that euro bonds would be up for discussion. Moments later, Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped out of her limousine and said curtly that she did not think such bonds were a good idea or would help to boost growth.

Secret visit

TWO senior US offi-cials made a secret visit to North Korea

last month in an apparent attempt to persuade it to cancel an upcoming long-range rocket launch, ac-cording to a South Korean report.

A US Air Force Boeing 737 flew from Guam to Pyongyang with the of-ficials via the Yellow Sea on April 7, six days before the launch went ahead, Chosun Ilbo newspaper cited a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying.

Rebel bastion

SYRIAN forces tried to storm the rebel bastion of Rastan un-

der cover of gunfire and shelling, reports said, as Damascus admitted sanc-tions were biting and the head of the main opposi-tion bloc resigned.

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) meanwhile denied it was behind the abduction of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims, an incident stoking tensions in neigh-bouring Lebanon which is divided between pro- and anti-Damascus camps.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 13EDGEDAVAO

FFROM 1 FFROM 1

FFROM 2

Rody... Banana firms...

Banana coops...

FFROM 3Davao...

dose (of farm chemicals),” he said, which is the long-term goal of FARM-Coop.

“The market is getting health-conscious. There might come a time when nobody will be eat-ing synthetically-pro-duced bananas,” he said in explaining the need for FARM-Coop members to prepare for that scenario.

Adlawan said FARM-Coop has been produc-ing since five years ago organic bananas export-ed to Japan through its 18-hectare organic model farm in Sibulan, Toril, Davao City.

Certified by Germany-based Ecocert, FARM-Coop produced organic bananas hit US$7 per box which is much higher than the US$2.85 per box of synthetically produced ones.

Adlawan also revealed another organic farm-ing venture in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur where FARM-Coop is developing a 50-hectare organic ba-nana farm.

To influence mem-ber cooperatives to go into organic farm-ing, FARM Coop dissemi-nate and shares results of researches done and lessons learned in run-ning the organic farms in Sibulan and in Hinatuan.

However, Adlawan ad-mits that member-coops are having a hard time adopting organic farming because their plantations are surrounded by non-organic farms.

“FARM-coop areas are not in a block. It would be hard for some to go organic if nearby plantations are using syn-thetic,” he explained.

Cooperative farms that FARM-Coop covers, run about 2,600 hectares located mostly in Davao del Norte, Davao Orien-tal, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Surigao and Davao City.

Other member-coops are also concerned about achieving maximum re-turn of investments (ROI) which they can hardly

raise if they abruptly go into organic farming, he said.

“But they are little by little applying organ-ic materials into their farms,” he said.

Meanwhile, Adlawan noted the improvement in the economic status of countryside farmers who have become agrarian reform beneficiaries be-cause they now have sus-tainable income from the farms they own.

Citing an instance, he said the average produc-tion of a banana-based cooperative reaches about 4,600 box per hect-are per year which, when multiplied by the foreign exchange rate would mean substantial income.

Adlawan bared no threat to markets by bananas produced by FARM-Coop mem-bers, saying Sumifru Phil-ippines Corporation is their main buyer which exports bananas primar-ily to Japan. [PIA-11/ JEANEVIVE D. ABANGAN]

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tion (PBGEA).“Sooner or later, they

have to chop,” he said, adding that they cannot ship their surplus fruits to other markets unless they lower the price.

Generally, he said the small growers are mostly affected by the situation as they produce 90% of the country’s bananas bound for China.

But, although they are considered “small” grow-ers, Antig said their plan-tations are about 35,000 hectares, while PBGEA has 42,000 hectares of the total 79,000 hectares Cavendish banana farms in the Philippines.

“We meet every time there is a problem,” he said, referring to small-scale banana farmers, admitting that the PB-GEA cannot accommo-date their products for other markets, “We can-not supply more than the demand, as in the case of

Japan where the market is already saturated.”

Considering recom-mendations from stake-holders, such as tapping the domestic market, he said the local market can only absorb so much.

“Processed bananas, yes. But, how can the mar-ket catch up with a supply of 1.2 million boxes of ba-nanas a week? Before ba-nana chips can dry, there will be another batch coming up,” he said.

Cavendish bananas mature three days after harvest without air-con-ditioning. Later than that, even pigs will not feed on them, according to Antig.

Bleak ChristmasIf the current situ-

ation were to continue three to four months more,, Antig said, many farmers and their fami-lies will experience a bleak Christmas.

