Edge Davao 8 Issue 14

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

COUNCILORS OKAY MOU WITH UPMINUP campus approved as sports complex site

INSIDE EDGE

Sports P15

PROMOTER IN LORETO FIGHT SUSPENDED

THE Davao City Council yesterday passed an or-dinance that will pave

way for the establishment of a city sports complex said to

eventually cost P8 billion in-side University of Philippines Mindanao (UPMin) in Bago Oshiro, Mintal.

The councilors approved

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO [email protected]

item 1151 titled “An ordinance authorizing Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte to sign a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MOU) to be entered by the City Gov-ernment of Davao and the University of the Philippines, relative to the intention of both

parties to establish a sports complex at the latter’s cam-pus.”

The item took more than an hour to discuss due to the questions from the other coun-cilors on the purpose of the FCOUNCILORS, 10

SUMMER FRUIT. Five-year-old Shane enjoys a slice of watermelon while waiting for customers at her family’s makeshift store along R. Castillo Avenue in Davao City yesterday. Watermelon is a perfect summer fruit as it helps rehydrate the body on hot days. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 20152 EDGEDAVAO

NEWS

MAYOR Rodrigo Dute-rte clarified that his “hatred” against the

US has not diminished but added that his personal issues against the Americans must be set aside in favor of national interest.

In an interview on Mon-day afternoon, Duterte said his earlier statement that he would ask the US government to help stop China from its in-cursions on disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea does not mean he has softened his stance against the Americans.

He said he would go to the US because it is only the Americans who are capable of stopping China from bullying Filipino fisherfolk in Palawan.

“The national interest will dictate it,” he said.

He said his hatred for the US government is “personal” while the West Philippine Sea crisis is of national interest.

“Whether I like the Ameri-cans or not personally, it is not the issue,” he said.

Duterte had had a falling out with the US government when agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spirited American citizen Mi-chael Terrence Meiring out of the city and the country in 2002 without approval from the Philippine government.

Meiring had been injured in an explosion inside Ever-green Hotel in Davao City. He claimed to be a treasure hunter

but was later accused of being a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent.

On Monday, the mayor also clarified that going to the US is only a suggestion since it is the national government that should do it and not he.

Duterte is widely per-ceived to be aiming for the presidency, and issues like this are among the topics he dis-cusses with various sectors.

In an interview earlier in the day, Duterte had said if giv-en the chance, he will try to talk with the Chinese government “as a citizen of the Philippines” to tell it to stop its activities in the West Philippine Sea.

“If I can do it, why not? Sasabihin ko lang tama na (I

will just tell them to stop it), you threaten the integrity of the country,” he said.

He said China has made Filipino fishermen afraid of fishing in the area. “They can-not fish there because China is claiming it. That is the source of the trouble,” he said.

In a statement issued yes-terday, Duterte said now is the right time for the United States to show to its partners in South East Asia, especially the Philippines with which it has a Mutual Defense Treaty, that it could provide them pro-tection against a military giant like China.

Duterte was in Mindoro as part of his nation-wide “Lis-

THE Moro National Liber-ation Front (MNLF) crit-icized the national gov-

ernment for allegedly favoring the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

At the same time, MNLF Davao City State chair Rolando Olamit said the solution to the problems of Mindanao is fed-eralism.

The MNLF staged a rally on Sunday in front of a hotel in Davao City to show their op-position to the passage of the BBL.

In an interview with re-porters, Olamit said the BBL shows “inequality” while fed-eralism espouses equality.

“The MNLF is feder-al-ready. We are pushing for an egalitarian society. There is

room for the Muslims, for the Christians, and the Lumad,” he said.

He said in contrast, the BBL is “exclusively for the MILF.”

“The government of the Philippines is being divisive by dividing the people in order to achieve peace,” he added.

Olamit said the MNLF is in full support of federalism

which is being espoused by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

He said with federalism, “the true value of peace which is equality will be achieved by the people.”

“If we shift to a federal system, the Philippines will achieve peace,” he said.

For his part, Duterte said

THE Regional Peace and Order Council 11 has adopted the security

plan proposed by the military and the police to ensure public safety in the duration of the Palarong Pambansa 2015.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, chair of the RPOC 11 met with the security sector in Tagum City, Davao del Norte Monday to discuss the plan of ensuring peace and order during the na-tional games.

He also urged the com-munist rebels not to harm the soldiers and police who will provide security to the athletic delegations and the public in the duration of the Palarong Pambansa.

“Do not harm the soldiers which might eventually af-

fect the children. Rein in your horses, take a rest for a while. I do not want anything that is harmful to the kids,” he said.

Duterte also said that the city government of Davao has set aside One Million Pesos as contribution to the holding of the Palarong Pambansa 2015 slated in Tagum City, Davao del Norte from May 3 to 9.

He told reporters the city’s financial contribution will be taken from the education fund.

Duterte explained that ath-letics is part of the education program which is handled by the Department of Education.

Meantime, Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) chair, Davao City Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte has assured the

THE city has placed its police force on alert to thwart another possi-

ble bombing attempt after an improvised explosive de-vice (IED) went off inside the Gaisano Capital-Surigao mall on Sunday afternoon.

Police Supt. Ruben B. De-los Santos, city police direc-tor, told MindaNews on Mon-day he ordered his personnel secure soft targets against lawless elements.

“We are doing rounds at

seaports and Surigao airport including some areas togeth-er with K9-unit and military personnel,” he said.

No one was hurt in Sun-day’s blast as the IED was re-portedly not designed to in-flict harm among shop goers.

The explosive was put in-side a plastic bag and placed on top of the trash can at the 2nd level near Vintage Opti-cal shop.

Delos Santos said the IED

WELCOME TO DAVAO. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte welcomes delegates of the Parish Renewal Experience (PREX) from different parts of the country during their 13th National Convention at the University of Southeastern Philip-pines (USEP) in Davao City over the weekend. Lean Daval Jr.

Duterte still ‘hates’ the USbut Phl interest comes firstBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

[email protected]

MNLF hits gov’t for ‘favoring’ MNLFBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

Security planfor Palaro passed

Surigao police puton alert after blast

FDUTERTE, 10

FMNLF, 10FSURIGAO, 10

FSECURITY, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 3NEWSEDGEDAVAO

THE Davao City Gov-ernment will give a P1-million assis-

tance to the Davao del Norte Provincial Govern-ment for the coming Palar-ong Pambansa 2015 that will be hosted by the prov-ince next month.

In an interview late Monday afternoon at the Grand Men Seng Hotel, Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte told reporters the fund will serve as aid for the expens-es of the annual sporting event.

Duterte said the assis-

tance will be drawn from the special education fund since the Palarong Pam-bansa is sanctioned by the Department of Education (Deped).

Aside from the assis-tance, Davao City will also provide additional securi-ty forces to Tagum City to secure the events and the delegates.

