Edge Davao 6 Issue 109

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

FTRANSPORT,10

FCTO,10

[email protected]

By EJ Dominic FErnanDEz

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By GrEGorio G. DEliGEro

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.net

KADAYAWAN MASKS. A tourist checks out an ar-ray of Kadayawan Festival souvenir masks on display along Roxas Avenue in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

DAGMAY WEAVING. A Mandaya weaver displays her Dagmay weaving skills at the lobby of the Apo View Hotel as part of the hotel’s Kadayawan Festival activity. Lean Daval Jr.

During the first six months of the year, the Davao City lo-cal government has met more than half of the P4.5 billion to-tal targeted income for 2013 even as revenue collection slowed down dramatically in

the second quarter.Assistant city treasurer for

operation Bella Linda Tangili said the total targeted income includes other sources of in-come other than local taxes

OPERATORS and drivers of the Southern Mindanao Transport Terminal, Inc.

based at SM City Davao. Ecoland Davao City are not complaining against high terminal fees, but the

priority listing guidelines, also called “Powerlines.”

Maria Fe Quiamco, a van op-erator, told Edge Davao Tuesday that they have nothing against

CTO: City meets targetsDESPITE SLOWDOWN IN INCOME

DESPITE a slowdown in revenues coupled by high spending, the city government has achieved its income targets.

Transport group hits terminal’s policy

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 20132 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

FBUSINESSMAN, 10

MOA SIGNING. Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon (center), who acts as one of the witnesses, is shown with Bureau of Customs (BOC) officer in charge Edward James Dy Buco (left) and Maritime Industry Au-thority (Marina) 11 director Marianito D. Mendoza who signed the Mem-

orandum of Agreement office space sharing between Marina and the BOC in the building owned by the Philippine Ports Authority for its extension office in Mati, Davao Oriental yesterday at the BOC 11 office in Sasa, Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

COME HIGH WATER. These men transport and deliver bamboo trees aboard a bamboo raft called “balsa” at the Davao River. Lean Daval Jr.

ACTING Davao Dis-trict Port Collector James Edward Dy-

Buco of the Bureau of Cus-toms

said the establishment and improvement of pri-vate-owned wharves in the Davao region is a fac-tor that would trigger an increase in customs reve-nues and that of the Phil-ippine Ports Authority (PPA).

DyBuco said that ex-

pansion of existing and construction of additional wharves would solve con-gestion in the public ports in Sasa, the region’s pre-mier port.

The customs official agreed with PPA district port manager Christian Santillan who said that the opening of new private wharves is along the line of public-private partner-ship as mandated by law.

He said there are more

than 20 private wharves complimenting the public wharves.

In fact, Santillan said, the government will bid out the operations of Sasa wharf next year.

He said several pri-vate firms have already expressed interest in op-erating the wharf which is even now undergoing im-provement.

Santillan bared that seven projects are ongoing

at the Sasa wharf worth about P200 million.

DyBuco said that con-gestion adversely affects the operation of the gov-ernment wharf.

On the other hand, when that problem is fi-nally solved, shipping companies would wel-come it because their turn around time will be short-er and mean more profit for them, the customs offi-cial said.

CLOSE to half a bil-lion pesos are be-ing earmarked for

the renovation of two de-cade-old hotels in Davao City in a bid to stay competitive in the hotel industry which present-ly has a total of 7,100 rooms.

Renovation of Escan-dor-owned Royal Man-daya Hotel on the corner of Palma Gil and P. Reyes (Bangoy) streets in the downtown area is going on, according to Benja-min J. Banzon Jr., Man-daya general manager.

Banzon said renova-tion work on the seventh and eighth floors has been completed, with 40 rooms already upgraded.

On top of improving its internet connectivi-ty, he said the hotel will also equip its lighting system with light emit-ting diode (LED) and

make its airconditioning system compliant with international standards to make it the “the first green hotel in the re-gion.”

Another Davao ho-tel firm, which operates a number of hotels in the Visayas, is planning to start its own reno-vation work. However, the source would not for the moment divulge details of the project beyond saying that the renovation could cost up to P450 million. The amount itself may give one a clue to the identity of the hotel. Any guess?

The upgrading of certain hotels is a must for them to remain com-petitive at a time when the boom in the industry shows no letting up to keep in step with Davao City’s rapid economic development. AMA

SOME 14, 780 jobs await job seekers in Davao City this

August 22 at the Techni-cal Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA) Jobs Fair 2013 at the NCCC Mall here.

TESDA Region 11 director Gaspar Gayo-na in yesterday’s Club 888 at The Marco Polo Davao said, the job fair is for fresh graduates of its Technical Vocational Educational and Train-ing (TVET) program, but invites all job seekers to attend.

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Southern Mindanao As-sistant Director Veneran-do Sebrano said that as of August 13, there are a total of 14, 542 over-seas jobs available from 31 different companies and 1,238 local job open-ings from 50 companies during the job fair.

The top five in de-mand jobs for the local

employment are call center agents, customer support, laborer, salesla-dies, and accounting staff.

On the other hand, the top five in demand jobs for overseas are general construction worker, female and male cleaner, factory worker, staff nurse, and restau-rant crew.

There will also be a pre-registration sched-uled on August 19 to 21 at NCCC Mall with five local employers partici-pating.

Gayona said they are targeting 62,000 grad-uates from the TVET program this year, while 58,000 graduated last year.

He said, out of the 58,000 that graduated, 85percent were already assessed, 65percent were certified, and 60percent out of the 65 percent that were certified are now employed. EJF

BEING rated as the fourth saf-est place in the

world will not be the basis for businesses to come investing in Davao City, according to businessman John Gaisano.

Appearing as guest in yesterday’s Club 888 forum at The Marco Polo Davao, 22nd Minbi-zcon conference direc-tor Gaisano said, busi-nessmen “very often”

don’t respond to what is posted in the inter-net.

“Just because it is posted in the internet does not make it true nor un-true,” he said, referring to the ratings posted on Numbeo.com that out of 349 entries Davao City is the fourth safest in the world with a crime index of 13.27 and a safety index of 86.73.

[email protected]

[email protected]

By antonio m. aJEro


P500 M allotted for renovationof 2 high-end hotels in Davao

More private wharves to upcustoms revenues: DyBuco

P200 million worth of improvement projects of Sasa wharf

Businessman says being 4th ‘safest’ city not enough basis

14T job openings at Aug 22 job fair

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 3


NATION

SUPPORT. Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Gilberto G.B.Asuque, pledges to support the conservation of the Philippine Coral Reef,during the Launching Wednesday of Sustainable Coral Reef Eccosystem Management Program (SCREMP)at Intercontinental Hotel,Makati City.[PNA photo by Gil S.Calinga]

THE weather has started to improve in most parts of

the country except in the western section of Luzon which will continue to experience cloudy skies with light rains due to southwest monsoon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astro-nomical Services Admin-

istration (PAGASA) said on Wednesday.

Weather forecaster Samuel Duran said the weather is expected to improve but with isolat-ed rainshowers due to localized thunderstorms.

Duran added they have not seen any weath-er disturbance to develop near the country but the

agency will continue its monitoring.

In its advisory, PA-GASA said the regions of Ilocos and Cordillera and the provinces of Cagayan, Zambales, Bataan, Ba-tanes and Babuyan group of islands will experience cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms.

It added that the rest of country, including Metro Manila, will expe-rience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with possi-ble passing rains due to localized thunderstorms.

PAGASA also said that moderate to strong winds blowing from the south-west to south will prevail over the western section

of Luzon and Visayas and the coastal waters along these areas will be mod-erate to rough.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the south-east to south with slight to moderate seas.

The state weather agency also warned fish-ermen, especially those

using small sea crafts are still not advised to venture out to the west-ern seaboards of North-ern and Central Luzon while larger sea vessels are alerted against big waves due to strong to gale force winds asso-ciated with the surge of southwest monsoon. [PNA]

MANILA

Weather to improve in most parts of PHL

President Aquino is going on a one-day trip to China on Sept. 3 in what is seen as an effort to end strained relations with China triggered by the standoff in Bajo de Masin-loc in April last year.

The President has ac-cepted China’s invitation to attend the 10th ASE-AN-China Expo (CAEXPO) to be held in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, from Sept. 3 to 6, Mala-cañang and Department of Foreign Affairs sources said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will receive Aqui-no and the special envoys of the other nine ASEAN countries. Aquino will also attend a forum with Chinese businessmen.

The Philippines is the “country of honor” at this year’s Expo. It is a tradi-tion that the president of that country attends the international trade fair.

Last year, when Myan-mar was the country of honor, the Philippines was represented by Interior and Local Government

Secretary Mar Roxas. He was received by then Vice President Xi Jinping, who is now president.

This year’s CAEXPO was originally set on Sept. 20-24 but was moved to accommodate Premier Li’s schedule.

Aquino first last visit-ed China in 2011 where he met with outgoing Chi-nese President Hu Jintao on August 31 and former Premier Wen Jiabao Sep-tember 1.

A bilateral meeting with President Xi was sought in the sidelines of APEC last year in Vladi-vostok, but it never took place. Since Xi became China’s president in March, he has met with all Asian leaders except Aquino.