Aside from being non-operational, farms

will also be destroyed by pests as farmers lack the finance to maintain the farms, Antig added.

As collateral dam-age, some financial insti-tutions, especially rural banks that have large exposure to banana plan-tations, mayl eventually fold up when farmers can no longer pay for their amortization.

Agrarian reform beneficiaries may turn over their lands to the government if they fail to pay the amortization for a certain number of months.

“It’s not as simple… Assuming this problem started in March, by July one can start counting the number of unem-ployed,” Antig continued, adding that the casualties will include not only farm workers, but also their dependents, especially their children who are about to enroll in school.

ungoy na yan, ito ang re-ward. And I guarantee you that I will protect you (the informer),” Duterte said.

Bual was shot dead while he was jogging with his wife early in the morn-ing at Isarug Street, Central Park, Bangkal, Davao City.

“Ang puno’t dulo nito is sa Davao del Sur. Ang kalain lang kay diri sa atoa nahitabo ang pagpatay. We already know who the sus-pect is but what we want to know is where he is hiding,” Duterte said.

Duterte refused to give further information to pre-vent pre-empting the hunt for the killer and whoever was the mastermind be-hind the murder.

According to reports, it was Bual who worked to secure consent for SMI to operate in its concession area in Davao del Sur.

“Alam na nila lahat yan sa Davao del Sur kung sino yan (the murderer). The underground knows. There are co-conspirators behind the murder,” he said.

Criminal Investiga-tion and Detection Group (CIDG) for the Davao region chief SSupt. Albert Ignatius Ferro said they have filed a case against the suspect before the Regional Trial

Court 11.“Yes, we have a name

and the face of the suspect but as of now we cannot divulge these data. We still need to strengthen on case-building. We need more confessions pointing to the prime suspect,” said Ferro who was with Duterte.

Meanwhile, Davao City Police Office (DCPO) chief SSupt. Ronald dela Rosa said they will continue to keep tabs on the suspect as part of their Wanted List.

Case filedLast month, Melani

Bual, wife of the victim, filed a murder case before the City Prosecutor’s Office (CPO) against a suspected gun-for-hire.

The murder charge was filed against Dennis Ba-cus, alias Jojo, identified by witnesses to have gunned down Cristituto Bual.

Allegedly a gun-for-hire man, Bacus is resident of Malalag, Davao del Sur.

SMI is a multinational mining company develop-ing the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

The SMI is planning to build port facilities in Malalag town from where copper and gold ore will be shipped out, the metals

coming from SMI’s mine sites in Tampakan.

The so-called Tam-pakan Project has for years received opposition from religious and environment groups.

Bual’s murder has raised suspicion it was the handiwork of the New Peo-ple’s Army (NPA) which has also opposed the project.

However, the rebel group released a statement denying involvement in the murder.

CrucialDuterte said it is “cru-

cial” for the city government to act on the murder of Bual as it affects the city’s peace and economy.

He said the murder is affecting the city’s poten-tial as an investment hub in Mindanao.

“Pati kami nasuko sa pagpatay kaniya (Bual). Kin-say mu-invest dinhi kung gubot imong syudad?” he said.

“It affects the commu-nity and it affects the econ-omy. Eventually mag duha-duha ang investor kung mu-padayon pa siya diri. When a serious murder happens related to the person’s work in an investment, you put to a standstill a billion worth of investment,” he added.

province fish sufficient, with its fish sufficiency at 60% as yet, and as the fish consumption require-ment for every resident is estimated at 36 kilos ev-ery year.

For the tilapia village

enterprise program, the provincial government is giving technical support to the fish farmers, with free fingerlings.

The provincial govern-ment is now planning to give another training on the formulation of local feeds for tilapia.

“We need not buy our feeds elsewhere because it will be very costly for the fish farmers, that is why we will be doing this to help them. This will be in coordination with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR),” Montera added.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 201214 SPORTS EDGEDAVAO

THE City Sports Devel-opment Office bared the winners of the re-

cent Davao Summer Games 3-on-3 Barangay Basketball Tournament held at the NCC Mall’s Kadayawan Hall re-cently.

Barangay 21-C captured the 12 years old and under boys and girls division to lead the winners of the tour-nament serving as one of the highlights of this year’s Davao Summerfest.

The 21-C boys and girls teams won the champion-ship at the expense of sepa-rate foes to earn the top prize of P8,000. Barangay 40-D took the runner-up honors in the girls 12 years old and under worth P5,000 while Matina Aplaya was second runner-up to take home P3,500.

