GENTLEMAN JAMES. Former Presidential brother-in-law James Yap (second from right) dances to the tune of “Gentleman” with fellow PBA stars JV Casio, Cyrus Baguio, and Calvin Abueva during the 2013 PBA All Star Game in Digos City on Sunday night.

Karlo, Mylene ahead

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.net

FKARLO, MYLENE AHEAD, 10

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

IF elections were held to-day, Representatives Karlo B. Nograles and Mylene Garcia

are as good as re-elected in Davao City’s first and second legislative districts.

This is indicated in the statistical findings of the latest political survey conducted by the Ateneo de Davao Uni-versity among 1,024 voter respondents in the first and second district (544 in the first, and 480 in the second). The survey was conducted off-campus, face-to-face, with voters’ right in their com-munities during the period from April 8-25.

The survey was done by volunteer enumerators composed of 27 teachers and young professionals screened and trained to do the job properly by the Ate-

neo de Davao University (ADDU) Univer-sity Research Council (URC).

In a press conference at the ADDU auditorium yesterday, Lourdesita Sobre-vega-Chan, chairperson of the Ateneo URC, bared the results of the poll survey, including the one conducted in the third district with a total of 434 respondents.

First districtIn the first district congressional

fight, Nograles, who is vying for a second term in the House of Representatives, got the nod of 48.7 percent of those in-terviewed, while challenger , former vice mayor :uis C. Bonguyan garnered 23.3 percent. A total of 16.9 percent refused to respond to the interview, while 10.1 percent said they intend to leave the po-sition blank. Only 0.6 percent of respon-dents are undecided.

ATENEO POLL SURVEY II OUT

District 1 District 2Name n=544 Name n=480

BONGUYAN, Luis 23.3 BIAN, Joji 22.7

NOGRALES, Karlo Alexie 48.7 GARCIA, Mylene 54.6

PAMATONG, Elly .04 LOPEZ, Uly 0.0NAGAYO, Jennell 0.2

Undecided .06 Undecided 0.6

Refused to Answer 16.9 Refused to answer 16.3(Intends to leave this blank) 10.1 (Intends to leave this blank) 506

• Blue Vote sampling done April 8-25

By EJ Dominic Fernandez

Ang pildidi motoo...

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 20132 EDGEDAVAO

FMARAÑON, 10

FOFF-CAMPUS, 10

THE BIG NEWS

EXPLAINING THE VOTE. Ateneo de Davao University-University Research Council (URC) chair Lourdesita Sobrevega-Chan presents the Blue Vote 2013 off-campus poll survey yesterday at the ADDU Finster Auditorium in Roxas Avenue, Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

CLEANUP. Some residents of Quezon Blvd. in Davao City watch while the city’s canals undergo rehabilitation in the latest round of waterways de-clogging. Lean Daval Jr.

THE off-campus poll survey by the University Re-

search Council (URC) of the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) is “close to reality,” ac-cording to University Community Engage-ment and Advocacy Council (UCEAC) chair, lawyer Romeo Cabarde.

Cabarde said during the announcement of the results Monday that the survey is reflective of what the people have to say since the respon-dents are citizens of Davao City, not just the AdDU community.

“These are the peo-ple who will be affected

and who will suffer the consequences of legis-lations and actions of their elected leaders,” he said.

The survey included what issues and con-cerns the citizens of Davao want their lead-ers to address, and it showed that what they want are basic needs.

The top issues and concerns that the re-spondents want to be addressed by their chosen leaders are peace and order from the mayor and the vice mayor; unemployment and lack of job oppor-tunities from the coun-

ONE more week to go before the 2013 Election

Day on May 13 and the Commission on Elec-tions (Comelec) Region 11 is all set, according to Comelec regional di-rector, lawyer Wilfredo Jay Balisado.

Balisado said in an interview, “As far as our office (Comelec 11) is concerned, we are ready, since we are at the receiving end when it comes to elections.”

Comelec 11 has re-ceived all the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and distributed them to their respective pre-

cincts as yesterday marked the start of their final testing and sealing (FTS) until May 10, Balisado said.

Personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will be guarding the PCOS machines at their re-spective precincts 24/7.

Two PCOS machines in the first district of Davao City were dis-covered to be defective with nothing coming out of the monitor.

“This is just a mi-nor problem, since Comelec 11 has one

spare PCOS machine and there is still time to contact the Comelec national office to ad-dress this issue,” said Balisado.

“Having a damaged PCOS machine will not derail the election because we have the official ballots and we can simply use another machine from anoth-er precinct to tally the ballots,” he said.

According to Bali-sado, 100 percent of the official ballots are already delivered and will be distributed on the 12th or 13th of May.

One of the major problems that Comelec

11 anticipates is the attitude of the voters since most of them want to vote first.

Balisado appeals to voters to be disci-plined on the day of the elections. “Voters should have the list of their chosen candi-dates ahead of time, so that voting will be faster.”

Another problem in Region 11 are ar-eas infested with rebel groups.

He also made an appeal to the rebels to keep Election Day peaceful and to respect the exercise of democ-racy.

A local exporter of microwavable ba-nanas lamented the

shortage of banana sup-ply in the region resulting to losses amounting to 30 percent of total export revenues.

Sagrex Foods Inc.earned USD$3 million for exporting microwavable bananas in the past three years.

Ferdinand Marañon, president of Phil-Export Davao, bared yesterday during the weekly Kape-han sa Dabaw in SM An-nex Atrium that the short-age of the cardaba banana variety has caused export backlogs which needed at least the replanting of ad-ditional 1,000 hectares of cardaba.

Marañon, who pio-nered in exporting micro-wavable semi-processed bananas through Sagrex Corporation admitted that they need to enter into growership agree-ments with independent banana farmers to plant cardaba variety in a 1,000 hectare farm area in Ma-hayag, Tibungco, Davao City in order to normalize export capacity.

“After 3 years of ex-porting, we are now fac-ing a problem which caus-es a big backlog of orders of bananas which we can-not fill up,” he said.

He said that their big-gest market is in United States of America and followed by the following

The National Demo-cratic Front South-ern (NDF) Mind-

anao is set to release po-liceman Maula Tato Ali of Arakan police station who was captured by the NPA last April 19 in Brgy. Ba-tobato, President Roxas town, North Cotabato.

In a statement sent to Edge Davao, the NDF said they will release the Ali on condition that the Armed Forces of the Phil-ippines (AFP) will cease its operations in the towns of Arakan, Magpet, Antipas and President Roxas in North Cotabato, and entry areas in Baguio and Marilog districts in Davao City.

The said areas are within the scope of the 84th Infantry Battalion (IB) and 57th IB of the 10th Infantry Division

and AFP units which the NDF claims to have in-tensified abusive military operations against the NPA’s Mt. Apo Sub-re-gional command, the cus-todial force of Ali.

Edge Davao tried to get a reaction last night from Task Force Davao information officer Jill Mamoog but she refused to comment.

The NDF said it ac-cepted the recommen-dation of release after subsequent investigation on Ali for it is proven that he did not commit signif-icant offenses against the masses and the revolu-tionary forces.

The NDF said they have also proven Ali’s in-nocence in the case of Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio who was martyred last October 2011. CMP

Off-campus survey close to reality: Ateneo

Comelec: All systems goBy EJ Dominic Fernandez

Marañon laments banana shortageBy Che Palicte

NDF to release NortCot POW

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013EDGEDAVAO 3SUBURBIA

LIVING IN PARADISE. Balut Island in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat remains sparsely inhabited. White sand beaches dot the island surrounded by scuba diving and snorkeling sites. [MindaNews/Bong S. Sarmiento]

AS part of the c u l m i n a t i n g activities of

the 5th eARThfest in Tagum City, about 300 seedlings were planted in the accretion area in Barangay Magdum by an approximately 63 participating children and their parents last May 5, 2013.

Lucio Jamero, focal person of the City of Tagum Tourism Coun-cil which spearheaded the month-long sum-mer workshop for kids along with the City Gov-ernment of Tagum, said this activity is a contin-uation of the tradition of the workshop were children are taught on the importance for

caring for the environ-ment.

The eARThfest, which is now on its fifth year, gathers children for summer workshops in visual arts, theater, music and dance—all anchored in the vision of making the children as stewards of nature.

The festival follows the theme of this year’s Earth Day celebrations around the world: “The Face of Climate Change.”

In the afternoon, the highly-anticipated recital of the 54 partici-pants for the music and movement and theater held at the Gaisano Grand Mall Atrium.Lou-ie Lapat of CIO Tagum

Participants of the 5th eARThfest along with their parents plant 300 trees in the Accretion Area of Barangay Magdum in Tagum City as part of the culminating activities lined up last May 5, 2013. [Leo Timogan/CIO Tagum]

5th eARThfest participants plant 300 trees in Tagum

ABOUT 500 families are now occupying the mineral pro-

cessing zone (MPZ) in Si-tio Mabatas in Barangay Mabatas, Monkayo, Com-postela Valley.

Government repre-sentatives to the Program Monitoring and Coordi-nation Center of the Na-tional Task Force Diwalw-al (PMCC NTFD) recently found this out in an actual site assessment/evalua-tion at the MPZ in sitio Mabatas.

Led by Atty. Wil-fredo Moncano, assistant regional director of Mines and Geo-science Bureau (MGB) XI some of those who went with the site inspection included the PMCC coordinator Marcia Isip of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) XI and PMCC Secretariat head Nora Alicante.

Others were focal per-sons of the Departments of Interior and Local Gov-ernment (DILG) XI, Na-tional Commission on In-digenous Peoples (NCIP) Compostela Valley Provin-cial Office, the Environ-mental Management Bu-reau (EMB) and the Envi-ronment Research Devel-opment Services (ERDS) of DENR XI, the Philippine Information Agency XI, the Philippine Mining Devel-opment Corp. (PMDC) and the 25th Infantry Battal-ion, 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.

In a meeting with set-tlers and with barangay officials of barangays Up-per Ulip and nearby Mt. Diwata, Upper Ulip Brgy. Captain Fernando Latiban revealed that the 500 set-tlers of Mabatas MPZ are Typhoon Pablo-affected families from hardly-hit areas in his barangay.

He appealed that they will be allowed to stay at the MPZ which he said had not been developed since 10 years ago when it was declared as an MPZ to ac-commodate processing plants of small-scale min-ers of the nearby Barangay Mt. Diwata declared by the national government as a small-scale mining area.

“Hangyo mi nga dili na lang unta sila ma-dis-locate ug magpabilin sila dinhi. (We are asking that they would not be dislocated and that they stay here.),” he said.

Settlers who attend-ed the meeting with PMCC NTFD represen-tatives raised the same appeal and requested the government to look for a new site of the mineral processing zone for small-scale miners of Mt. Diwata.

Atty. Moncano made it clear to the Mabatas MPZ

settlers that nothing was final of whatever were taken up during the meet-ing, but he assured them that their requests will be forwarded to the national government especially to concerned offices.

Same with other PMCC NTFD representatives during the meeting, Atty. Moncano assured the set-tlers that they would not be placed in a situation that would further ag-gravate their plight after suffering from the wrath of Typhoon Pablo, saying that the “government will always look for a win-win solution to a problem.”

