EDGE DAVAO was ad-judged as the “Best Edited Community

Newspaper” in the 18th Civic Journalism Commu-nity Press Awards held

yesterday night in Manila coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Press Insti-tute (PPI) graced by for-mer Pres. Fidel V. Ramos

as the keynote speaker.The awards, launched

in 1996 and conferred annually on outstanding community newspapers,

Prof. Randy Ponteras, spokesperson of Ak-bayan in Davao City told reporters in a press conference last Wednesday at Trade Union Con-gress of the Philippines Hotel, that EDCA does not give a positive picture on the quest for peace in the country.

“As Mindanaoan gwapo ang mensahe on the comprehensive agreement on the Bangsamoro na pahuman na ta sa giyera. Pero pag abot aning EDCA murag naay giyera nga mo abot? Murag mao toy mensahe,”Ponteras said.

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.abf@edgedavao.net

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

FEDCA, 10

FEDGE, 10

EDCA pACt nixED PHL being used for US interests in war?

A MIlITANT group in Davao City criticized the signing of Enhanced De-fense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippine govern-ment and United States of America.

tHE BESt. Edge Davao editor in chief Antonio M. Ajero receives the trophy for winning the “Best Edited Community Newspaper” award from Philippine Press Institute chairman and president Atty. Jesus Dureza and former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos during the 18th Civic Journalism Com-munity Awards last night held at Traders Hotel in Manila. Lean Daval Jr.

WinnER. Former president Fidel V. Ramos, who graced yesterday night the 50th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) and the Civic Journalism Community Press Awards as the keynote speaker, pos-es with Edge Davao marketing executives Richard C. Ebona and Angelica R. Garcia. Also in photo is PPI chair-man-president Atty. Jesus Dureza. Lean Daval Jr.

Edge Davao adjudged as ‘best edited newspaper’

greg@edgedavao.net

By GREGORIO G. DElIGERO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 20142 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

THE Davao City Council has yet to approve the proposed amendments

in some provisions of the CCTV (closed-circuit television) Or-dinance of the City with the unavailability of the main pro-ponent.

The councilors are sup-posed to discuss the “Reso-lution to enact an ordinance amending paragraph 5, Section

9, of Ordinance No. 0407-12 series of 2012 entitled, an or-dinance requiring all business establishments, whether com-mercial, industrial or financial institutions with a minimum capitalization of P3 million to install CCTV cameras.”

However, councilor Tomas J. Monteverde IV, the propo-nent was on domestic emer-gency leave.

Based on the draft reso-lution, the penalty prescribed by the existing ordinance for failure to save records of the surveillance, or voluntary sub-mission of the tapes (P5,000) is too light hence susceptible to non-observance by covered establishments. But, they in-clude on the penalty the revo-cation of business permits.

It says that the use of CCTV

cameras can act as a deterrent in potential commission of crime.

In the report of the com-mittee on rules, privileges, laws and ordinances, the amendato-ry ordinance is prompted right after series of consultations with the members of the lo-cal law enforcement, wherein station commanders on some

A CHAllENGE was posed to the more than 1, 000 recent graduates of the

University of Mindanao by no less than the UM President himself, Dr. Guillermo P. Torres Jr., to strive hard to earn the elusive P1 million incentive for topping national board exams.

In his address to the grad-uates during the traditional baccalaureate mass held on April 29, a day before the grad-uation itself, Dr. Torres posed the challenge not just for the hefty figure that a graduate of

UM can earn, but also for the distinction and satisfaction of topping a national examina-tion and being recognized as the best in your chosen field.

This year’s crop is all the more promising with the awarding of the Presidential Award for the Most Outstand-ing Graduate of the Year as well as the GE Torres Excel-lence Award to Prince Rainier Yamyamin, who is decorat-ed as this year’s Magna Cum laude with a degree in BS in

PARTIAl data available as of 2:30 p.m. Thurs-day showed that close

to 2,300 new workers were hired-on-the-spot (HOTS) during the 2014 labor Day job fairs simultaneously con-ducted all over the country by the Department of labor and Employment.

The DOlE said that 1,779 applicants were hired for local

employment and 485 others for overseas placement.

According to Dominique Tutay, head of the DOlE’s Bu-reau of local Employment, the total number represented 13 percent of the 17,295 qual-ified job applicants who went to the 69 venues nationwide.

Of the 2,264 HOTS, there are 756 males and 855 fe-

LABOR DAY

2,300 new workers hired-on-the-spot

UM commemorates graduation exercises

Amendments in CCtV ordinance still pendingBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

FAMEnDMEntS, 10

F2,300, 10FUM, 10

OUtDOOR DECORS. A pottery store worker arranges these cartoon character-in-spired outdoor decors crafted from clay in Matti, Digos City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014 EDGEDAVAO 3

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014

MANOBO residents of Talaingod, Davao del Norte

who have sought refuge in Davao City since April 4 owing to military oper-ations in their area will finally be going home fol-lowing an agreement for a troop pullout.

From May 1 to May 2, vehicles to be provided by the city government will bring them back to Talain-god.

The agreement came after a dialogue that lasted at least five hours between lumad leaders, local and military officials, and City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. The dialogue took place Tuesday night, April 29, in Grand Men Seng Hotel and livestreamed by groups supporting the evacuees.

The evacuees were represented by leaders of the Salugpungan Ta Tata-nu Ig Kanogon (Unity in Defense of Ancestral land) and PASAKA (Confedera-tion of lumad Organiza-tions in Southern Mindan-ao).

Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, Talain-god mayor Basilio libayao, 10th Infantry Division chief Major General Ariel Bernardo also attended.

The parties agreed that no armed military person-nel would be allowed to escort the evacuees from Davao City to their re-spective villages. They will

also receive rice, noodles, canned goods and kitch-en utensils from the social services offices of Talain-god and Davao del Norte province, aside from med-ical assessments in Talain-god prior to their return to their villages.

10th ID chief Major General Ariel Bernardo confirmed to MindaNews that troops will be pulled out of 10 sitios (sub-villag-es) identified by the Ma-nobo leaders namely, Sitio Bayabas, Sazo, Pong-pong, Nasilaban, Dulyan, Nalu-bas, Bagang, lasakan, Sam-bolongan and Bogni.

He, however, clarified the pullout will only be “temporary” due to the alleged heavy presence of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the area.

Hundreds of Manobos fled their homes for fear of getting caught in crossfire between the NPA and gov-ernment troops.

Datu Doloman Dawsay, leader of the Talaingod Ma-nobo said they left their vil-lage not only because of the military operations, which include “aerial bombings,” but also because the mili-tary tagged them as either NPA members or sympa-thizers.

Thirteen-year old “Kim-kim” (not his real name) alleged in an inter-view with MindaNews last April 11 that soldiers came to their house and con-

trolled their movements. “If I’d go out of the

house for the toilet, they’d follow me saying I might report to the NPA. They also told me that if I join the Army in order to have girls, it’s better that I did not get a job,” he said in Ce-buano.

Col. Harold Cabreros, commander of the 1003rd Infantry Brigade operating in Talaingod denied how-

ever the allegations of the residents during his pre-sentation at the dialogue.

Cabreros said they are conducting “Peace and Development Outreach Program” in Talaingod in response to the growing presence of the NPA.

He appealed to the NPA to “stop the exploita-tion of the indigenous peo-ples and to abandon armed struggle.”

Duterte in a separate meeting said he believes in some of the aspirations of the NPA like land reform.

“But what I can’t agree with is armed struggle. I don’t want a bloodbath with fellow Filipinos,” he said in Cebuano.

Datu Dawsay said he was happy with the results of the dialogue but added their struggle was far from over.

Tribal leader Teody Mansumoy-at, who teach-es literacy and numeracy in Barangay Palma Gil, Ta-laingod agreed with Datu Dawsay.

“We’re happy that we can now return, but we will continue protecting our ancestral domain, living culture and peaceful exis-tence in Talaingod,” he said in Cebuano. [Toto Lozano/MindaNews]

4internet photo

GENERAL SANTOS CITY Sultan Kudarat

EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

DiALOGUE. Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario discusses with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and 10th Infantry Division chief Maj. Gen. Ariel Bernar-do the points agreed on during a dialogue in Grand Men Seng Hotel, Davao City on April 29, 2014 with a group of Talaingod Manobos who have sought refuge in the city for almost a month now. [MindaNews photo by Toto Lozano]

‘Bakwits’ return to talaingod; Army says pullout temporary

THE daily rotational brownouts in parts of Region 12 stretched

to as high as eight hours on Thursday due to the wors-ening power supply short-age in the critical Mindanao grid.

Distribution utilities South Cotabato 1 Electric Cooperative (Socoteco 1), South Cotabato 2 Electric Cooperative (Socoteco 2) and the Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative sepa-rately announced extended rotational outages, which they blamed on the reduced power allocations from the National Power Corpora-tion and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

Santiago Tudio, So-coteco 1 general manag-er, said the NGCP has cut down their daily power allocation earlier this week to around 17 to 20 mega-watts (MW) as a result of the drastic reduction of the Mindanao grid’s system ca-pacity.

As of Thursday morn-

ing, the NGCP listed the island’s system capacity at 922 MW or 314 MW short of the area’s system peak or power demand of 1,236 MW.

Citing an advisory from the NPC and the NGCP, Tu-dio said such deficit was mainly caused by the con-tinuing shutdown of the Steag State Power Corpo-ration’s coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental and the emergency shut-down of the diesel plant of Therma Marine Inc.

He said the genera-tion capacities of the NPC’s Agus 2, Agus 4, Agus 6 and Pulangi 4 hydropow-er complexes further de-clined in the last several days due to the declining water levels at lake lanao and the river systems run-ning them.

Such situation was triggered by the lack of rains and the prevailing in-tense warm weather in the area because of the sum-mer season, he said.

Owing to this, Tudio said they were forced to implement at least three hours of daily rotational brownouts within their service area in the last three days.

He said electric coop-erative has already been operating its leased 12 MW modular generator sets but they were not enough to contain the area’s deficit.

Socoteco 1, which lists a daily peak power demand of 34 to 38 MW, serves eight municipalities in South Cotabato, Koro-nadal City and lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat.

In Socoteco 2’s service area, the rotational brown-outs have so far increased to three to four hours from the previous two hours and 30 minutes as a result of the worsening power shortage.

The electric cooper-ative serves this city, the entire Sarangani Province and the municipalities of Polomolok and Tupi in

South Cotabato. In Sultan Kudarat

province, Sukelco officials said they were forced to extend the area’s rotation-al brownouts from five to eight hours daily due to the power supply deficit.

Claudia Pondales, act-ing general manager of Sukelco, said in an inter-view over TV Patrol Soc-sksargen that they were continually looking for some measures to address the power shortage in the area but noted that they were primarily dependent on the capacity of the Min-danao grid.

She said local power consumers should under-stand that the Mindanao grid has been facing a huge deficit in terms of power supply.