Once robust relations between the Philippines and China took a dip with the arrest by a Philippine Navy warship of Chinese fishermen in eight fishing boats in Bajo de Masinloc known internationally as Scarborough Shoal which is also being claimed by China. [VERA Files]

Aquino to visit China Sept. 3

THERE will be no parliamentary im-munity for four con-

gressmen are being im-plicated in the P10 billion Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, 1-BAP party list Rep. Silvestre Bello 111 said on Wednesday.

Bello said the hands of Congress are tied to help congressmen implicated in the P10 billion scam af-ter they put some of their PDAF to bogus NGOs most of them owned by Janet Lim Napoles, the contro-versial businesswoman.

“Congress cannot help them if the case they are facing is punishable by more than six years. Con-gress can only protect any member of Congress if they are facing a criminal case with an imprison-ment of six years and be-low,” Bello said in a week-ly press conference of the

minority bloc headed by Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora.

He said the case con-gressmen involved might face at the very least is graft and worst, plunder which is equivalent to re-clusion perpetua or life imprisonment.

However, he said that the least they can do and had done by many gov-ernment officials to avoid behind bars is to claim they need to be hospital-ized because of their sick-ness.

“Hospital arrest is the least they can do,” Bello pointed out referring to then President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Lanao del Norte Rep. Ab-dullah Dimaporo who are now confined at the Vet-erans Memorial and Med-ical Center and St. Luke’s Medical Center respec-

tively.Zamora challenged

Justice Leila de Lima to name the four members of the House and oth-er lawmakers involved to give them the time to explain and clear their names.

But when reporters asked if they met Napoles or introduced to them by any means in any oc-casions, only Bello re-sponded that he had seen the controversial busi-nesswoman once in the halls of the new executive building in Malacanang during the time of Arroyo.

Bello was a former presidential adviser for peace process during Arroyo’s time and also a former justice secretary during President Cory Aquino and was appoint-ed solicitor general by then President Fidel Ra-mos.[PNA]

MANILA

No parliamentary immunity for lawmakers in PDAF scam A group of congress-

men yesterday said that there

is no reason to fear any Constitutional backlash on the plan to increase the rotational presence of US forces in the Philip-pines because Congress has more than enough oversight powers to en-sure that all the terms and conditions set by the Visiting Forces Agree-ment (VFA) and the Mu-tual Defense Treaty of 1951 (MDT) are strictly observed and respect-ed by American military personnel.

Samar Congressman Mel Senen Sarmiento said this looming arrange-ment between the Philip-pines and the US for an in-creased military presence in the Philippines partic-ularly in the West Phil-ippine sea and the South China Sea would definite-

ly provide the country the much needed time to modernize its defensive capabilities.

He added that US presence in the Philip-pines can also serve as a deterrent for China’s expansionist ambitions in Asia which obviously target resource-rich terri-tories that already belong to its neighbors.

“I think that there is nothing wrong if we al-low this rotational pres-ence of US forces in the Philippines. This would dramatically increase our capability to deter more Chinese incursions in ar-eas claimed by the Philip-pines as we strive to mod-ernize our armed forces, particularly our navy and airforce,” Sarmiento said.

Davao City Con-gressman Karlo Alexei Nograles also does not see anything that is Con-

stitutionally infirm on the increased presence of US forces in the Phil-ippines so long as there will be no agreement that would allow a per-manent US base or the establishment of any mil-itary facility that is not bound by the country’s existing laws.

“As long as it is not violative of our Consti-tution and is not a trans-gression of our sovereign rights then a formal deal must be struck. If we lose nothing yet gain an edge in combating inter-nal and external threats and aggressors, it is to our best interests that such be reduced in writ-ing. But make sure we retain oversight func-tions to review its actual implementation so that no abuses will ever go unchecked.,”Nograles, a lawyer, said.

Solons back increased US presence in PHL

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013

CONSUMER loans (CLs) by univer-sal, commercial

(U/KBs) and thrift

banks (TBs) reached P647.1 billion in March 2013, posting 14.8 percent higher than

P563.8 billion recorded a year earlier.

In addition, the quarter-on-quarter

growth of the total CLs of U/KBs and TBs stood at 2.8 percent in end-March which is con-

sistent with the longer term trend of a general increase in consumer lending.

The rise in CLs was matched by a marginal decline in the ratio of soured CLs to total CLs.

As of March 2013, the non-performing CLs ratio has decreased to 6.2 percent from 6.8 percent posted during the same month last year.

These figures sus-tain the general rise in CLs vis-à-vis the grad-ual decline in non-per-forming CLs since 2009 which contributes to the improvement of the CL quality of U/KBs and TBs.

The increase in consumer lending to auto, residential real estate and other CLs in March this year can be attributed to favorable macroeconomic con-dition and continued inflow of dollar remit-tances.

Moreover, industry figures indicate that U/KBs and TBs have

adequate safety nets against credit risks arising from consum-er lending as they set aside 68.7 percent of loan loss reserves to non-performing CLs in end-March. Non-per-forming CLs account for just one percent of the banks’ total loan portfolio (TLP).

Meanwhile, the per-centage of bank CLs to TLP in the Philippines is lower compared to the country’s Southeast Asian peers. The Philip-pines’ 16.5 percent CL exposure is less than Malaysia’s 54.1 per-cent; Indonesia’s 30.1 percent; and Singa-pore’s 26.7 percent.

The Bangko Sen-tral ng Pilipinas keen-ly monitors banks’ CL portfolio in line with efforts to keep credit standards at high lev-els amid a low inter-est rate environment. Maintaining high credit standards is key to mit-igating systemic risks and to maintaining fi-nancial stability. [PNA]

5EDGEDAVAO

THE ECONOMY

ATTRACTIVE. A beauty and wellness firm molds its soap products like cakes to make it more interesting and attractive for mall-goers visiting the Mindanao Trade Expo 2013 at the activity center of Abreeza Mall. Lean Daval Jr.

Consumer lending increases


THE 22nd Mindanao Business Conference (Minbizcon) held last August 8 to 10 at

the SMX Convention Center, SM Lanang Premier was a State of Mindanao Address, according to its conference director, John Gai-sano.

Speaking in yesterday’s Club 888 forum at The Marco Polo Davao, Gaisano said that the 12 cabinet secretaries who ad-dressed the participants during the confab were actually making their own State of Mindanao Ad-dress (SOMA).

Instead of going through mid-dlemen, such as congressmen and senators, before reaching the people like President Benigno Aquino’s recent SONA, the SOMA was addressed directly to the people.

Gaisano said, 250 Mindanao businessmen crafted policy agen-da through a series of consulta-tions for long-term and immedi-ate solutions to economic issues and concerns of Mindanao.

“We raised the questions, the cabinet members addressed each issue in full details in line with the President’s vision,” Gaisano said, adding, “a SONA is a venue where the President tells the peo-ple what he has fulfilled from the platforms he enunciated during his campaign for the presidency, what he is currently doing, and what he is planning for the fu-ture, this is exactly what the cab-inet secretaries said during the Minbizcon.”

Gaisano added, “Never in the history of Mindanao has this (SOMA) happened. Having the President and 14 cabinet mem-

bers for the first time in 22 years is one of the signs of success; but real success would be when true change and prosperity will hap-pen in Mindanao.”

They (cabinet members) ad-dressed the issues, now we (busi-nessmen in Mindanao) need to monitor when they will execute it, but I believe they were sincere it what they said.

There were nine points in the agenda they endorsed to the President--ensuring sufficient,

reliable, and clean energy to sup-port Mindanao’s industry needs; improving access to financing for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and agri-cultural smallholders; enhanc-ing infrastructure and logistics support in key production areas to improve connectivity within Mindanao and between Mind-anao and the rest of the country and between Mindanao and the rest of the world; repealing the Cabotage Law to reduce trans-

port costs from Mindanao to the rest of the world; putting in place the policy framework for responsible and sustainable min-ing practices; improving tourism infrastructure and regulation of adventure-tourism activities; ad-dressing the job-skills mismatch; amendment of tariff and customs code of the Philippines (TCCP), and finally (ninth agenda) is supporting the development of Mindanao Growth Corridors and export gateways.

6

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 12:30Cebu Pacific Thu 5J965 / 5J968 12:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 13:25

Cebu Pacific Tue/Wed//Sat 5J965 / 5J968 13:35 Manila-Davao-Manila 14:05Silk Air Mon/Sat MI588 / MI588 13:35 Davao-Singapore 18:55 Silk Air Wed/Sun MI566 / MI566 15:20 Davao-Singapore 18:55Silk Air Thurs MI551 / MI551 12:05 Davao-Singapore 15:45Cebu 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 16:45

as of May 2013

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2012-April 2013)

Month 2013 2012 2011

Average 42.23 43.31December 41.01 43.64November 41.12 43.27October 41.45 43.45

September 41.75 43.02August 42.04 42.42

July 41.91 42.81June 42.78 43.37May 42.85 43.13April 42.70 43.24

March 42.86 43.52February 40.67 42.66 43.70January 40.73 43.62 44.17

Stat Watch7.1

1st Qtr 2013

7.8 1st Qtr 2013

USD 3,741 million

Feb 2013USD 4,708

million Feb 2013USD -967

million Feb 2013USD -640

millionDec 2012

P 4,964,560 million

Feb 2013

2.4 % Mar 2013P113,609

million Mar 2013

P 5,281 billion

Mar 2013

P 41.14 Apr 2013

6,847.5 Mar 2013

132.8 Apr 2013

2.6 Apr 2013

3.1 Apr 2013

418,108 Feb 2013

20.9% Jan 2013

7.1% Jan 2013

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/

THE ECONOMY

by the numbersDavao City produces

48,461 metric tons of durian per year with

P1.05 billion

total production value.