Barangay 21-C boys team is composed of Seiya Taga, Rafael Cambongga, Ricky John Sasa, and Merlito Enhambre Jr. The girls team is bannered by Hannah Re-bekkah Alagon, Reyca Est-rever, Joyce Diane Cresencio and Mae Magallano.

Barangay 1-A meantime finished second in the boys 12 years and under with Ba-rangay 19-B coming in third and Barangay Sto. Nino in fourth.

In the girls 16 years old and under, Barangay Sasa won the title over Barangay Talomo. The Sasa cagers won P10,000 and Talomo took home P7,000. Barangay San Antonio finished 3rd and won P5,000 while Catalunan Grande was fourth and got P3,000.

Barangay Sasa is ban-nered by Mary Ann Teofilo, Liza Mae Rosique, Mary France Abing and Inlayn Mae Oyanib.

Barangay Lapu-Lapu also joined the winner’s circle after it took the boys 16 years and under title at

the expense of Barangay 22-C. Lapu-Lapu took home P10,000 for the victory while Barangay 22-C got P7,000.

Lapu-Lapu is composed of Jcarrlovic Tarranza, Jvan-nesic Tarranza, Rayven Tec-son and Rey Pahati.

Rounding up the win-ners are Barangay San An-tonio (3rd) with P5,000 and Matina Crossing (4th) with P3,000.

“Congratulations to all the winners. Truly, we are proud to have produced these barangay talents,” said City Sports Development Division officer-in-charge Cholo Elegino.

The Davao Summerfest 2012 is organized by the Duaw Davao Festival Foun-dation and backed up by Davao Light and Power, In-ternational Pharmaceuticals Inc., H2Zero Water, AMA Computer College Davao, Nature Spring Water, and SM City Davao.

The complete list of win-ners:

Girls 12 yrs. old & under CHAMPION - Brgy. 21 - C Hannah Rebekkah Alagon Reyca Estrever Joyce Diane Cresencio Mae Magallano 1st Runner up - 40 D Lalaine Dinaguit Jess’s Mae Matunhay Michelle Anne Porisima Chelsie Panio 2nd Runner up - Brgy. Martina AplayaJennifer Ebanalo Maribel Salazar Renalyn Labrador Mary Grace Flores Boys 12 yrs. old & under CHAMPION - Brgy. 21 - C Seiya Taga Rafael Cambongga Ricky John Sasa Merlito Enhambre Jr. 1st runner up - Brgy. 1- A Ian Greg Pojardo Reymon Rey Balcos Janfel Ross Ganiolon Lance Allen Eder

Summerfest 3-on-3 winners bared

2nd runner up - Brgy. 19 - B Edrian Guimacod Basti Coras Aljohn Camban Abdul - Ajed Interno 3rd Runner up - Brgy. Sto. Niño Richvelle Jez Tan Mario Gumabal Jr. Arzumes Jay Lascuna Marsyl Jesse Abrio Girls 16 yrs. old & under CHAMPION - Brgy. Sasa Mary Ann Teofilo

Liza Mae Rosique Mary France Abing Inlayn Mae Oyanib 1st runner up - Brgy Talomo Elaisa Crisa Adriano Joregen Trono Angel Pamolino Marian Crizabel Ontulan 2nd runner up - San An-tonio Mary Grace Morales Shein Carl Barrot Shein Eda Barrot Kimberly Sean Renegado

3rd Runner up - Catalunan Grande Erlianne Marie Martines Mary Jean Millan April May Rafael May Ann Valencia Boys 16 Yrs. old & under CHAMPION - Lapu- Jcarrlovic Tarranza Jvannesic Tarranza Rayven Tecson Rey Pahati 1st Runner up- Brgy. 22 - C Harry Dumagan

Jay-ar Hanginon Brian Jules Ong Eulo Ramos 2nd Runner up - Brgy. San Antonio Christian Paul Rojas Randy Galido Richard Bujiyan Al Zachary Bacangallo 3rd Runner up - Matina Crossing Stephen Curada Eric Luke Buluran Angelou Dalion Jericho Feliciano

POMELO TEE BENEFICIARY. Herminda Guerrero, Principal of Pablo Lorenzo National High School, receives the 5 units computers from Hermie Martin as beneficiary of the recent 7th Pomelo Tee golf tournament during the awarding program at the Rancho Palos Verdes. (BOY LIM)

NEW YORK -- NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron

James was the lead-ing vote-getter for the league’s all-defensive squad Wednesday, while Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler didn’t even crack the first team.