“Rest assured that we’ve been doing every-thing we can to address this problem and our fo-cus right now is to bring in immediate solutions,” she said. [MindaNews]

8-hour brownouts hit parts of Region 12

AGENTS of the Philippine Drug E n f o r c e m e n t

Agency in the Autono-mous Region of Mus-lim Mindanao (PDEA-ARMM) have arrested a couple in a drug buy- bust operation in Sul-tan Kudarat province Wednesday, anti-narcot-ics agents said.

Felimon Ruiz, re-gional director of PDEA-ARMM, said the buy-bust operation was launched in Barangay Saliao, Esperanza, Sul-tan Kudarat and result-ed in the arrest of Ab-dulla Delna suspected to be the supplier of prohibited drugs in the town of Esperanza.

His wife, Joan Pagla-

la, was also arrested during the raid where the raiding team seized heat-sealed sachet of suspected metham-phetamine hydrochlo-ride, locally known as “shabu,” several unli-censed guns with am-munition and explo-sives.

The couple is facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 and Republic Act 10165, or the Illegal Possession of Firearms and Explo-sives.

The suspects are now detained at the PDEA-ARMM office in Cotabato City while ap-propriate charges are being readied against them. [PNA]

PDEA arrest couple for illegal drugs trade

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014

THE Regional De-velopment Council (RDC) of Region 12

has urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to ex-tend the operations of the Socsksargen Area Develop-ment Project Office (ADPO) for two more years or until 2016.

In a resolution, the council specifically asked Agriculture Secretary Pro-ceso Alcala to sustain the project office’s operations beyond the end of 2014, which was set as the end of the unit’s term of office based on DA’s approved ra-tionalization plan.

“This council finds the continuing operation of the Socsksargen ADPO import-ant in Region 12’s pursuit for inclusive growth and poverty reduction, particu-larly in the rural areas dom-inated by agriculture-based economic activities,” the resolution said.

Socsksargen ADPO, a special project unit of the DA, mainly coordinates, implements and monitors programs and projects in support of DA’s food secu-rity program as well as de-velopment plans and initia-tives that complement with the government’s peace efforts.

The DA unit’s project area covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan

Kudarat and Sarangani as well as the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Kidap-awan and Tacurong, which are all part of Region 12.

Arturo Valero, RDC-12 acting chair, said Socsksar-gen ADPO’s term initially expired on December 31, 2010 based on the provi-sions of Executive Order (EO) 507 issued on Febru-ary 15, 2006.

But it was extended by President Benigno S. Aqui-no III until December 31, 2016 by virtue of EO No. 16 issued on December 21, 2011.

The President issued the order “in view of the continuing need to fast-track the construction of vi-tal infrastructure (airports, seaports, fishports, irriga-tion facilities and road net-works) and to sustain re-gional efforts particularly in the implementation of food security and key develop-ment plans and programs in support for peace and development in Mindanao.”

Due to the approval of DA’s rationalization Plan, Valero said Sec. Alcala is-sued a memorandum re-ducing the term of office of the Socsksargen ADPO from 2016 to 2014.

The official said the Soc-sksargen board’s executive committee recently passed a resolution “opposing the

phasing out” of the project office by the end of the year and its mainstreaming un-der the DA Regional Field Office 12 starting next year.

He said the board strongly recommended the continued implementation

of EO 16, which extended the unit’s operations until 2016.

Valero said such res-olution was unanimously supported by key local chief executives and the private sector of areas covered by

the unit. Its signatories in-

clude Gov. Emmylou J. Talino-Mendoza of North Cotabato, Gov. Daisy Avance-Fuentes of South Cotabato, Gov. Suharto Mangudadatu of Sultan

Kudarat, Gov. Steve Chiong-bion Solon of Sarangani, Mayor Ronnel Rivera of this city and Raul Josefino Mi-guel of the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he added. [MindaNews]

5EDGEDAVAO

THE ECONOMY

JOB FAiR 2014. The Department of Labor and Employment XI marked this year’s Labor Day celebration with a Job Fair. Cutting the ribbon to mark the Job Fair opening at SM City Davao Annex Event Center are DOLE XI Regional Director Atty. Joffrey Suyao (6th from the left, back row), City Council Committee Chair on Labor and Employment Counc. January Duterte(7th)  and SM City Davao Mall Manager Lynette Lopez (8th). Also in the photo are (back row) SM Lanang Premier HR Manager Maria Cecille Miñoza, SM City Davao HR Manager Karleine Del Mundo, SM Supermalls HR Regional Manager Sandra Elecerio, OWWA Regional Director Zenobia Caro, SM City Davao Asst. Mall Manager Engr. Warren Rey Bautista and POEA Regional Director Carolina Agdamag. There are 53 SM malls supporting the Job Fair nationwide.

RDC 12 seeks extension of agri project operations

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014

TRADE and economic ties between Mindanao and Indonesia expect to get

further boost with the opening of the Davao-General Santos-Ta-huna-Bitung sea route this month that will operationalize shipping services between Min-danao and North Sulawesi.

An agreement to operation-alize the shipping service was sealed in Jakarta on April 11 by the representatives of the Indo-nesian shipping line PT Kanaka, the North Minahasa Chamber of Commerce of Indonesia, Phil-ippine-based cargo company ARREE Freight Express and the Davao City Chamber of Com-merce.

The sea route has expanded to include Tahuna, a fishing and trading center in Sangir Talaud group of islands in the province of North Sulawesi, situated in between Bitung and General Santos City.

In the agreement, PT Kana-ka will provide shipping services to the route with its convention-al cargo-type vessel with a 120 TEU capacity. ARREE Freight Express on the other hand will handle the cargo consolidation requirements for the shipping route.

“We have always looked into this route as one of the cheapest and fastest ways to transport goods from Mindan-ao to Indonesia, and vice ver-sa,” said Dr. Malou Monteverde, former president of Davao City Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry and one of the primary proponents of the sea route.

The shipping service is also seen to significantly increase trade and economic relations not just between the two coun-tries, but in the entire Brunei

Darussalam Indonesia Malay-sia the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Monteverde added that the vessel is initially expected to ply the route twice a month.

Among the products eyed by Mindanao traders to export to Indonesia through the new shipping service are canned bev-erage, fresh and dried tropical fruits, processed coconut, corn feeds, construction supplies, meat, poultry, and fish products.

Currently, sea links that connect Mindanao to Indone-sia have to pass through Manila and Jakarta before reaching the provinces of North Sulawesi.

Monteverde said that the new link will allow the direct ex-change of goods between Min-danao and Indonesia through a less costly and more proximate route.

Prior to the commence-ment of this route, consumer items for East Indonesia are usually sourced from Jakarta, al-most a thousand nautical miles from North Sulawesi. The direct sea route is estimated to span only 350-nautical miles. Tahuna was added to the route due to the area’s strategic location and its significant contribution to trading activities.

“We commend the continu-ous efforts of the private sector in making this route possible, which will significantly cut ship-ping costs and thereby allow our small and medium entrepre-neurs to engage in internation-al trading between these two points in the BIMP-EAGA,” said luwalhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Author-ity (MinDA) and Philippine sign-ing minister for BIMP-EAGA.

Antonino added that the

private sector-led sea route is identified as a priority route under the masterplan on ASE-AN connectivity, and is seen to strongly contribute to efforts to-wards ASEAN integration.

Currently, shipping com-panies that provide services to areas covered by BIMP-EAGA are given 50 percent discount on port and dockages fees as part of the incentives for serving within the sub-region.

As part of the Philippine ini-

tiatives for ASEAN integration, the development of the route is also supported by various na-tional line agencies including the Departments of Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Foreign Af-fairs, Transportation and Com-munication, the Philippine Ports Authority, Maritime Industry Authority, Bureau of Customs, including transport security of-fices.

In a feasibility study con-ducted by the Japan Internation-

al Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2012, the Gensan-Bitung route was selected as one of the pi-lot areas for a roll-on roll-off operation within BIMP-EAGA. The study also highlighted that the route can be dedicated to a freight service once shipping service requirements are in place.

Another study made by the Research Education and Insti-tutional Development (REID) Foundation in 2010 cited that

the North Sulawesi-Mindanao sea link offers strong potentials for international trade and com-merce between Indonesia and the Philippines since it offers a proximate channel for the ship-ment of goods.

“The opening of this sea route concretizes our long-run-ning efforts to establish a ship-ping link between Mindanao and North Sulawesi,” said Eko Hartono, Indonesian Consul General to Davao.

6 THE ECONOMY

nEW SHippinG ROUtE. Seen to increase trade between Indonesia and the Philippines, the Davao-General Santos-Tahuna-Bitung sea route  which will open next month will  formalize shipping services between Mindanao and North Sulawesi, two key island-provinces in the Brunei Darussalam Indonesia Malaysia the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Are (BIMP-EAGA). The opening of the shipping route is also seen to boost trade growth within the economic sub-region and encourage entrepreneurs to engage into international trade business.

Mindanao-north Sulawesi, indonesia sea route to open this month- -MinDA

THE Social Security Sys-tem (SSS) marked anoth-er banner year in 2013,

highlighted by the sustained growth both in net income and assets. Net income for 2013 was P38 billion, registering an increase of six percent from P36 billion in 2012, while to-tal assets likewise grew by six percent to P385 billion.

May Catherine Ciriaco, SSS Vice President for Man-agement Services and Plan-ning, credited the increase to improved financial operations as reflected by the 9.3 percent jump in contribution collec-tions that for the first time surpassed the century mark at P103 billion.

“Investment and other income stood at P34.4 billion, up by 1.5 percent from P33.9 billion in 2012 despite the low interest rate scenario and vol-atility in the financial market. SSS’ 8.7 percent return on in-vestment continues to outper-form market benchmarks such as the four percent 10-year T-bond rate and 0.7 percent 364-day Treasury bill rate,”

Ciriaco noted. SSS benefit releases to-

taled P91 billion, with over half of which or P49 billion paid for retirement claims, and about one-third or P30 billion disbursed to survivors of de-ceased members. Payments for maternity, which totaled P4 billion, and retirement posted the highest rates of increase among SSS benefit types last year at 12.6 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.

The contribution-bene-fit surplus --- or the positive difference between collected contributions and disbursed benefits --- grew by 16 per-cent to P12 billion. The 2013 surplus marked a five-year high, and was six times more than the P2 billion surplus in 2010.

Ciriaco said prudent management of operating and capital expenditures led to improved SSS operating effi-ciency despite higher trans-action levels, greater number of members served and in-creased SSS presence locally and overseas.

“SSS operating expens-es in 2013 reached only P7.6 billion, which was relatively flat compared to 2012. More significantly, spending for SSS operations in 2013 repre-sented only 57 percent of our allowed charter limit, even as we were able to reach out to more members and handle a heavier transaction load last year,” she added.

Transaction volume swelled by 6.4 percent to 33.7 million last year from 31.7 million in 2012, with contri-bution-related transactions, accounting for half of the 2013 total. The growth in SSS transactions is in step with the 4.3 percent growth in SSS coverage to 30.7 million individual members, while the number of registered employers totaled about 912,000 by end-2013.