“For our security aug-mentation, we do not need the organizers to shoulder the expenses. We take care of our own men,” Duterte said.

“Within my jurisdic-tion, ako na ang bahala sa mga tao ko (I will take care of the needs of my men),” he added.

Davao City Police Of-fice (DCPO) director Senior Superintendent Vicente D. Danao Jr. had earlier said his men will augment the security force of the Davao del Norte Provincial Police Office during the games.

Danao said the DCPO will allocate around 30 personnel from different police stations in the city. The augmentation force

will be deployed in Tagum City by next week.

Danao said aside from providing security aug-mentation, the DCPO will also provide tight security in Davao City since major-ity of the delegates from Luzon and the Visayas will pass through the Francisco Bangoy International Air-port.

He said the DCPO will also implement strict checkpoints going to Davao del Norte to ensure the safety of the delegates during the weeklong event.

THE Department of La-bor and Employment (DOLE) in Region 12 has

subjected to stress debriefing the 43 fishermen from this city who were repatriated by Indonesia in February after spending nearly six months in jail due to illegal fishing and violations of immigration laws

Ofelia Domingo, DOLE Re-gion 12 director, said Tuesday they pushed for the conduct of the therapy sessions to help ease the pain experienced by the fishermen during their detention in Ternate City, In-donesia.

She said the stress debrief-ing activities, which were com-pleted over the weekend, were facilitated by personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region 12.

“We requested assistance from DSWD-12 for the therapy to help the displaced workers recover from their ordeal,” she said.

Domingo said the move was also aimed to ensure that

the 43 fishermen are in good condition as they embark on a P2-million livelihood program initiated by the agency.

DOLE officials released last month a P2,040,000 financial grant to the displaced fisher-men for the implementation of a tuna handline fishing project.

The grant, which is under DOLE’s emergency livelihood program, will mainly fund the acquisition of three primary or mother handline fishing boats with four small “pakura” or pump boats each.

The project will be joint-ly implemented by DOLE-12 and its accredited co-partner Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)-Soccsksargen, which will facilitate the fabrication of the fishing boats and assist their deployment or opera-tions.

The 43 fishermen re-turned home last Feb. 24, al-most six months after they were arrested and detained in Ternate City, North Maluku province in Indonesia.

STRICT security arrange-ments will be observed for the duration of the

Palarong Pambansa on May 3-9 in this city even if the threat level to the event is considered low, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday.

Duterte, chair of the Re-gional Peace and Order Coun-cil of Region 11, assured the athletes and spectators of an intensified security for this year’s Palaro.

Duterte, who addressed reporters before the closed-door RPOC meeting here, said that on a scale of one to 10, the threat level is three.

But the mayor said the low security threat level did not mean the government will re-duce the deployment of securi-

ty forces.He assured that the gov-

ernment will utilize all avail-able security forces for the du-ration of the event.

“Even if the scale is 10, three or two, the intensity of security should be the same. Every gathering here requires full attention. I don’t expect bombing but we have to be prepare. God forbid,” he said.

On Friday, Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario em-phasized that security mea-sures have already been drawn out for the national games.

In a press briefing in Davao City, del Rosario assured that security will cover the delega-tions and spectators from pet-ty crimes.

DAVAO City Water District has scheduled two sets of water service interrup-

tion to give way to completion of service improvement projects.

First set is from 8:00 PM of April 23 until 4:00 AM of April 24. Areas affected are Upper and Lower Riverside, Red Stone Village, Puting Bato, Los Amigos, Biao Guianga, Brgy. Ula, Mari-gold St. in Purok 4, Centennial Village, Purok 18 in Upper Mint-al, portion of Davao – Bukidnon National Highway (from Los Amigos to the junction of Upper Riverside Road), Tierra Nueva, Rubia Extension, Biao Tienda, Small Tacunan, IKP Village, Mar-tyrville Subd. 1 and 2, Brgy. Ta-cunan and Stones Town Village. DCWD’s Engineering and Con-struction Department crew will install 250mm diameter butter-fly valve and 150mm diameter gate valves along Biao Guianga Road and Kalachuchi Street for

the additional appurtenances of the Riverside Water Supply Sys-tem expansion project.

Second set is from 9:00 PM of April 25 until 3:00 AM of April 26 affecting a portion of Libby Road (from Nalum Bridge to Crossing Rosalina 1), Lumansoc Compound, Bago / Sitio Saka, Samantha Homes in Bago Gallera, Mega Homes, Ka-liraya Homes, Gallera de Oro, Catotal Subd., Bavnai Village, Bago Aplaya Seaside, SUHAI Vil-lage and from crossing of Bago / Sitio Saka to Nalum Bridge. This water cut is needed for the tap-ping and interconnection of the newly installed 400mm diam-eter Mortar Line Coated Steel Pipe (MLCSP) transmission / distribution line from Tugbok Production Well No. 7 to the ex-isting 250mm diameter MLCSP and 150mm diameter Polyvinyl

Water interruptions in some city parts

CLOSURE. Kim Gargar (right) of Panalipdan Southern Mindanao Region and Bayan Southern Mindanao area spokesperson Sheena Duazo place a “Notice of Closure” streamer at the main door of Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 11 office after staging a protest rally yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

City to give P1-M aidto DavNor for PalaroBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

[email protected]

GRILLING. City Legal Office representative lawyer John Christopher T. Ma-hamud answers the queries of Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang regarding the Memorandum of Agreement between University of the Philippines and

the city government of Davao represented by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for the proposed Elias B. Lopez Sports Complex which was signed in 1998. Lean Daval Jr.

43 repatriated fishersundergo debriefing

Heightened alert assureddespite low threat level

FHEIGHTENED, 10

FWATER, 10

F43 REPATRIATED, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 20154

DCWD Matina holdstemporary offices

DAVAO City Water Dis-trict Matina office is under construction.

It is closed starting April 21, 2015.

Transacting public may pay water bills, apply for new service connections and request for other customer services at the temporary of-fice to open on May 4, 2015 along McArthur Highway (across Department of Bud-get and Management). This office will house the Finance and Property, Commercial Services and Pipelines and Appurtenances Mainte-

nance departments. Other DCWD departments will hold office at Sicos Properties building

near entrance of Luzviminda Subdivision along Ma-a National Highway. These are: offices of the Board secretariat, general manager, official spokes-person, Pollution Control and Safety, and Project Monitoring, Corporate Planning Department, Community Relations and External Affairs Depart-ment and Information and Communications Technology Department.

The DCWD Central Information Unit / Call Center will retain its 24-hour hotline number 297-DCWD (3293). The general public may also call / text 0927-7988966, 0925-5113293 and 0908-4410653 for other updates, com-plaints, queries and matters pertaining to DCWD services. Likewise, they may visit DCWD website (www.davao-water.gov.ph) and official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/davaowater).