Confused? So were plenty of others - even a Harvard graduate.

Jeremy Lin, Chandler’s teammate in New York, took to Twitter to ask for an explanation of how that was possible.

The answer is because the voting is done by dif-ferent parties. A media

panel voted for Defen-sive Player of the Year, while the all-defensive team vote was conducted by the league’s 30 head coaches, who voted for a first and second team by position and were not al-lowed to pick their own players.

They favored Orlan-do’s Dwight Howard, the NBA’s leading rebounder and its top defensive play-er three straight years before Chandler, as their center.

Also on the first team were Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, who led the league in blocks and was runner-up to Chandler

for Defensive Player of the Year; Clippers guard Chris Paul, the league leader in steals; and Griz-zlies guard Tony Allen.

Ibaka and Allen earned first-team honors for the first time.

James totaled 53 points, including 24 first-team votes. He averaged 1.9 steals and 7.9 re-bounds as Miami ranked fourth in the league in op-ponent scoring.

Joining on Chandler on the second team were Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett of the Celtics, Lakers guard Kobe Bry-ant, and Chicago forward Luol Deng.

James leads All Defensive Team

BEAUTY OF YOUTH. The inexperienced 76ers show no fear with their backs against the wall in Game 6, earning a final shot against the Celtics on Saturday for a berth in the Eastern finals. 

MEETING fashion designer Junnie Ar-tajo and hearing him talk of design tech-niques and the re-warding journey he embarked on in Ja-pan two fateful years ago makes it hard to believe he is only 22 years old. Fash-ion waits for no man these days and Junnie is part of the proud race of individuals who choose to make every minute count. Keeping the world apace with his min-ute wardrobe choices and thoughts on style in his Lookbook page and personal blog, one catches a glimpse of Junnie’s ardor for fashion and his eye for what works. But talking to him and seeing the fruits of his labors, which this gadget aficionado cared to share with me via images in his iPad, he transformed before my eyes from active fashion fan to someone whose seri-ous talent should not be contained.

From birth, it would seem that working with fab-ric and a foray into fashion loomed in Junnie’s future. He was born into a family of tailors, and his parents still run Adam’s Square Tai-loring & Dressshop along Ponce Street till this very day. His true inclination was always towards the arts. The telltale signs were all there – how his classmates always asked his advice on what to wear to prom and how his sketchbook became his re-prieve during idle moments. But it was only after feeling unproductive upon enroll-ing in the Computer Science program of one of Davao’s local universities did Junnie feel that he couldn’t ignore his calling in fashion any longer. After asking permis-sion from his parents, he de-cided to pursue a Fine Arts

degree in Fashion Illustra-tion in Philippine Women’s College of Davao. Junnie’s eyes light up at this point, signaling that I have touched upon a mo-mentous couple of years in his young life. He remem-bers much about his time in fashion school, especially the bond he shared with his classmates and the lessons imparted by his mentors. He regales me with a few of them – “avante garde… ending staggered” was a fa-vorite that rung true - and I am particularly struck by how well Junnie internal-ized both the good and the critical that he has heard said about himself. It gave him a solid foundation upon which to start show-ing the world what he can do and lofty as it seemed, he decided to start by joining the prestigious 49th Japan Fashion Design Competi-tion in 2010. It was in this world-class contest that he showed off his stunning creation dubbed “Dream-weaver” which won him 2nd Place in the competi-tion and special recognition from Japan-based newspa-per Senken Shimbun. Winning in Japan has not since stopped Junnie from showing strength af-ter strength in whatever he takes part of. He has joined local fashion shows and competitions such as Moda Mindanao in 2010, demonstrating an able hand in interpreting different themes while displaying his signature monochromatic and edgy sensibilities. From clothes, he has also ventured into accessory design, par-ticularly prompted by an

invitation to join the ranks of other like-minded arti-sans in Manila FAME 2012. Junnie described his experi-ence in one of the country’s foremost platforms for Fili-pino creativity as one that never stopped being sur-real. Clearly, his resolve to succeed has not taken away the fact that he still feels giddy with excitement and remembers to bask in these blessed moments. Having taken part in the rigors of different events has lent Junnie a certain

maturity and sense of prac-ticality in his outlook and approach towards his ca-reer. It has also toughened his creative fibers, making “Dreamweaver” far what you could call the peak of his abilities. It did however speak volumes of the tech-niques he currently favors, namely experimenting with dyes and fabric manipula-tion. More recent showings of his works are of a more limb lengthening kind but induced by the same thread of influence, namely a line