Atty. Moncano howev-er, explained them that the government land use plan upholds the policy of sepa-ration of residential areas from industrial or mineral processing zone. [PIA 11/Jeanevive Duron-Aban-gan]

500 Typhoon Pablo-stricken families resettle at mineral processing zone IN its bid to create new

capacities to meet Min-danao’s surging pow-

er needs, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) challenged the region’s cooperatives to explore potential invest-ments in renewable en-ergy to help address the island-region’s lingering power deficit.

“We are challenging MASS-SPECC to look at the viability of investments in power generation, specifi-cally small hydro and bio-mass generation,” said Ro-meo Montenegro, MinDA’s Director for Investment Promotion and Public Af-fairs Office (IPPAO).

“Mindanao is facing power issues, but if you look at it in a different per-spective, there are also op-portunities. You can take advantage of the increas-ing demand for power by exploring investments in renewable energy,” Monte-negro told the 500-strong delegation of the 44th Mindanao Coop Leaders Forum.

The forum dovetailed with the 39th General As-sembly of the Mindanao Alliance Self-Help Society – Southern Philippines Educational Cooperative Center (MASS-SPECC) held recently in Cagayan de Oro City.

MASS-SPECC is a sec-ondary cooperative feder-ation with a membership of 300 primary cooper-atives across Mindanao, some of which are consid-ered billionaire coops that have the capacity to invest in power generation proj-ects.

“While our services are traditionally savings and credit, a few of our cooperatives have initi-ated addressing power

shortage in their locality by bringing in micro-solar power to off-grid areas in Misamis Occidental and Zamboanga del Sur,” said Gadwin E. Handumon, MASS-SPECC Chairman.

“These may seem like preliminary steps, but we are considering to devel-op this opportunity into a separate sector with the support of MASS-SPECC’s network of more than 300 cooperatives and almost a million individual mem-bers,” he added.

MinDA is challeng-ing MASS-SPECC to go beyond micro-solar and explore small hydro and biomass to help augment the power supply in Min-danao and expand the share of renewable ener-gy in the island-region’s power mix.

Mindanao exports eight of the top 10 agri-cultural export products of the country and the wastes of these agricul-tural products, such as corn cobs, corn husks, ba-gasse, to name a few, are substantial feedstock for biomass generation.

With Mindanao’s bio-mass potential, MinDA is working towards identi-fying areas suitable for small hydro and biomass projects that can gener-ate 10 to 12 megawatts of power that can be tapped by electric cooperatives. A one-stop-shop process-ing and facilitation center for Mindanao’s renewable energy power projects is also being developed by MinDA in order to fast track the approval of re-newable energy power projects in the region. The move is designed to attract more renewable energy investments in Mindanao.

MinDA exhorts Mindanao coops to invest in renewable energy

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013

ALUMNI and current members of the Col-lege Editors Guild

of the Philippines (CEGP) organized a rummage sale in Yale St. in Cubao, Que-zon City to support former CEGP National President Teddy Casiño’s senatori-al bid. Guilders donated used, branded and some new clothing, shoes, books, and other articles to be sold. The proceeds will serve as the Guild’s contribution to Casiño’s campaign.

“The Guild first did this rummage sale in Que-zon Memorial Circle last March 17 to express the Guild’s support for our alumnus Teddy Casiño,” said Marc Lino Abila, Na-tional Deputy Secretary General of the oldest and broadest alliance of ter-tiary student publications in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific region.

“We also held a benefit dinner for Teddy Casiño last March 6 in Quezon City,” Abila added. “We volunteered for house-to-house campaigns, mobile propaganda teams, flyer-ing and, t-shirt printing

nationwide. We also have alumni Guilders outside the Philippines who sup-port and campaign for Teddy overseas.”

“Both alumni and cur-rent members of CEGP have expressed their sup-port for Teddy and this is one of the efforts to show our support to the only Makabayan senato-rial candidate,” Abila said. “We solicited items from Guilders which can still be used and sold.”

“So far, we have been successful raising funds for Teddy’s campaign,” Abila said.

“We support Teddy not only because he’s an alumnus CEGP but also a staunch defender of cam-pus press freedom, press freedom, education, and human rights,” Abila ex-plained.

Bayan Muna Rep. Ted-dy Casiño, along with Kabataan Partylist Rep. Mong Palatino, filed Cam-pus Press Freedom Act in the House of Representa-tives which will genuinely protect the rights of cam-pus journalists in the Phil-ippines and aims to repeal

Campus Journalism Act of 1991 which lacks penalty clause for those who vio-late the law.

Casiño also pushes for

genuine agrarian reform, higher wages and better working conditions, reg-ulate the prices of oil and basic goods, higher state

subsidy on education and other social services, among others.

“We want Teddy to win a seat in the Senate to up-

hold not only the rights of campus journalists but of the youth and the Filipino people in general,” Abila ended.

4 EDGEDAVAO

LONGEST. North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou “Lala” Taliño-Mendoza takes some time off from campaigning to experience riding the 1.3 kilometers zipline during yesterday’s opening of the 1 kilometer and 1.3 kilometers

ziplines at the proposed New Israel Eco-Park in Makilala, North Cotabato. The newly-build zipline is considered as the longest in Asia and will even-tually help boost the tourism industry of the municipality. Lean Daval Jr.

Campus journalists show support for Teddy Casiño

INDEPENDENT Sen-ate candidates are in high spirits barely two

weeks before the midterm polls, even as they tail bets from the two major coali-tions in recent surveys.

Despite various poll-sters placing them outside the so-called “Magic 12”, Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Teodoro “Teddy” Casino, Puerto Princesa Mayor Ed-ward Hagedorn and Jesus is Lord Movement leader Eddie Villanueva are push-ing on.

“It’s looks like we’re winning,” said Casino, who was ranked 23rd-24th in Pulse Asia’s April survey and 24th in Social Weather

Stations poll in the same month.

Casino added that his campaign is on track, add-ing that he is set to clinch agreements with allies who have vowed to sup-port him.

The congressman has been on out-of-town rallies in the past three months and plans to go back to vote-rich areas such as Ma-nila, Iloilo, Cebu and Davao.

“We’re also gonna have several miting de avance in difference places at once on May 7,” Casino said, adding that supporters will organize some of the events.

Hagedorn also thinks

he still has a very good fighting chance to land a seat in the Senate, even if results from the two major pollsters place him at 19th to 21st.

The award-winning Puerto Princesa mayor is banking on his popularity in the higher-income class-es A and B. He is mean-while hoping that his recall among class C, D and E vot-ers will improve following former President Joseph Estrada’s endorsement.

“I was endorsed by President Estrada in his home and we really needed that because of his pull on the masses. Mababa kami dun so yan ang magdadala

sa amin,” Hagedorn said.He is also wooing local

leaders who have strong command over vote-rich areas and enjoys support from the League of City Mayors and the League of Municipalities.

The only local execu-tive who joined the Senate race said the endorsement of local groups contributed to Vice President Jejomar Binay’s victory in the 2010 polls.

Villanueva, who almost shared spots with Hage-dorn in recent surveys be-ing ranked 19th-22nd by Pulse Asia and 23 by SWS, also strongly believes he is going to win. [Yahoo!]

Independent Senate bets keep hopes high

FEW days after entering the top three of the recent

Social Weather Station survey, Team PNoy sen-atorial bet Cynthia Vil-lar got another boost in her senatorial bid fol-lowing an endorsement of the Catholic Con-science Vote Phils., an equipment of pro-life, pro-family charismatic communities and orga-nizations.

CCVP Secretary-Gen-eral Antonio Ag. Medi-na said they decided to back the candidacy of Villar due to her strong stance in the preserva-tion of human life and protection of family.

As former congress-woman of Las Pinas for nine years, Villar sup-ported the passage of significant measures to protect the interest and welfare of the family.

The CCVP cited also the ‘no vote’ of her hus-band, Sen. Manny Vil-lar, against the passage of the Reproductive Health bill in the Senate.

The group has 600 allied Catholic commu-nities and organizations including the Couple’s For Christ wherein the

Villar couple are active members.

Aside from Villar, CCVP also endorsed the candidacy of reelection-ist Senators Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV.

Recently, Villar as well as Pimentel and Trillanes received en-dorsement from the White Vote Movement led by El Shaddai.

Villar thanked the endorsement of CCVP even as she promised to work harder despite en-tering the top three of the SWS survey for the first time since she an-nounced her senatorial bid midway last year.

”I’m happy that our countrymen are be-ginning to appreciate my advocacies. Per-haps they understand my model of livelihood projects,” Villar said.

Villar said there are a lot of things that are expected to happen in more than two remain-ing weeks of the cam-paign period.

”That’s why I should not be complacent. The real survey is the actual election day,” Villar said. [PNA]

Villar gets more endorsement after surge in survey

SENATOR Alan Cay-etano today lauded the Administra-

tion for achieving New York-based Standard & Poor’s (S&P) second in-vestment-grade rating, raising the Philippines’ grade to BBB- with a stable outlook from BB+ with a positive outlook on May 2, 2013.

“This is solid proof that the president was not just lucky in achieving the Philip-pines first-ever invest-ment-grade status (from global credit watcher

Fitch Ratings, which gave the country a BBB- from BB+ with a stable outlook on March 27, 2013) but by this second investment grade rating, we see that the effects of the institutional reforms that the administration has implemented are now truly being felt,” Cayetano said.

“Now that direct in-vestors are regaining confidence in the econ-omy, let’s do everything we can to make our in-dustries grow,” Cayetano proposed, encouraging

top-level support for industries nationwide, especially through the encouragement of small and medium enterprises.

“In almost every province that I have vis-ited, I urged the local businessmen to pur-sue their SMEs because more SMEs will translate to more jobs; and com-petitiveness will result in lower prices and ef-fectively greater income for Filipino families,” Cayetano said.

Various chambers of commerce nationwide

expressed their support for Cayetano’s proposal to increase the number of SMEs nationwide. “My vision is to develop the strongest industries in the country to be able to compete internation-ally,” Cayetano said. “I want Quezon and Bicol to be coco coir hubs, for Cebu to be the furni-ture hub of Asia, and for Marikina to see a renais-sance of the Marikina shoe industry. Industries start with small busi-nesses that grow as de-mands increase.”

Cayetano says:Investment grade stepping stone to PTK

5EDGEDAVAO

THE ECONOMYVOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013

DAVAO City Water District adds an 8,000-liter capacity

water tanker to its exist-ing 14,000 liter tanker to aid in water distribution during cases of prolonged water supply problems in the city. These water tank-ers are also used to deliv-er water to communities where water connection is still not available through the Peri-urban Water De-livery Services (WDS).

Official turn-over of the vehicle was done last April 29 at the DCWD Ma-tina motorpool area in the presence of DCWD acting general manager Edwin V. Regalado and Southern Motors of Davao Inc. / ISUZU Davao vice presi-dent for operations Frank C. Liu III and sales execu-tive Ruth Elaine D. Niog.