To provide members greater convenience and easier access to SSS services and facilities, the agency last year opened a total of 21 local offices nationwide – name-ly three new branches at

Panabo (Davao), Guadalupe (Makati City) and Congres-sional (Quezon City), as well as 18 rent-free SSS Service Offices located in 17 malls and one inside the Muntinlu-pa City Hall.

“To reach out to overseas Filipino workers, SSS opened two foreign representative offices for Filipino commu-nities in Macau and Bahrain that have a high concentra-tion of migrant workers. We also deployed more roving SSS officers to bolster our coverage activities in the Mid-dle East, Europe and Asia and encourage OFWs to register or re-activate their SSS mem-bership,” Ciriaco explained.

Members also benefit-ed from the six-day work week implemented by all SSS branches from October to De-cember 2013, as well as the special Saturday schedule of all SSS offices in June 2013 to accommodate household employers and domestic workers complying with the Batas Kasambahay enacted last year.

SSS achieves another banner year in 2013

SENATE President Frank-lin M. Drilon vowed yes-terday that the Senate

would work double time in enacting pro-worker legisla-tion that will provide relief to the Philippine workforce and help improve their eco-nomic condition.

“As a gift to the millions of dedicated workers both from the public and private sectors, we commit to work on the immediate passage of various pending measures that will have a direct and significant impact to their lives,” said Drilon, a former labor secretary

Drilon said that among the pending measures which will receive “urgent legis-lative attention” is the bill (Senate Bill No. 256) which seeks to raise the tax exemp-tion limit on the 13th month pay and other work benefits of all workers in the public and private sector.

He added that the Senate is eyeing to pass the pro-la-bor bill within the year: “We will work double time in making sure that this piece of legislation will be enact-ed into law at the soonest in order to assist our workers in dealing with the effect of inflation, and to boost their morale and give them a re-newed inspiration to excel in their works.”

He thus urged the ap-propriate Senate committee to fast-track the hearing on Senate Bill No. 256, authored by Senate Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, so that it can immediately be discussed on the floor.

The Senate intends to raise the exclusion limit on an individual’s 13th month pay and other work benefits from income taxation from the current imposed limit of P30,000 to P75,000, accord-ing to Drilon.

Passage of pro-labor laws needed- -Drilon

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014 7EDGEDAVAO

ENVIRONMENT

ARCHEOLOGiCAL SitE. Archeologists from the University of the Philippines sift through the Spanish brick making kiln archeological site in Alubijid town, Misamis Oriental on May 1, 2014. The kiln locally known as “hurnal” was built in 1890 and supplied bricks to churches in Misamis Oriental and as far away as Bohol. [MindaNews photo by Froilan Gallardo]

THE Department of Sci-ence and Technology (DOST) announced

Thursday that a mild El Niño is likely to occur this June.

Mario Montejo, DOST Sec-retary, said that the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Ad-ministration (PAGASA) is now closely monitoring theoceanic and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean that could lead to a possible devel-opment of an El Niño this year.

“We foresee the onset of El Niño in June to peak during the last quarter of 2014,” he said.

PAGASA has recorded a significant increase in the sea surface temperature anomaly from 0.2 degrees Centigrade to 0.4 degrees Centigrade, an un-usually warm ocean tempera-ture in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

“El Niño is a natural cli-mate variability,” climatologist Annaliza Solis said.

The looming El Niño may persist for the next nine months or the first quarter of 2015, Montejo said.

“Of course, the El Niño would affect the normal rain-

fall pattern resulting in re-duced rainfall amount,” he added.

Dry spell in different parts of the country may be felt, he noted.

Despite an El Niño occur-rence, Montejo said the coun-try would still experience the normal number of typhoons, but would cause their behav-ior to become erratic affecting their tracks and intensity.

Richard Orendain, PA-GASA’s hydrologist, said the water elevation of Bulacan’s Angat Dam that supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila’s po-table drinking water, would go down at its critical level in August due to the impact of the dry spell to be brought about by the El Niño.

“Of all the major dams, only Angat Dam has continued to remain low,” he added.

Orendain said Angat Dam’s elevation could even dip to as low as 176.75 meters and 154.30 meters based on the bureau’s scenario 1 and sce-nario 2 forecasts, respectively.”

Angat Dam’s level dropped to 157.56 meters during an El Niño in July 2010. [PNA]

Mild El niño to occur this June - DOSt

THE Department of En-vironment and Natural Resources’ Environ-

mental Management Bureau (EMB) in Region 12 will launch a massive campaign to raise funds for the rehabilitation of the critical Bulok Creek in Koronadal City.

Ma. Socorro lanto, EMB Region 12 director, said Thurs-day they are currently organiz-ing a fun run to jumpstart the series of planned fund drives, which will be assisted by the city government of Koronadal and other local stakeholders.

She said the fun run will

mainly promote the revival of Bulok Creek, which traverses the main commercial district of Koronadal City.

“Our main goal is to re-vive the creek and establish a cleaner, safer and healthier environment within the areas that it covers,” lanto said in a press conference.

The official called on lo-cal stakeholders to support their initiative, especially the fund raising campaign for the creek’s revival.

She said they opted to or-ganize a fun run, which will be staged as part of the Earth

Day celebration in June, so they can reach out to various sectors within the locality.

Through the activity, she said they’re hoping to gener-ate more support for their in-formation and education cam-paign about the importance of keeping the creek clean and implementing proper solid waste management in the area.

Aside from these efforts, lanto said they will continue with their cleanup activities at the creek in coordination with concerned barangays and oth-er sectors.

“We need to prevent people from throwing their garbage at the creek as they would eventually cause flood-ing and health problems,” she said.

“We just would like to en-join all sectors in this endeav-or and make people under-stand that we are just trying to make our community safe,” lanto added.

last year, EMB-12 launched the “adopt-estero” program in coordination with the city government and local businesses to help maintain the creek’s cleanliness.[PNA]

EMB 12 sets massive fund campaign for rehab of critical creek in Koronadal City

GOOD weather is ex-pected to prevail in the country for the next

three days as the ridge of a high pressure area continues to be the dominant weather system, the Philippine Atmo-spheric, Geophysical and As-tronomical Services Admin-istration (PAGASA) said on Thursday.

In an interview, PAGASA weather forecaster Fernando Cada said that a high-pressure area (HPA) is the opposite of low pressure area that brings

warm and humid weather in the country during summer.

Cada explained that lu-zon was experiencing a heat surge because of the ridge of a high pressure area prevailing over the northern part of the region.

However, Cada said that still expect possible afternoon or evening rains due to local-ized thunderstorms or con-vections as the whole country will continue to experience sunny to partly cloudy skies.

He added that during

weekend, the country will continue to be spared from cyclones until Sunday.

Cada also said that expect one to two tropical cyclone to affect the country for the month of May.

Metro Manila may have a temperature range of 24 to 34 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

Wednesday tempera-tures in Metro Manila rose to a high of 34.5 degrees Celsius at 3:00 p.m., and was coolest at 6 a.m. at 24 degrees.

On Wednesday, the high-

est temperature was record-ed at 36.8 degrees Celsius in NAIA followed by Cabanatu-an City, Nueva Ecija with 36.5 and Tuguegarao, Cagayan with 36.

In Visayas region, Tagbi-laran, Bohol recorded 33.5 degrees Celsius followed by 32 degrees Celsius at Mactan, Cebu.

In the Mindanao area, Cotabato with 35.9 followed by Zamboanga at 35 degrees Celsius and General Santos City with 34.5. [PNA]

Good weather continues to prevail until the weekendSENATOR loren le-

garda on Wednesday asked search engine

company Google’s devel-opers to consider creating an application that would identify disaster risks in certain areas, collating in-formation available from national government agen-cies.

Speaking at Google’s crisis response summit at the SMX Convention Center, legarda said Google would be in the best position to create a tool as it is already working with governments around the world through its products.

The senator cited Ba-rangay Andap in Compos-tela Valley, which was hit by typhoon Pablo in December 2012, and said the deaths in the barangay could have been avoided had the gov-ernment been aware of flood hazards in the area.

“Google’s partnership with the government must be increased and must en-dure,” she said.

She cited the govern-ment had developed tools such as the Department of Science and Technolo-gy’s Project NOAH, which can give users an image of flood-prone areas in the country.

legarda said the cre-ation of a “risk finder” application would enable government agencies and other users to make sound management decisions re-garding the use of poten-tially hazard-prone areas.

She said Google could

avail of the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau’s identi-fied risk and vulnerability areas as well as existing multi-hazard risk assess-ment documents from a study conducted by Aus-AID.

legarda, who chairs the Senate committee on cli-mate change, said her office could provide data from studies they conducted.

She said Google should create the app and include data on landslides and earthquakes.

“This is not just for earthquakes,” legarda said. “You can use this to build schools. You can do this for agriculture, for farmers and fisherfolk.”

Meryl Stone, partner development manager at Google, said the company’s Person Finder application has already been used in disasters such as after ty-phoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the Visayas in No-vember last year.

She said the search en-gine company was already planning to partner with the Philippine government in creating a Google Public Alerts program that would give the government a direct line to its citizens regarding important an-nouncements, especially during times of disasters.

“We believe that in-formation should be out there in the internet and that people don’t have to go to a specific website to get information,” Stone said. [MindaNews]

Google asked to develop app on disaster risks

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 20148 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

Is EDCA constitutional?

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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AQUILES Z. ZONIOCorrespondent

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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers

EDITORIAL

The recent state visit of US President Barrack Obama to the Phil-ippines is not without a controversy. Only that the controversy that’s tagged along with this recent presidential visit actually

happened a day before the American leader blew into town.Call it the EDCA constitutionality question.On April 28, 2014, hours before the arrival of President Obama for,

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and US Ambassador to Manila Phil-ip Goldberg signed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or simply EDCA. This agreement gives US troops greater access to Phil-ippine military facilities and allows the US to construct facilities, up-grade infrastructure, and store defense and disaster preparedness equipment.

After the signing, Goldberg stressed that the US does not intend to set up military bases in the Philippines, and that buildings and infra-structure that will be built will become Philippine property. For his part, Gazmin said the deal reflects a maturing relationship between the allies. let us buy that for now.

However, the EDCA signing came with a challenge to its constitu-tionality. lawmakers jumped on the gun and assailed the said nego-tiations for lacking transparency, and questioned the timing of the signing of the defense pact. The reacting lawmakers included Senator Miriam Santiago, a constitutional law expert, and former Senator Jok-er Arroyo.

The feisty Senator Santiago believes that without Senate approv-al, EDCA indicates bad faith. Arroyo agreed with Santiago and further

went on that the Philippines got nothing out of the deal.The question is: Without Senate approval, is the EDCA constitution-

al?According to our constitution, all treaties must be must be subject

to congressional and public scrutiny.Malacañang defended the signing saying the deal fully abides by the

Constitution, and does not require Senate approval as it merely im-plements past treaties, referring to the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) entered into previously between the Philippines and the United States.

Curiously, the EDCA was made public only a day after it was signed. Its supporters said that the Philippines will benefit through better military equipment and humanitarian assistance on disaster response and emphasized that there is no price tag for security. Senator Anto-nio Trillanes IV, chairman of the Senate defense committee, also sided with the EDCA calling it a security blanket for the Philippines.