of footwear that features be-spoke ethnic prints. Seeing his clothes and the initial pairs of wedges he has fresh from production already transports me to a time when Junnie Artajo’s name is already more widely known and his works even more so. How he has man-aged to take each moment and make them a visually arresting one suggests how far he will go in conquer-ing fashion’s many fronts. Suddenly, I am glad that he is still 22 and still pos-sesses enough time to make it all happen. For someone like Junnie who weaves big beautiful dreams, it is reality that needs to do the catch-ing up. Junnie Artajo (by ap-pointment), Adam’s Square Tailoring & Dresshop, Door 3 Afable Building, Ponce Street, Davao City. Mobile: +63932-8434483, Email: rodi-no.882005@gmail.com, Web-site: http://junnieartajo.tk.

INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012

EDGEDAVAOSTYLE

Meeting a dream weaver

“Dreamweaver”, Artajo’s award-winning entry at the 49th Japan Fashion Design Competition made of abaca twine, jute sack and cotton spandex.

Whimsical sketch of a vest presented at Manila FAME 2012

FILIPINOS are undeniably so into American Idol that the Philip-pines has become an extended market for the show. Weekly shows are shown in multiple channels at multiple time slots – with full advertisement load. Idol graduates have come and gone to perform, record, endorse and even take acting gigs in the country and last year’s batch even held their traditional Idol concert tour in the Philippines – the only leg outside of the USA apart from Canada. The Filipinos’ love affair with American Idol started long be-fore Jessica’s Idol journey and Pinoys -- both contestants and fans -- have been making their presence felt in the American Idol universe since the very first season. Here are 10 memorable Pinoy moments on Idol that led to Filipinos becoming deeply en-gaged and involved, embracing this American singing show as their own. 10. He started it all. American Idol exploded into the Filipino consciousness only in Season 3 when two Filipino-Americans entered the final stages. But in Idol’s inaugural season, it was Brad Estrin who first represented Fil-Ams on the show. He entered

the first semi-final voting rounds but failed to get enough votes to break into the finals. The follow-ing year, Jordan Segundo com-peted for Season 2’s semi-finals but also suffered the same fate. 9. Sway hits high note. When you say Pinoys in AI, it’s the girls that will first come to mind but there are also some guys who showed Pinoy singing prowess on the Idol stage. In Season 5, Fil-Am R&B singer Jose “Sway” Pena-la performed “Reasons” by Earth, Wind and Fire, literally hitting a high note that amazed judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul and earned him a spot in the sec-ond semi-final rounds. Unfortu-nately, he was eliminated before

the finals, and in the next season, another Fil-Am AJ Tabaldo fol-lowed the same pattern of being “almost there.” 8. From Smokey Mountain to Hollywood Hills. Ryan Cay-abyab protégé and Smokey Mountain singer Zhar Santos disappeared from the Filipino consciousness when the group disbanded some time in the ’90s. But in 2005, Zhar reappered in the 4th season of Idol as Sharon Galvez, a waitress from Las Vegas who auditioned with a Whitney power ballad. She reached the Hollywood rounds before being cut in the Top 24 selection – a greater feat than that of Carol Banawa who was reportedly turned down in the Season 5 au-ditions. 7. Thia shines. When Idol lowered its age requirement, a number of young singing won-ders emerged, including then 16-year-old Thia Megia. The Fil-Am teen vocalist impressed the judges during her auditions in Season 10 with her unique voice reminiscent of pop super-star Adele, but it was her perfor-mance in the semifinal rounds of the Fame classic “Out Here on My Own” that gained her fans who adored her perfect pitch and crystal clear voice. As the show

progressed, she was criticized for always selecting ballads, and was voted off in the 4th elimination round of the finals. 6. Ready or not, here she comes. Fil-Am pancake wait-ress Camile Velasco from Hawaii turned up during Season 3’s au-ditions with her unique voice and style unheard of in Idol’s earlier seasons. Singing “Ready or Not” by the Fugees, she got lavish praise even from then Idol judge Simon Cowell, known for his acerbic critique and high stan-dards. She was even compared by Jackson to her Idol Lauryn Hill. Camile went on to become one of Season 3’s two Fil-Am finalists