“DCWD always makes sure that its scheduled water interruptions fin-ish on time as not to burden affected custom-ers. However, emergency water cuts caused by un-foreseen mainline leaks, bugged down facilities or loss of power supply in production wells and pumping stations are sometimes unavoidable. In case water supply does not resume immediately during these emergency cases, DCWD delivers wa-ter to the affected custom-ers. However, for massive water supply loss, one tanker can only serve a limited area. With an ad-ditional water tanker, we can ferry water to more areas at a much faster rate,” Regalado said.

It can be recalled that during the water supply

problem caused by the collapse of DCWD’s pipes at Bankerohan Bridge many areas in the city experienced intermittent water supply for some days. To address the is-sue, DCWD strategically deployed its 14,000 liter tanker and some of its L300 vehicles and sought the help of fire volunteers to augment water supply in waterless areas. (Jova-na T. Duhaylungsod)

“Also, while DCWD is still in the process of de-veloping more facilities, it utilizes the Peri-urban WDS to extend its services to communities with no existing water connec-tions by setting up water tanks in selected baran-gays from where the res-idents could get water at an affordable price,” Re-galado continued. Com-munities served by this service are situated in the areas of Lasang, Panacan,

Mandug, Cabantian, Toril and Bago Oshiro.

“DCWD always makes sure that the water needs of the people are met even during emergen-cy cases or when there are still no available wa-ter connections because DCWD understands that water is a necessity we all cannot live without,” Re-galado continued.

The new water tank-er is just one of the many projects that DCWD has to better respond to emergencies and avoid delays in its operations. Furthermore, it has also planned different infra-structure development projects to improve wa-ter supply availability in its service area and to expand its service cov-erage. To date, only 60% of the total population of Davao City are reached by DCWD’s services. (Jovana T. Duhaylungsod)

DCWD adds new water tanker to improve operations. DCWD management headed by acting general manager Edwin V. Regalado (2nd from R) receives the key of the new 8,000 liters capacity water tanker from Southern Motors of Davao Inc. / ISUZU Davao vice president for operations Frank C. Liu III and sales executive Ruth Elaine D. Niog (3rd and 4th from R) during the official turn-over last April 29 at the DCWD Matina office.

DCWD adds new water tanker

Bank of the Philippine Islands continued to deliver sustainable

growth as it reported a net income of P8.4 billion for the first quarter of 2013. This was 43% higher than last year’s P5.8 billion.

At the end of first quarter, BPI’s total re-sources were P940 bil-lion, 16% higher year-on-year as deposits grew by the same rate to P748 billion. In addition, the Bank was able to increase its assets under manage-ment to P758 billion or

6% more than same peri-od last year.

Net loans hit P514 bil-lion, 19% better year-on-year. Lending to top cor-porates was up by 25%, while the middle market and SME segments went up by 17% and 14% re-spectively. Consumer loans also grew by 15%. Gross 30 days NPL ratio was down to 2.1% from last year’s 2.5%. Reserve cover was 129%.

The improvement in net income for the period was driven by the 21%

growth in total revenues as the Bank took advan-tage of the favorable mar-ket condition to register securities trading gains. Net interest income was slightly up, as average asset base expanded by 15%. Net yields though, contracted as interest rates continued to de-cline.

Other non-interest income lines likewise improved, particularly service charges and com-missions, trust fees, and corporate finance fees.

BPI sustains growth, P8.4B income in Q1

SEARCH. Alvin Pinpin of Sycip Gorres Velayo and Company formally announces the search for the En-trepreneur of the Year Philippines during yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at the Annex of SM City Davao. This

year’s theme is “Breaking Barriers” which encapsulates the entrepreneurial spirit that compels men and wom-en to believe and pursue their dreams. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013

FIRST quarter visitor arriv-als reached 1.27 million, a 10.76 percent growth

from last year’s 1.15 million for the same period. This marks the second time that foreign tourist arrivals breached the one-mil-lion mark in the first quarter, setting the pace for the Depart-ment of Tourism to reach its 5.5 million arrival target for 2013. The first quarter performance accounts for 23 percent of the target arrivals for the year.

Korea remains the leading visitor market, which captured 25.83 percent of the total in-bound traffic with 328,454 ar-rivals, followed by the United States with 186,065 or 14.63 percent of the overall visitor volume. The Japanese market contributed the third biggest arrivals with 114,269 or 8.99 percent. Rounding up the top five visitor markets for the first quarter are China with 98,242 and Taiwan with 53,867 visi-tors. The Korean market rose by 23.93 percent, the highest among the top five major mar-kets.

Other key markets con-tributing significant volume

of arrivals include Australia with 53,679; Singapore with 41,524; Canada with 38,486; Hong Kong with 36,005; United Kingdom with 32,475; Malaysia with 27,212; and Germany with

22,491.Double-digit gains were re-

corded by the Russian Federa-tion (26.9 percent), Hong Kong (25.04 percent), Korea (23.93 percent), India (22.1 percent),

Singapore (15.42 percent), Australia (12.65 percent), and Malaysia (11.86 percent). The ASEAN source markets grew 14.82 percent while East Asia in-creased by 14.15 percent. [PNA]

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 14:05

Silk 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 16:45Cebu Pacific Daily 5J967 / 5J600 16:35 Manila-Davao-Cebu 17:05

as of May 2013

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2012-February 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 Watch5.4

4th Qtr 2012

6.8 4th Qtr 2012

USD 3,969.51 million

Dec 2012USD 5,135.46

million Nov 2012

USD -1,585 million

Nov 2012USD -209

millionMar 2012

P 5,171,689  million

Dec 2012

3.6 % Jan 2013P155,308

million Nov 2012

P 5,381 billion 

Nov 2012

P 40.67 Feb 2013

6,242.7 Jan 2013

132.4 Feb 2013

3.4 Feb 2013

3.8 Feb 2013

352,438 Nov 2012

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/

6

Davao by the nuMbersDavao Region has

total land area

of which belongto Davao City.

20,244 sq. km

25.6 percent

Source: NSo

THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

VARIOUS government and private sector agencies have signed commitments

to participate in the “Gameplan” to raise Philippines competitive-ness on ease of doing business in the world ranking during the Na-tional Competitiveness Council’s (NCC) Ease of Doing Business Summit held at the Sofitel Philip-pine Plaza on Friday.

Philippines is 138th out of 185 economies and placed 8th out of 9 economies in ASEAN in the World Bank – International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Ease of Doing Business (EODB) rank-ing.

The Philippines’ poor rank-ing was said to be due to difficul-ty in doing business in the coun-try because of the numerous steps to go through and the long time of processing transactions.

The NCC had identified ten indicators, or areas of concern, in its Gameplan for Competitive-ness which need improvements.

The Gameplan, contains spe-cific targets to shorten proce-dures in 10 specific indicators, or areas of concern, as follow: 1)starting a business; 2) dealing with construction permits; 3) getting electricity: 4)registering property; 5) getting credit; 6) protecting investors; 7} paying taxes; 8}trading across borders;

9) enforcing contracts; 10) re-solving insolvency.

The Gameplan targets are:- the current situation of

starting a business has 16 steps and the transaction for these phases takes 36 days, now with NCC’s committed target for this year it will only have 10 steps to be processed in 10 days;

construction permit from 29 steps with 84 days of trans-action down to this year’s com-mitted target with 12 steps in 71 days;

- getting electricity from 5 steps in 50 days down to 4 steps in 36 days;

- registering property from 8 steps in 39 days to 6 steps in 21 days.

- in the current status of getting credit information, the depth of credit information has an index of 3 (from scores zero to six, being six as the highest) and strength of legal rights with an index of 4 (from scores 0-10, being ten as the highest) is ex-pected to have an index of 5 and 9, respectively;

- with protecting investors indicator having scores from 0 to 10 and 10 as the highest, its extent of disclosure has an in-dex of 2, extent of director liabil-ity of 3 and ease of stakeholder suits of 8, it now aims this year

for indexes of 7, 9 and 10, re-spectively;

- a business also has 47 pay-ments of taxes and is usually transacted in 193 hours, with the NCC’s 2013 target it is now down to 14 payments for the same hour of transaction;

- for trading across borders, from 7 export documents it will now be only 5 documents and 15 days of time to export down

to 7 days. Same goes with im-port transactions with 8 docu-ments to 6 and 14 days to im-port down to 7 days;

- in enforcing contracts, cur-rently it has 37 steps transact-ed in 842 days and now will be down to 30 steps in326 days;

- lastly, it takes 5.7 years in resolving insolvency but with the NCC’s target this 2013 it will only takes 2.7 years. [PNA]

Government, private sectors commit to improve PHL competitiveness

Q1 tourist arrivals reach 1.27M

EXPORTERS CONGRESS. Ferdinand Marañon, president of Phil-ippine Export Davao, right, promotes the upcoming Mindanao Exporters Congress slated on July 2013 which aims to solve the

sector’s unique problems in yesterday’s Kapehan sa Dabaw at the Annex of SM City Davao. With him is PhilExport consultant Richard Torres. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 7EDGEDAVAO SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT

DATA from pop-up satellite tags at-tached to adult yel-

lowfin tuna show move-ments of this commercial-ly-valuable species around Coral Triangle waters.

The movements of four mighty swimmers named Amihan, Badjao, Hagi-bis, and Buhawi, can now be followed via a species tracking map, that shows in color-coded coordinates, how far the fish have swam since being tagged off the western seaboard of Mind-oro Occidental in the Phil-ippines.

“The data we have gathered so far reveal that tuna movements cover an impressive amount of nau-tical miles a day, travelling back and forth in a general north-south direction from where they were caught and released,” says Dr. Jose Ingles, Tuna Strategy Lead-er of the WWF Coral Trian-

gle Programme. “While still preliminary,

the results signify that to properly manage this yel-lowfin tuna stock, we need to consider similar or com-plimentary conservation measures along the geo-graphic area of its move-ments.”

WWF, in collaboration with the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquat-ic Resources (BFAR), is conducting a tuna tagging project in Philippine wa-ters to gather more data on the movements of yellow-fin tuna.

“Through this activity, we hope to identify key spawning, feeding, and nursery grounds of this much sought-after species and make a case for gov-ernments to protect these sites,” adds Dr. Ingles.

The Coral Triangle, which encompasses the seas of Indonesia, Malay-

sia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste, is a known tuna nursery and migratory path, producing about 30 per cent of the to-tal global tuna catch.

The tuna industry is an economic driver in this part of the world, feeding millions of people and pro-viding jobs and livelihood to thousands of fishers and their families who directly depend on ocean resourc-es.

Increasing global de-mand for tuna, however, has driven the over ex-traction and illegal fishing of the species, causing an alarming decline in tuna stocks.

Yellowfin tuna are now classified as fully overex-ploited.

“By tagging tuna, we hope to gather critical in-formation that can help protect the species in spe-

cific sites during its most vulnerable life stages. Data collected will help inform management plans for a more sustainable tuna in-dustry in this part of the world,” adds Dr. Ingles.

A total of 16 pop-up satellite tags will be de-

ployed on large adult yel-lowfin tunas (weighing more than 70 kg) through-out the duration of this activity.

Pop-up satellite tags, which are attached at the back of the tunas, collect vital data such as tem-

perature, depth, and light intensity, and are pro-grammed to automatically detach from the fish after three to six months when it floats to the surface and sends out information via satellite transmission and into a server.