Is there something behind the EDCA for the public not to know of the impending agreement before it was even signed? It’s intriguing to be told only of the agreement a day after it was signed where nor-mally agreements such us that involving security, defense and mili-tary are of such delicate nature that calls for transparency and public scrutiny.

Perhaps, the EDCA’s constitutionality is better off tested at the proper forum and where it is ripe for legal challenge. Otherwise, it will open the floodgates for more “insertions” to previous agree-ments in the guise of legitimate annexes and riders.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014

AQUILES Z. ZONIOCorrespondent

VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

(Conclusion)

By Sammy F. martin

SPECIAl FEATURE

By manny ValdehueSa

WORM’S EYEVIEW

Rising exasperation

How Labor Day was born

time to get serious about autonomy,

especially in Mindanao

It turns the poor and less educated into willing victims of exploitation and de-pendency.This voter dependency enables trapos

to keep a stranglehold on the political sys-tem. Their control of the system’s primal base enables them to shape the manners, customs and political behavior of soci-ety-at-large. Whatever attitudes, values, standards, or practices they implant into our neighborhoods become those of the nation.

Since they have been at this game for so long, it is no surprise that the political system marches to their tune.

Meanwhile, no one bothers to offer a different marching tune; no one orients the community about the law, or calls the attention of officials about what they’re doing wrong. No one tells the neighbors about their role in assuring good gover-nance as per the local Government Code.

This knowledge deficit accounts for why autonomy remains a joke and why the ideal of self-governance remains elu-sive to this day, more than a generation after the passage of the local Government Code.

Unaware of their sovereign power, people think the power is lodged at the municipal or city hall—as before when the barangay government had no signif-icant authority or resources. It is a per-ception reinforced by barangay officials who view the municipal or city officials as their bosses. They don’t know or don’t want to believe that the power is with the sovereign citizens in their neighborhoods.

Hence, instead of democracy (govern-ment by the people) the barangay is ruled by a few people, an oligarchy—misleaders instead of true leaders.

Reforming this attitude, amending the behavior of the polity, is not an easy task. But it is attainable if autonomy or self-governance is institutionalized in the barangay, which is the level of the grass-roots. People (especially the educated or the professional) must learn that the term “grassroots” includes them—since every Filipino lives in a barangay.

Even a small current of people power at this level, a gentle but sustained dose of sovereignty, would remedy the dysfunc-tional behavior of government starting at the base of the republic. It will reorient the political system properly (with sov-ereignty starting from below) since the upper levels of government get their man-date and authority from barangay voters.

Social change, behavior modification, or reengineering is difficult and slow, but it is manageable on the scale of the ba-rangay. Reform-minded people just have to act out their convictions and learn to assert their sovereignty. To do so, even in small doses, through hands-on practice and experience of democracy, is the sur-est way to effect reforms and introduce societal change.

Who was it who said that “every par-ticle of sovereignty counts to the overall picture of sovereignty?”

[Manny among others is former UNES-CO regional director for Asia-Pacific, secre-tary-general of Southeast Asian Publishers Association, director at Development Acad-emy of Philippines, member of the Perma-nent Mission to the United Nations, vice chair of Local Government Academy, mem-ber of the Cory Government’s Peace Panel, and PPI-UNICEF awardee for outstanding columnist. valdehuesa@gmail.com]

TIGHTENING ON ABUSIVE, UNDIS-CIPlINED PUJ DRIVERS AND COM-MUTERS – People who don’t know

Vice Mayor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte may not understand his expressive reaction after he learned that many public utility jeep (PUJ) and taxi drivers still continue to violate even the simplest traffic rules and regulations. It only goes to show that he never hesitated to advocate the cause of the majority.

This time he stayed focus on going after abusive and undisciplined PUJ drivers af-ter submitting a proposal to the city coun-cil two weeks ago allocating a single lane for PUJs aimed at easing out insane traffic gridlock. He could not hide his exaspera-tion upon learning that many drivers have the rudeness to either load or unload pas-sengers even in the middle of the streets.

The ridiculous is well known: Insen-sible commuters likewise are part of the traffic problem. They want to take a ride whenever they want to and as they please. This prompted the vice mayor to decide on putting a stop to the bad riding habit by proposing to install iron railings along busy intersections to prevent drivers from picking up passengers in undesignated loading and unloading zones.

Drivers and commuters compounded the city’s traffic congestion by imposing their own will – sort of foisting their per-sonal traffic rules. It is only fair, that re-gardless of the reasons that make drivers habitual traffic violators, they must also be held accountable for, essentially, causing chaos in the streets.

The good news is that we have a city official who is looking into the welfare of the masses of our people by tightening on abusive and undisciplined drivers, impos-ing all sorts of restrictions. We’re glad in this respect that Vice Mayor Pulong now

proposes to crack down on habitual traffic violators.

T H E B R E W I N G EDCA CON-TROVERSY – By signing the a deal called E n h a n c e d Defense Co-o p e r a t i o n Agreement or EDCA, U.S. President Barack Obama promised to provide the Philip-pines and its people with protection and support in the event a confrontational conflict escalates as a result of sea border dispute in the West Philippine Sea. In ex-change, the Aquino administration agreed the use of government military bases by American troops, jet fighters, warships and war armaments.

On the day the agreement was signed, Mr. Obama assured the government and the rest of countries in the Pacific Rim that the deal was the first step on the road to a “balance military presence” in the region. In the past few years, it’s become painfully obvious that the country’s road to peace and security in the West Philippine Sea was a dead end.

Instead of solving the sea border dis-pute in a proper forum, China today is more aggressive, heavily armed and dan-gerous than ever before – pursuing its ex-pansionist ambition. But underlying hopes that the stand-off in the West Philippine Sea can be defused with negotiations is a growing sense of futility.

Others, particularly the left-leaning organizations and militant hardliners, the strongest and steadfast protesters against EDCA have concluded that U.S. military

presence in the country would only ensure the situation to worsen. More than that, our impoverished country becomes a gen-erous host by giving the U.S. forces effort-less access to our military facilities unre-stricted, yes folks – and for free.

Given the burgeoning costs and com-plexities involved in the U.S. effort to estab-lish a temporary base in the country even in routinary basis is something that has to get the nod from Congress. The fact that EDCA doesn’t have a concurrence from the legislature and at the same time being discuss and criticize at all is evidence of a rising exasperation with the Aquino ad-ministration.

However, there are two theories of the brewing controversy. Some lawmakers say the deal violates some provisions of the Constitution therefore it is unconstitu-tional. On the other hand, some defended the EDCA in the firm belief that the deal is within the framework of the Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agree-ment therefore there is no need of a con-currence from Congress.

Meanwhile, political strategists are ex-pecting a long process for settlement of the dispute in the West Philippine Sea rather than being too optimistic about the EDCA deal. Because of the antipathy between Manila and Beijing, negotiations could last years. But some believe the conflict will simmer down and might be over before they even begin the talks.

Of course, persistent critics are pes-simistic still. They worry the Americans are only displaying their military might to show that they are here to protect the country and its people from imminent danger posed by the aggressiveness of China, but wouldn’t mind seeing the talks, if there’s any, break down.

THE whole world celebrates Thurs-day the 124th labor Day in honor-ing workers and their achievements

which originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters.

RJ Javellana, one of the convenors of Union of Filipino Consumers and Commut-ers (UFCC) recalls how labor Day emerged in 1890 and had been recognized by sever-al countries across the globe.

He said that sometime in the late 19th century at the height of the Industrial Rev-olution in the United States, the average American worked 12 hours daily, seven days a week in order to eke out a basic liv-ing.

Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counter-parts’ wages.

Javellana told UFCC forum attendees at the Kamayan Restaurant in Quezon City, people of all ages during that time particu-larly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working con-ditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.

As manufacturing rapidly increased, la-bor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal.

They began organizing strikes and ral-lies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Hay-market Riot of 1886, in which several Chi-cago policemen and workers were killed.

Others gave rise to longstanding tradi-tions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 work-ers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first labor Day parade in U.S. history.

He recalled that the idea of a “work-ingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed mo-ment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view. On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago, Illinois went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives.

On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a

boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crip-pling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dis-patched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers.

In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. More than a century later, the true founder of labor Day has yet to be identified.

According to Javellana, then labor leaders – George Engel, Adolf Fisher, Albert Richard Parsons and August Spies who spearheaded a series of labor protests were arrested by the government and placed be-hind bars where they reportedly perished to threaten their followers that they will suffer the same if they do not behave.

Insteadof fear reigning on them, they continued protesting until the government gave in and slashed the 12-hour work to eight and giving them a day off.

Inspired by this movement, Europe-an countries like Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Rus-sia and countries from South America like Mexico, Argentina and Cuba adopted labor Day which is now universally celebrated on May 1 of every year. [PNA]

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 201410 EDGEDAVAONEWSEDCA...

Edge...

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UM...

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pROMO. These ladies conduct a promotional spree for a telecommunications company’s special offer in a foot traffic-rich area in downtown Davao City yes-terday. Lean Daval Jr.

males for local employment and 141 males and 304 fe-males for jobs overseas.

Those that are initially hired (local) landed jobs as factory workers and sales staff. Some of those hired for overseas jobs are going to work in Dubai, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.

The DOlE also reported that 14,575 applicants are for further interview.

“This is not a band-aid

solution; may silbi ito da-hil may mga naha-hire. Ibig sabihin, nakatutulong ito to address unemployment,” said labor and Employment Sec-retary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Meanwhile, Undersecre-tary Danilo Cruz reported that more than 150,000 job vacan-cies were offered in the May 1 job fairs nationwide with 1,120 companies participat-ing in the annual event.

“We are conducting simul-

taneously 69 job fairs all over the country. The available number of vacancies is more than 150,000 jobs. There are 1,120 companies participat-ing nationwide,” he said in an earlier interview.

He noted that the service and manufacturing sectors are offering more job vacan-cies together with the tradi-tional ones such as call cen-ters.

Aside from private com-

panies, government offices are also looking to hire em-ployees. These include the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Internal Reve-nue.

For jobs overseas, the Middle East remains to be the number market for over-seas employment, Cruz said, adding that there are also new markets such as Austra-lia, New Zealand and Canada. [PNA]

Electrical Engineering.Joining him with academ-

ic honors are cum laudes Ivy Saure and Jennifer Balais, BS in Hotel and Restaurant Manage-ment; Nelson Cawa and Ama-rose Jayne Busalla, Bachelor of Secondary Education- English; and Karla laine Tizon, BS in Accountancy.

The University also placed honors on students Aliely May Alvaira, graduating with a de-gree in BS in Chemical Engi-neering earning the 2014 Uni-versity leadership Award.

Joining her in this special distinction is Dante Fuentes with the Institutional Award. He is a graduate of the Univer-sity in 1978 with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Com-merce- Accounting and is pres-

ently the Vice President (Chief Compliance Officer) of Securi-ty Bank Corporation in Manila.