(with Jasmine Trias) and ended her journey in the 9th spot. 5. Jasmine cries. After singing two disco hits in Season 3’s Top 4 rounds – Everlasting Love and It’s Raining Men – Fil-Am Jasmine Trias received heavy criticisms from the judging panel, leav-ing her unable to speak when Seacrest was already engaging her in the usual post-judging chit-chat. While giving out her number, Jasmine uncontrollably burst into tears. The next day, she was declared safe and one of the frontrunners, La Toya London, was sent home. Jasmine finished 3rd that season, the highest place for a Fil-Am before Jessica

Sanchez. 4. We’re brothers forever. Among American Idol’s attrac-tions are the funny and crazy auditions and one of the most memorable is the zany act of Season 7’s Philippine-born Re-naldo Lapuz. Fully garbed in an odd costume of a feather hat and a silver cape, he sang his own composition – We’re Brothers Forever. Though he didn’t pass (he’s also way above the age lim-it), his song became an online vi-ral hit, and he was invited back to the finale night to sing his song accompanied by a full marching band. 3. Pinay 2 are Bottom 2. In the results night of Season 3’s Top 9 round, both Fil-Am community bets Camile Velasco and Jasmine Trias were sent to the Bottom 2

ENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAO

Philip Phillips isthe American IdolJessica Sanchez steals the show with Jennifer Holiday duet

10 Pinoy Moments on American IdolRappler.com compiled the top 10 Pinoy moments on the cult we know as American Idol

THE winner of American Idol has been revealed. First, Jennifer Lopez de-buted her new single, “Going In,” on what was most likely her last night as an Idol judge. Aero-smith performed. There were tributes to Donna Summer and Robin Gibb. All of the finalists got to sing with previous Idol champs and the occasional leg-end. Ace Young asked Diana DeGarmo to marry him. But it came down to that last minute, to the result based on the record 132.3 million votes cast in favor of either Phillip Phillips or Jessica Sanchez. Did the 21-year-old pawn-shop worker take it all, or did the 16-year-old powerhouse finally the break the guys’ winning streak? It is still a man’s world in these parts. Phillip Phillips was named the winner of the 11th season of American Idol tonight—and was immediately engulfed in hugs and back-pats from his fellow finalists before last year’s winner, Scotty McCreery, hand-ed the trophy over. “It’s been such an honor to be up on this stage playing with ev-erybody...and to the fans, thank you for voting for us,” the Geor-gia native (and favorite from day one) said before hearing Ryan Seacrest announce his name. But after he had been de-clared the winner, all he had to

do was grab his guitar and make himself right at “Home,” what will be his first official single as Idol champ. But even if your horse didn’t win, Phillip and Jessica will ulti-mately both have record deals—

and both had already been liv-ing the dream all night. Phillip got to jam with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty on “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Bad Moon Rising,” the newbie’s voice meld-

ing seamlessly with Fogerty’s iconic rough-around-the edges sound. Original Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday joined forces with Jessica on “And I Am Tell-ing You I’m Not Going,” and the resulting chills and goosies were plentiful. Heck, even we needed oxy-gen afterward. The rest of the top 12 didn’t do too badly in the duet de-partment, either, with Skylar Laine stomping out “Turn on the Radio” with Reba McEntire; Joshua Ledet being joined by his “biggest inspiration,” Fanta-sia Barrino; Chaka Khan doing “I’m Every Woman” with the top girls; and Neil Diamond leading the whole theater, let alone the final guys, in “Sweet Caroline.”

Sanchez. 4. We’re brothers forever. Among American Idol’s attrac-tions are the funny and crazy auditions and one of the most memorable is the zany act of Season 7’s Philippine-born Re-naldo Lapuz. Fully garbed in an odd costume of a feather hat and a silver cape, he sang his own composition – We’re Brothers Forever. Though he didn’t pass (he’s also way above the age lim-it), his song became an online vi-ral hit, and he was invited back to the finale night to sing his song accompanied by a full marching band. 3. Pinay 2 are Bottom 2. In the results night of Season 3’s Top 9 round, both Fil-Am community bets Camile Velasco and Jasmine Trias were sent to the Bottom 2

in the Elton John-themed week. After performing an encore of their respective songs, it was an-nounced that Camile was voted off and the two Pinays embraced each other in probably the lon-gest elimination hug ever in the show’s run. Jasmine also wiped Camile’s tears, a gesture that touched their Pinoy fans every-where. 2. Malubay is Proudly Pinay. There has already been a num-ber of Filipino Americans who rocked the Idol stage but Season 7’s 9th place finisher Ramiele Malubay has got to be the one who showed the most Pinoy fla-vor. Her behind-the-scene clips are absolute Pinoy moments, declaring Regine Velasquez as her favorite singer (she also listed Lani Misalucha and Nina as influ-