Through science-based research initiatives, WWF aims to transform the global tuna market to ensure that benefits trickle down to all players - including these Yellowfin

Tuna traders in Mindanao.  [WWF-Philippines/ Gregg Yan] 

Fast FaCts• The Coral Triangle—the nursery of the seas—is the world’s center of ma-

rine life, encompassing around 6 million sq km of ocean across six countries in Asia-Pacific – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solo-mon Islands, and Timor-Leste.

• It is home to 76% of the world’s known coral species, 37% of the world’s coral reef fish species, and commercially-valuable species such as tuna, whales, dolphins, rays, sharks, including 6 of the world’s 7 known species of marine turtles.

• The Coral Triangle directly sustains the lives of more than 120 million peo-ple and contains key spawning and nursery grounds for tuna. Its reef and coastal systems also underpin a growing tourism sector.

Tracking map reveals tuna movements in Coral Triangle

A Chinese fishing ves-sel that crashed into one of the Philip-

pines’ most famous reefs damaged almost 4,000 square metres of centu-ries-old coral.

Some 3,902 square metres (42,000 square feet) of coral was de-stroyed after the boat became stranded in the Tubbataha marine park -- a UNESCO World Heri-tage-listed coral reef -- the park management said.

“The damage the Chi-nese vessel caused to the reef is heart-breaking,” An-

gelique Songco, the head of the marine park said in a statement after experts assessed the affected area.

Some of the coral de-stroyed by the Chinese vessel was 500 years old, Songco said, adding that the damage was much larg-er than the area destroyed when a US Navy mine-sweeper, the USS Guardian, got stranded on Tubbataha in January.

The 48-metre (157-foot) vessel, carrying 12 suspected Chinese fish-ermen, plowed into the Tubbataha Reef near the

western island of Palawan on April 8.

Authorities later found hundreds of dead pan-golins, an international-ly-protected species, hid-den inside the vessel.

Tubbataha marine park information officer Glenda Simon told AFP the 12 Chinese would likely be fined about 95 million pe-sos ($2.32 million) just for trespassing into the ma-rine park and destroying the coral.

The government has already charged them with poaching and they could

face an additional 12 to 20 years in jail for possession of the pangolins in viola-tion of wildlife law.

Pangolins are widely hunted in parts of Asia for their meat, skin and scales and in China they are con-sidered a delicacy and to have medicinal qualities.

The Philippine office of the World Wide Fund for Nature condemned the poaching of the pangolins after the men were caught, saying that growing de-mand in China was wiping the animal out in South-east Asia. [AFP]

Chinese boat damaged Tubbataha marine park

THE whole country will continue to ex-perience mixture of

sunny and rainy weather due to localized thunder-storms, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astro-nomical Services Admin-istration (PAGASA) on Sunday.

Weather forecaster Jori Loiz said the scorch-

ing heat the public has ex-perienced in the past few weeks is expected to end later this month as the wet season begins.

He said that the coun-try is now in a transition period from the dry to rainy season.

Loiz said the easter-lies or warm winds from the east contribute to the easy formation of thun-

derstorm clouds or the cumulonimbus clouds. Since the easterlies are “warm,” the convective activity brought about by its intense heat triggers the formation of cumulo-nimbus clouds.

He added that its “rich in moisture” quality also contribute in the forma-tion of thunderstorm clouds.

Loiz said the whole country except Davao re-gion will have cloudy skies until Tuesday with light to moderate rainshow-ers. Rest of the country including Metro Manila will have sunny to partly cloudy skies with possible isolated rains in the after-noon and evening due to evaporation or localized thunderstorms. [PNA]

Scorching heat expected to end soonTHE need to shift

to sustainable and clean energy sourc-

es will be reinforced when the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per mil-lion (ppm) for the first time in human history in the next few days.

Scientists from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, are set to announce that levels of atmospheric CO2 are reaching 400ppm now, marking a critical point on the pathway to dangerous levels of global warming

The imperative to drive down these emissions has never been stronger, says Samantha Smith, WWF leader of the Global Cli-mate & Energy Initiative.

“The laws of physics tell us that the more CO2 we have in the atmosphere, the warmer the world will get. The last time the Earth’s atmosphere had as much CO2 as it has today, the world was 3-4 degrees Celsius warmer. And the

last time the world was that warm, sea levels were five to 40 meters higher than they are now,” she says.

According to scientists, there’s no doubt that hu-man beings are responsible for rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, with most of global climate pollution coming from the energy sector, especially burning fossil fuels. If CO2 levels continue to rise, we can expect to see record high temperatures become the new summer average; re-cord droughts become the norm; and record storms and floods become frequent events, says Smith.

“Globally, communities and governments already struggle to respond to droughts, crop failures and extreme weather events, even in rich countries such as the US. If CO2 levels keep rising, efforts to adapt to a changing climate are very unlikely to do the job.”

But this trajectory can change if the right choices are made.

WWF: Climate Change milestone demands shift to renewable energy

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013VANTAGE POINTS EDGEDAVAO8

THE PHILIPPINES is well on the way to achieving an economy that would generate a lot of dollars with

the current surge in tourist arrivals.Yes, the country’s aspiration to achieve

five million tourist arrivals this year is on track. The ambitious target is achievable and no longer an impossible dream, un-like some years back.

Such an ideal situation could be the re-sult of a pleasant convergence of several factors, especially including peace and or-der. On top of these, we need to offer the visitors destinations that are provided with facilities and services that are com-parable to the best in the world.

Singapore’s tourism industry became one of the top 5 dollar-earners of that country because both the private sector and government, especially government, are gung-ho in developing barren and seemingly useless areas into resorts that easily become bestsellers among tourists who are awash with cash.

Our Department of Tourism (DOT) has reported that the number of foreign tour-ist arrivals reached 1.3 million during the first quarter of 2013, showing a 10.76

percent increase over the same period last year. One can imagine how much tourism money was generated from this number of arrivals.

Local government units (LGUs) can ac-tually have a piece of the action if their leaders have the proper mindset and know what to do. One great source of LGU revenue is the imposition of “environ-ment users fee” which can be levied on tourists and just plain visitors entering their area of jurisdiction. An example is the imposition of P15 EUF on every per-son who enters the Island Garden City of Samal (IGaCoS). Tagum and a lot of oth-er cities in Mindanao have adopted this practice and set aside their collections for improving their tourist destinations and for projects designed to protect the environment. The caveat here as usual is against abuse. There should be ample safeguards against the use or abuse of EUF collections to line the pockets of pet-ty grafters.

Let us make EUF the starting point of the people’s consciousness on the impor-tance of tourism in the country’s effort to achieve economic development.

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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EDITORIAL

Dollars from tourism

AQUILES Z. ZONIOStaff Writer

EJ DOMINIC C. FERNANDEZ • CHERRY MAE D. PALICTEReporters

JOCELYN S. PANESDirector of Sales

AGUSTIN V. MIAGAN JRCirculation

(1st of two parts)

Let there be no more political

dynasties!Manny ValdehueSa

WORM’S EYEVIEW

Ours is supposed to be a Democracy. It means we should have equal rights and

equal access to opportunities; that we are adhere to the Rule of Law; that we strive to be law-abiding; that we honor the Constitution; and that we respect the popular will.

Ours is also supposed to be a Republic. It means that Filipinos are supreme; their sovereignty sacrosanct; their authority inviolate, the popular will respected.

Most of us profess to be Christian, a religion founded on love, built on sacrifice. Others of different faiths also value life and all that it implies in terms of justice, fairness, and equal opportunity. So we can take pride in being God-fearing and compassionate while striving to live by the truth, which makes us free.

It is good that through our sense of hospitality we are appreciated as caring, thoughtful, and charitable in our relationships. Good that as we journey through life we share the companionship and the blessings of other great religions, notably Islam, which professes to be a religion of peace.

Population-wise, we are a society of about 100 million citizens, a polity reputed for being talented and well educated. This makes our nation a logical model for a modern democracy—with governance and politics grounded on the Law, backed by a large human pool consisting of 20 million or so families from which to draw for leadership, vision, and sense of mission.

But it is a curious phenomenon that with such a large human pool, we allow ourselves to be governed and controlled by a narrow class of patriarchs, matriarchs, and scions of only 250 families or less in 73 out of 80 provinces. Political dynasties! Most of them are in power by violating norms of engagement in a democracy—notably the Constitutional provision prohibiting political dynasties (Art II, Sec 26).

We need to clear our democracy Needless to say, the existence of

these dynasties is inconsistent with our democratic ideals. It negates our hopes for a society of equal opportunity. It disenfranchises millions of God-given talent that are left to languish and waste away on the margins of the community. They are deprived of the opportunity to serve by dynasties that arrogate to themselves the choice places at the center. In their arrogance and presumptuousness, these dynasties monopolize the powers and perks of office. They don’t/won’t yield to others (whom they view as inferior and undeserving).

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013

NO MORE TIME TO TAKE A BREATHER – Political analysts, campaign strategists and keen ob-

servers recognized that the last remain-ing week is crucial for either the Liberal Party’s (LP) Team Pinoy and United Na-tionalist Alliance’s (UNA) Tatak Binay to gain ground. Candidates, senate pre-tenders in particular, talk hopefully of retreating to a more civilized pace once the campaign shifts to full throttle, but has there been a campaign that started out nasty and intense only to turn nice and mellow?

One thing is for sure: top leaders of the opposition group to which so much of their time has been focused on the senate race will again train their sights during the last few days on issues that they know are detrimental to the candidacy of the candidates of the dominant party – un-employment, crushing poverty and ove-rhyped economic growth. For them, the “shortcomings” of Team PNoy in the last ditch of the campaign period will revolve around these basic social problems.

While the opposite political quarter wanted to make it appear that alleged government neglect would ignite a disaf-fection and resentment in both the urban and rural poor population, the effect so far is very minimal. The dissatisfaction of the poor which they tried to magni-fy in their campaign sorties didn’t trig-ger an expected negative chain reaction contrary to what they believe could help boost the chances of their candidates in the senatorial race.

At a point in the political cycle when candidates would normally give little-no-ticed blitzkrieg policy speeches before nodding partisans, the campaigns of the contending parties instead are running

negative TV, radio and n e w s p a p e r ads in battle-ground ter-ritories. It’s not just rap-id response, its rapid r e s p o n s e 24/7 from both sides – scathing and b i t t e r - s i d e comments. Not only are the group’s top honchos, candidates, campaign man-agers and planners playing a vigorous game, but the cautious voters are like-wise watching intently from the sidelines as well. As both camps are pounding at each other, pollsters were following the senate race more closely now than in the previous weeks.

The campaign lurches into fast-for-ward in the remaining few days and the administration party for sure is mapping out a last-trench strategy, sorting out its internal mechanics and more important-ly press the advantage of being the ruling party. The power of the office and the me-dia coverage its holder is guaranteed for just doing its job generally fine give the dominant party candidates the luxury of staying above the fray. Close allies of the opposite camp, however, see the last week of the campaign as the window of opportunity in which to inflict damage on the dominant party senate bets be-fore the Filipino voters get to know much about the adverse characters of their can-didates.