The University also placed Achievement Awards to its alumna who have distinctive accomplishments inside and outside of the school, with Ju-laila Ogwon, graduate in 2013 with a degree in Bachelor of Elementary Education- Gen-eralist, as the 7th placer in the licensure Examination for Teacher (January 2014).

She is joined by Abygail Mae Dalipe, Bachelor of Ele-mentary Education- Special Education; and Romel Gumo-bao – Bachelor of Elementary Education - Generalist, 8th placer in the same examina-tions.

last year’s graduates Jessie

Jones Oquendo, BS in Electrical Engineering is recognized for placing eighth in the licensure exams for Registered Electri-cal Engineers held in Febru-ary, with Hazelle Roxas, BS in Chemical Engineering placing 9th in the Registered Chemical Engineers examination.

Kevin Jayvee Bautista, a graduate of BS in Electronics and Communications Engi-neering, earned the distinction of being the only placer in the national exams for registered electronics engineers, held last December 2013.

Genevieve Nacario and her company are recognized for being the champion perform-ers in the 2013 National CRI-SAA Dance Synergy.

Recently, the University

was also honored with the achievements of beauty pag-eant titlists Mary Jean lastimo-sa, an alumna with a degree in BS in Computer Engineering, and is awarded this year as the Most Distinguished Alum-na for being crowned as the Binibing Pilipinas Universe.

Mutya ng PRISAA National Games 2014 Mary Joyce Villan-ueva is also recognized for her endeavor.

This year, a total of 1, 063 graduates; with the most coming from the College of Business and Administration Education at 247, will march to commemorate the day they exit the walls of UM equipped with the education and train-ing to face their chosen field.

business establishments who did not voluntarily submit their footages due to fear that the same may affect their rep-utation.

The report states that during the committee hear-ing Barangay Captain Allan P. Simo-Ag of lasang, Bunawan district, who is also the repre-sentative of councilor Edgar R. Ibuyan Sr., explained that the purpose of the amendment is to impose stricter implemen-tation of the ordinance.

The committee chairman made some queries regard-ing the constitutionality of the provision relative to the revocation or non-renewal of permits in the amendment. Si-mo-Ag said that the sanction of revocation is already given on

the paragraphs 1 and 2, section 9 of the existing ordinance and it was already settled during it passage last 2012. He stressed that in case of failure to save and voluntary submission of surveillance tapes, discs or media, the observance of due process will be the utmost con-sideration.

lawyer lawrence P. Ban-tiding, officer-in-charge of Business Bureau, clarified that the revocation of permits of a business establishment fails to follow local ordinances are already indicated at the back of the issued permit.

last year, City Mayor Ro-drigo R. Duterte issued Execu-tive Order (EO) No. 24 Series of 2013 requiring all the es-tablishments to install CCTV

cameras to all business estab-lishments after the twin bomb-ing incident last September 16, 2013 in cinemas of two malls in the city.

It was issued for imme-diate adoption of measures designed to prevent or stop terrorism or all forms of crim-inality and the identification of the perpetrators of the bomb-ing and criminal acts for the common good.

The EO mandates all com-mercial centers in the city to install high-end and high definition cameras to the en-trance and exit points of their premises. It states that the cameras should be positioned within the eye level of an aver-aged-height person to ensure facial and physical identity

of everyone who enters and leaves the establishment.

On Dec. 4, 2012, the or-dinance was approved by the 16th city council, requiring all establishments, ‘whether com-mercial, industrial or financial’ institutions with a minimum capitalization of P3 million. The approval of the ordinance was in line with the city gov-ernment’s campaign to mini-mize crime.

It requires all establish-ments such as banks, pawn-shops, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels and inns, educa-tional institutions, hospitals, cockpits, private transport terminals (land, air, sea) oper-ating in the city to install CCTV cameras in public and com-mon area.

Ponteras said that he no-ticed that the US government somehow used the Philippines for their interests in war.

“Mao na nga kinahanglan na dili magamit sa America ang Pilipinas sa iyang interest sa giyera. Kay dili man nato kinahanglan ug foreign inter-vention diri sa atong nasod,” he said.

Ponteras said that the dispute on the West Philip-pine Sea should be resolved in a diplomatic way and not through war.

“Sawa na ang taga mindan-ao sa giyera. Gusto na tag tra-baho, gusto tag negosyo diri sa atoang lugar. Gusto ta maharu-hay ang atong mga batan-on sa pageskwela. Hinaut na makita nato sa pipila ka mga adlaw-labina nga na implement na ang Bangsamoro peace agree-ment,” he said.

The EDCA is an agreement between the Philippines and the United States which is en-

visioned to advance the imple-mentation of the PH-US Mutu-al Defense Treaty (MDT). It is designed to promote between the Philippines and its defense treaty ally the United States the following:Interoperability, Capacity building towards AFP modernization, Strengthening AFP for external defense, Mar-itime Security, Maritime Do-main Awareness and Humani-tarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR).

A recent Social Weather Station survey showed at least 7 out of 10 Filipinos support measures to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities and that the Philippines may ask its partners in achieving this objective.

Under the EDCA, the Phil-ippines is mandated to coop-erate with its defense treaty ally in further strengthening their respective individual and collective defense capa-bilities.

was one of the highlights of the PPI’s golden year cele-bration.

In partnership with Coca-Cola Philippines, the PPI--also known as the association of Philippine newspapers--continues to recognize the “outstand-ing contributions of the community press to the re-construction of public life where ordinary folk have a strong voice in local affairs.”

The general criteria for judging include how the competing newspapers served as catalyst for com-munity action during the year under review (2013) and coverage of issues that are relevant to community life and aspirations.

As “Best Edited Commu-nity Newspaper,” a newspa-per must show excellence in coverage, content, writing and editing. It must demon-strate a high level of consis-tency in its quality of writ-ing and reporting that em-powers community mem-bers to think, observe or act on issues and concerns affecting their community.

According to the award’s citation, “Edge Davao demonstrated the highest standards in terms of creativity, quality, utility and style of writing that up-hold the highest journalist standards and tradition. It presents with more consis-tency a strong and concise community relevant sto-ries.”

“The style of writing is such that even as an article deals on local events it is never myopic and parochi-al in treatment because its perspective also transcends beyond the locality. As a whole, Edge Davao is a par-agon of high quality journal-ism; a local newspaper that combines, in seamless meld, high quality writing and community value,” it said.

For this year’s awards, the screening process was managed by the prestigious Asian Institute of Journal-ism and Communication while the Board of Judges was chaired by Atty. Anto-nio ‘Tony’ la Vina, dean of the Ateneo de Manila School of Government and chair of the Philippine Press Coun-cil.

Edge Davao received cash prize and special tro-phy. It bested Sun.Star Ba-guio in luzon and Sun.Star Cebu in the Visayas, the oth-er finalists which are both decades-old publications.

It also received three plaques of merit for being national finalist in the “Best Editorial Page,” “Best in Business and Economic Re-porting,” and “Best in Photo-journalism” categories.

The other winners are Cebu Daily News as “Best Editorial Page,” and “Best in Photojournalism,” The Vi-sayan Daily Star of Bacolod as “Best in Business and Economic Reporting,” Sun.Star Davao as “Best in En-vironment Reporting,” and Sun.Star Baguio as “Best in Culture, Arts and Histo-ry Reporting.” Cebu Daily News also bagged the “Best Reporting on Disasters” (Coke Bayanihan Special Award).

Among the weekly com-munity newspapers, the winners are Baguio Chroni-cle “Best Edited Community Newspaper,” and “Best in Editorial,” Business Week Mindanao as “Best in Busi-ness and Economic Report-ing,” Baguio Midland Couri-er as “Best in Environmen-tal Reporting” and “Best in Photojournalism,” Mindan-ao Cross as “Best in Culture Arts And History Reporting” and the Bohol Chronicle as “Best Reporting on Disas-ters” (Coke Bayanihan Spe-cial Award).

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014 11

lAST December Kasper-sky lab, a leading developer of secure

content and threat manage-ment solutions, published its threat forecast for 2014. Three months later, the ex-perts found that all three of their ‘End user forecasts’ had already been confirmed. They said that cybercrimi-nals would target...

- your privacy, leading to greater popularity for VPN (virtual private network) services and Tor-anonymiz-ers (The Onion Router). The number of people turning to the Darknet in an attempt to safeguard their personal data is indeed increasing. But as well as benevolent users Tor continues to at-tract dark forces – anony-mous networks can conceal malware activity, trading on illegal sites, and money laun-dering.

For example, in February Kaspersky experts detected the first Android Trojan that uses a domain in the .onion pseudo zone as a C&C (com-mand and control).

- your money. The ex-perts expected cybercrimi-nals to continue developing tools to steal cash. This was confirmed by the detection of Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.Waller.a in March.

It is capable of stealing money from QIWI electron-ic wallets belonging to the owners of infected smart-phones. The Trojan current-

ly only targets Russian users, but it is capable of spreading anywhere where e-wallets are managed using text mes-sages.

Cybercriminals also made use of some standard approaches such as spread-ing Trojans for mobiles that steal money with the help of malicious spam. And here the global reach is much greater – the Faketoken mo-bile banking Trojan, for ex-ample, has affected users in 55 countries, including users in Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, the UK and the US.

• in Q1 the number of mobile banking Trojans almost doubled from

1321 to 2503- your Bitcoins. The ex-

perts expected considerable growth in the number of at-tacks targeting Bitcoin users’ wallets, Bitcoin pools and stock exchanges.

In the first three months of the year there were lots of incidents that proved this prediction was correct.

Among the more news-worthy were the hack of Mt

.Gox, one of the biggest bitcoin exchanges, the hack-ing of the personal blog and Reddit account of MtGox CEO Mark Karpeles and us-ing them to post the MtGox-2014leak.zip which actually turned out to be malware capable of searching for and stealing Bitcoin wallet files from victims.

In a bid to boost their illicit earnings, cybercrim-inals infect computers and use their resources to gen-erate more digital currency. Trojan.Win32.Agent.aduro, the twelfth most frequently detected malicious object on the Internet in Q1, is an example of a Trojan used in this type of process.

The living Dead: the resurrection of cyber-espio-nage operations.

The first quarter also saw a major cyber-espio-nage incident: in February Kaspersky lab published a report on one of the most ad-vanced threats at the current time named The Mask.

The main target was confidential information belonging to state agencies, embassies, energy compa-nies, research institutes, pri-vate investment companies, as well as activists from 31 countries.

According to the re-searchers, the complexity of the toolset used by the attackers and several other factors suggest this could be a state-sponsored campaign.

“As well as new inci-dents, we saw the continu-ation of campaigns that had seemingly already ended. For instance, after cyber-criminals had shut down all the known command serv-ers involved in the Icefog

operation, we detected a Java version of the threat.

The previous attack had

primarily targeted organi-zations in South Korea and Japan, but the new version, judging by the IP addresses tracked, was only interested in US organizations,” com-mented Alexander Gostev, Chief Security Expert, Global Research and Analysis Team.