Customers may also transact at DCWD offices in Bajada, Toril and Victo-ria Plaza.

DCWD management is apologizing for the inconvenience that the con-struction and transfer are causing its customers. It is also appealing for their understanding and cooperation. (Jamae G. Dela Cruz)

TOP social workers in the country conferred the Gawad Parangal Award

2015 to Davao del Norte Gov-ernor Rodolfo del Rosario as Outstanding Governor for his dedication in making the lives of his constituents better.

The governor received the award during the 19th Annual Forum and General Assembly of the Association of Local So-cial Welfare and Development Officers of the Philippines, Inc. (ALSWDOPI) held recently at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia.

The ALSWDOPI paid trib-ute to the outstanding local chief executives for their com-mitment in “extending unre-lenting commitment and full-est support to social welfare programs in their respective localities.”

The governor was among the three governors and five mayors who were given the citation.

The ALSWDOPI took note of del Rosario’s community empowerment programs that uplifted the quality of life of the Dabaonon people.

These include Project NOBLE (No Barangay Left be-hind) that provided P1-million worth of projects to each of the 223 barangays of the province; establishment of Barangay Council for the Protection of Children and Violence Against Women and their Children (VAWC) Desk; and, assigning the Community Affairs Officers as liaison of social services to all the barangays.

Under his watch, Davao del Norte also actively partic-ipated in the search for the

Huwarang Pamilyang Pilipino, where the province was the consistent regional winner in 2013 and 2014.

He carried out innova-tive, relevant and responsive policies and programs that pursued a balanced inclusive socio-economic development towards a better quality of life for all the Dabaonons.

The governor was known for the no-nonsense innova-tive strategies that he institut-ed during his five-term stint in office since 1998.

It started with the min-imum basic needs (MBN) approach to development, infrastructure-intensive RDR WHEELS agenda, to the hu-man-centered P.E.O.P.L.E. de-velopment strategy that is now interlaced with the climate change adaptation and disas-

THE City Investment and Promotions Office (CIPO) and the City

Business Permit and Licens-ing Office (CBPLO) of the City Government of Tagum have been recognized as “Best Per-formers” in the Province of Davao del Norte due to their outstanding performance in their respective fields.

The recognition was bestowed by the National Competitiveness Council of the Philippines (NCCP) and Department of Trade and In-dustry (DTI) together with Department of Interior and

Local Government (DTI) last April 6, 2015 at Apo View Ho-tel, Davao City.

CIPO and CBPLO were awarded as Best Investment Promotions Unit and Best Business Permit and Licens-ing Office in the Province be-ing part of the campaign of the National Competitiveness through improved business climate at LGU level for 2014.

The award was based primarily on the high satis-factory rate garnered over a citizen’s satisfactory survey jointly conducted by DTI and DILG.

“We, in our office are more inspired to work, think-ing that we are on the right tracked on doing our job for the people and because of this affirmation given we will work more to attain achieve-ment in our City”, Jasmin Rio-Angco said City Invest-ment Office head.

In a statement, Mayor Allan L. Rellon expressed his congratulations to both offic-es, adding that this is another proof of good governance be-ing championed by the local government. Gleiza Delgado/CIO Tagum

THE Davao del Norte Sangguniang Panlalaw-igan approved on their

Monday session the province’s comprehensive smoking ces-sation ordinance.

Dr. Agapito Hornido said that with the approval pend-ing its publication the provin-cial health department could already commence putting up no-smoking campaign sig-nages within the vicinity of the Capitol and the provincial sports complex, where the

Palarong Pambansa games will be staged on May 3 to 10.

The full effectivity of the ordinance throughout the province would be 90 days after its publication in a local newspaper.

“The Governor (Rodolfo del Rosario) wants the com-ing Palaro event as also smok-ing-free, for health as sports is meant for that in the first place and for the environment,” he said.

“We respect the right of

the smokers but we also want them to respect the right of the majority who don’t smoke,” he added.

The ordinance prohibits smoking in all public places, government offices and facil-lities and areas within them, while private establishments like hotels can put up a five-square-meter designated smoking area, without roofing cover and located not within 10 meters from the establish-ments’ entrances or exits as

EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIARDR is outstanding governorBy NOEL BAGUIO

DavNor SP approves province’s smoking ordinance

2 LGU Tagum’s offices are DavNor’s best performers

ter risk reduction and manage-ment.

With del Rosario’s sound

policies, Davao del Norte leap-frogged from the 52nd spot in the 2000 Human Development

Index, to 32nd in 2003 HDI, outpacing the other 20 Prov-inces already in the top 30.

certified by the anti-smoking task force of the local gov-ernment unit, Dr. Hornido in-formed.

The province has an an-ti-smoking ordinance legislat-ed in the 80s but it has no pe-nal provisions.

The approved compre-hensive ordinance carries a

penalty of P1,000, P2,000 and P3,000 for the first, second and third offenses, respective-ly, or a community service in case a violator cannot pay the amount for 8, 18 and 36 hours of community service.

Earnings derived from violations would go to the LGUs- 40 percent for both the

province and the municipality or city, and the remaining 20 percent for barangays.

Fifty percent of the LGU shares would be intended for smoking cessation programs, and the other 50 percent would be for other health pro-grams. Cha Monforte, Corre-spondent

OUTSTANDING GOV. Vice President Jejomar Binay confers the Gawad Parangal Award 2015 as Out-standing Governor to Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario during the 19th Annual Forum and General Assembly of the

Association of Local Social Welfare and Development Officers of the Philippines, Inc. (ALSWDOPI) at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia. Valerie del Ro-sario/PSWDO

DAVAO DEL NORTE’S BEST. The City Officials headed by Mayor Allan Rellon, with Dir. Eliza P. Mendoza, City DILG Director of Tagum City and City Business Permit and Licensing Officer

Noeme Cacayorin, received the award as Best Business Per-mit and Licensing Office during the Monday Flag Raising Cer-emony of LGU Tagum. Photo by Kelvin Palermo/CIO Tagum

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

AEON TOWERS. A sales agent of the Aeon Towers project of local developer FTC Group of Companies gives a walk through of the project to a prospective client at the SM City Davao Atrium. The mixed use development is reputed to be the tallest building in Mindanao when completed in 2016.

THE growing e-com-merce industry world-wide has saved the

multi-million courier sector in the Philippines, an official of Philippine Postal Corpora-tion (PHLPost) said.

“It’s true that the devel-opment of technology such as electronic mailing had an adverse effect to the mailing services such of PHLPost, but it is also the technology that saved it,” postmaster general Josie Dela Cruz said during the 23rd anniversary of the government-owned corpora-tion.

Dela Cruz said e-com-merce require physical deliv-ery services more than elec-tronic or email.

“E-commerce is a growing industry worldwide. It has an annual growth of 30 percent to 33 percent,” dela Cruz said. “This industry has huge po-tential for developing coun-tries like the Philippines.”