Nobody will take a breather from a hectic campaign the next few critical days

and should always be on their toes to avoid being caught by last-day surprises with their pants down. The war rooms of the two campaigns are expectedly or-ganizing to quickly seize any opportu-nity for “attack” – unleashing even the mildest broadside. There is a necessary push-pull between the opposing camps that can happen between now and E-Day. We always have to bear in mind that pol-itics Philippine-style are full of stunning surprises. Both campaigns will give vot-ers an inside glimpse of the heat of the senate race while the prevailing basic so-cial problems have given the opposition groups with lot of concerns to use in their campaign.

Meanwhile the administration par-ty which is led by the LP also has good reason to be confident because being under the graces of the powers-that-be it is almost certain it will grab majority of the senate seats. Nonetheless, much will revolve around the decisions made in the polling booths by the voting pop-ulation on May 13 midterm elections. We hope the electorate have already learned a lesson or two from a bitter past and elect candidates who are not convention-al power-hungry, greedy and conniving politicians. Regardless of the winners, the midterm polls hopefully would be an eye opener that could elevate the voters’ level of political discourse while the vic-tors should acknowledge that socio-eco-nomic progress is achievable – that the impoverishment of millions of Filipinos is not interminable, irreversible fact but something that should be the priority of any government. The test will be if the campaign pledges and promises last be-yond the polling day, if not, it “implies a big dilemma.”

Editor’s Note: This commentary is written by a beneficiary cooperative of the Villar Foundation in Davao City and emailed to Edge Davao. We encourage commentaries from our readers on issues that matter. You may email your commen-taries at edgedavao_editorial@yahoo.com.

AS EDGE DAVAO reported, or rath-er commented, in this corner last week on the Davao region’s share

in Senator Chiz Escudero’s PDAF (Pri-ority Development Assistance Fund), there is a euphemism for the much ma-ligned “pork barrel”. Not that we ap-prove of pork barrel as a substitute for legislative work as the primary function of congressmen and senators. What we’re saying is that since no amount of editorializing can make the system, copied from the United States and abused, disappear overnight, we may as well opt for the next best thing –ad-vocate for equal allocation of the funds, especially in favor of depressed and pe-rennially underserved provinces.

A senator is allocated an annual P200 million, and the gentleman from Bicol ought to be appreciated for his gesture. Sorry, we cannot say the same of some senators who are running for reelection or pushing their relatives to become senators, too. Some of them

are more known for being confessed humanizers, drunkards, suspected plunderers and power trippers, who relish the rather bootlicking descrip-tion that each of them is an indepen-dent republic unto himself.

We thank the heavens that there are a few exceptions, the rara aves known for walking their talk. One such candi-date is Cynthia A. Villar, veteran law-maker, who’s running for senator under the coalition Team Pinoy.

Ms Cynthia is the other half of the couple behind Camella Homes, the housing giant whose projects in Davao and elsewhere have made it a big em-ployment generator, indeed one of the country’s undisputed economic drivers.

Unbeknownst to many Dabawenyos, Ms Villar’s presence has been long felt here even before Camella established its first housing project. Through the Villar Foundation, Ms Cynthia has been teaching women in rural areas and de-pressed Davao communities various forms of livelihood skills, chiefly a rep-lication of her award-winning water lily-weaving training, started in Las

Pinas a decade ago. The beneficiaries, mostly idle wives and jobless women, were also trained in coconet-weaving in centers which are provided with de-composter facilities.

In Davao City alone, Villar has been behind the continuous skills training in barangays Wilfredo Aquino, Marapan-gi, Matina Crossing, Mintal, Bangkas Heights, Baracatan,Tugbok, Crossing-Bayabas, Lubogan, Lizada, Binugao and Daliao.

For Region 12, Villar Foundation has projects in Midsayap, North Cota-bato, Koronadal City, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, Sarangani Province and Cota-bato City. In Caraga, she has established training centers in Butuan City, Dinagat Island and the Agusan Marsh. Earlier on, similar training centers were estab-lished in Cagayan de Oro City, Tudela, Misamis Occidental and Iligan City.

These projects along the time-hon-ored principle of not giving a hungry man fish but rather teaching him how to fish are impressive. Take note that these are not bankrolled with PDAP funds. With pork barrel, and judicious spending, the possibilities are limitless.

We think that putting Ms Villar and her kind in the hallowed halls of the Senate is a sound investment in the country’s great battle against poverty.

VANTAGE POINTSEDGEDAVAO 9

Wonder no more

May their tribe increase

COnTRIBuTedCOMMENTARY

REGARDLESS of the final re-sults of the congressional race in Davao City’s three

districts, the return of former mayor, incumbent Vice Mayor Rody Duterte, to city hall is only a matter of formality awaiting offi-cial confirmation and proclama-tion by the Commission on Elec-tions at the appropriate time. Rody and son Paolo are running as unopposed candidates for city mayor and vice mayor, respec-tively, in this year’s elections.

In the case of the elder Dute-rte, his running unopposed is a defining moment in his colorful political career and a testament to the lasting legacy he will even-tually leave behind when he fi-nally retires from public service.

He will be remembered best for his uncompromising stand against criminality, especially the heinous and organized type like trade in illegal drugs, kid-napping-for-ransom, guns-for-hire, rape with murder. He is also outspoken against certain aspects of the juvenile justice law that tend to encourage the proliferation of children in con-flict with the law.

Under his watch, Davao City has become the premiere me-tropolis of Mindanao, bar none, known for its concern for the rights of women and children (police precincts have Wom-en’s and Childen’s desks, which is self-explanatory); its An-ti-Smoking Ordinance supports the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign against the hazards of tobacco use; the city’s Central 9-11 office responds to calls for immediate assistance in times of emergency--like fires, flash-floods, other natural ca-lamities, etc.

The establishment and main-tenance of peace and order in Davao City has always been Rody Duterte’s magnificent ob-session, That is one of the things that proverbial investors, lo-cal and foreign, are concerned about, for obvious reasons. Pro-spective investors liked what they saw, stayed and have had no regrets eversince. And that is what Davao City is all about un-der Rody Duterte’s watch in the last two decades since he first assumed as city mayor.

Is it any wonder then why he is running for mayor unop-posed? Dabawenyos don’t won-der anymore.

Political fist-pounding

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 201310 EDGEDAVAO

FFROM 1 FFROM 2

FFROM 2

Karlo, Mylene ahead... Off-campus...

Marañon...

THE BIGGER PICTURE

THE New Peoples Army (NPA) has ad-mitted it has confis-

cated a total of 98 sacks of rice from political oper-ators of local candidates who have usurped revo-lutionary territories in the villages of Magpet, Makila-la and Arakan towns in North Cotabato.

In a statement sent to Edge Davao, Ka Isabela Fermiza Spokesperson of Mt. Apo Sub-region-al Command-NPA bared that NPA have stepped up its drive against coercive vote-buying and fascist Armed Forces of the Phil-ippines (AFP) operations to protect the people and defend revolutionary base areas.

The sacks of rice were seized in the following ba-rangays: 43 sacks of rice in Brgy. Balite; seven (7) sacks in Brgy. Amabel in Magpet town; six (6) sacks in Brgy. Kisante, six (6) sacks in Brgy. Biangan; six (6) sacks in Brgy. Batasan all in Makilala town; 10 sacks of rice in Brgy. Noa, Magpet town; 10 sacks in Brgy. Cabalantian; and 10 sacks in Brgy.Binuongan, all in Arakan town.

The NPA statement said they have “turned over the confiscated rice to the pertinent local or-gans of political power for proper accounting and disposal.”

Fermiza added that local counterparts hoard-ed rice and opened it only when it is time to pursue votes during elections.

She added that these acts add injury espe-

cially to the masses of North Cotabato who are still reeling from extreme hunger and poverty.

In the statement NPA pointed out that “despite having not made any dent at all in improving the lives of the poor, politicians and their minions have shame-lessly descended upon hugely exploited and op-pressed villages to coerce the masses so that they can continue to perpetu-ate in power.”

THE search for the Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines

2013 has been launched in Davao City.

The nationwide search also covers the city’s business community as announced by the compe-tition’s proponents yes-terday during the weekly Kapehan sa Dabaw in SM Annex Atrium.

Alvin Pinpin, Sycip Gorres Velayo Davao part-ner in-charge, who was

with Small Business En-trepreneur of 2012 win-ner Jonathan Say and 2010 finalists Rene Dalayon and Remegio Salanatin and 2011 finalist Ferdinand Marañon, said that this year’s program carries the theme ‘Breaking Barriers’ which he described as “the entrepreneurial spirit that compels men and wom-en to believe and pursue their dreams.”

He added that despite such barriers, real en-

trepreneurs embolden themselves to toughen their will, generate ideas and gather the resources needed to transform into opportunities.

The prestigious award was first introduced in the country in 2003. It was established in the United States way back in 1986 by the professional services firm Ernst & Young. The first-ever entrepreneur award in the Philippines was won by Tony Tan Cak-

tiong, CEO of Jolibee Foods Corporation.

“The organizers of the event said the search is open to all Filipino entre-preneurs, business own-ers or founders who are primarily responsible for the growth of his her com-pany” Pinpin added.

He also explained that the nominee must still be active in business which must have been in opera-tion for at least two years. CMP

BY ALL MEANS POSSIBLE. With all seats taken, this young basketball fan found a convenient seat with a better view behind the railings of the lower box section of the Davao del Sur Coliseum to watch Sunday night’s 2013 PBA All-Star Game. Lean Daval Jr.

second districtIn the second dis-

trict, 54.6 percent of the 480 people interviewed said they would vote for Garcia, while only 22.7 percent opted to favor businesswoman Joji Ilag-an-Bian.

Interestingly, 16.3 per-cent of those interviewed refused to answer, almost the same percentage as that of the first district. Also, 0.6 percent of re-spondents are undecided.

third districtIn the third district,

where Rep. Isidro T. Ung-ab is running for a third term unopposed, 82.9 percent of the 434 voters polled said they were vot-ing Ungab, only 8.3 per-cent refused to respond, while 0.7 percent are un-decided.

1st council raceIn the city council

derby, where each of the three district is allotted eight seats, old names

(comebacking former councilors) appeared to be favored by the voters.

In the first district, those polled favored Ma-bel Accosta, Leah Librado, Edgar IbuyanSr. , Leo Avi-la, Joanne Bonguyan-Qui-los, Bonifacio Militar, Melchor Quitain and Nilo Abellera Jr. in that order (from first to the eighth). No. 9 is Emmanuel Gali-cia Jr., while Jessie Mar Culaste is No. 10, Lyndon Banzon, No.11 and Jack-son Reyes, No. 12.

In District 2, the top 12 is composed of (1) Louie John Bonguyan, (2) Danny Dayanghirang, (3) Arnold Apostol, (4) Al Ryan Alejandre, (5) Malyn Cabling, (6) April Dayap, (7) Diosdado Mahipus, (8) Gerald Anthony Ban-goy, (9) Tomasing Mon-teverde, (10) Jimmy Dure-za, (11) Marissa Salvador Abella and (12) Angelo Aportadera.