Source: cAo

EDGEDAVAO

THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the Philippines

is one of the few Asian economies to register positive growth in ex-ports in June this year, with value of outward shipments growing by 4.1 percent from last year.

This statement came after the National Statistics Office reported that the value of exported goods and services reached US$4.49 bil-lion in June 2013, which is higher than the US$4.31 billion in June 2012.

Socioeconomic Planning Sec-retary Arsenio M. Balisacan noted that most Asian economies regis-tered contractions for the said pe-riod, including Japan (-12.4%), Ma-laysia (-6.0%), Indonesia (-4.1%), Thailand (-3.4%), China (-3.1%), Singapore (-1.5%) and Korea (-1.0%).

On the other hand, Balisacan cited Viet Nam (13.3%), Taiwan (8.6%) and Hong Kong (4.9%) as among few major trade-oriented Asian economies that recorded positive increases, apart from the Philippines.

Export growth was driven by higher earnings from agro-based products, mineral products, and petroleum which contributed significantly to the recovery of ex-ports.

“The rebound of the export sector shows that despite the sub-dued global economic outlook, the country’s prospects for sustaining good economic performance in the coming months are good,” said Balisacan, who is also NEDA Direc-tor-General.

The Cabinet official also ex-pects continued increase in banana exports in succeeding months.

“Based on pronouncements made by the Bureau of Plant Indus-try (BPI), demand from continen-tal US, Japan, Korea, and Middle East countries will likely increase shipments of bananas in the near-term,” he said.

According to NSO, growth in the value of exported bananas surged by 73.4 percent in June 2013 compared to 12 months ago. This buoyed the growth of total agro-based exports in June 2013 to 7.6 percent.

PHL exports among few positive growths in Asia

22nd Mindanao Business Conference (Minbizcon) conference director John Gaisano brands President Aquino’s speech before business peo-ple, government officials and policy makers as his State of Mindanao

Address (SOMA) during yesterday’s Club 888 media forum at the Mar-co Polo Davao. Lean Daval Jr.

Minbizcon

[email protected]


‘State of Mindanao Address’ – Gaisano


THE Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Phil-ippines Forum was

held at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Makati City on 14 August. It was orga-nized by the CTI-Philip-pines National Coordinat-ing Committee (NCC), co-chaired by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agri-culture (DA) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The US government, through the coordinated efforts of USAID, the Na-tional Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, Department of State and other agencies collective-ly known as the USCTI Support Program provid-ed technical and finan-cial assistance to the six CTI country governments through the Coral Trian-gle Support Partnership. The five-year CTSP is US government funded and implemented through Conservation Interna-tional (CI), the World Wide Fund for Nature / World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

US Embassy Manila’s USAID Mission Director for the Philippines Gloria Steele says, “CTSP promotes community participation in the protection and management of their marine and coastal resources, as well as private sector involvement to ensure long-term and sustainable use. This supports the shared vision of the Philippines and the United States to achieve broad-based and inclusive growth for Filipinos.”

Attended by more than 200 representatives from the public and pri-vate sectors, including

local government leaders and community groups in CTSP sites Palawan, Tawi-Tawi and the Verde Island Passage in Batan-gas, the event highlighted the contributions of vari-ous partners in achieving the goals of the CTI-Phil-ippines National Plan of Action.

The Coral Triangle is scientifically defined as the marine region en-compassing the Philip-pines, Indonesia, Malay-sia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Solo-mon Islands. Department of Environment and Nat-ural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje explains, “Though it covers just 1% of the Earth’s surface, the region hosts 30% of the world’s coral reefs, 76% of its reef-building coral species, plus vital spawn-ing grounds for fish, birds and sea turtles.”

In the Philippines, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of the Department of Ag-riculture (DA) conducts various fisheries resource conservation and protec-tion programs in support of the CTI. “We are highly aware of the benefits that coral reefs contribute to the country’s food securi-ty and we are taking keen measures to ensure our reefs’ sustainability,” says DA Secretary Proceso Al-cala.

According to a 2009 WWF report, coral reefs may disappear from the Coral Triangle by the end of the century and the ability of the region’s coastal environments to feed people might decline by 80% if no effective conservation measures are implemented.

Says World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Phil-ippines) Vice-chair and CEO Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, “Local communities are the delivery systems

of conservation. By deliv-ering bottom-line results that not only provide live-lihood, but create wealth, we exert a profound in-fluence on sustainably transforming systems and practices. Going beyond science, beyond policy, be-yond plans and pilots, our collective goal should be to give our stakeholders and allies a future where they can reap strong, sus-tainable benefits. In a cli-mate defined future, this is conservation at work.”

Protecting Palawan’s marine resourcesFederico and Nida Il-

lut, fisherfolk from the municipality of Araceli in Palawan, finally upgraded

their flimsy bahay kubo to a two-bedroom concrete house – the direct result of rising grouper or lapu-lapu yields.

Palawan, which is home to over 40 % of the country’s reefs and diverse fish species, gen-erates 55% of all Philip-pine seafood including the highly valued suno or red grouper. Exported to Hongkong, Singapore, mainland China and other seafood hubs, this color-ful fish species contrib-utes over Php1 Billion to the country’s annual revenues and supports the livelihoods of 100,000 people in Palawan alone.

Decades of unsus-

tainable fishing practices once threatened to de-stroy the Live Reef Fish Trade (LRFT) in the area. “Overharvesting was a problem. Fishers were catching five times more than what could be sus-tained. Spawning grounds for fishes were targeted, severely depleting natural brood-stock. Fortunately, local government units and stakeholders started to support conservation efforts – and it is paying off,” explains WWF-Phil-ippines CEO Jose Ma. Lo-renzo Tan.

In 2011, WWF and its allies commissioned science-based studies to guide Palawan fisheries officers on how to identi-fy, establish and manage Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). A concept pio-neered by Filipino scien-tists in 1974, MPAs are areas of marine habitats which enjoy varying lev-els of protection – from no-take to limited-use classifications. Over a thousand MPAs are now spread across the archi-pelago.

Two years after de-claring new MPAs and protecting fish spawn-ing areas, fisherfolk in the area are reporting good news. “We can al-ready see improvements in fish yields and coral cover within and outside the protected zones,” testifies Taytay Munici-pal Administrator Rob-inson Morales. “Things have steadily improved since we established the MPAs.”mangrove reforestation

in Batangas Thee entire west coast

of Calatagan in Batangas is exposed to waves from

the West Philippine Sea. The area is highly vul-nerable to storm surge effects, coastal erosion and flooding – further ag-gravated by the impacts of climate change. A one-meter rise in sea lev-el will flood about 4700 hectares of coastal plain.

As an adaptation strategy, coastal villages in Calatagan have ven-tured into mangrove (bakawan) reforestation and protection – with community members un-derstanding the critical function of these forests as buffers against climate hazards.

An alliance of fishing families in the village of Balibago established a mangrove nursery for 10,000 seedlings in a 10-hectare mangrove conservation area with the aid of the Coral Trian-gle Support Partnership (CTSP) through Conser-vation International and strong support from the local government. Apart from supplying man-grove seedlings to nearby towns to widen the man-grove belt in Calatagan, the nursery also became an added source of in-come for families in the area. Residents now sell 5000 mangroves saplings yearly and earn addition-al income from waste re-cycling while patrolling or harvesting shellfish.

In the nearby village of Quilitisan, a mangrove island known as Ang Pulo (The Island) was devel-oped as an ecotourism site for camping, bird-watching and picnics on rafts. The site is now ful-ly-managed by a commu-nity of fishers, farmers and women.

7EDGEDAVAO

SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT

SUSTAINABLE. In an offshore grow-out cage in Palawan, an adult Leopard Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus) is held aloft prior to shipping. WWF and its allies are currently working with local communities and allies to pro-

tect grouper spawning grounds and ensure the trade remains sustainable. In Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China, a single red grouper can be sold for as much as USD150 or PHP6000. [WWF / Gregg Yan]

Forum highlights Coral Triangle success storiesconservation at work: Fish yields rise, mangroves increase local incomes

CONSERVATION AREA. A signpost is erected by the Balibago community or-ganization inside the mangrove conservation area in Calatagan. The Calata-gan mangrove rehabilitation program is part of the climate change adaption plan being developed throughout Batangas with the help of Conservation

International and its partners. The mangroves have also become a source of income for families in the form of an eco-park (Ang Pulo), and by selling nursery seedlings for USD.35 or PHP15. [Conservation International]


VANTAGE

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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

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SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

EDGEDAVAOProviding solutions to a seamless global village.