She said transaction in e-commerce is not limited to the domestic market but also abroad like United States of America.

However, PHLPost is not yet the leading express ser-vice provider in the country

because the sector is dom-inated by two large courier companies--LBC and 2Go.

“Bulk or 80 percent of our delivery is still mail, which are mostly for government offices nationwide,” dela Cruz said.

But, with its new services like the PHLPost Express, she expected that the participa-tion of the agency would be more active.

Expanding from mailing services, PHLPost will offer express services domestically and internationally.

Dela Cruz, who sat as postmaster in 2011, said the express service is available for domestic and internation-al destinations.

“For domestic destina-tions, the PHLPost Express is the fastest means of sending urgent messages, business documents or goods to ad-dresses within the Philip-pines,” she said.

Generally, domestic ex-press mail service (DEMS) items are delivered the next day after the date of mailing provided that they are posted on or before the prescribed cut-off time.

Meanwhile, Dela Cruz said the express service for

PHILPOST: E-commerce saved courier [email protected]

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

international destinations “is the fastest means of sending time-sensitive items to ad-dresses abroad.”

Any article such as docu-

ments, samples of merchan-dise and goods, not specifical-ly prohibited by regulations, can be sent via international express mail service (IEMS).

“Currently, the Philip-pines has a bilateral agree-ment with 45 countries for the reciprocal exchange of express mail services (EMS)

items,” she said.PHLPost is here to stay

because not the growing e-commerce industry, accord-ing to Dela Cruz.


A TOP official of the Depart-ment of Labor and Employ-ment (DOLE) urged private

establishments in Davao region to back its new program on em-ployment facilitation.

Labor and Employment Sec-retary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Bal-doz offered a personal invitation to local companies to support the newly-launched Jobstart Philip-pines program.

Jobstart Philippines is DOLE’s newest employment fa-cilitation program in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Government of Canada which aims to assist young Filipinos with career de-velopment pathways by creating opportunities to improve their technical skills and develop the life skills necessary for success in today’s competitive workplace through partnerships with em-ployers.

The cities of Davao and Tagum are among the pilot sites for the second-wave roll out of the program outside National Capital Region.

Speaking recently during

the signing of the program’s Memorandum of Understanding between the DOLE and the two city pilot cities for Davao region, Baldoz said she has high hopes that the companies will cooper-ate in the implementation of the program alongside with the local government units.

“I’ve seen the transformation of our beneficiaries though the partnership of our (first wave) pilot sites and private establish-ments. I hope that here aside from local government units through the PESO (Public Em-ployment Services Office), we will implement it together with your companies representing private investors of the region,” she said.

“Expect that we will conduct series of thorough discussions with private establishments and investors to gain your support,” Baldoz said, addressing about 100 audience including PESO managers, HR managers, busi-ness owners and leaders from at least 38 private establishments who came to witness the event. (Roberto A. Gumba, Jr./DOLE-GIP)

THE ECONOMY6 EDGEDAVAO

THE meeting, incentives, conventions and ex-hibit (MICE) industry

in Davao City continues to grow for the past three years because of the entry of new tourism-related establish-ments.

“The opening of new stores and entry of Ma-nila-based companies con-tributed a lot in making the MICE industry here thriving for the past three years,” MICE Organizer Ventures (MOVE) Davao member Karl’s Stefan Singson said in last Monday’s

Kapehan sa Daabaw at SM City Annex.

Singson said new hotels and malls provided addition-al venues and function rooms for big events.

“The entry of SMX La-nang Convention Center is a sign that Davao City is ready to host bigger and better events,” Singson said.

“As we all know in Mind-anao, Davao City is the home to the biggest and best par-ties. As I remember, parties held in Davao get as much as 12,000 participants,” she said.

People are now more willing to spend. They are more outgoing and hold more events in the past years, ac-cording to Singson.

The social media also contributed in making the MiCE industry grow for the past years.

More parties, she said, should be organized in the city to encourage night life without compromising city ordinances and laws.

“This would encourage allied industries lie the bar and restaurants as well as

the transportation industry to take part and earn more,” Singson said.

In connection, MOVE Davao will be holding a cul-mination party event called the Heat Wave Summer End Party on May 16 at the Matins Town Square (ts) Pavilion .

The event will be for the closing of the ongoing Visit Davao Fun Sale 2015, a city-wide sales and discounts in shopping, dining and adven-ture.

“We’ve invited one disc jockey from Manila and three

from Davao,” Singson said.She said that this event

will be different from previ-ous parties in the city because it will be a black light party.

“The party will be free for participants who can present a VDFS passport or the down-loaded VDFS application upon entry in the area,” she added.

There will be also raffle promo and contest for VDFS passport and digital holders.

She said ordinances on non-smoking and liquor ban will be implemented strictly

in the party.“We will assure that there

will be no minors drinking and smoking in the area,” Singson said.

MOVE Davao is the of-ficial event organizers as-sociation in Davao city. The Department of Tourism or-ganized the group to help the MICE industry grow further.

“They want to help us improve the industry by cre-ating more events hat will make Davao City a better and a livelier place o be,” Singson said.

MICE industry thriving in [email protected]

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

THE province is now pushing for the influx of more investments

as it opened the Compostela Valley Investment Promotion and Business Resource Center (CVIPBRC).

During its launching last month, in time for the annu-al Bulawan Festival, Depart-ment of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao Region Offi-cer-in-Charge Maria Belenda Q. Ambi and Governor Arturo “Chiongkee” T. Uy signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) which spells out their offices’ respective responsibil-ities.

A ribbon-cutting cere-mony was done to signal the official opening of the center. It was witnessed by local offi-

cials, including the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and District I Representative Maricar Zamora. On the other hand, DTI-Compostela Valley Officer-in-Charge Lucky Sieg-fred M. Balleque and Local Economic and Investments Promotion Officer (LEIPO) Christine T. Dompor signed as witnesses to the MOA.

With the MOA, the Provin-cial Government and DTI Com-val then agreed to complement the services provided by the CVIPC with the services pro-vided by Business Resource Center thru the establishment of an integrated investment promotion and business re-source center located at the Provincial Tourism Office.

Located at the ground

floor of the Provincial Capitol in Nabunturan, the center is expected to serve as the prov-ince’s investment facilitation arm which is mandated to lure more investors into the area. This will be headed by Dom-por.

Balleque said this develop-ment actually signals the start of a more investor-friendly cli-mate in the province.

In 2014, Compostela Val-ley was able to corner mut-li-million investments poured in by four different malls all over the province.

“This is also a strategy to augur development among our local MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises),” he said.