3rd district

In third district, the top 12 is composed of Bernie Al-ag, Kaloy Bello, Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, Ra-chel Zozobrado, Joselle Villafuerte, Jopet Baluran, Rene Elias Lopez, Bong Advincula, Petite Princi-pe, Vic Advincula Sr., Allan Dolor and Gerry Braganza in that order.

senate raceIn the senate race, the

voters’ preference is as follows (from No. 1 to No. 16):

Chiz Escudero 54.2 percent, Loren Legarda 47.8, JV Ejercito-Estrada 46.1, Alan Peter Cayeta-no 43.9, Grace Poe 43.3, Edgardo Angara Jr. 41.9, Migz Zubiri 41.3, Bam Aquino 39.2, Koko Pi-mentel 38.2, Nancy Binay 37.8, Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. 36.8, Antonio Trillanes 33.5, Cynthia Villar 32.8, Gringo Honasan 31.1, Ra-mon Magsaysay Jr. 30.4, and Risa Honteveros 30.0, in that order. (with AMA)

cilors; healthcare from local legislation, and educational reform from the national legis-lation.

According to Cab-arde, one can see that it is basic needs that the leaders have not yet provided for the citizens since those are what the people of Davao ask from their

leaders.What made the re-

spondents choose their candidates was not included in the sur-vey since these are too personal while this was just a quantitative sur-vey, according to Cab-arde.

“Just like soup, even if you just use a teaspoon to taste it,

you can get an idea of what the entire soup tastes like,” said So-cial Research direc-tor Mildred Megar-bio-Estanda to explain how reliable their sur-vey is.

A total of P1.8 mil-lion was used for the in-campus and off-cam-pus survey, all of which was AdDU’s budget. EJF

countries: Australia; Can-ada; Rome; United King-dom; Middle East; Japan; and Korea.

“We have big clients, it‘s hard if they will look for another supplier, it will become a big loss on us,” he added.

Maranon cited that countries like Vietnam and Thailand are begin-ning to produce micro-

waveable banana exports although he remained confident Davao-grown bananas are of superior quality compared to the same variety produced in those two countries.

“It may be a threat but these countries dont have ‘golden saba’ that has superior quality like in our country,” he ex-plained.

To address the short-age, Phil-Export Davao will be enforcing a indus-trial reforms like provid-ing crates to farmers to ensure good quality.

“From time to time we will have a quality check on the farm and encourage farmers to plant more bananas,” he said.

NPAs seize rice from politiciansBy Che Palicte

Search for outstanding entrepreneur launched

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013

SYRIAN rebels have used the deadly nerve agent sarin in

their fight against Pres-ident Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to tes-timony from victims, UN human rights investigator

Carla del Ponte said.“According to the tes-

timonies we have gath-ered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas,” del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor, said in

an interview with Swiss radio late on Sunday.

She said there was “still not irrefutable proof, (but) very strong suspicions, concrete sus-picions that sarin gas has been used. Assistance to

victims shows this.”Her comments follow

Israeli air strikes on mili-tary sites near Damascus on Sunday and come amid suspicions that Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons in the 26-month

conflict.Del Ponte said the UN

commission of inquiry on Syria, which she is a member of, was far from finishing its probe.

“We still have to deep-en our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but ac-cording to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas,” she said.

Del Ponte also said the commission might still find proof that the Syrian regime was also using this type of chemical weapon.

US President Barack Obama has said that the use of chemical weapons in the Syria conflict was a “red line” for his ad-ministration but has said he does not foresee US troops on the ground in Syria.

Set up two years ago at the behest of the UN Human Rights Council, the commission has so far been unable to gain access to Syria as Damas-cus has ignored repeated requests for entry.

Instead, it has inter-

viewed over 1,500 ref-ugees and exiles as a basis for its reports and its charges that both the government forces and their allies and opposi-tion forces of carrying out war crimes in Syria, where more than 70,000 people have been killed since the violence explod-ed in March 2011.

Sarin is a powerful neurotoxin developed by Nazi scientists in the 1930s.

Originally developed as a pesticide, sarin was used to deadly effect in the 1988 raid on the Kurd-ish village of Halabja in northern Iraq. A Japanese cult also used sarin in two attacks in the 1990s.

The gas works by be-ing inhaled or absorbed through the skin and kills by crippling the nervous system.

Symptoms include nausea and violent head-aches, blurred or tunnel vision, drooling, muscular convulsions, respiratory arrest, loss of conscious-ness and then death, ac-cording to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. [AFP]

11EDGEDAVAO NATION/WORLD

THE Philippine gov-ernment is aiming to speed up con-

victions in the country’s worst political massacre to ensure justice amid fears the trial could drag on for years, the country’s top justice official said.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the govern-ment wants judgments against the Ampatuan Muslim clan, accused of being behind the murder of 58 people in 2009.

“The marching or-ders of the president is that during his term up to 2016, there’s got to be convictions,” de Lima told AFP in an interview.

She concedes it may be impossible to convict all the suspects but hopes they can at least get the “principal accused”.

More funds were be-ing allocated to protect witnesses as the case moves through a special trial court.

The prosecution has so far completed present-ing evidence and the tes-timonies of 130 witnesses to pin down clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Snr and other family members for the massacre.

She said the govern-ment viewed the Ampatu-an massacre “as the single most important case” that needed to be resolved to show the public it was se-rious in ending a culture of impunity afflicting the country.

“It is a litmus test for the government. If we fail to get convictions (by 2016), the public will be very disappointed be-cause that will mean that wheels of justice in this country really grind so slowly.”

“There will be a gen-

eral feeling of helpless-ness,” she warned.

The Ampatuans al-legedly ordered the massacre to stop a polit-ical rival, Esmael Man-gudadatu, from running against one of its mem-bers for governor of Ma-guindanao, a poor farm-ing province in southern Mindanao island.

Andal Ampatuan Jnr, allegedly led his clan’s private army in waylay-ing a convoy carrying his rival’s wife, relatives, lawyers and 32 journal-ists, and then gunning them down on a grassy hill.

Witnesses said Am-patuan Jnr personally took part in the killings after the clan patriarch gave his consent during a family meeting days ear-lier.

The Ampatuans had ruled Maguindanao for about a decade under the patronage of then-presi-dent Gloria Arroyo, who had used the clan’s mi-litia as a buffer against Muslim separatist rebels.

The province and oth-er parts of Mindanao are the bastions of the Phil-ippines’ Muslim minority and some Muslim groups have waged a separatist rebellion for decades.

Other clans like the Mangudadatus and Am-patuans have entered politics, jostling for re-gional power.

Deadly rivalries among these clans are common in the south, although the 2009 mas-sacre was the worst of its kind.

When President Aqui-no assumed office in 2010, he vowed justice. But of the 196 accused, 93 still remain at large

and pose a threat to wit-nesses.

The Ampatuan patri-arch, two sons and sev-eral family members are among those in deten-tion while being tried in the emotionally-charged case, de Lima said.

But even in jail, the Ampatuans remained influential, with their wealth enabling them to retain a battery of high-

ly-paid lawyers who try to block each and every move by the prosecution, she added.

Some 72 clan mem-bers not accused in the case are also running as candidates in this month’s local elections, including so-called “good Ampatuans” under the political party of Aquino.

While it contests only local positions, the clan

could use its remaining political clout to consoli-date power and continue intimidating opponents, rights groups say.

“Because of their re-sources and money, they still have minions in Ma-guindanao, and we can-not totally rule them out (as a political force),” de Lima stressed.

“We cannot complete-ly say that Maguindanao

no longer has a culture of fear.”

She said at least 12 witnesses in the case are guarded round the clock in secret safe-houses.

At least three wit-nesses have been killed since 2010, including a former Ampatuan fami-ly employee whose dis-membered remains were found stuffed into a sack in 2012. [AFP]

People march in Manila on on November 23, 2012 to commemorate the third anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre. The Ampatuans allegedly ordered the massacre to stop a political rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, from running against one of its members for governor of Maguindanao. [AFP]

Gov’t aims for massacre convictions by 2016

Syrian rebels from the Al-Ezz bin Abdul Salam Brigade take part in a training session near Jabal Turkmen in Syria’s northern Latakia province on April 24, 2013. [AFP]

UN rights investigator: Syrian rebels used sarin

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VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 201314 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS

LAS VEGAS – Floyd Mayweather showed yet again why he is,

conclusively, the greatest fighter of his generation.

He brilliantly outboxed Robert Guerrero on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden, cruising to a wide unanimous decision in their WBC welterweight title fight that probably would have been a stoppage had he not injured his right hand in the middle of the fight.

Mayweather is far beyond being judged against his peers, but the lack of depth and quality among them keeps him from seriously being regarded as one of the 10 best fighters ever.

Sugar Ray Robinson is, without question, the greatest fighter who ever lived. He was 128-1-2 before he suffered his second defeat, and he beat enough Hall of Famers to fill a football team.

The thing that Robinson, and more recent superstars such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, had over Mayweather was elite opposition.

“Let me tell you this right here about the boxing game,” Mayweather’s father, Floyd Sr., said. “There were much better fighters when Sugar Ray Robinson was coming along. There were much better fighters when Joe

Louis was coming along. But that’s not my son’s fault. My son beat who’s here today, and if they can’t protect themselves, oh well.”

Mayweather fought most, though not all, of the best of his era. He missed Kostya Tszyu when he was at 140 pounds and to this point, he hasn’t fought Manny Pacquiao.

But he’s reeled off 44 in a row and, in truth, none of them were close. He routed Guerrero on Saturday, connecting on an incredible 60 percent of his power punches while holding Guerrero to just 19 percent overall.

Guerrero had some success in the first two rounds in trying to pin Mayweather along the ropes, where he could maul him. All three judges gave Guerrero the first round for that. But that was it.

Love him or hate him – there is usually no in-between – Mayweather always figures it out. He’s a boxing savant and has been since the first time he pulled on gloves as a child in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Mayweather, who was extraordinarily classy and respectful at the post-fight news conference, took the high road when he was asked where he’d rank himself.

Prior to the fight, he declared himself the best who ever lived. He backed off that on Saturday.

THE NBA made it offi-cial Sunday, announc-ing Miami Heat su-

perstar LeBron James was a near-unanimous choice as Most Valuable Player, earn-ing the award for a second straight year and fourth time overall.

James’s victory in the voting had been widely reported since Friday, al-though when asked about it the player himself had urged reporters not to “jinx” him by jumping the gun.

He needn’t have wor-ried.

James garnered 120 first-place votes from a pos-sible 121 which included a 120-member media panel and a fan poll conducted on NBA.com that counted for one vote.

James received a total of 1,207 points in the ballot-ing, with Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant a distant sec-ond with 765 points and the New York Knicks’ Car-melo Anthony third with 475 points and one first-place vote.

No player has ever been a unanimous winner. James matched Shaquille O’Neal -- as a Los Angeles Laker in 2001 -- in receiving all but

one first-place vote.“He deserves it,” team-

mate Ray Allen said. “What he’s done for this team, we’ve come to expect so many things. He set the bar so high, but what he does is miraculous.”

James joins legends Mi-chael Jordan, Wilt Cham-berlain, Kareem Abdul-Jab-bar and Bill Russell as MVP award winners at least four times in their careers.

James’s four MVP tro-phies have come in the span of five seasons, a feat only previously accom-plished by Russell, who won in 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1965.