ANTONIO M. AJEROEditor in Chief

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEñA • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • VIDA MIA VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ • Lifestyle Columnists: BAI FAUZIAH FATIMA SINSUAT AMBOLODTO • MEGHANN STA. INES • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN

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CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICELEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing ManagerUnit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-Yacapin Sts.Cagayan de Oro CityTel: (088) 852-4894

GENERAL SANTOS CITY MARKETING OFFICEFLORENCE S. VILLARIN Marketing Specialistc/o PZ Villarin MarketingSalvani St., Oringo Brgy. City HeightsTel: (083) 303-2215

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NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVOManaging Editor

GREGORIO G. DELIGEROAssociate Editor

RAMON M. MAXEYConsultant

RICHARD C. EBONAMarketing Supervisor

SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

AQUILES Z. ZONIOCorrespondent

EJ DOMINIC C. FERNANDEZReporter

JOCELYN S. PANESDirector of Sales

KRISTINE D. BORJAMarketing Specialist

AGUSTIN V. MIAGAN JRCirculation

EDITORIALNumber 4

ANOTHER accolade Davao City notched this year is it being ranked the Number 4 safest city in the world.

The ranking is the result of a survey conducted by numbeo.com among 349 cities worldwide.

The latest honor, despite being seemingly ig-nored by the national media so far, should be another source of pride for Dabawenyos.

Just what is numbeo, the entity that listed the safest cities in the world?

According to its website, numbeo is “the world’s largest database of user contributed about cities and countries worldwide.” Numbeo provides “current and timely information on world living conditions, including cost of living, housing indicators, health , traffic, crime and pollution.”

The Number 1 safest city is Abu Dhabi in the

United Arab Emirates with a safety index of 90.47, followed by Lugano, Switzerland with 90.16, Marbella, Spain with 88.78, Davao 86.73, Taipei, Taiwan 86.26, Munich, Germany 86.06, Quebec City, Canada 85.55, Hong Kong 85.51, Seoul, South Korea 84.28 and Bern, Switzerland 84.24. No other city in the Philippines is includ-ed in the 10 safest cities in the world.

It appears that the accolade is not baseless. The publication comes at a time, when the city is in the middle of the Kadawayan Festival, where-in safety is the most primordial consideration.

As it is, while the honor of being tagged the Number 4 safety city in the world gives Dabawenyos and their leaders so much pride, it carries with it the tremendous responsibility of maintaining the honor.

That’s the challenge.


THE Mindanao Business Conference that concluded last Friday had a lot of firsts. According to one of the

speakers, it was the first time in the past ten years that the president of the republic graced the event in the past decade.

It was also the first time in the 22-year history of Minbizcon that 14 cabinet members came, 12 of them as guest speak-ers. What a powerhouse roster of speak-ers it was, certainly lending an air of excite-ment to the event.

Minbizcon started with a high note, with no less than the president opening the conference. It also ended with a high note, with cabinet members baring their depart-ment’s plans and programs in response to issues raised by the business community.

I took special note of DOT Sec. Ramon Jimenez’s presentation of his department’s response to policy recommendations of last year’s MinBizCon. He bared the con-creting of Dugmanon-Enhanted River-Bac-ulin Road in Talisay, Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, is included in the DOT-DPWH Conver-gence Program.

Also in the convergence program are the Cumawas-Tinuy-an Road and Salva-

cion-Britania Road, also in Surigao, which are c u r r e n t l y under eval-uation by the Regional TWG. These are in direct response to the business community’s call for improving tourism infrastructure.

I had been to this part of Surigao last month and found road conditions going to tourism destinations very challenging. The only thing that made up for the really bad roads is the breath-taking tourist sites at its end. But when you take your leave once again, it’s another bumpy, rough ride back. Not good for my back.

The infra budget for Surigao and oth-er parts of Mindanao will be money well spent. Just imagine the influx of tourists to these destinations once good roads are up. That means tourism will thrive, po-tentially creating more jobs and provid-

ing opportunities for local enterprises to grow.

An increase in income could mean healthier and adequate food for the family, or better medical services, or higher spending power for their most practical needs. With more resources in their hands, they are able to live better lives. This would be good news for com-munities surrounding tourism sites in Su-rigao del Sur.

Now that the MinBizCon has come and gone, what’s next for the business com-munity of Mindanao? The grind is just starting. With nine policy recommenda-tions submitted to the government, they have their work cut out for them.

Kudos to the conference organizers and their partners for staging a successful 22nd MinBizCon. It’s going to be a tough act to follow for the next host, the General Santos Chamber. But as they espouse the concept of a One Mindanao - as symbol-ized by their logo and tagline “One. Global. Mindanao.” - the spirit of camaraderie is hopefully strong enough for them to work together for another successful confer-ence next year.

VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

AQUILES Z. ZONIOCorrespondent

Barangay elections can civilize community

By Manny ValdehueSaWORM’S EYEVIEW

Underground economy

Why were these Abu Sayyaf bombers released from jail?

(Conclusion)

SIGNS BEARING JI HALLMARK – It is becoming tougher for police probers, intelligence networks and security ser-

vices to connect the dots surrounding the spate of deadly bomb attacks in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Cotabato. Government security experts said the teams of investiga-tors were continuing to work on all fronts, referring to the possibility that a local clone of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) extremists bandwith links to the global terror group Al-Qaeda may have been behind the attacks, although the reports open an important new avenue of investigation.

Intelligence sources are more emphatic, saying there was a possibility that the dread-ed rebel breakaway group Bangsamoro Is-lamic Freedom Fighters (BIF) and the notori-ous kidnap-for-ransom gang Abu Sayyaf had connections to the local JI tentacles believed to have perpetrated those bomb attacks. Nobody has a better sense of that potential for destruction than the JI operatives. The fanatical group has very accomplished for-eign-trained bomb experts and the deadly explosions showed JI hallmark.

Indeed, with seasoned radical opera-tives like the JI network, snooty BIFF and a ragtag band of infamous kidnappers Abu Sayyaf still freely roaming the region, the fear that stoked the people’s mind hasn’t subside a bit. It does mean we cannot relax right now and think that everything is safe. Not on our life.

“CAT AND MOUSE” BUSINESS STRATE-GY - The primary reason why sidewalk and ambulant vendors proliferate in the bus-tling metropolis and other urban centers is unemployment. The big cities are drowned in density. Job opportunity is scarce there-fore many of our countrymen turn to other income-generating ventures in order to sur-vive. Most often you will hear vendors say,

“mabuti na lang ang magtinda sa bangketa ka-hit bawal ayon sa batas kaysa m a g n a k a w.” -First, let us look closely at the economic sit-uation. There might be radical shift in our eco-nomic development, but it is not enough to improve the lot of our people. You see, there is a very deep infirmity in a society where illegal sidewalk peddling is more desirable than going home to the province to start a new, progressive life.

For the past couple of years, the endur-ing problem having become global in scope becomes even bigger and in fact more se-rious in developing countries such as the Philippines. Again, the root cause of the problemtriggered by sidewalk vendors and street hawkers is unemployment that ulti-mately resulted to extreme poverty. Econo-mists estimate that more than one in three of the nation’s population is living below the poverty level. As a result, many of the unem-ployed resort to sidewalk vending, which is the fastest way to earn instant money.

Well, we have seen the phenomenalrise of sidewalk vendors and street peddlers particularly in Davao City. Even top city of-ficials admit that it is not that easy to reg-ulate the sidewalk vending trade, and even more difficult to adopt measures to clear the sidewalks of vendors and ambulant ped-dlers. Right now, the most basic question is not whether tolerating sidewalk vendors to conduct their trade with impunity is legal or not. But is it wise to do so, it might be asked?Sidewalk vendors are mostly con-

centrated in the urban centers and bustling metropolis and for many years sustained their struggles and sacrifices – often risked life and limb to protect their only means of livelihood.

Vendors are wary that their business un-dertakingis totally illegal however they also have the right to survive.The city govern-ment adopts a maximum flexibility in deal-ing with the problems posed by sidewalk vendors and ambulant street peddlers. This includes implementing a 1/3-2/3 policy in the use of sidewalks and giving directives to various law enforcement agencies to exert maximum tolerance in treating illegal ven-dors during clearing-up operations for “hu-manitarian considerations.” Unfortunate-ly, the government’s considerate gestures prodded many vendors to become abusive and arrogant even to the extent of defying lawful orders. These street smarts have somehow weathered the so-called “cat-and-mouse” business strategy.

But perhaps, the most important thing people ought to know is that sidewalk trad-ing business no matter how illegitimate it is contributes to the country’s “underground economy.” We always have to bear in mind that small-size and low-budget business venture, regulated or otherwise, play a di-rect role to keep the country’s economy afloat. It is high time for the government to articulate a clear policy on sidewalk vend-ing and street peddling. Davao City’s streets and sidewalks arealready suffering from over population, swarming with vendors and hawkers of all colors and stripes in a highly uneven and cut-throat business com-petition. Government supposedly should have a flexible business mechanism pat-terned in other countries where streets are vendors-free instead of providing violators with “unlimited” considerations.

BAD voting habits cause corruption, crime

People should be made to see the connection between their voting hab-its and the occurrence of crime and cor-ruption. For example, the billions of pork barrel allocations that end up in the ac-counts of bogus NGOs are made possible by congressmen and senators who win elections because they are supported by the wrong barangay officials. They can af-ford to pay huge allowances to barangay leaders and produce expensive campaign materials to flood the neighborhoods be-cause of the huge kickbacks they receive from bogus NGOs and the gamblers, vice lords, and smugglers they protect.