DTI-Comval has been

mandated to establish a Busi-ness Resource Center through the Shared Service Facility (SSF) Project. The said center serves as a support system to facilitate the growth of the MS-MEs, as well as promote and facilitate investments in the province.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Government has also initiated the establishment of Compos-tela Valley Investment Promo-tion Center through Executive Order No. 029-2013 issued by Governor Uy. The EO man-dates to serve the needs of investors through the promo-tion and facilitation of invest-ments in the priority industry cluster province of Composte-la Valley. DTI-CV/Kim Evange-lio/jmm

Comval lures more investments thru CenterCompostela Valley Gov. Arturo T. Uy (right) and DTI –Davao Region Officer-in-Charge Maria Belenda Q. Ambi sign the MOA for the CVIPBRC. Witnessing the event are (from right) Board Member Macario Humol,

Board Member Ramil Gentugaya, Rep. Maricar Zamora, DTI-Comval OIC Atty. Lucky Siegfred Balleque and Provincial LEIPO Christine Dompor witnessed the signing.

IN its aim to reduce the rate of unemployment among the Tagumenyo youths, Tagum

City has found the means to improve the employability of its 18-24 year-old residents by becoming one of the second wave of pilot implementation sites of JobStart Philippines, a flagship program implement-ed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), in partnership with the Canadian Government and the Asian De-

velopment Bank (ADB).The implementation of Job-

Start Philippines in Tagum City is geared towards addressing the prevailing skills gap in the job market by assisting the youths of the city develop their career paths as well as by creating op-portunities to improve their technical skills and develop the life skills needed to successfully compete in today’s workplace.

With the signing of the Memorandum of Undertaking

between the DOLE and the City of Tagum, the local government, through its Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and with the assistance of the

JobStart Unit, guarantees that the resident youths of the city will have access to career guidance, employment coach-ing, trainings on technical and life skills such as job-hunting skills, networking and personal and interpersonal skills. These youths will also gain work ex-

perience in companies through on-the-job trainings (OJTs) or internships.

To be eligible for the pro-gram, a would-be registered and selected beneficiary should be between 18-24 years old who is a high school graduate with less than one year of work experi-ence. The beneficiary should also be one who is currently unem-ployed, not enrolled and is not in education or in training program. (Richi D. Gulle of CIO-Tagum)

Tagum City to offer JobStart program

THE Philippines has the capacity to sustain its robust economic

growth, said IHS Global In-sight, a United States-based think tank.

“The Philippines econo-my has the capacity for robust long-term economic growth to average around 5.5 per-cent per year over the 2016 to 2020 time horizon,” IHS Asia Pacific Chief Economist Rajiv Biswas said Tuesday.

Biswas noted that the information technology-busi-ness process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry and remit-tances from Filipino workers abroad will remain the growth drivers for the country.

He added that the IT-BPO and remittances will bolster the local construction sec-tor; in particular, the former strengthens office space de-mand in commercial proper-ty sector while the latter will push demand on residential housing construction.

As the strong gross do-

mestic product (GDP) growth of the Philippines is project-ed to be maintained, Biswas mentioned that the country’s GDP at end-2015 is seen to hit USD310 billion and at USD500 billion by 2020.

By 2029, the Southeast Asian country is expected to be a trillion-dollar economy hitting USD1.05 trillion GDP.

“IHS forecasts that total GDP per person in the Phil-ippines will rise from around USD3,000 in 2015 to around USD6,000 by 2024. This has considerable implications for the size of the Philippines consumer economy. These significant increases in per capita GDP will create one of ASEAN’s largest consumer markets of the future, as the middle class rapidly expands over time,” Biswas said.

“This will help to at-tract foreign direct invest-ment by multinationals into the Philippines man-ufacturing and services in-dustry,” he added. (PNA)

DOLE asks businessmen: Back JobStart Philippines

Long-term growthseen for Phl economy


EDGEDAVAOINdulge! STYLE Exercising is injected in their daily routine. Nikka in

M&S Collection Navy Dot Scallop swimsuit & cream Pashminetta sarong; Kenn in M&S Collection Navy Linen shirt & Blue Harbor Core Swim Shorts in black.

Kenn is a poster boy in his university. On Kenn: Blue Harbor Grid Gingham top & navy Boat Print swim shorts, lemon crew inner shirt from M&S Collection.

SUMMER BUDDIES with summer bodies. These two friends must have the most envi-able bodies in Holiday Gym today, fit and shapely enough to sport the perfect gear for the season without any hesitation — swim-wear. They did work hard for what they have and now more than ever, they are ready for their Boracay escapade.

Summer styles for SUMMER BUDDIES

Kenn Te and Nikka Go have become focused with their exercise regimen since their teenage years. Nikka, now 24 and work-ing as a Civil Engineer for a construction firm, and Kenn, 21 and a third year Management Marketing student, are not stopping anytime soon. They have injected exercising into their daily routine and see themselves still fit and buffed ten years from now. “I couldn’t imagine my-self any other way,” said Nikka. “It’s a ‘once you pop you can’t stop’ thing for me. When something has be-come a routine, and when you see results, stopping would be the most difficult thing to do,” shared Nik-ka. Kenn nodded in agree-ment and said, “I will sus-

tain this lifestyle as long as I don’t get physically chal-lenged.” Why should they stop? Nikka, who sees herself in the 40% level on her per-sonal ‘road to ideal body’ rating, confesses that at her current physique has boosted her confidence while Kenn, who humbly said he is still in his first stage, admits that he’s feeling the advantages— looking good. “Who says health and vanity can’t work hand in hand?,” asked the two, grinning. Yes, they do look good, great, in fact, and wear their Marks & Spencer swimsuits well. Here’s a little more they share about themselves.

What’s it like in a day of a health buff?

Nikka: The day starts with lemon water before break-fast, and do a little cardio before I head on over to the gym. It’s work and er-rands for the rest of the day. If I am not too tired by the time I get home, I do a light ab workout be-fore hitting the sack. Kenn: It’s school for me, and the gym after classes.

What got you into fitness?Nikka: I always hated my-self after watching the Vic-toria Secret Fashion Show. That’s when I realized I had to do something to change that. Kenn: I have a particu-lar look of body I want to achieve. That’s my goal and when I reach it, I’ll make sure to maintain it.

How often are you in the gym and what’s your ex-ercise regimen? Nikka: Six days a week and I like to work out dur-ing noon when I enjoy the “alone” time. I switch workouts daily to allow the muscle to recover. Sun-day is rest day. You may think that working really hard can get you results but it actually does your body more harm. Don’t over-do it.Kenn: Everyday at 3PM for 45 minutes to an hour. I workout body parts al-ternately but my favorite is pumping the chest and biceps. But I keep the ex-ercises balanced and never skip “leg day”. Chicken legs are not good to look at.

Any other exercises?Nikka: I like running. It’s the only workout that lets me think and be produc-tive at the same time. I sometimes practice yoga, which is a really good core workout.Kenn: Basketball. It’s my favorite sport.