James also won in 2009, 2010 and 2012, with Chicago Bulls guard Der-rick Rose interrupted his streak in 2011.

“King James” averaged 26.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocked shots a game in 76 appearances this sea-son, his 10th in the NBA.

He shot career bests of 56.5 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from 3-point range and finished second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting to Spanish big man Marc Gas-ol of the Memphis Grizzlies.

EASY TARGET. Floyd Mayweather Jr. lands a left jab against Robert Guerrero in the fifth round during a WBC welterweight title fight, Saturday (Sunday PHL time), May 4, 2013, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

MAYWEATHER GETS ANOTHER EASY WIN

Wake us up when he fights someone elite

Almost unanimous

INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013

EDGEDAVAOTRAVEL

Cooling down in styleEscaping from summer heat at Davao’s fabulous urban poolsSummer is still here with the temperature hitting as high as 33 degrees Centigrade in the afternoons. A quick trip to the mall may be an easy fix but a weekend staycation plus a dip into one of these fabulous pools has got to be a more fabulous and stylish way to beat the heat in Durianburg.

Quiet and composed The Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao’s Pool Aquar-ius is the grand dame of the lot but it is the deepest pool and the only one to be located in a lush garden environment. The pool has a poolside bar serving refreshments and food as well as gazebos for relax-ing while enjoying a view of Davao Gulf and Samal Island. Sign up for Club Ilus-tadro membership and you can have access to the pool even without checking in.

Urban chic The pool at Seda Abree-za may be small but the layout of the area and the accompanying gym area make for a nice and cozy place to relax and unwind. even when the hotel is located just a short walk from Ayala’s biggest mall in mindanao, the hotel and pool feels quiet and private

yet with a unique urban vibe.

Cozy in the city Located right at the heart of downtown Davao, the royal mandaya Ho-tel’s pool is located at the third level of the hotel. Sur-rounded by lush landscap-ing and the hotel’s Pasag Grill, the lounging pool is a virtual portal that trans-ports guests to the island beaches without leaving the city.

An invigorating dip reflecting the colours

and the slogan of the ho-tel of “Adding colours to life.”. The Park Inn’s gem of a pool, located at the second level, evokes vi-sions of the mediterranean with lounges that dip into the pool and their colour-ful and vibrantly coloured pool bar which serves fabulous wines, drinks and cocktails. I could imagine holding summer parties here soon.It also helps that stayca-tions here also allow you to shop at one of mindanao’s largest malls, Sm Lanang Premier, that is accessible from the hotel via a foot-bridge.

Cool at heart The Apo View Hotel may the the second-oldest operating hotel in the Phil-ippines but its vibe is young and vibrant, and a refresh-ing dip in it’s pool on the second level is a relaxing break from the summer heat.

A sun worshiper’s para-dise Oriented towards the setting sun, the marco Po-lo’s Deck is every sun wor-shiper’s dream. The 25-me-ter lap pool is the centre of the area and is THe place to when the sun goes down. I love the fact that

the marco Polo adds some salt to the pool that makes it feel like you are actually swimming in the sea yet just enough as not to sting your eyes. The Deck also has a res-taurant, a gym, a poolside bar and grill plus the two-storey Lazuli spa for some after-sun pampering.

So there you go, some of the most stylish places to cool down and unwind in Durianburg, be it for a staycation or just for a quick dip. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @kenneth-kingong for more foodie finds, travel tips, and hap-penings in, around and be-yond Durianburg.

The Marco Polo’s salt-water pool at The Deck is every sun-worshiper’s dream.

Waterfront Insular Hotel’s Pool Aquarius gives you a garden view with coconut trees swaying in the breeze.

Seda Abreeza’s urban yet cozy pool area.

The Royal Mandaya Hotel’s lounging pool.Poolside at the Apo View Hotel.Park Inn Davao’s modern and colorful pool and bar.

Applicants join SM City GenSan Labor Day Job Fair

A2 INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

GiVE Mom the break she deserves. Check in at Seda Abree-za’s brand new rooms and dine at Misto for the ultimate R & R. Avail of Seda Abreeza’s special Mother’s Day Promo for only Php 4,500.00 nett and enjoy overnight accommodations in a Deluxe room inclusive of Buffet Breakfast and complimen-tary Lunch or Dinner Buf-fet for two persons with one round of Misto drinks free, unlimited WiFi, compli-mentary use of the pool and the gym and a special sur-prise token for Mom. Mom’s Seda Bliss room promo is valid from May 11 to 12, 2013. You may also walk – in and have lunch or din-ner buffet at Misto restaurant located at the lobby level and experience a one-of-a-kind gastronomical feast in a themed Asian Food Street Market setting for only Php 750.00 nett per person with 1 round of Misto special drinks. Bring Mom with four (4) other diners and Mom gets to eat for free! For inquiries and reservations please call 322-8888 or 244-3000. Seda Hotel is conveniently located at J.P. Laurel Avenue, Davao City and is right beside Abreeza Ayala Mall. Visit Seda’s website at www.sedahotels.com or email at reservations.dvo@sedahotels.com

More than 2000 applicants gathered in SM City General San-tos on May 1, 2013 to join the SM Supermalls Nationwide Job Fair in celebration of the Labor Day. DOLE 12’s Regional Director Ofelia B. Domingo graced the opening of the Job Fair at the Mall Trade Hall. Department of Labor in Region 12 thanked the SM management for being a partner of the endeavor in giving a chance of employment to the community. Alexie G. De Los Santos, the mall human resources man-ager, said in his welcome remarks that the Job Fair is only one of the many ways in which SM Supermalls can do its share for the community which is participated by both public and private sec-tors to build a nation by p r o v i d i n g employment to the peo-ple. De Los Santos also said the job fair aims to salute the new graduates and the Pinoy Working Force, and assist as many qualified individuals as possible in finding employ-ment. Employers were brought together to lessen the incon-veniences of job seekers and provide opportunities for gain-ful employment to Filipino workers. Over 100 companies including SM affiliates and mall ten-ants joined the job fair in SM City General Santos and 544 applicants were hired on the spot. This Job Fair is envisioned to attract the labor force to find their right career that will fit their capabilities and skills.

Mom’s Seda bliss

A summer toonfest at SM SupermallsTHe Sm Supermalls gathers together forty well-loved cartoon characters as it cel-ebrates summer with an Sm Toonfest at 44 malls nationwide. Ongoing until may 31, the Toonfest fea-tures exciting activi-ties, cartoon-related toys and interesting finds for the whole family and the car-toon-lover to enjoy. Kids and kids at heart will also be delighted to meet and Greet some of their favorite characters in Sm Toonfest. These are car-toon friends generations of children have grown up with: from classic charac-ters like Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, and DC Comic Heroes to modern hits like Angry Birds and Despi-cable me minions. There are also characters from well-loved television series like Sesame Street’s elmo, Cookie monster, Bert, and ernie; Spongebob and Pat-rick, Dora and Boots, the Teenage mutant Ninja Tur-tles, Ben10, and Garfield. Girls will love meeting monster High, Barbie Bal-lerina, Polly Pocket, and Hello Kitty; while boys will have fun with friends from Alex the Lion, Lorax, Hop, and robby rabbit. The Sm Toonfest was re-

cently launched at Sm City Fairview, with 25 of the 40 participating cartoon char-acters in attendance. Thou-sands of shoppers joined in the fun, including kids from the Autism Society of the Philippines Lagro

Chapter and Kids Act Phil-ippines performers. Catch your favorite car-toon characters at the Sm mall near you. Like Sm City Davao, Sm Lanang Premier and Sm City Gen-eral Santos of Facebook for

event and promo updates. The Sm’s Toonfest is supported by Bates/Nick-elodeon, richprime, Pacific Licensing, Honeybarn, So-lar entertainment, Click Licensing and Astroplus/magnavision.  

Kids from Autism Society of the Philippines Lagro Chapter with its President Ms. Marietta Tan.

Dora loves to explore the world and now she’s ready discover fun at the SM Supermalls.

Garfield has been endearing fans since 1978 and now ready to visit 44 SM Malls around the country.

THE SM SToRE HoLDS LADIES ACC E S S o R I E S JEWELRy SALE. Get up to 50% off on selected items this en-tire month of May and re-ceive a free gift with a mini-mum purchase of P500.

Tom and Jerry take a break from cat and mouse games to share exciting SM summer activities with Kids.

Adorable Hello Kitty character makes a comeback this summer to entertain SM Supermalls shoppers.

DC Comics characters Batman, Green Arrow and Aquaman step out of the comic books into the SM Malls.

The high flying Angry Birds make a stop at the SM City Fairview Attrium to show the crowd their amazing stunts.

Graceful Barbie in The Pink Shoes.Sesame Street characters Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie brought joy to kids and kids at heart.

FASHiON faux pas or just being resourceful? Keira Knightley’s wedding to musician James Righ-ton seemed very simple—10-minute ceremony, only close friends and family—and it looks like the actress may have also dodged the usual treacherous hunt for the perfect dress. The UK’s Look magazine first noted that Knightley’s wedding gown is extremely similar (if not the exact same dress) to one she wore a few years back. The magazine’s Senior Fashion and Beauty Edi-tor, Erica Davies says, “Keira’s wedding dress looks like the Rodarte that she wore to a pre-BAFTA party in 2008. She made it look quite different for her wedding, with a white Chanel tweed jacket, bare legs and ballet

pumps, but it certainly looks like the same dress.” The actress’ rep was not immediately available for comment. We had previously heard that Knightley was going to walk down the aisle in a cus-tom Karl Lagerfeld gown, the creative director of Chanel being the likely

choice since the star has been the face of Coco Ma-demoiselle and she recent-ly played Coco Chanel in Lagerfeld’s short film Once Upon a Time, and ultimately, she did, walking down the aisle wearing a Chanel strap-less, tulle dress and jacket (that was maybe inspired by her Rodarte outfit?).

THiS brings a new meaning to fashion statement. Reese Witherspoon land-ed at LAX with her husband Jim Toth and 8-month-old son Tennessee Saturday wearing a “City of Atlanta Police” baseball cap, just two weeks after her arrest in Atlanta. Following her revealing Good Morning America in-terview, it looks like With-erspoon is continuing to make the best of the cou-ple’s embarrassing bust, even after new dashboard footage of the 37-year-old Mud star arguing with At-lanta police was released just days ago.

This has been quite the eventful couple of weeks for the duo to say the least. After their April 19 ar-rest, the actress’ husband pleaded guilty to DUi in a plea bargain. He was placed on 12 months’ probation, sentenced to perform 40 hours of community service and attend an alcohol edu-cation program, a Mothers Against Drunk Driving class and pay a fine, as a result. Meanwhile, Witherspoon pleaded no contest to a charge of obstruction of a person after disobeying a police officer’s command to stay in her car, and paid a fine of $313.