Q1 in figures• 33.2% of user comput-

ers worldwide were subject-ed to at least one web-based attack during the past three months – a decrease of 5.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

• 39% of neutralized web attacks were carried out using malicious web resources located in the US and Russia; the combined figure for the same two countries was 5 percentage points higher in Q1 2013. They were followed by the Netherlands (10.8%), Ger-many (10.5%) and the UK (6.3%)

• The proportion of threats targeting Android exceeded 99% of all mobile malware. Mobile malware increased by 1 percentage point over the quarter.

• At the end of 2013 Kaspersky lab’s collection of mobile malware stood at 189, 626, but in Q1 2014 alone 110 324 new mali-cious programs were added. By the end of the quarter there were 299 950 samples in the collection.

The full report is avail-able at securelist.com

Cyber threats back from the dead

MANY Americans scrambled to protect their

personal information on-line after learning of the Heartbleed Internet flaw, and some believe their data was stolen, a survey showed Wednesday.

The Pew Research Center report found 39 percent of US Internet us-ers took steps to protect their data such as chang-ing passwords or cancel-ling accounts.

Six percent of the on-line users said they be-lieved they lost data as a result of Heartbleed, Pew found.

The Heartbleed flaw, which was undetected for more than two years, allowed hackers snatch packets of data from working memory in com-puters, creating the po-

tential for them to steal passwords, encryption keys or other valuable in-formation.

Most websites patched the flaw as part of a rush to allay con-cerns about the security of online information.

The Pew survey found mixed views on security of personal information online:

Roughly half -- 46 percent -- said they be-lieve their information is “somewhat secure,” while 23 percent said their data was “very se-cure” and 26 percent “not too secure” or “not at all secure.”

The survey found 60 percent of the American public had heard at least a little about Heartbleed, including 64 percent of Internet users. [AFP]

Many in US believe they were hit by Heartbleed

SOUTH Korea’s Sam-sung remained at the top of the rap-

idly growing smartphone market in early 2014 as Chinese rivals gained ground, a survey showed Wednesday.

The overall glob-al smartphone market grew 28.6 percent from a year ago with 218.8 mil-lion units sold, according to the IDC survey. That was down 2.8 percent from the fourth quarter, with a seasonal impact on sales.

Samsung had a 30.2 percent market share, compared with 31.9 per-cent a year earlier.

Apple remained the number two global ven-dor at 15.5 percent,

which was down from 17.1 percent one year earlier.

Chinese firm Huawei held third place with a 4.7 percent global share, with year-over-year sales growth of 47 per-cent.

Fellow Chinese mak-er lenovo saw 63 per-cent sales growth and grabbed a share of 4.6 percent, ahead of South Korean lG’s 4.4 percent.

IDC expects 19 per-cent sales growth in smartphones this year, following the first bil-lion-plus sales year in 2013.

IDC analyst Ramon llamas said he sees “sus-tained strong demand, driven by emerging mar-

kets, low-cost devices, and the proliferation of 4G networks.”

This suggests “anoth-er record-breaking quar-ter at the end of the year,” he added.

IDC research manag-er Melissa Chau said the smartphone market is be-ing driven increasingly by China.

“The face of the smart-phone market is chang-ing rapidly to reflect the rise of its largest market, China, where a record 40 percent of the smart-phones shipped world-wide in the first quarter were bound to Chinese consumers,” said Chau.

“In a quarter where global shipments de-clined sequentially, Chi-

na bucked the trend. The market benefited from its seasonal lunar New Year uptick, greater emphasis on 4G devices... and the official launch of Apple at China Mobile resulted in volumes a third higher than fourth quarter lev-els.”

The latest survey did not break down sales by operating system, but suggests that the Google Android system remains dominant, after grabbing roughly 80 percent of sales in late 2013.

Apple and Samsung are locked in a legal bat-tle in the United States and elsewhere, with the US giant accusing its rival of infringing on patents.[AFP]

Samsung on top in rapidlygrowing smartphone market

EDGEDAVAO

ICT HUB

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 201412ClASSIFIED

INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 33 • THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014

EDGEDAVAOFOOD

Lunch at the Food Opera

Good eats are of-ten just around the corner and when at singapore’s orchard Road, the choic-es can be endless thanks to the many food courts that are a regular feature of the malls in the area and one such food court is Ion orchard’s in-terestingly named Food opera that is located at the lowest level of the mall. Unlike the typical food courts in the Philippines, Food opera is a hyper interactive dining expe-rience, with a touch of shabby chic and modern artwork for good measure. aside from the hawker stalls that are a regular fea-ture of singapore, the food courts offer another inex-pensive alternative for sin-gaporean diners with stalls that offer singaporean and Chinese fare. There are also stalls that offer Indo-nesian, Malay, Thai, Japa-nese, and even taiwanese dishes as well. The sheer amount of choices and the smells whiffing in the air assault my being. after taking everything in and walking around to see what I fancy I finally settled on some Fish Balls in soup and served with a side of noodles in a spicy sauce from Li Xin teo-chew Fish Ball Noodle stand. Much different from the commercially available fish balls we have locally, the hand-made fish balls had lots of meaty fish flavour with a texture that was like biting into per-fectly cooked shrimp. The side of spicy noodles add-ing a punch to an already delicious dish. Wanting to veer away from the usual chicken rice, I decided to try some Chicken Wings from Good Luck BBQ Chicken Wings since I observed that the queues in front

of this stall gets long once some wings are finished grilling. Finally getting my wings on the table, I was glad that I did try it. a deceptively simple dish, biting into a crisp and fatty chicken wing was like biting into a slice of bacon, heaven! The ren-dered skin of the chicken was smoky yet sweet with a caramelised coat and the meat of the wing was succulent and tender. add into the mix the fact that you need to eat the wings

with your hands make the BBQ Chicken Wings a de-licious, fun, and filling ex-perience. and the best part of eat-ing at the Food opera, or at any singaporean food court for that matter, are the relatively inexpensive prices of the food being served which is welcome treat for every traveller. Follow me on Instagram or on Twitter at @kenneth-kingong for more travel sto-ries, foodie finds, and hap-penings in, around, and beyond Durianburg.

Ion Orchard’s Food Opera.

All smiles with my BBQ Chicken Wing.

Teochew fish balls and noodles. BBQ Chicken Wings.

(asong Pinoy), “They are very intelligent and relatively easy to train.” Isorena added that he finds aspins very sociable. This is why he employs 3 aspins in his facility to teach problematic canines “dog social skills”. on the same occa-sion, sM City davao was launched as a “Pet-friendly” mall. The mall unveiled their new facil-ity which promotes re-sponsible pet ownership. Pet waste stations will be

deployed around the mall for the convenience of the pet owners. “We welcome pets in our mall. In due consid-eration of other shoppers, we encourage pet owners to put their dogs in car-riers or bags when inside the mall. When outside, they may have them walk or run around with a leash,” sM City davao mall manager Lynette Lo-pez said.   The event was sup-ported by the davao City

Veterinarian’s office, Philippine dog athletics association, Philippine Canine Club Inc., davao Canine exhibitors Club, davao agility Unified Group, and Clusterstorm Kennel Club. It is also made possible by PetCo, Homecrest and Bosch. For event inquiries, call 297.6998 local 126. Like SM City Davao on Face-book or follow @smcity-davao on Twitter and @smdavao on Instagram for event and promo updates.

sM City davao’s Pet eXPo: Canine series was held last april 24-27 at the annex event Cen-ter. over a hundred dogs strut their stuff as different breeds were showcased at the Pitbull and dog Conformation last april 24 & 25. shop-pers were treated to a very entertain-ing dog olympics and informative Pet training seminars last april 26 & 27. Free dog vaccination was also conducted by the City Veteri-narian’s office. at the Pet training, renowned dog behaviour counsellor Jojo Isorena talked about the psy-chology of dogs while Mr Ryan ong Cabahug proudly demonstrated his dog training skills with his pet amiga. “The dogs perfectly know how to become dogs. They need pet own-ers to train them. This ensures that dogs do not become nuisance in the homes as well as cause in-convenience to the neigh-bours,” Isorena shares. In 2009 Jojo established Betterdog Canine Behav-ior Center, the first profes-sional training facility in the Philippines that edu-cates owners in building better relationships with their dogs through posi-tive training methods. Cabahug shared his fascination with aspins

JOb hunting is undeniably a challenging experience and although technology and social media provide many tools to connect applicants to potential employers, a call for an ap-pointment is not always guaranteed. to address this issue, the Department of Labor and Employ-ment (DOLE), together with the Public Employment Service Office (PESO), will hold the biggest Job Fair of the year on Labor Day, May 1, 2014 at all SM Supermalls nationwide. this event will allow jobseekers to explore from various job oppor-tunities, be interviewed by potential employers, and even get hired on the same day. SM Supermalls, being home to over 300, 000 employees, continues to make efforts in providing jobs to the growing Filipino workforce. Coming from a huge success last year in which 2,400 companies joined and 394,000 jobs were offered, this year’s Job Fair is expected to be as successful. in Davao, SM malls will give jobseekers the opportunity to get access to job vacancies on May 1. the Event Center of the Annex, SM City Davao will be the venue for the biggest Job Fair in Region Xi, which will gather 10,000 job openings for both local and overseas employment. the said Job Fair is in partnership with DOLE Region Xi, AMA Computer Learning Center and PLDt. Prior to the event, a Mini Job Fair and pre-registration is ongoing at the 2nd floor of the Annex to accom-modate early applicants. On the same day, SM Lanang Premier will also be putting up a dropbox at the upper ground Level, where jobseekers can submit their resumes. the dropbox will be made available until May 4 to accommodate spillover of applications from the May 1 Job Fair. to provide easy reference for jobseekers, a list of job vacancies from the mall’s tenants and affiliates will be posted as well. in general Santos City, SM City general Santos and DOLE Region Xii will be having a Job Fair on Labor Day at trade halls 1 and 2, from 9 am to 5 pm. in addition, the World of Work Fair (WWF) at the 3rd floor bridgeway and the industry-Academe Forum at the trade hall Meeting Room will also be conducted simultaneously by DOLE Region Xii as supporting activities for the Job Fair. Food sponsors for the event are Chowking and greenwich. be sure not to miss this big opportunity this coming Labor Day. Ready your resumes, dress to impress, and go to the near-est SM malls near you. For a complete list of the 53 participating malls and drop boxes for the Job Fair, please visit www. smsupermalls.com or www.facebook.com/smsupermalls.