ences in her Idol site bio). She also declared that she’s in the competition to represent Asians and during her auditions, she said she would like to replicate “Jasmania,” a term coined to refer to the Jasmin Trias craze in the Philippines. If there’s still doubt that she’s Pinay, know that dur-ing her run in the show, she would repeatedly exclaim, “Oh my vegetable!” which is of course a translation of you-know-what-this-expression-is. 1. The next Whitney is Filipi-na. Considered by many as one of Idol’s best moments in its 11 seasons, Jessica Sanchez’s perfor-mance of the Whitney Houston anthem, I Will Always Love You, excited Pinoys tremendously as it is the performance that proved the Filipina who has a real strong shot of winning the Idol crown has finally arrived. Attacking the monster song at 16, this perfor-mance made believers out of the judges who willingly stood on their feet. In a few days, Jessica will attempt to become the first Asian to be crowned American Idol, the youngest Idol champion and the girl to break the show’s four-year, all-male winner streak. If that happens, you already know what deserves to be on this list’s number one spot.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012EDGEDAVAO A3INdulge!

10 Pinoy Moments on American IdolRappler.com compiled the top 10 Pinoy moments on the cult we know as American Idol

A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012 15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS

MIAMI -- Udonis Haslem insists he meant no

harm. The NBA deemed otherwise, and the Miami Heat will be without one of their co-captains when they try to close out the In-diana Pacers on Thursday night.

Haslem was suspended for Game 6 of the Miami-Indiana Eastern Conference semifinal series, a matchup where emotions boiled over in a runaway Heat victory on Tuesday night. The NBA also said Miami reserve cen-ter Dexter Pittman will miss three games in response to his flagrant foul against Indiana backup guard Lance Stephen-son in the final seconds of Game 5.

Indiana’s Tyler Hans-brough was not suspended, although the league upgrad-ed his foul against Miami’s Dwyane Wade to a flagrant-2 on Wednesday - which, if called that way during Game 5, would have brought an au-

tomatic ejection. Hansbrough struck Wade in the head, opening a cut over his right eye. Moments later, Haslem committed a flagrant foul against Hansbrough, clearly in response to the play against Wade.

So while Haslem sits Thursday, Hansbrough may play.

‘’It’s very disappointing, obviously,’’ Miami forward Shane Battier said Wednesday night. ‘’But we’re a resilient group. ... The verdict process is a mystery to players, and so we don’t get caught up in it. We can’t control it. We know the NBA’s going to do what they feel they need to do and we need to live with the consequences. So it’s really out of our hands, not worth getting riled up. We’re going to put together an effort that will make Udonis and Dexter proud.’’

The Heat lead the series 3-2, after a 115-83 win Tues-day night in a game that had the three flagrant fouls on the

court, accusations of dirty play afterward and finally with Pac-ers team president Larry Bird telling The Indianapolis Star that his team was ‘’soft’’ in Game 5.

‘’I agree with his assess-ment. We did play soft,’’ In-diana’s Danny Granger said Wednesday. ‘’We got smacked around. We got beat up, we got bullied, and we really didn’t respond well.’’

Countered Miami’s LeB-ron James, the NBA’s reign-ing MVP: ‘’He’s just trying to amp them up. That’s all. That’s all it is. He knows his team isn’t soft. But with them, with their backs against the wall at this point, he knows what he’s doing. He’s not the executive of the year for no reason.’’

Pittman logged only six minutes in the playoffs any-way, his presence in the post-season barely noticed until he laid out Stephenson - who made at least one choke sign toward James earlier in the series - with a forearm to the chin and shoulder areas.

Haslem suspended for Game 6

SAN ANTONIO -- It’s the main event of the Western Confer-

ence finals: Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook, All-Star point guards hav-ing their best seasons yet. One going for a fourth NBA championship, the other still chasing his first.

This is the series where things change.

‘’We’re definitely go-ing to go at him. It’s not going to be like Dallas or the Lakers,’’ Parker said Wednesday, referring to the first two teams the Oklahoma City Thunder demolished in the play-offs. ‘’Their point guards are not as aggressive. It’s going to be a little bit dif-ferent. We’re going to go at him.’’

Parker scored 42 points on the Thunder doing just that already this year.

And, yes - that Febru-ary showcase still bothers Westbrook.