ARTiSTS continue to show their support for victims of the Boston marathon bomb-ing, this time in the form of a concert. New Kids on the Block, Aerosmith, James Taylor, Dane Cook and more are set to perform for Boston Strong: An Evening of Sup-port and Celebration on May 30 at TD Garden, a show to honor those affected by the April 15 tragedy. Also along for the ride are the J. Geils Band, Gods-mack, Extreme, Steven Wright, Jason Aldean, Jimmy Buffett, and Carole King,

with ticket proceeds benefit-ting the One Fund Boston. Boston proud NKOTB member Donnie Wahl-berg revealed to MTV, “Like so many other proud Bos-tonians who have been ex-tremely generous, we are honored to step up and do

our part to help the victims and their families. Hopefully this event will not only raise money, but spirits as well.” Joey Mcintyre, a fellow NKOTB member, was run-ning the marathon and for-tunately was not hurt by the bombing. The singer tweet-ed after the tragedy: “There was an explosion by the finish line about 5 minutes after i finished—i’m ok but i’m sure there are many hurt.” The event will no doubt raise spirits and cash as even more artists are set to join the lineup as the event nears.

Reese Witherspoon sports Atlanta police baseball cap post-bust

Aerosmith, NKoTB set to perform in honor of Boston Marathon bomb victims

Did Keira Knightley wear a recycled wedding dress?

INdulge! A3VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 EDGEDAVAOENTERTAiNMENT

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Robert Downey, Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow

12:50 | 3:20 | 5:50 | 8:20 LFS

11:40 | 2:15 | 4:50 | 7:25 | 10:00 LFS

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IRON MAN 3

12:00 | 2:30 | 5:00 | 7:30 | 10:00 LFS

IRON MAN 3

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IRON MAN 3

Robert Downey, Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow

Robert Downey, Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow

Robert Downey, Jr. , Gwyneth Paltrow

A4 INdulge! VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013EDGEDAVAOEVENTS

LeSS than ten min-utes shy of the first placer, Columbia/DOTA team con-quered the 24-hour mt. Apo Boulder-face Challenge with a record time of 12 hours 32 minutes 21 seconds on April 29 in Sta. Cruz bagging the 100-thousand Peso cash prize. Composed of Dexter Nonato, April John mani-yog and Weng rocha (logistics), the team led the pack of contenders in the first part of the race--mountain biking which is their forte. When asked what broke their momen-tum, Nonato said their tires deflated along the route to Kapatagan. This was the opportunity Team People’s Park runners, ronald Dagaang and ma-rio ecalner took to over-take the Columbia/DOTA duo. This race, considered as one of the most extreme in Asia, employed 4 dis-ciplines, namely, biking, mountain trekking, water tubing and road running. Among which, the water tubing was where Colum-bia/DOTA team deceler-ated further as this was an unfamiliar territory while it was the expertise of first placers Dagaang and ecal-ner who brought home 150 thousand in cash for championing the event. Columbia Sportswear Company representative, mae Sanchez saw potential in Nonato and maniyog when they championed in Columbia Trailmasters last November 2012. San-chez said, “It is but right that Columbia supports them because we believe from the start that they are

a strong tandem and they have the determination to win.” merwin “Weng” ro-cha, team logistics and part-owner/manager at Davao Outdoor Tours & Adventures (DOTA) has fully supported Nonato and maniyog’s two-month training to build their agil-ity and stamina. With the team’s victory, rocha has this to say---“I have never doubted that they’ll fin-ish at the top three.” True indeed, the Columbia/DOTA duo lived up to ro-cha’s expectations. Placing third are equally strong athletes of Franklin & Baker Company of the Philippines’ Dioscoro Ge-

nunsalao, Jr. and romeo mascardo Jr with a re-corded time of 12 hours 46 minutes and 51 seconds. The fact that the top 3 teams----People Park run-ners, Columbia/DOTA and Franklin Baker---- cut-down the normal climbing up and down the mountain by a third, is proof on how extreme the race is and as well as the racers. The 113 kilo-meter route up and down mt. Apo via the boulders normally travelled in 48 to 72 hours. This year, 24 out of 34 teams finished the entire course. “This percentage of finishers is definitely higher than last year’s,” said

race director, engr. Albert Gabriel. “This is mainly attributed to the modifica-tion of the route, specifi-cally to stretch the moun-tain biking distance,” adds engr. Gabriel. The 3rd International mt. Apo Boulderface Challenge is an initiative of the LGu of Sta. Cruz, supported by the Depart-ment of Tourism region (DOT) XI. Special thanks to DOT reg XI and French Godlex Andico for the photos. Highly-technol-ogized apparels, Columbia and mountain Hardwear are the official outfitters of the race. Visit Columbia in Abreeza and mountain Hardwear in Sm Lanang.

Columbia-backed team finishes 2nd in Mt. Apo Int’l Boulderface Challenge

VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS

JV Casio of Alaska led his team to the title in the PBA All

Stars Shooting Stars contest which served as a prelude to the an-nual PBA classic at the Davao del Sur Colise-um in Digos City.

Team Casio, also composed of Paolo Anota of Radyo 5 Davao and Malalag Mayor Rouel Paras, completed their 5-spot routine in one minute and 5 seconds to beat the team of Arwind Santos of Petron who timed 1 minute and 36 seconds.

The Shooting Stars competition served as the appetizer to the 2013 All Stars show-down between the PBA

All Star selection and the Smart Gilas Pilipi-nas which ended in a 124-all deadlock late Sunday night.

Another team led by Beau Belga of Rain or Shine with actor Wendell Ramos and a team led by KG Canale-ta took part in the con-test.

PBA Commissioner Chito Salud thanked the tremendous sup-port of the Davao del Sur province in a mes-sage before the start of the Sunday’s All Stars. Davao del Sur Gover-nor Douglas Cagas also thanked the PBA for choosing the province as the host of the annu-al PBA showcase. (Neil Bravo)

a lot of things to work out on and we only had two days of scrimmage and we met only every Mon-day of each week.”

But Reyes said he ad-mired the team’s resolute-ness in games when they are falling behind. “You saw the Jones Cup and that’s the way we play. We never back down. These guys keep fighting back and that’s their character.”

The Gilas flew yester-day to Manila in time for their game against Shang-hai Sharks, a team owned by NBA legend Yao Ming.

Eight Gilas scored double figures for the Na-tionals who were led by Fonacier with 18 while David backed him up with 17. Ranidel De Oc-

ampo had 14, Thoss and Castro had 11, and Gabe Norwood, Marc Pingris and LA Tenorio scored 10 apiece.

The All Stars were led by Santos with 27. Cana-leta had 20 while Belga and Cabagnot scored 15 each.

GILAS PILIPINAS (124) – Fonacier 18, Da-vid 17, De Ocampo 14, Thoss 11, Castro 11, Nor-wood 10, Pingris 10, Ten-orio 10, Fajardo 9, Chan 9, Aguilar 5.

PBA ALL-STARS (124) – Santos 27, Cana-leta 20, Belga 15, Cabag-not 15, Abueva 9, Baguio 9, Ellis 9, Casio 9, Lassiter 6, Caguioa 3, Yap 2.

Quarterscores: 33-31, 66-65, 89-95, 124-124

FFROM 15Chan...

Team Casio wins shooting contest

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bigger, badder, and so far better.

Physical beat finesse Sunday, as the Indiana Pacers outworked and outmuscled the New York Knicks in a 102-95 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

David West scored 20 points and Paul George added 19 for the Pacers, who outrebounded the Knicks 44-30, showing the smaller team that in the rugged East, size does matter.

‘’I thought guys did a good job just putting them on their heels,’’ West said. ‘’We were at-tacking, we were aggres-sive.’’

D.J. Augustin had 16 points for the Pacers,

who built a 16-point lead while Carmelo Antho-ny was on the bench in foul trouble in the third quarter, and easily held on to spoil the Knicks’ first second-round game since 2000.

Anthony finished with 27 points and 11 re-bounds, but was frustrat-ed by the Pacers’ tough defense and by the refer-ees. He shot 10 of 28 from the field and was perhaps thrown out of sync having to defend West, a natural power forward, inside.

‘’Right now they’re just being really physical with him, they’re try-ing to bang him, they’re trying to frustrate him,’’ Knicks point guard Ray-mond Felton said. ‘’But we’re going to be fine, he’s going to be fine.’’

Pacers beat Knicks in Game 1

BEAT UP. A bullied Carmelo Anthony (middle) of the New York Knicks fired 27 in a long cause to Indiana who had a big game from Paul George (left) and Roy Hibbert (right)

SLAM. Arwind Santos of the PBA All Star Se-lection throws it down in the third quarter of the 2013 PBA All Stars in Digos City on Sunday night. Lean Daval Jr.

16 VOL. 6 ISSUE 37 • TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2013 EDGEDAVAOSports

JEFF Chan buried a three-point shot less than a second

left to save the day for the short-handed Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team which took its first public appearance like a ba-by’s first steps.

The Gilas, play-ing together for the first time since being

formed last Feb-ruary 22,

looked like the ‘B’ Team facing a veter-an-laden PBA All Stars who came out all out to win the 2013 edition of the annual PBA All Stars showdown forc-ing the Nationals to a 124-124 deadlock.

The All-Stars, with its two top stars James Yap and Mark Caguioa playing just six min-utes together, relied on a blistering pace and a bruising game inside to take control of the game for most part of the match before a packed crowd at the Davao del Sur Colise-um in Digos City.

With Arwind San-tos of

P e t r o n and KG Canale-ta of Air

21 con-n e c t i n g from the perimeter and burly Beau Bel-

ga muscling his way in-

side despite the presence of

a towering Gilas frontline of Junmar

Fajardo, Sonny Thoss and Japeth Aguilar, the All Stars selection punctured the porous Gilas’ defense to take leads of as much as 11, the last one at 103-92 midway in the final pe-riod.

But the Gilas, play-ing without pool mem-bers Jimmy Alapag (calf injury), Kelly Williams (illness), Ryan Reyes (hamstring), Jarred

Dillinger (out due to vehicular accident in-juries), Greg Slaughter (schooling), and Mar-cus Doubthit (coach’s decision), showed its resiliency despite fall-ing behind by a margin as marksmen Gary Da-vid, Larry Fonacier and Jason Castro fighting back for the Nationals to come to within just three 119-122.

After JV Casio and Jason Castro swapped free throws for a 124-121 All Stars lead, Cas-tro grabbed the leather from a jumpball at cen-ter and quickly sued for time, to set up the Nationals’ final play with 7.6 seconds left.

It took another timeout before the Na-tionals could execute Chot Reyes’ last play that saw Chan fake off Petron’s Alex Cabag-not, took a step dribble to left before uncork-ing a fadeaway jump-er from the top right corner of the arc. The ball swished in leaving a mere 0.6 ticks on the game clock.

A wayward inbound sealed the annual clas-sic at 124-all, the first ever in All Stars his-tory. Chan and Santos were named co-MVPs.

“A lot of players from the All Stars can make our team and they came out to play tonight,” Reyes told reporters at the dug-out after the match. “We were tested and it showed our weakness in defense. We still have

Chan saves the dayBy Neil Bravo

FCHAN, 15

THE EQUALIZER. Smart Gilas’ Jeff Chan (7) fires over the outstretched arms of Alex Cabagnot of the PBA All Stars in the dying seconds of the 2013 PBA All Star Game. Chan’s triple forced a 124-all deadlock. Below, Gilas forward Japeth Aguilar hangs on to the rim after a vicious dunk. Lean Daval Jr.