By paying unscrupulous barangay offi-cials to be their vote-dealers and precinct manipulators, they are able to corner the votes of the community. No one should forget that every voter in our republic lives in a barangay and every vote is cast in its precincts.

Straightening out politicsIf the professionals and other leading

citizens of the barangay would only take the trouble and devote a fraction of their time, they can spearhead political reform in their own community—and succeed as no other group can. They are the credible stockholders of the barangay as a corpo-ration and as an economy in its own right. They are the community’s large taxpayers and influential role-models, and are often the employers of the working class. Along with the church, civil society, and educa-tional institutions, they are in a position to make the masses listen to good sense and sound electoral choices.

With improved visibility in their com-munity and a voice in its affairs, they can prevent corrupt practices and reform pol-itics. They can help provide proper crite-ria for political decisions, explain how ev-eryone especially the poor would benefit from honest politics and public adminis-tration, and thereby bring about solidari-ty and political will against corruption in the grassroots community.

Leading citizens should lead!Everyone should look to the forth-

coming barangay elections as an oppor-tunity to straighten out the politics of the community. With a coordinated drive, the neighborhoods can keep politics and campaigning within the bounds of legal-ity, decency, and propriety. The accent should be on applying the standards of good governance in choosing our com-munity leaders.

Reminders to keep the campaign non-partisan in accordance with Section 38 of the Omnibus Election Code would help. Insistent admonition that candi-dates be on the side of the Common Good, not the personalities, not their selfish mo-tives, nor their ambitions. No vote-buying. No hakot. No pork barrel supporters. No political dynasty adherents. Let dynasties step aside and give way to fresh leader-ship. Restore equal opportunity for all. Let democracy flourish again! And that’s one way to civilize the community effectively.

[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Manny Valdehuesa writes from Cagayan de Oro and is the president and national convenor of Gising Barangay Movement Inc. He can be reached at [email protected].]

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 201310 EDGEDAVAOCTO..

Transport..

Businessman..

FFROM 1

FFROM 1

FFROM 2

noticE oF loSS

Notice is hereby given by loYola PlanS conSoliDatED inc. that cErtiFicatE oF FUll PaYmEnt No.(s) 1004392 under LOYOLA PLAN Contract No.(s) UUU 130003403 issued to narciSo ra GraFilo Jr. was lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.

8/15,22,29

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation

and CommunicationslanD tranSPortation

FrancHiSinG anD rEGUlatorY BoarDRegional Office No. XI

Davao City

Petition for approval of Sale and transfer of a certificate of Public convenience to operate a ScHool tranSPort Service.

JoSE c. arEValo, Petitioner-Vendor case no.2013-Xi-00460 (2006-Xi-00188) EVElYn D. triPUlca, Petitioner-Vendee

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

noticE HEarinG

Petitioners request authority for the Approval of Sale and Transfer executed by JoSE c. arEValo in favor of EVElYn D. triPUlca of a Certificate of Public Conve-nience with Equipment issued in this case authorizing the opera-tion of a ScHool tranSPort service exclusively for the trans-portation of Students/Pupils from their respective residences to University of the Immaculate Conception, Bajada, Davao City with the use of onE (1) unit, which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to November 15, 2016. noticE, is hereby given that this petition will be heard by this Board on aUGUSt 27, 2013 at 09:10 a.m. at this office at the above address.

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

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

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documentary ev-idence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it nec-essary to receive additional doc-umentary and/or oral evidence.

WITNESS the Honorable BEnJa-min a. Go, cESo V, Regional Di-rector, this 30th day of July 2013 at Davao City.

tErESita DEla PEÑa-YÑiGUEzChief Transport Development Officer

and permits and licens-es handled directly by the city treasurer’s Of-fice (CTO).

A statement of in-come and expenses obtained from the of-fice of the city accoun-tant showed that as of June 2013, the city’s gross income already reached P2.7 billion or 60 percent of the total targeted income.

Tangili said the CTO set its collection target on an annual basis and not per quarter. She said that tax collection in the second quarter is expected to be low-er than the first three months of the year which is the period when business estab-lishments renew or file new business permits.

While tax payments are required every quarter, she said some business owners pay their taxes for the en-tire year during the first month while oth-ers settle their obliga-tions when the year nearly ends.

“We still have six months for us to meet our collection target,”

she said.Except for the in-

terest income, Inter-nal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and income from city-owned econom-ic enterprises, most sources of local reve-nues posted negative performance during the second quarter of 2013.

Overall, the city’s gross income decreased by 21.90 percent from P1.54 billion in the first three months to P1.20 billion in the second quarter.

Specifically, income from permits and li-censes dropped by 71.59 percent from P88.51 million in the first quarter to P25.14 million in the second quarter. Also posting a decrease of 66.90 percent is the service income from clearance and certification fees, garbage fees, inspec-tion fees, library fees, medical, dental and laboratory fees.

Collections from lo-cal taxes declined by 40.75 percent from P699.54 million in the first quarter to P414.45

million in the succeed-ing quarter. Local taxes include the amusement tax, business tax, com-munity tax, franchise tax, printing and pub-lication tax, property transfer tax, real prop-erty tax, tax on delivery, trucks and vans, tax on sand and gravel and fines and penalties.

Income from profes-sional tax also declined by a whopping 88.34 percent from P2.28 million in the preced-ing quarter to only P267, 000 in the sec-ond quarter.

The sources of in-come which posted positive performance are the interest income which increased by 70.33 percent and the IRA which increased by 7.77 percent.

Income from city-owned economic enter-prises also posted an increase of 36.78 per-cent during the second quarter with P36.52 million income from the operation of ceme-teries, public markets, slaughterhouse, park-ing areas and overland terminal.

the monthly dues, but are merely asking for the regulation of Powerline guidelines which they claim cannot be applicable to all and are deemed un-fair to other drivers.

Earlier that day, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte went to the terminal to mediate between the van operators and Ramesh Purswani, owner of the terminal, who were at loggerheads over the terminal’s queue-ing policy.

Powerline guidelines can give drivers and their vans priority to be directly first in line right after ar-riving at the terminal, as long as they comply with certain conditions, Quiam-co said, adding that this is the main issue, and not the high terminal fees.

One condition re-quired, for example, is if a driver buys oil that the terminal is selling, then that driver and his van will get a Powerline note, or a priority note that enables

him to cut through the line and be ahead of the others.

“Not everyone can benefit from this, since not everyone buys oil from the terminal, which is why we ask for the regulation, or better yet, the abolition of the Poweline guidelines,” said Quiamco.

She added that the operators had a meeting with Purswani two or three weeks ago regarding the Powerline issue, but to their surprise, Purswani merely changed the reg-ulation on monthly fees instead of the Powerline guidelines.

Purswani told Edge Davao that he had stopped accepting members in his terminal because he does not want an association or federation terminal, but a passenger-oriented termi-nal.

He said, the member-ship fee is P40,000 and there are 200 applicants for this year, but because he stopped accepting

new members, he would lose that income, which is about P8 million for the year.

He also removed the 850 monthly fee for oper-ators, but instead he add-ed 7 percent more to the existing 10 percent fee per travel.

Quiamco cited an ex-ample that if one of her vans travels from Davao to Kidapawan with 14 passengers at P170 each, she would earn a gross of 2,380.

Less the P75 termi-nal fee, P700 for gasoline, P200 for the driver’s meal allowance, and 20 percent for the driver’s pay which is about 476, the operator would earn only a net of 691 for that trip.

Now, with the addi-tional 7 percent, which is about P116 of the total gross of P2,380, she would earn only P575 for one trip, and that van would wait at most another week to travel again.

The mayor said, he would send a lawyer to find out what the root of the issue is, and that he would come back on Fri-day for a possible solution.

He told the two par-ties that in Davao City the motto is “live and let live,” which means there should be fairness among every-one to avoid trouble.

He said, business-men always check with reliable sources, in-cluding their friends, business partners, the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try Inc. (DCCCII) and others.

Businessmen will not easily bite infor-mation posted on the internet, and business-men who will be influ-enced by this online posting are probably “not very bright,” Gai-sano said.

However, Gaisano believes that Davao City is really safe, and this is a confidence that businessmen here get from the leadership of the City’s mayor Rodri-go Duterte.

Numbeo is a website that claims being “the world’s largest data-base of user-contribut-ed data about cities and countries worldwide.

It “provides current and timely information on world living condi-tions, including cost of

living, housing indica-tors, health care, traffic, crime and pollution.”

It also provides a toll to see, share and com-pare information about cost of living world-wide, by providing on-line software, which provides a reader of a website prices for free; uses wisdom of the crowd to get as much reliable data as possi-ble; provides a system for systematic research on cost of living and property markets; cal-culates derived indi-ces such as consumer price index, domestic purchasing power, etc.; and provides a system for other systematic economical research on huge data set with worldwide data.

The information it posted ranking Davao City as the world’s fourth safest place be-came controversial because of the timing when Mindanao expe-rienced bombings and bomb threats.

FASHION STATEMENT. A tribal chieftain didn’t mind wearing his tribe’s ethnic attire while roaming around a mall attracting curious stares from mall-goers. Lean Daval Jr.

DEPARTMENT of Interior and Lo-cal Government

(DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas reiterated the Aquino administration’s “hardening” policy ver-sus groups that are out to sow terror in the country.