‘’A little bit, yeah.’’The rematch begins

Sunday.That gives both the

Thunder and San Anto-nio Spurs - the only teams who occupied first place in the Western Confer-ence since the second week of the season - plen-ty of rest before for Game 1 between the two most dominating teams of the

playoffs so far.The Spurs have won

18 in a row and swept Utah and the Los An-geles Clippers, winning by an average of nearly 14 points. The Thunder clobbered the defending champion Mavericks in four games and lost just once to the Lakers, when Westbrook averaged 25.6 points opposite Lakers point guard Ramon Ses-sions.

Against Jason Kidd and the Mavericks, West-brook averaged 22.2. But as Parker reminded, Westbrook wasn’t tasked with chasing or stopping a scorer on the other end of the floor. Now, West-brook will be playing op-posite the Spurs’ leading scorer, who is averaging 19.1 points and a career playoff-best 7.1 assists.

It wasn’t trash talk from Parker. Moments earlier, he sized up West-brook as Oklahoma City’s ‘’head of the snake’’ and declared that the 23-year-old will be another ‘’great challenge’’ after having just squared off with an-other elite point guard in Chris Paul.

But going from one All-Star to another is about the only similarity Parker is expecting.

‘’Chris is more look-ing to get his teammates involves,’’ Parker said.

Parker to Westbrook: You ain’t played someone like me yet

‘’Westbrook is going to be taking a lot of shots and be super aggressive.’’

Westbrook is 23, an age when Parker had al-ready won two NBA titles. They arrived in the NBA under vastly different circumstances, with the Spurs taking a chance on a

then-19-year-old French-men at the bottom of the first round in 2001, and Westbrook getting draft-ed fourth overall in 2008, three spots behind for-mer MVP Derrick Rose.

Parker walked onto a team already with one championship, and the

Spurs mostly needed him to simply be a side-kick during Tim Duncan’s prime. Westbrook, on the other hand, needed to team with Kevin Durant and rebuild a franchise that just uprooted from Seattle and was 20-62 the year before.

Now 30 and a one-time NBA Finals MVP, Parker is in position to make Westbrook go through him if the Thun-der are going to make the most remarkable fran-chise turnaround that’s possible in a span of just four seasons.

San Antonio Spurs Tony Parker drives past Russel Westbrook of Oklahoma. The two begin their rivalry in the NBA Western Finals.

VOL.5 ISSUE 59 • MAY 25 - 26, 2012SPORTS16 EDGEDAVAO

DAVAO Veteran run-ner Anthony Nerza of Brokenshire Col-

lege finished on top at the first Bankers Fun Run, held Sunday at the People’s Park, Davao City, and joined by more than a thousand run-ners.

Nerza took just 28 min-utes and nine seconds to run 10K from People’s Park and back, while female win-ner Emily Avergonzago took 37 minutes and 49 seconds to finish.

Male 10K second placer James Castillo crossed the finish line 27 seconds be-hind Nerza, followed by third placer Mario Ecalner (29:43).

Among the 10K women racers, Ma. Stella Diaz fin-ished second with a time of 39:40. Coming in third was Tiny Buenaventura (44:03).

Michael Jan Constantino was first to cross the 5K finish line among the men, with a gun time of 15:25, followed by second placer Elmer Bartolo (16:06), then Jaime Valleneia (16:54).

In the 5K race among women, Vivian Avergon-zado took the top spot with 20:21, with runner #5430 second with the time of 21:39, and Katherine Ber-

mudes third with 26:02.The 3K race was fin-

ished quickly by winners Rolly Paderna (6:53) for the boys and Dyana Mae Memoracion (8:24) for the girls. They were followed by Michael Barrosa (6:57) and Azlan Pagay (7:29) for the boys, and Meezel Cabriros (9:27) and Sacred Panerio (10:31) for the girls.

A cash prize of 3,000 was given to each of the 10K, 5K and 3K category first place winners. The 2nd placers received P2,000, and third P1,000.

The first Bankers Fun Run was spearheaded by the Davao City Bankers As-sociation, Inc. (DCBAI) led by its president Larry Igna-cio, and organized by Run-man Racing.

33 of the 40 member banks of the DCBAI partici-pated. The delegation from Banco De Oro was the larg-est among the DCBAI mem-ber banks with 153 partici-pants.

Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. was the presenter of the event, organized to benefit chil-dren cancer patients at the Southern Philippines Medi-cal Center (formerly Davao Medical Center).[PR]

Nerza, Avergonzago rule first Bankers Fun Run