SMARt subscribers heading to boracay this Labor Day week-end are in for the ultimate summer experience as Smart ‘Live All Out’ Summer edition offers special access to the hottest events and exclusive perks on what is now dubbed as Asia’s 24/7 party island. From April 30 to May 4, a total of 11 summer parties will bear the Smart ‘Live All Out’ Summer brand of grand partying, fea-turing sights and sounds guaranteed to keep everyone on his feet all night and make a lasting mark on a much anticipated getaway. On top of these events is the SunKissed boracay, a series of four parties at the Pearl of the Pacific from May 1 to 4, featuring the hottest international beatmakers, such as DJs Alvaro, Amely and Mia, along with an impressive list of homegrown DJs like Ace Ramos, the Zombettes, Marc Marasigan, Deuce Manila, tra-vis Monsod, and Katsy Lee, among many others. Smart subscribers may get access to the much coveted SunK-issed boracay mosh pit area plus a free drink just by loading their devices at designated Smart booths on the island: Smart Prepaid subscribers only need to load up PhP300 and register to All-in 99 or LtE 50, while Smart bro users only need to show their device and Smart bro SiM plus load up PhP 300. On the other hand, Smart Postpaid and infinity subscribers may get these perks by heading to the Smart Postpaid booths and simply texting REWARDS LAO bORA to 9800 for free. Aside from Sunkissed boracay, also bearing the Smart ‘Live All Out’ Summer trademark of epic partying are: Sunkissed Starworld Party at Club Epic (April 30); Son of the beach Party at Club Epic, the Plunge Pool Party at tides hotel, and boracay Sand Dance Festival 2014 at White house beach Resort (May 1); Sun Dazed 2014 ViP Foam Party Series at the tides hotel (May 2); groove Foam Party at the tides hotel on (May 3) and El hom-bre’s Summer hangover at White house beach Resort (May 4). For more information and updates, check out Smart.com.ph/liveallout and follow @SMARTCares on Twitter and Instagram.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 33 • THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014EDGEDAVAOuP AnD AbOut

Job Fair to be held at SM Supermalls this Labor Day

Smart ‘Live All Out’ Summer heats up ‘LaBoracay’ weekend

SM Davao holds PET EXPO: Canine SeriesLaunches Pet Friendly Mall campaign

DESPitE the parents of heart Evangelista’s public disapproval of Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero for their daughter, the senator still confirmed his intention of marrying the actress. “i really want to marry her. i’m just fixing some things and i hope to seal our re-lationship as soon as it’s done,” Sen. Chiz shares in “tapatan ni tunying” airing this thursday (May 1). Rumor has it that the two are already set to wed next year. the senator currently works on the church annul-ment of his marriage with estranged wife Christine Flores. Sen. Chiz says he is very happy and content, and that his two-year relationship with the actress cannot be compared with any of his previous relationships. “i found what i’ve been looking for. So definitely i can’t compare my happi-ness to anything else. this is the first time i’ve felt this,” he reveals.

Meanwhile, in a separate interview, celebrity stylist Liz uy finally speaks up on her rumored romance with President noynoy Aquino. Liz denies that she had a short-lived romance with the president. So how is Liz’ love life now? “they say my job is my boyfriend. i don’t have enough time to be in a rela-

tionship because of my hec-tic schedule,” she says. Liz shares that despite her success, she would be will-ing to give up everything for love under one condition. “if i gave up everything for someone, i would make sure he’s worth the sacri-fice,” she tells. Aside from their contro-versial relationships, Sen.

Chiz and Liz will also talk about their career and fami-lies in the episode. Don’t miss “Tapatan ni Tu-nying” (TNT) this Thursday (May 1), on its new timeslot at 4PM on ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold. For updates, follow @TNTunying on Twitter and In-stagram, or like its Facebook page www.facebook.com/TNTunying.

tAKE a break from work and spend a relaxing night as comedienne Marissa Sanchez and Fabio ide visit MARS this thursday on gMA news tV. the Labor Day episode of MARS will feature how to create summer beauty must-haves on Momergen-cy segment plus list down ingredients for homemade body mist and waxing gel. On MARS Sharing group, learn how to harness one’s ESP in finding a lost posses-sion with the help of a guest

psychic. Meanwhile, enjoy a healthy version of dinu-guan as the owner of a veg-etarian restaurant reveals her secret recipe! And get that beach body that most people dream of as MARS features the rotator cuff workout. hosted by Camille Prats and Suzi Abrera, MARS airs from Mondays to Fridays at 7pm on gMA news tV with updates on Facebook @ MARSnEWStV and on twit-ter @ MARS_gMAnEWStV.

JODiE FOStER and Alexan-dra hedison may have just gotten married, but that doesn’t mean they’re on a honeymoon. not only was the Oscar winner spotted shopping in West hollywood yesterday, but E! news exclusively re-vealed that the newlyweds made their first public ap-pearance since their wed-ding later in the day at the ViP preview of the Paris Photo Los Angeles. hedison is a photographer who has shown in the u.S. and in Eu-rope. the couple, whose wed-

ding took place in L.A. this past weekend, spent a few hours touring the exhibit. “they held hands while walk-ing through the show,” a

source said. they also ran into and chatted with Jamie Lee Cur-tis and spent a considerable amount of time at unedited!:

the LAPD Photo Archives, one of the 81 exhibitors in the show. Foster and hedison were first romantically linked last summer and by September a source was telling us that their relationship was “pretty serious.” “they’re totally in love,” the source said. Also at Paris Photo Los An-geles was brad Pitt, who also spent several hours there but reportedly didn’t run into Foster and hedison. he did however cross paths with his troy costar Orlando bloom and his adorable son Flynn.

INdulge! A3VOL. 7 ISSUE 33 • THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014EDGEDAVAOEntERtAinMEnt

Sen. Chiz confirms marriage plans with Heart

Jodie Foster & Alexandra Hedison step out for first time together since weekend wedding

Summer beauty must-haves in ‘Mars’

EvEryOnE has the desire to get that “ideal” summer body and that was the challenge given to John Lloyd Cruz for a tuna brand. Given 42 days, the matinee idol was able to shed 18 lbs and plans to continue shedding some more and this photo from StarMagic’s Instagram account shows it. He clarified however that he is not after bulky muscles or six-pack abs but want to achieve a more healthier lifestyle with the body as a secondary result. Kudos to you Lloydie and keep it up!

Photo of the day

PG 13

PG 13

PG 1312:00 | 3:00 | 6:00 | 9:00 LFS

R-16

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 2D

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

DA POSSESSED 2D

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone

Vhong Navarro, Solenn Heussaff

PG 1312:30 | 3:30 | 7:00 (reserved) | 10:00 LFS

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 3D

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone

1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 (reserved) | 10:00 LFS

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 2D

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone

A4 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 33 • THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014EDGEDAVAOFOOD

I have had my fair share of paella experiences inside the kitchen. From burned wrists to cut fingers, there already exists a love and hate rela-tionship between us. Kidding aside, even before culinary school, I have already been intrigued and curious of this beautiful and bountiful din-ing star. Hence, when the time came, I was one happy fan to oblige a tedious but gastronomi-cally rewarding task ahead. a little bit of trivia on the Paella:• It is a Valencian rice dish that originated in the mid-19th century near a lagoon in Valencia, on the east coast of spain. • Although many view paella as spain’s national dish, most spaniards con-sider it to be a regional Valencian dish. In turn, Valencians regard paella as one of their identifying symbols.• There are three widely known types of paella: Valencian paella (spanish: paella valenciana), seafood paella (spanish: paella de marisco) and mixed paella (spanish: paella mixta), but there are many others as well. • Most paella chefs use ca-lasparra or bomba rices for this dish. other key ingre-dients include saffron and olive oil. of its varieties, I love the Paella Negra because of its myriad spices and bursting flavors. More so, the black-

ness of the dish makes me quiver with anticipation – something that would make you think twice be-fore digging in. In the metro, I love the paella negra from Tiny Kitchen and Bellito’s. You could really taste the rich, velvety texture o the dish without any after taste. Before we all drool and crave for that one plateful of paella, here’s my take on this classic gastronomical indulgence that has made its way into our hearts – and stomachs. enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup fragrant rice1 cup malagkit rice1/2 kilo medium size shrimp, shelled blanched3 pcs. big squid, blanched, cut into rings3 ink sacks from the squid, diluted in 1/2 cup water4 pcs. small size crabs, cooked, cut in half1/2 kilo clams and/or mussels, boiled1 red bell pepper, cut into strip1/2 head garlic, chopped1 medium size onion, chopped1 pc. roasted bell pepper, chopped1 cup tomato sauce1/2 cup green peas, boiledcooking oilsalt and pepperkalamansi3 pcs. hard boiled eggs, cut into wedges

Cooking procedure:In a big pot, sauté garlic and onion. add in tomato and roasted bell pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes. stir constantly. add 1/2 cup of tepid wa-ter and continue to cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and turn into an oily thick sauce. add in squid ink, fra-grant rice and malagkit. You have to stir until the rice is coated and infused with the sauce and tinted with the ink. add 4-6 cups of water and cook rice making sure to stir occa-sionally. add more water if necessary. When done, add in green peas and arrange cooked seafood on top. Cover and leave the rice

to finish cooking in the steam for 20 to 30 minutes. transfer black paella in a platter, arrange seafood on top, drizzle with kala-mansi juice and garnish with wedges of hard boiled eggs.

Prepare this delicious meal for a picnic on the patio or a simple gathering with family and friends. You can mix and match your seafood for a more personal touch. Be a part of Davao’s

Thursday habit! Send me your recipes, questions, suggestions and comments and be featured. Email me at leebay457@yahoo.com (subject:RoyalChef) or fol-low me on instagram (her-royalheiress)!

Summer love: Paella negra

The Paella negra of Tiny Kitchen.

EDGEDavao Davao Partners

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014 13EDGEDAVAO

COMMUNITY SENSE

DOlE Philippines Inc. (Dolefil) is bent on reaching its end-goal

for community development and environment protection under its Corporate Social Re-sponsibility (CSR) programs in Mindanao.

Taking pride of its long history of community ser-vice, Dolefil has offering in the fields of education, health, family welfare, peace-keeping, livelihood and environment, said lawyer Melquiades Her-nandez, Director for Dolefil Corporate Affairs Division.

He cited the green clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which says, “The union shall support the Company’s Adopt-a-River and Gully Tree Planting Program, as it agrees that all its mem-bers shall plant and sustain the growth of 10 trees every year for the lifetime of the CBA.”

Since September 2011, there have been 34 batches of tree planting sessions and planted a total of 112,150 seedlings (bamboo and forest trees) through the participa-tion of more than 4,000 vol-unteers, he said.

The “5ingkowelahan” is another project of Dolefil in partnership with the labor

union, Dolefil employees, and its business partners aimed at helping build classrooms for public schools in Region XII.

In 2013, Dolefil and its partners have turned over one school building to two schools in South Cotabato.

Under the Chairs for Trees program, Dolefil do-nates school chairs and church pews to different public schools and institu-tions that were fabricated by a local cooperative from the Company’s wooden pallets.

As a reciprocating action, the beneficiaries are required to plant and grow trees to help protect the environ-ment.

The seedlings are also donated by Dolefil to the-beneficiaries sourced from a local cooperative composed of women members; thereby, also providing them a sus-tainable source of livelihood.

Through the Chairs-for-Trees Project, Dolefil has donated more than 60,000 chairs to schools, daycare centers, and churches.

The Kapit-Bisig Para sa Kabataan (Alliance for Chil-dren) is a comprehensive health program which has so far benefited more than 20,000 malnourished indi-

gent children and their par-ents.

The program compo-nents include stool exam-ination/deworming, sup-plemental feeding, health education, backyard garden-ing, livelihood projects, and micro-nutrient supplementa-tion, among others.