Your diet?Nikka & Kenn: Low carbs, high protein diet, and lots of fiber.

How do you inspire oth-ers to jump in the healthy bandwagon?Kenn: Leading by ex-ample. If people have witnessed how you’ve achieved your ideal body properly, then you have set the path for them.Nikka: I want to show peo-ple that there are no limits to what one can achieve. You can do anything you put your mind to.

With the coming annual search for healthy bod-ies of Holiday Gym, what tips can you give the can-didates?Kenn: Work out hard and follow a proper diet.Nikka: Make sure every-thing’s in proportion— workout is complemented with the proper diet. I share my other fitness tips in my blog www.theasian-superwoman.com.

“I’m 40% on my ideal body scale.” Nikka in Limited Collection Palm Black Bandeau & Bikini ensemble, M&S Collection Double Pave bangles.

Photography: Wizbren AngStyling: Otoy MercadoClothes: Marks & SpencerShot on location at the Seda Abreeza Hotel poolside

These are some of the new things to love at The Body Shop as it intro-duces its Drops of Youth, Red Musk Fragrance, and Limited Edition Forbid-den Flower collections. Drops of Youth, which is made from edelweiss flower stem cells sourced from the Alps, replenishes your skin in the most nat-

ural way. Left overnight without washing off, the lightweight pliable mask moulds itself like a second skin. In the morning, skin feels smooth, hydrated, and pumped; and looks younger and fresher. Red Musk, The Body Shop’s most unconven-tional scent to date, breaks the rules by turning up the

SM SUPERMALLS, in partnership with Earth Day Network Philippines (EDNP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, will once again participate in the annual global celebration of Earth Day that is held every 22nd of April.

AIRASIA PHILIPPINES, the Filipino Low Cost Carrier that flies hand in hand with AirAsia, voted the World’s Best Low Cost Carrier for six consecutive years, has signed a partnership agreement with Sodexo, the world’s largest Qual-ity of Life services com-pany and the leading provider of preferred gift certificates in the Philippines. The partner-ship between two global brands allows travelers to enjoy the convenience of paying for their AirA-sia seats and products using Sodexo Premium Passes. AirAsia Philippines’ Head of Commercial, Ge-rard Peñaflor said, “We are excited to be part of this joint pioneering effort that provides ad-

ditional convenience for our guests. Sodexo Pre-mium Pass holders now have easy access to AirA-sia’s promotional fares and awesome destina-tions spanning across all Asean countries and be-yond with over 90 desti-nations.” AirAsia is the first air-line to join Sodexo’s list of over 8,000 accredited partner establishments. Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Chief Executive

Officer, Jerome Lem-ouchoux said, “Our aim is to provide our con-sumers the best gifting experience in the coun-try by making sure that they can use our Gift Cer-tificates at top preferred merchants. As traveling is also a preferred activ-ity of our consumers, we are delighted to partner with AirAsia as they be-come part of our exten-sive merchant network.” To celebrate the part-

nership, AirAsia if offer-ing promotional fares from as low as P599 base fare only for flights to/from Manila, Kalibo (Boracay), Puerto Princ-esa (Palawan), Tagbilaran (Bohol), Tacloban, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro City including flights to/from interna-tional destinations of Incheon, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Ma-cau. Booking period for the special promo starts today until 26 April 2015 for travel period from 22 April to 30 September 2015. Sodexo Premium Passes are now accepted at AirAsia Travel and Ser-vice Centers (ATSC) lo-cated in SM Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa and at NAIA Terminal 4 in Metro Manila.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015EDGEDAVAOSTYLE

AN overnight mask that helps your skin bounce back to youth. A fragrance that changes the rules by using the sensuality and warmth of spices blended with musk to approach femininity differently. A seductive Forbidden Flower Collection that turns on the heat for Valentine.

In support to the objec-tive of Earth Day Network, all SM Supermalls on April 22 will have a relevant and impactful mall-wide celebration of Earth Day through a simultaneous and highlighted Trash to Cash activity. This activity aims to encourage people to protect and respect Mother Earth though re-cycling and proper waste disposal. Mindanao SM malls are actively participating in this mall-wide activity. SM City General Santos and SM City Cagayan de Oro will hold the event at the Ground level of Car Park Building, SM City Davao at Parking C and SM Lanang Premier at Open Parking D

beside the SM Store, which will start with a short pro-gram at 9:30 in the morn-ing. Earth Day Trash to Cash begins at 10:00am and is open to the public until 4:00pm. Participants can bring their recyclables and have them exchanged for cash. The first 300 par-ticipants will be given free Sando Bags. SM partners with the lo-cal government, commu-nities, social and environ-mental organizations and other private companies in this eco-friendly initiative. For many years, SM has been an advocate and ex-tremely active in support-ing undertakings for envi-ronmental conservation.

Forbidden Flower Body Butter gives your skin the pleasure of pure potent moisture.

Drops of Youth Wonderblur is a skin smoother that reduce fine lines and pores for an even, flawless finish.

Inspired by the poppy flower, the Eau De Toilette blends captivating spices, seductive florals, and woody notes for a desirable, indulgent fragrance. For instant skin gratification, envelop yourself in the soap-free Shower Gel with a sensual floral scent; and indulge in the Body Lotion that leaves your skin sensually silky.

Drops of Youth Bouncy Sleeping Mask is designed to be left on overnight without washing off. The lightweight, pliable mask molds itself like a second skin, making skin look younger and fresher.

SM Supermalls to celebrate Earth Day on April 22

New things to love at

Body Shop

AirAsia now accepts Sodexo Premium Passes as payment for airline tickets

heat on the codes of femi-nine fragrance. This all-spice fragrance combines the sharpness of pepper, the warmth of cinnamon, and the softness of tobac-co. The Limited Edition Forbidden Flower collec-tion lavishes your skin a most enticing body care and fragrance line inspired by the poppy flower. Known for its values about protecting the plan-et, The Body Shop prod-ucts are never tested on an-imals thus making a policy on Animal Testing. While these products also carry

a value on social change, The Body Shop has a Com-munity Fair Trade (CFT) program, where high-quality natural ingredients are sourced out from the four corners of the globe to bring benefits to small-holders and artisans. The Drops of Youth and Red Musk collections are available at The Body Shop stores nationwide, while Forbidden Flower Collec-tion is available at selected The Body Shop branches. All SM Advantage Card members can now earn and redeem points in all The Body Shop stores.