Roxas, who said he has conferred with May-or Rodrigo Duterte Tues-day night, said Wednes-day he was in the city to make sure that all the security preparations for the Kadayawan sa Dabaw are in place.

“The Aquino admin-istration continues to take the target harden-ing stance to discourage those who are attempt-ing to sow fear,” he said.

Roxas, along with Ex-ecutive Secretary Paqui-to Ochoa, Department of National Defense Sec-retary Voltaire Gazmin, PNP Chief Director General Alan Purisima and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautis-ta, were also in the city yesterday, August 14, to meet with the mayors and governors of the various areas covered by the Eastern Mindan-ao Command (Eastmin-com).

“Dabawenyos should be alert dahil mas madaming mata na nag-oobserve at nagre-report ng strangers, strange movement and strange actions mas ma-

dali para sa kapulisan na gawin ang responsi-bilidad nila (the easier for the police to do their jobs),” he said. [PNA]

Roxas sees Kadayawan security put in place

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 11EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIAIGACOS

GENERAL SANTOS CITY

LIVELIHOOD ASSISTANCE. Melecia Abregana, President of Matigsalog Coco Handicraft and Furniture SKG (MCHFSKG) receives the P70,000.00 live-lihood assistance from DSWD Director Priscilla N. Razon during the celebra-tion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9. Organized as a Family Enterprise, MCHFSKG members underwent Basic

Business Management Training and Community Driven Enterprise Develop-ment through the DSWD Sustainable Livelihood Program. The group now produces and sells various accessories and furniture made of coconut shells and lumber. Also in photo is family head Nole Abregana. [DSWD]

AS part of the inten-sified security mea-sures for the annual

Tuna Festival and the city’s 45th foundation anniversa-ry, the General Santos City government announced Wednesday a ban on back-packs in response to the bomb attacks that recently hit parts of Mindanao.

At a press conference here, city hall and securi-ty officials appealed to the public and visitors who

will join the festivities to cooperate with the secu-rity measures being put in place to ensure the safety of merrymakers.

Mayor Ronnel Rivera said that individuals carry-ing backpacks will not be allowed inside the oval pla-za, where major highlights of the festivities are slated to be held.

Davao City earlier banned the carrying of backpacks inside concert

venues for the Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival on Au-gust 16.

Authorities said that backpacks can be used to carry bombs.

Rivera said that secu-rity was among the major issues being addressed by the city government as the 15th Tuna Festival and the 45th Charter Anniver-sary of the city draw near. [Bong S. Sarmiento/Min-daNews]

Backpacks banned for 2013 Tuna Festival

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development

(DSWD) recently orga-nized a planning workshop on Typhoon Pablo Rehabil-itation with the provincial clusters of Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley to review what has been ac-complished so far and plan out for the activities that need to be achieved in the remaining months of 2013 and what must be deliv-ered in 2014.

“We have invited the two governors, the mayors, the local social workers and engineers of hard-est-hit towns as well as the provincial/municipal focals on shelter and food assistance for us to review

our coordinated response in the past eight months and be able to focus in the next steps in recovery and rehabilitation especially in the provision of social ser-vices,” said Priscilla N. Ra-zon, DSWD director.

“If we have the funds and materials, we assure you we will build the hous-es fast. In Gawad Kalinga, we build houses in eight days. With a comprehen-sive and doable plan for shelter construction, we can build the houses,” em-phasized Gov. Arturo T. Uy following his presentation on the provincial response.

Taking up the chal-lenge to construct 6380 permanent shelters in his province by December this

year and 7464 in 2014, he pointed out, “Sec. Dinky Soliman was there always in the frontline. DSWD workers did their part, we all agree. On our part, we will try our best to deliv-er. We assure you walang perang masasayang (no funds will be wasted).”

Gov. Corazon N. Malanyaon said, “We can-not start talking about oth-er things with the affected families unless we pro-vide homes first. Talking about other matters will not make sense to them…..hence I need to finish my commitment this year… I admit DSWD work is excel-lent. As I said even before, I salute them.” [DSWD/Car-mela Cadigal-Duron]

Planning workshop for ‘Pablo’ rehab

RESORTS owners in the Island Garden City of Samal (IGa-

CoS) are asking the Depart-ment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office to be le-nient in enforcing the law mandating public access to shorelines.

“Let us not be technical with the law,” says engineer Pastor Lozada Jr. president of the IGaCoS Chamber of Commerce and a resort owner on the moves of the DENR to implement Article 51 of the Water Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 1067) which man-dates easements in banks of rivers and streams and shorelines in seas and lakes in the interest of rec-reation, navigation, float-age, fishing and salvage.

Lozada said that resort owners are worried about the impact to security and privacy if ever the ease-ments on beaches will be enforced. He said some re-sorts are allowing the pub-lic to pass by the beaches and some resorts are strict with the privacy of their property as a selling point of their resorts.

Lozada said that Sa-mal is very different from Boracay which is used as a model for public access to its beaches.

“Boracay is Boracay and Samal Island is Samal Island.”

Araceli Ayuste, a resort owner and the vice-pres-ident of the Samal City Resort Owners Associa-tion (SCROA) said that the main difference between the two islands is that Sa-mal has no long stretch of white sand beaches as some of its coasts are actually small cliffs that stretches out to the sea and many resorts utilize jetties for docking of boats that ferry visitors to the area.

These jetties have en-closed the beaches which prevents access on its beaches and which the DENR is eyeing to demol-ish particularly in the fore-shore areas.

Lozada said the lack of good roads had prompt-ed resort owners to build these jetties so that visi-tors can access their places from the sea. [PIA 11/RG Alama]

Resort owners ask for leniency on beach easements requirement

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 EDGEDAVAO12Health and Wellness

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RealtyFOR SALE:

1) 1-hectare commercial lot at P10,000/sq m, along National Highway, facing east, beside NCCC Panacan, Davao City. 2) 17,940sq m commercial lot at P2,500/sq m, along Matina Diversion Road. 3) 3,831 sq m lot along Matina Diversion Road. 4) 41,408 sq m commercial/industrial lot at P800/sq m along the National Highway, Bunawan. 5) 7,056 sq m at P1,200/sq m commercial/residential lot along Indangan Road, Buhangin District. 6) 27,411 sq m commercial/industrial lot along the National Highway in Bincungan, Tagum City. 7) 116.15 to 245.92 sq meters , at P5.5M to P12.3M commercial/office condo units in Bajada, Davao City. 8) 699 to 1,117 sq m at P4,100/sq m commercial lots at Josefina Town Center, along the National Highway, Dumoy, Toril. 9) Ready-for-Occupancy Residential Properties: 4BR/3T&B in a 240 sq m lot with 177.31sqm floor area (2-storey) at P4.8M in an exclusive beachfront community in Dumoy, Toril.; 3BR 2-storey in a 71.25 sq m 2-storey in a 143sq m lot in an exclusive flower village in Maa, Davao City; 180 sq m lots with 71.25sqm to 126.42 sq m floor areas, priced at P3.751M to P5.773M in an exclusive mountain resort community along Matina, Diversion Road. 10) 1BR/2BR residential condo units located in Bolton, Maa, Obrero, Davao City. 11) FOR ASSUME (RUSH): 1BR res’l condo unit in Palmetto, Maa. P600K negotiable. Note: Items 1-9 can be paid in cash, in-house or bank financing. If interested, please call Jay (PRC REB Lic. 8237) at 0922-851-5337 (Sun), 0908-883-8832 (Smart) or send email to [email protected].

CLASSIFIEDSThere’s a better way to get attention.

EDGEDavao Davao Partners

noticE oF loSSNotice is hereby given by LOYOLA PLANS CONSOLIDATED INC. that CERTIFICATE OF FULL PAYMENT No(s) under LOYOLA PLAN issued to the following planholders, to wit;

PH NAME CFP NO. CONTRACT NO.

1. MANZO, MARILYN Y. 21040175 192832-3/UUU4004235662. MANZO, MARILYN Y. 21040176 192833-4/UUU400423570

were lost. Any transaction entered into shall be null and void.

8/ 8, 15, 22

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 13EDGEDAVAO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITYPRIME LOCATIONS:

Lot 2 – Cugman – 28,206sqmLot 7 – Cugman – 32,662sqmFS Catanico – Gusa – 3,013sqm

– Gusa – 25,201sqm

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LOT FOR SALE

Email Address:[email protected]

Contact Mobile No.: 09269128630;09061005776 09272485996; 09168966433

CLASSIFIEDS


FOR a change, sweet-shooting basket-ball player-executive

assistant Bong Go will go for a different three—instead of

a three point shot, he will gun for a third straight basketball title not as a player but as a team manager.

Go, one of the most feared three-point shooters in local executive leagues in Davao City, will be sitting on a dif-ferent chair for the defending champion Royal Mandaya Ho-tel-City Mayor’s Office in the

2013 Kadayawan Basketball Tournament gets going on Sat-urday.

“Yes, all set na. We will try to defend our crown with the full support of our team owner Gen (Escandor). Since the tie up of RMH-VMO, we won two titles thus far, hopefully anoth-er,” said Go in a text message.

The RMH-VMO partnership has won the 2012 Kadayawan and 2013 Araw ng Dabaw ti-tles.