Meanwhile, Hernandez described Alay Gabay Para sa Maginhawang Buhay as a very touching CSR program of Dolefil.

Done in partnership with the Mahintana Foundation and other stakeholders, Dole-fil’s “Alay Gabay” program aims to provide mobility to our differently-abled coun-trymen through the donation of wheelchairs to beneficia-ries in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani and cities of General Santos and Koronadal. The program has distributed more than 2,700 wheelchairs, he said.

Other programs include the Gully Tree Planting, Med-ical and Surgical Missions, Market Bags, Adopt-a-School & Piñaskuhan Para sa Ka-bataan, Dolefil Food Day, Polomolok Task Force Kalu-sugan, Road Safety Program and the Growership Program, he said. [PNA]

Dolefil vows to reach goal on community responsibility

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 201414

EDGEDavao Davao Partners

EDGEDAVAO

MOTORING

The itinerary is sup-posed to be filled with a lot of water adventures but I got to squeeze in some motoring side trips. First stop was the Nicky’s Handlebars—a bar-ho-tel in downtown Patong City famous as the hub of Harley Davidson bikers. I was shown around by one of the English-speaking waiters who walked me through the narrow but Harley-filled compound. The bar and hotel is bike and car-inspired and there’s a regular Harley Tour where you can join the ride by renting a Har-ley. Not bad.

And then there’s the

buggy adventure on the outback of Patong. You can pick an adventure and your choice of ATB or ATVS. Most popular among the all-terrain bik-ers are the Polaris 125s. I picked a buggy for me and the wifey and we rolled into the highland adven-ture snaking through bumpy roads through the mini forest. It got a little dusty that time and the el-ephants could pose some hazards while driving.

Again, this one made my day.

Next on the planner was a day on the kart racetrack. But that will have to wait.

Buggies and Bikes in Phuketnjb@edgedavao.net

By NEIlWIN JOSEPH l. BRAVO

My latest adventure brought me to Phuket, an island paradise without boundaries in Thailand.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 2014 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO SPORTS

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Tony Parker was nurs-ing a sprained left ankle

and playing a critical playoff game on no sleep only hours after the birth of his first child.

It was the perfect for-mula for a resurgent perfor-mance from the San Antonio Spurs point guard.

Parker had 23 points and five assists and San An-tonio never trailed in a 109-103 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, taking a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.

"Coming into the game I told him this is perfect for you," Spurs forward Tim Duncan said. "This is what he does in situations like this where he doesn't get a lot of sleep or is in a stressful situation. He always seems to play better. I somewhat expected it from him.

"He was really excited before the game. Obviously, he was really excited to have his son here and wanted to get this game really badly not only for his son but for the situation and the timing of it. He was really focused and it was good for us."

Parker's rebirth put San Antonio on the verge of closing out a tense series against its intrastate rival with Game 6 set for Friday in Dallas.

Vince Carter scored 28 points on 10-for-16 shoot-ing for the Mavericks.

Carter's 3-pointer with 3 minutes left pulled Dallas within 98-94 but Parker fol-lowed a minute later with his only 3-pointer of the game for a 101-94 advan-tage, punctuating the shot with a loud scream.

His son Josh was born early in the morning to his fiancee Axelle Francine.

"It was crazy, 'cause it happened last night, late," Parker said. "I didn't sleep. I basically didn't sleep the whole night and just played on adrenaline today.

"I'm a happy man right now."

After shooting 5 for 14 in scoring just 10 points in San Antonio's Game 4 vic-tory, Parker responded with a frantic start. He mixed in three driving layups and two mid-range jumpers to start the game making 5 of his first 7 shots.

Parker's drives helped the Spurs' struggling of-fense maintain a consistent rhythm for the first time in the series.

Manu Ginobili had 19 points and Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 12 rebounds as San Antonio regained home-court ad-vantage. Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi leonard had 15 points for the Spurs.

After averaging 16 points in the series' first four games, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki found the stroke in scoring 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting. But it wasn't enough to over-come Parker and the Spurs returning to form.

"Vince shot the ball incredibly, Dirk found his rhythm and really made some tough shots," Duncan said. "But we were able to counter that offensively by moving the ball, hitting the glass, getting into the paint and getting some easy stuff for ourselves and loosen it up."

Spurs take 3-2 lead over Mavs

DWIGHT Howard scored 22 points and pulled down 18

rebounds as the Houston Rockets stayed alive in the NBA playoffs with a 108-98 victory over Portland.

Houston came into the contest trailing 3-1 in the tight series, in which three of the first four games went to overtime.

Wednesday's game was also close, but Houston closed it out with an 8-0 scoring run to narrow the gap in the series to 3-2.

The Blazers will try again to close it out when they host game six on Fri-day.

"We've been good at home all year, so now, go back home and take care of business," Portland's la-Marcus Aldridge said.

Rockets star James Harden endured another tough shooting night, but came through with some key baskets down the stretch.

Harden missed nine of

his first 12 shots, but scored eight of his 17 points in the final four minutes.

Jeremy lin chipped in 21 points and Chandler Parsons added 20 for the Rockets, who out-scored Portland in the paint by a 60-40 margin.

Wesley Matthews scored a game-high 27 points, and Damian lillard added 26 with eight re-bounds and seven assists for the Trail Blazers, whose reserves contributed only five points.

Aldridge, who came in averaging over 35 points per game in the series, fin-ished with just eight on 3-of-12 shooting.

"They made plays," Al-dridge said. "We had oppor-tunities to make shots. We didn't make certain shots that we needed. We didn't get the big stops down the stretch."

The winners of the se-ries will face either the San Antonio Spurs or Dallas Mavericks in the second

round.The Spurs pushed the

Mavericks to the brink of elimination with a 109-103 victory in San Antonio on Wednesday.

The victory gave the Spurs a 3-2 lead in a series in which they had trailed 1-2.

The Spurs will try to seal the victory in game six on Friday in Dallas.

Point guard Tony Park-er led the Spurs with 23 points, despite playing on a sprained left ankle that had his participation in doubt until Wednesday.

Parker was also a little short of sleep. He'd been up most of the night awaiting the birth of his first child, a son who was welcomed by Parker and his fiancee early Wednesday morning.

Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan contributed dou-ble-doubles for San Anto-nio, Splitter recording 17 points and 12 rebounds and Duncan posting 16 points with 12 rebounds.

Rockets stay aliveTHE first round of

the 2014 NBA play-offs has already

seen some crazy finish-es involving everything from four-point plays and buzzer-beaters. The end of Game 5 between the No. 3 seed Toronto Raptors and No. 6 seed Brooklyn Nets nearly qualified as an entirely different level of insane,

because it almost fea-tured one of the biggest mistakes in NBA history.

With six seconds left in regulation and the Raptors up 115-112, the Nets inbounded to big man Andray Blatche intending to set up a po-tential game-tying shot. However, the Raptors intelligently fouled Blatche with his back

turned to the basket, ensuring that he could not force up a shot for three free throws and forcing him into either missing the second shot intentionally or having the Nets execute a miracle play on their next possession with no timeouts to move the ball into the front-court.

Blatche hit the first free throw and missed the second, apparent-ly by accident. luckily for the Nets, Shaun liv-ingston swooped in to grab the rebound and quickly tap the ball out to Blatche, giving the team several options with approximately 4.3 seconds on the clock.

That's when every-thing got really weird (video via The Brook-lyn Game):

Raptors hang on

Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, left, reacts with teammate Terrence Ross, right, as they play against the Brooklyn Nets

San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker, right, of France, knocks the ball away from Dallas Mavericks' Jose Calderon, left, of Spain, during the first half of Game 5 of the opening-round NBA basketball playoff

VOL. 7 ISSUE 34 • FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 2-3, 201416 EDGEDAVAOSports

lOS ANGElES (AP) — los Angeles lakers coach Mike D’Antoni

resigned Wednesday after less than two seasons on the job.

Team spokesman John Black confirmed D’Anto-ni’s resignation, ending the brief tenure of the lakers’ fourth head coach in less than three years.

D’Antoni went 67-87 after taking over the lakers early in the 2012-13 sea-son. He replaced the fired Mike Brown, who lasted just 71 games after replac-ing 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson in 2011.

The injury-plagued lak-ers were 27-55 this season, their worst campaign in more than 50 years and the second-worst winning per-centage in franchise history.

With Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol sitting out large chunks of the sea-son while the lakers lost an NBA-worst 319 man-games to injuries, the 16-time NBA champion franchise missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons and only the third time in 38 years.

“Given the circum-stances, I don’t know that anybody could have done

a better job than Mike did the past two seasons,” lak-ers general manager Mitch Kupchak said. “On behalf of the lakers, we thank Mike for the work ethic, profes-sionalism and positive atti-tude that he brought to the team every day. We wish him the best of luck.”

The 62-year-old D’An-toni had one year left on his contract, but wanted the lakers to pick up his option year for 2015-16 to have any chance of success. The lakers apparently refused, leading to D’Antoni’s resig-nation.

D’Antoni walked away from a $4 million payday for next season, although he may receive a portion of that money as severance.

A phone message left for D’Antoni wasn’t imme-diately returned.

Despite the lakers’ in-juries on a roster consisting mostly of players on one-year contracts, los Angeles fans largely directed their anger during a rare down season toward D’Antoni. lakers great Magic John-son, who was sharply crit-ical of D’Antoni’s coaching style, hailed the news on his Twitter account.

Filipino boxing icon Man-ny Pacquiao will lead the star-studded open-

ing ceremony of the presti-gious Palarong Pambansa on Monday at the sprawling laguna Sports Complex in Sta. Cruz, laguna.

laguna Gov. Jeorge Ejer-cito Estregan said Pacquiao has accepted the invitation to join first Filipino Winter Olympian Michael Marti-nez, TV and movie actor and former Palaro swimmer Enchong Dy, basketball star James Yap and De la Salle track and field team captain Jericho Estregan in the torch lighting.

”We five runners will run 70 meters each during the Palaro torch relay with Pacquiao to light the Pala-ro flame,” Gov. Estregan

announced in a press con-ference at the SM mall in Calamba City late Wednes-day night.

Estregan announced also that former President and now Manila Mayor Jo-seph Ejercito Estrada along with Department of Edu-cation (DepEd) Secretary Armin luistro and Technical Education and Skills Devel-opment Authority (TESDA) Secretary Joel Villanueva will grace the event.

”It’s a dream come true for us to host this Palarong Pambansa, the country’s Olympic Games to be partic-ipated by 11,200 elementary and high school student ath-letes from all the 17 regions and 80 provinces of the country,” the laguna gover-nor said.

Lakers coach resigns

Pacquaio to lead Palarong Pambansa opening

RESiGnED. In this Feb. 21, 2014, file photo, Los Ange-les Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni yells at referees during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Boston Celtics in Los Angeles.

StALKinG. Ryan Arana of Rain or Shine (light) moves past KG Canaleta of Talk N Text (dark) in the PBA quarterfinals between the Tropang Texters and the Elasto Painters on Wednesday night.