UP AND ABOUT

THE VOICE Phil-ippines Season 2 grand winner Ja-son Dy along with finalists Leah Patri-cio, Rita Martinez, and Suy Galvez will kick of SM City Davao’s 3 Day Sale on April 30, 6:00 PM at the Annex Event Center. SM City Davao’s most awaited 3-Day Sale on May 1 to 3 be-comes bigger with one extra day for glorious shopping on April 30. The 23-year old professional “harani-

sta” from Butuan City bagged the latest Voice season grand prize last March. Dy’s rendition of “Stay with Me” turned the chairs of 3 competi-tion judges Sara Geroni-mo, APL de Ap and Leah Salonga. Chill down the summer heat on Thurs-day and jam with The Voice Season 2 finalists. Avail of up to 10% ad-ditional markdowns on top of existing discounts with SM Advantage, Prestige and Rewards Cards during the SMAC Sale Special happen-ing April 30, 10:00AM to 12:00 at the SM Store,

Toy Kingdom, Surplus, Ace Hardware, SM Ap-pliance Center, Watsons

and Levi’s. Also, great treats await loyal shop-pers at the SM Super-

INdulge! A3VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

Voice of the Philippines Season 2 finalists at SM Davao 3 Day Sale

AFTER Kapuso Pri-metime Queen Marian Rivera an-nounced her with-drawal from the upcoming prime-time drama series The Rich Man’s Daughter due to her pregnancy, ver-satile actress Rhian Ramos will now play the role of Jade Tanchingco in the said series. The actress expressed

her excitement on be-ing part of the ground-breaking series and she looks forward to the challenge of playing the role of Jade, “Nagpapas-alamat po ako sa GMA sa tiwalang binigay sa akin na gampanan ang role na Jade sa teleseryeng The Rich Man’s Daugh-ter. I look forward to the challenge of portraying the character.” She will be joined by Glaiza de Castro, Luis

Alandy, Katrina Halili, Mike Tan, Chynna Or-taleza, Sheena Halili and Ms. Gloria Romero. The Rich Man’s Daughter also stars Pauleen Luna, Paolo Contis, TJ Trinidad, Charee Pineda, Stepha-nie Sol with Al Tantay, Glydel Mercado, Tony Mabesa, Eva Darren. Under the direction of Dominic Zapata, The Rich Man’s Daughter is set to premiere this May on GMA Telebabad.

DON’T MISS the real-time action when Manny Pac-quiao clashes with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the most an-ticipated boxing match of the cen-tury by watching its live coverage via pay-per-view on ABS-CBN TVplus ABS-CBN TVplus Ang Mahiwagang Black Box. Subscribers can watch the historic fight on May 3 (8AM) in crys-tal clear picture with no commercial breaks at P2,500, which will be offered by ABS-CBN TV-plus until April 30. Now, not only cable TV subscribers get to watch the match live.

Those who have the Mahiwagang Black Box at their homes can now tune in via pay-per-view with a payment of P2,500. To order, just visit the ABS-CBN online store (abscbnstore.com) and pay using credit card or debit card. Another way is to text PACMAY to 23661. Those who will be using this method

will receive a call from ABS-CBN TVplus’ hot-line and will be asked to go to any LBC outlet to settle their payment and give their ‘mahiwa-gang black box’’s serial number. PPV can also be re-quested upon purchase of the box at the ABS-CBNmobile store. Con-sumers may also place their orders by texting

23661 and calling (632) 488-8888 or 1800-10-4888888 (outside Metro Manila), and their boxes will be delivered straight to their homes. The historic match will be aired on TVPlus Xtra Channel, which will be activated within 48 upon payment. ABS-CBN TVplus’ digital signal is available in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Ben-guet, and Metro Cebu. For questions, call (632) 488-8888 and 1800-10-4888888 (outside Metro Manila), or text 23661. For additional informa-tion on ABS-CBN TVplus, visit www.facebook.com/abscbntvplus.

market and The Body Shop. Enjoy great deals and awesome discounts of up to 70% at the SM City Davao 3 Day Sale. Get a chance to win 1 of the 4 Suzuki Raider J 115 for every purchase of P1,000. On May 2, Saturday, pop rock princess Yeng Constantino is set to perform songs from her latest album All About Love. On Sunday, the most loveable turtle he-roes, the Teenage Mu-tant Ninja Turtles, joins SM City Davao’s 3 Day Sale at the Annex Event

Center. Catch Jason Dy to-gether with Leah, Rita and Suy at SM Davao. Get a chance to meet and greet the Voice Season 2 finalists with a minimum single receipt purchase of P1000 sin-gle purchase dated April 30, 2015 from any SM City Davao tenant. For 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 up-dates.

Rhian Ramos takes over lead role of The Rich Man’s Daughter

ABS-CBN TVplus offers pay-per-view of Pacquiao-Mayweather mega fight

PG

PG

PG/

*PG1:00 | 4:00 LFS / * 7:40 LFS

R-16

FURIOUS 7 / *THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker

PG 12:00 | 3:05 | 6:10 | 9:15 LFS

THE AVENGERS:AGE OF ULTRON

12:45 | 3:50 | 6:55 | 10:00 LFS

THE AVENGERS:AGE OF ULTRON

Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth

11:15 | 2:20 | 5:25 | 8:30 LFS


THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON 3D


April 22, 2015

A4 INdulge!STYLE

Look fab with Fine Barley and Premium HyC150

Premium HyC150 and Fine Barley Extract Leaves are produced through years of sci-entific research under Fine Ja-pan Co. Ltd. to rejuvenate the body that suffers from stress-related illnesses due to harm-ful pollutants and unhealthy lifestyle.

Japan has a long history of use of Barley Leaves Extract (BLE) for maintaining healthy and young skin and treatment of degenerative diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Barley Leaves Extract is com-posed of young barley leaves and other cereal grasses found to be rich in natural vitamins - vitamins and enzymes that are essential in our daily diets.

Found to contain great amounts of natural chloro-phyll, BLE has enzymes used in human metabolism and substances that can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. With its purifying effect, Barley leaves

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015EDGEDAVAO

Love your skin. Give yourself and your loved ones the perfect gift of good health and inner beauty with Fine Barley Extract Leaves and Premium HyC150, two potent supplements that are rich in natural vita-mins, minerals and enzymes to give you great healthy, youthful skin.

extract helps the body to elimi-nate many toxins that would otherwise accumulate, leading to disease.

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Barley Leaves Extract is a complete source of vitamins and its natural. It contains an extraordinary number of vi-tamins such as carotenoids (which converts to vitamin A), vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, E, nia-cin, choline, biotin, and panto-thenic acid.

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Premium HyC150 gar-nered the Gold Award at the 2014 Monde Selection Qual-ity Awards in Brussels. This product combines three youth-inducing elements of collagen, hyaluronic acid and ubiqui-nol. For greater potency, the product also has other active ingredients like vitamin C, biotin, elastin and Pearl Coix. Based on clinical studies done in Japan, North America and Europe, about 93% of users reported improved skin, hair and nails with continued use. Although results vary per indi-vidual, it only takes one to two weeks to see the results and feel the changes.