Go’s partner in the team, team owner Glen Escandor, echoed Go’s statement saying he wants to personally witness winning the Kadayawan title, one of only two major basket-

ball tournaments in the city each year.

�I was not around last year when we won. This time, I would like to experience it per-sonally,� Escandor told sports-writers yesterday at the ho-tel�s Kamayo Café restaurant.

The RMH-CMO squad boasts of practically the same team that won the Araw ng Dabaw 2013 title last March and the recent exhibition matches with a bible-preach-ing American squad last July.

“It’s the same core we are bringing back. Sanay na sila sa system naming and these play-ers want to win the title back,” said Escandor.

USAIN who? The one superstar which these world cham-

pionships really needed to adorn the party duly came to the Luzhniki, soared and conquered as Russia paid a fond farewell salute to its most glorious athletics heroine Yelena Isinbayeva.

Yelena Isinbayeva - World Athletics Champi-onship 2013: Yelena Isin-bayeva’s fairy-tale return upstages even Usain Bolt

The once-invincible ice queen of the pole vault, re-prising her diva best after five years without a global title, milked every moment of a fairytale comeback, winning a third title to quite bring the champion-ships to life in a way even Mr Bolt would have envied.

On the best-attended night of the champion-ships, 40,000 were treated to the 31-year-old at her theatrical finest; entreating the crowd to make more noise, flirting with know-ing, mischievous gestures to the camera before finally celebrating victory with all her old extravagant gym-nast’s cartwheeling elan.

Oh yes, and in between, she deigned to remind us of why she is one of his-tory’s virtuoso athletes, defeating the challenge of American Olympic cham-pion Jenn Suhr — the night even had a touch of the old Cold War feel as the crowd whooped with delight at US failure — and being the only vaulter to clear 4.89m. At the first attempt too.

EDGEDAVAOSports

RUSSIAN FAIRYTALE Isinbayeva’s fairy-tale return upstages even Usain Bolt in Moscow

RMH-CMO ready to defend titleFOR THREE!

CLEARING THE BAR. Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva clears the bar for the pole vault gold. Photo: AP

TANDEM. CMO executive assistant Bong Go (18) will be sitting as team manager with Royal Mandaya Hotel president Glen Escandor (inset) as team owner for the defending champion Royal Mandaya Hotel-CMO in the forthcoming Kadayawan Basketball Tournament. Lean Daval Jr.

INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 109 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013

EDGEDAVAOFOOD

A burger fight at the Bite Club

Scared or happy? Cutting up a Triple X.Burger with potato wedges.

Patties on the grill from 1/3 pound patties all the way to the full pound Triple X monster.

Bite Club at Boracay’s D’Mall.

THERE are many things in life that are deli-cious in their own way. The fatty nutty fois gras, the salty and creamy salted egg custard buns, the briny goodness of uni, the tender fatty goodness of a properly grilled steak; each one has their own way of stimulating the palate and egging one on for one more bite but nothing can be as filling or as all en-compassing as the pedestrian burger. So while trouncing about the maze-like cor-ridors and alleys of Bora-cay’s D’mall me and my friends decided to grab a burger at one of Boracay’s more famous burger spots called Bite Club. Located at a busy cor-ner of D’mall, the restau-rant was full of diners bus-ily muting away at their burgers. Since our group was nine persons strong, it took a while before we

were able to get seated. FA BURGER, A4

IMAGINE heaven on earth. Yes, literal-ly. The Villa de Mer-cedes by Uraya Land Development is one of the most beautiful hidden treasures of Davao. Situated into the depths of Brgy. Catigan in Toril, it boasts of an enig-matic scenery that transports you into ecstasy. Kicking off the Kaday-awan festivities, last Au-gust 10, they enthralled the attendees with an event that got everyone on their feet. The simplicity of the event highlighted what they have thus making the experience more intense. It was an afternoon of fun, laughter and ‘kilig’ moments as a roster of fantabulous guests made their way into the make shift stage and in the hearts of those in atten-dance. Surely, the atmosphere turned a notch higher as singers Monica Sacay (Runner-up,Starpower) and Stephanie serenad-ed the crowd with their mystifying voices.On the other hand, Saicy Aguila (former PBB hosemate) sizzled with her dance moves that ignited the place. Three lucky males from the audience even got the chance to dance

with her. Talk about luck! But what really am-plified the event was the presence of Brapanese hunk, Daniel Matsunaga, who beboped with songs that made the afternoon hotter than it already was. Ladies armed with their gadgets lined the stage to get close with him. Much to their delight, he acco-modated each and all with his bezzalled megawatt smile. A gastronomical feast of scrumptious food and a meet and greet followed the event.

A Quick Chat with Brap-anese Hunk Daniel Mat-

sunaga A model, actor and a football player, that is who Daniel is to most of us. Despite his popularity, there is still more to him that meets our eyes. Get to know the hunk behind the megawatt smile.

L: What keeps you busy aside from Misibis Bay(TV5) and football?D: I think that is enough. I practice, trian and go to the gym for 4 1/2 hours daily then there’s the Misibis Bay taping plus the guestings then the mall shows and out of town events.

L: So, no time for a love life?D: Well, meron pero wala akong love life for now. Focus muna ako sa career, sa trabaho. It’s been more than a year and a half...I am enjoying single life with my family and friends.

L: Given the chance, what would you choose,acting,modeling or sports?

D: I would choose acring muna. Modeling I did for 9 years, football I did for 24 years na.. so acting is some-thing new for me and I am learning a lot.

L: Did you ever tried out for the Football National Team (Azkals)? D: I want to but because I am not Filipino, I need 5 years of residency before I can. I have been here for 4 1/2 years.. so, yes. I am part of Stallion FC (1st Di-vision, UFL) and im play-ing fot Musang (Futsal). I enjoy the experience.

L: What do you like about Davao?D: I have been here more than once and I love the people here. I love the food here. (Durian?) Not so, I prefer pomelo. Mango-steen.. i also like.. especially the candies. Go follow Daniel Mat-sunaga on Instagram (@dandanmatsunaga) and get to know him a little more than the usual. Happy Kadayawan!

By Bai Fauziah Fatima Sinsuat Ambolodto

C E L E -BRATING its strong presence in the r e g i o n , G l o b e Telecom is extending a special and exclu-sive offer to its sub-s c r i b e r s in Davao as part of the Ka-dayawan Fe s t i v a l , D a v a o ’ s b i g g e s t a n n u a l f e s t i v a l that cel-e b r a t e s life, cul-ture and thanksgiv-ing. From Au-gust 1 to 15, 2013, all Davaoenos who avail of a Cloudfone 352g and C l o u d p a d bundle FREE at Plan 499 with the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN will get a chance to win an exclusive Meet and Greet session with one of today’s hot-test heartthrobs and Cloudfone endorser Xian Lim. Apart from the phone and tablet bundle, subscribers can choose from other Cloudfone handsets bundled with a Globe postpaid plan. All a subscriber needs to do is to go to any of the participating Globe Davao Stores in Ayala Abreeza, SM City Davao, SM Lanang Premier or Gaisano Mall Davao, apply for a Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN with a Cloud-fone of his/her choice, and wait for the approval of the post-paid plan application. Each approved postpaid application will allow the sub-scriber to pick a prize such as the Meet and Greet Session with Xian Lim as grand prize, Xian Lim’s autographed “It’s So You” CDs as major prizes, and Globe premium items as minor prizes. Eighty grand prize winners or twenty winners per partici-pating Globe Store will have the privilege to meet Xian up close and personal. Meanwhile, there will be forty winners of the limited edition autographed CDs and one hundred win-ners of Globe premium items. The popular actor, singer and model will fly to Davao on August 18, 2013 to celebrate the Kadayawan Festival with Davaoenos and will visit the four participating Globe Stores in the region to meet the lucky winners of the promo. “Davao will always be an important market for Globe so we’re very excited to offer this exclusive promo to our sub-scribers in the region in celebration of the Kadayawan Fes-tival,” said Raul Macatangay, Head of Globe Postpaid. “We invite all Davaoenos to take advantage of this special offer and avail of the Cloudfone bundle or any Cloudfone hand-set with the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN, and get the chance to meet Xian Lim up close and personal or bring home pre-mium items from Globe.” Globe Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN is a next-generation post-paid plan with fully-customizable plan components, a plan value almost twice the value of prepaid load, and more con-tract periods to choose from, ranging from 6, 12, 18, to 24 months. With the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN, subscribers get the ultimate flexibility in creating a postpaid plan that best fits their needs, lifestyle, and budget. To know more about the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN, visit www.globe.com.ph/post-paid or call 730-1010.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 109 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

Exclusive Kadayawan offer to

Globe subscribers

Villa de Mercedes guests artists with Davao Media

Daniel Matsunaga with Merci Duduaco and Nieva Mae Asis.

Saicy Aguila with Merci Duduaco and Nieva Mae Asis.

Villa de Mercedes Kadayawan Open House guests enjoying durian from Uraya Farms.

Daniel Matsunaga meets Uraya Land Dev’t., Inc. Chairman Debin A. Uraya.

Uraya Land Development Inc. celebrates Kadayawan 2013

EVENT

LAUGH until you drop with you favorite Dabarkads at the GMA Kapuso Night on Au-gust 16, 6PM at SM City Davavo Annex. Adding color to the Ka-dayawan weekend are Ruby Rodriguez, Pauleen Luna and the hilarious duo Jose & Wally, who are set to en-tertain Davaoenos on Sat-urday. The celebration gets bet-ter as SM City Davao treats Davaoeños and its guests to a week-long Kadayawan Sale on August 12-18! Amaz-ing discounts await every-one, as much as 70% off on great selections mall-wide. Plus, to give its valued shoppers more time to shop, SM City Davao is ex-tending its mall hours until 10 PM on August 16(Friday)

and until midnight on Au-gust 17(Saturday) for the Kadayawan Sale. Spectacular events, excit-ing exhibits, fun activities and great discounts are all at SM City Davao this Kaday-

awan season! For inquiries, please call 297.6998 local 126. Like SM City Davao on Facebook and follow @smcitydavao on Twitter for event and promo updates.

STAR CINEMA and Quantum Films’ Cine-malaya award-winning comedy-drama, “Eks-tra,” will hold its interna-tional premiere as part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festi-val (TIFF). The Jeffrey Jeturian-directed film, which hits cinemas nationwide begin-ning today (August 14), is part of TIFF’s Contemporary World Cinema program and is scheduled to be shown on some theaters in Toron-to, Canada on September 8 and 10. Aside from its world premiere, “Ekstra” recently added another feather to its cap as it gained unanimous grade of “A” from the Cin-ema Evalution Board (CEB). Early this month, “Ekstra”

reaped major honors at the Director’s Showcase catego-ry of Cinemalaya Indepen-dent Film Festival 2013. It re-ceived the audience choice award, jury prize, netpac, best screenplay for Zig Du-lay, Antoinette Jadaone and Direk Jeffrey, best support-ing actress for Ruby Ruiz,

and best actress for Vilma. “Ekstra” is a touching drama-comedy film that revolves around the life of Loida Malabanan (played by Vilma), a hardworking single mother who passion-ately works as as bit player for television and movies. Part of Star Cinema’s 20th anniversary in the movie industry, “Ekstra” also fea-tures Ruby, Tart Carlos of “Be Careful With My Heart,” Cherie gil, Pilar Pilapil, Nico Antonio, Tom Rodriguez, Di-rek Marlon Rivera, Vince de Jesus and many more. Also part of Vilma’s mile-stone movie is the special participation of Richard ‘Ser Chief’ Yap, Marian Rivera, and Piolo Pascual.

INdulge! A3VOL. 6 ISSUE 109 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

Pauleen Luna at GMA Kapuso Night at SM Davao, August 16!

Ate Vi’s ‘Ekstra’ to premiere at Toronto International Film Fest

GP

PG 13

R13/

*PG13

PG 13 12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

RED 2 / *THE WOLVERINE 2D

12:00 | 2:20 / * 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS

BAKIT HINDI KA CRUSH NG CRUSH MO? 2D

12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

PERCY JACKSON SEA OF MONSTERS 2DLogan Lerman, Brandon Jackson

Bruce Willis/ *Hugh Jackman

12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

THE SMURFS 2 2D

Hank Azaria Neil, Patrick Harris

Kim Chiu, Xian Lim

A4 INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 109 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013EDGEDAVAOFOOD

All smiles with a Bombarella in my hand.

The Bombarella (front) dwarfs the Burgeralla (back).

Funky wall art adorn Bite Club’s walls.

Luckily the service was snappy and friendly and suggested that we make our orders ahead so that we won’t want too long for our food to arrive. Bite Club’s menu was simple and straightfor-ward with their trademark grilled burgers taking the centre stage. There are three sizes of burgers rang-ing from the 1/3 pound Club Burger (Burgerella if you add cheese), the half pound The Bomb (Bom-berella if you have it with cheese) and the gut-bust-ing one pound Triple X which sounds more like an adult flick than a burger. Looking around, I can see families ordering not just medium sized Burger-ellas, but Triple Xes as well. Erring on the side of caution though, I opted for a Bomberella with po-tato wedges (you can also choose fries) and a can of zero calorie cola (as if it helps). After a few minutes we were finally seated and in a few minutes after we were finally served our burgers, hot and fresh off the grill. The Burgerella was about the size of my hand in diameter, and given that I have huge paddle-like hands, it was one big burg-er indeed.

Personally, there is only one way to eat a burger, and that is with your hands, and I indented to do that with the Burger-ella, only of course since it was a hefty burger, I de-cided to half it instead to make it more manageable and less messy when I bite into it. On first bite, the juicy beefy goodness of the burger literally melts in the mouth, the creaminess of the mozzarella stuffed inside the patty added a hint of creaminess to each bite. Although I do admit I was looking for the gooey chewiness of the mozza-rella which was missing from the burger. I also wish that there was a little bit more spice to add some bite for a savoury finish but I guess that was just my preference to heat. On the whole though, I would say the bite clubs burgers deserve the queues of people lining up to grab a bite of their burg-ers which I would recom-mend to pedestrian burger lovers everywhere. Follow me on Twitter or on Instagram @kenneth-kingong for more foodie finds, travel tips and hap-penings in,around and be-yond Durianburg.

The Boracay gang.

A burger..FFROM A1

EDGEDavao Davao Partners

VOL. 6 ISSUE 109• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS

THE first-ever Davao City Sports Consul-tative Workshop will

be held today with some 200 stakeholders coming from the different sectors converging at the Sang-guniang Panlungsod (SP) building for a full day activ-ity in an effort to chart an honest-to-goodness sports program.

City Sports Develop-ment Office (CSDO) of-ficer-in-charge William “Butch” Ramirez is leaving no stones unturned in his preparation for the signif-icant event that will pave the way for the crafting of a comprehensive sports pro-gram he has long desired to realize for the city and its people.

The organizing CSDO has invited top City Hall officials led by Mayor Ro-drigo R. Duterte to grace today’s assembly which starts at 7 a.m. Also invited to give their messages were Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, Acting City Administrator Jhopee Avancena-Agus-tin and City Planning and Development Coordinator Mario Luis Jacinto.

“We have invited all the stakeholders for this con-

sultative workshop. This is a gathering of people from the cross-section of society as we are one in our goal of realizing a comprehen-sive sports program for our beloved Davao City,” Ramirez said. “I expect a lively discussion among our participants and hope that at the end of the day, we can already set the tone towards the realization of our dream.”

Attending the event are city councilors, ba-rangay captains, officials and representatives from the local and government agencies, national sports associations, the media, in-digenous and Muslim lead-ers, academe and private sports organizations like the Prisaa and Dacs.

Facilitator will be Dr. Sergio V. Opena while Bish-op Romulo G. Valles will lead the prayer. A short presentation from Jessie R. Labor of the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) is also one of the highlights of the sports consultative workshop.

The program will cul-minate with the presenta-tion of issues and signing ritual.

MASON, Ohio (AP) -- Maria Sharapo-va’s return to WTA

tournament play after more than a month away was short-lived follow-ing an upset loss to 17th-ranked American Sloane Stephens 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the second round of the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday.

In a match that lasted 2 hours, 22 minutes, Ste-phens overcame losing the first set and the first two games of the second and double faults on two match points to pick up her first victory over Sharapova in four meetings.

‘’It definitely started out rough,’’ Stephens said. ‘’A set and 0-2, she was kill-ing it. I’m glad I was able to turn it around and start playing good tennis.’’

Sharapova, the 2011 W&S champion and a 2010 finalist, showed no traces of the hip injury that had

kept her sidelined since a second-round loss at Wim-bledon.

‘’I thought I started the match off pretty well, but when you put yourself in a really good position, you can’t let it go,’’ Sharapo-va said. ‘’That’s what I did tonight. I didn’t continue what I was doing well for the first set and a half, and that hurt me.

‘’You know, I stopped being patient. I started making a lot more errors, especially off the first ball - just errors that I shouldn’t make. Obviously I haven’t played in a long time, but I can’t make that excuse for myself because I’ve got to be ready from the first match. So it’s obviously dis-appointing, but that’s the way it goes in this game.’’

Jimmy Connors, who won the tournament 41 years ago, watched from the stands in his first match as Sharapova’s

coach. She hired Connors, the 1972 champion and a 1986 finalist, in mid-July.

Fourteenth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the 2009 champion and 2011 run-ner-up, advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2 win over Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisiski.

Defending men’s champion and fifth-seed-ed Roger Federer ad-vanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) win over 29th-ranked Philipp Kohlschreiber.

‘’It was just really im-portant to play somewhat of a clean match,’’ said Federer, who already has won a record five W&S championships and im-proved to 7-0 in his career against Kohlschreiber. ‘’Straight sets is always a good match. It’s a good win for me.’’

In earlier action, sec-ond-ranked Victoria Az-

arenka held off an upset bid by qualifier Vania King to pull out a 6-1, 7-6 (6) win and advance to the third round. Azarenka ral-lied from a 3-0 hole in the s e c o n d s e t to

force the tiebreaker against the 140th-ranked American.

Azarenka, who has been bothered by a lower back injury, won her first match since losing to Sa-mantha Stosur in the finals of the Southern California Open two weeks ago.

Sharapova bows to Stephens

Sports consultative workshop underway

EARLY EXIT. Maria Sharapova of Russia serves in her match against Sloane Stephens.


Documents

Edge Davao 6 Issue 109