For more information, vis-it our website at www.HyC150.com; like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HyC150; follow us on Twit-ter #HyC150 or Instagram @HyC150, or call (02) 5467297, 09177750779. Available at se-lected Watsons stores nation-wide.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 7EDGEDAVAO

ENVIRONMENT

Raising crocodilesis good businessText and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO

THE Philippines is home to two species of croco-diles. Both remain “crit-

ically endangered” and need to be protected, according to Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim, di-rector of the Biodiversity Man-agement Bureau (BMB), a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Re-sources (DENR).

In a news feature pub-lished in “Business Mirror,” Lim said that only the saltwa-ter crocodile (known in the science world as “Crocodylus porosus”) is allowed for com-mercial production.

As for the freshwater crocodile (“Crocodylus mind-orensis”), trading it is strictly prohibited by law. The Inter-national Union for Conser-vation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species listed it as “critically endangered,” which means it is in very high risk of extinction.

“While the government is promoting crocodile farming, these giant reptiles continue

to face the threat of extinction,” wrote Jonathan L. Mayuga, au-thor of the news feature, who quoted Lim.

While saltwater crocodile can be raised commercially, it is still listed under Convention on International Trade in En-dangered Species of Wild Fau-na and Flora (CITES) Appendix I. As such, trade in specimens of the species is still subject to particularly strict regulation in order not to endanger further their survival.

Mayuga quoted Lim as saying that crocodile farming is good business. “She said the Philippines has the potential of becoming a major suppli-er of crocodile skins. In fact, some farms have started to ex-port crocodile skins as early as 2010 even at a small volume,” Mayuga reported.

Unfortunately, farmers who raised crocodiles are still having hard time when it comes to producing quality crocodile skins.

“Our farmers in Kapulong,

Davao City, Tarlac and Rizal have been successfully breed-ing crocodiles in captivity. The species has been historical-ly recorded to occur in most parts of the country, thus, crocodile farming may work anywhere else in the country. However, establishment of crocodile farms in areas that experience flooding during rainy season is not advised,” Lim was quoted as saying.

The mere thought of a crocodile makes some people shudder with fear and revul-sion. A rumor about the pres-ence of a crocodile in a river is enough to make people shun the area. After all, they are dangerous creatures, especial-ly during the mating period.

According to the BMB, crocodiles actually have no any wilful inclination and in-tention to attack humans. In

fact, there are many wildlife sanctuaries in the country wherein crocodiles live peace-fully together with human be-ings.

It is only when human beings try to disturb the hab-itat the crocodiles are living in that they attack people. With the current population of 100 million and the land area be-ing constant, there is no way people won’t claim those ar-eas currently being inhabited by crocodiles.

“Crocodiles are being hunted down and killed,” de-plored one environmentalist. “Unless we do something to save them from vanishing in our waters, they will soon be extinct. We may only see them in national parks or museums and not in their natural habi-tat.”

“Roughly a quarter of the

world’s 23 crocodilian species is either threatened or virtual-ly extinct in the wild,” deplores the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Crocodile Specialist Group. “Before new popula-tions of Philippine crocodiles were discovered on the island of Luzon in 1999, none had been spotted in the wild for years.”

While most Filipinos fear crocodiles in the past, such is not the case today. Some businessmen found out a few years ago that there’s money in crocodiles. “Growing global de-mand for croc-patterned luxu-ries has turned commercial crocodile farming into a profit-able industry – with more than $200 million in annual interna-tional sales of skins alone,” re-ports the IUCN Crocodile Spe-cialist Group. “The high-end leather goods produced from crocodiles earn ten times that amount in retail sales.”

Aside from the skin, other parts of the reptile have mon-etary value. The oil, derived from its flesh, has also a big market. It is widely used as stabilizer for perfumes and cosmetics.

Crocodile meat, which tastes like chicken meat if properly cooked, can be canned for export to some Eu-ropean countries. In the United States, people are eating dish-es like crocojambalaya, ‘gator steak, and croco-spiced Cajun.

The meat also commands a good price in some Asian countries, especially those having large populations of

ethnic Chinese people. They considered crocodile meat a delicacy. In Thailand, dry croc-odile meat costs about US$120 per kilogram.

Due to uncontrolled hunt-ing of crocodiles for their valu-able hides and other parts and the continued destruction of their natural habitat by human beings, the population of croc-odiles in the Philippines dwin-dled. In 1982, the population of crocodiles was about 500 to 1,000 heads. No current data is available.

The best way to save croc-odiles in the Philippines from extinction is by raising them just like other animals. As an enterprise, crocodile farming doesn’t break any laws. Farms are legally allowed to operate, as well as to sell skins and meat from their stocks.

“Crocodile farming was introduced to prevent the fur-ther decline of the crocodile population in the wild,” said Lim. “With importers of croc-odile skin buying from croc-odile farms that offer them good-quality skin, hunting in the wild will eventually stop.”

“Going into crocodile farm-ing is not about making profit alone. It is about wildlife con-servation,” said Vicente P. Mer-cado, president of J.K. Mercado & Sons Agricultural Enterprise, which runs the Pag-asa Farms in Pag-asa, Kapalong, Davao del Norte. Pag-asa Farms is one of the six cooperators licensed by the government to operate crocodile farms in the Philip-pines.

Pangil, the country’s longest crocodile.

Marc Nelson with young crocodile.

Enclosed crocodiles at the Davao Crocodile Park.


VANTAGE

National interestEDITORIAL

MAYOR Rodrigo Duterte’s dislike – or, in his own words, hatred – of the Americans is of epic proportions. His fall-ing out with the US government happened in 2002 when

agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spirited American citizen Michael Terrence Meiring out of the city – and the country – without approval from the city and national gov-ernments. Meiring, it will be remembered, had been injured in an explosion inside Evergreen Hotel in Davao City. He claimed to be a treasure hunter but has been accused of being a Central Intelli-gence Agency (CIA) agent out to create chaos in Mindanao. Duter-te would later reveal that then-US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone flew in to the city right after the explosion and met with him to express concern over the Meiring incident. “Since then, the US government (has) failed to fully explain to me how come they violated our sovereign right to prosecute Meiring who committed a crime here in our city,” Duterte has said.

Since then, Duterte has regularly snubbed events attended by US ambassadors in the city. He has also never minced words about

his view of the US government, at one time saying the Americans had connections with known terror groups in the Philippines. The US, for its part, has been casing the mayor and once said he had known connections with the communist New People’s Army (NPA) – something the mayor did not even bother to deny. But now the mayor is ready to set aside his hatred of the US if only to address a bigger and more pressing threat: the incursions of China on disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). In this case, national interest supersedes his personal quar-rel with the US, and he is man enough to admit it.

It is, of course, currently beyond Duterte’s responsibilities to actually engage the issue in an official manner. The popular no-tion is that he is gunning for the presidency, and so it is good to know that if he does make it, then any personal issues he has with anyone – even an entire country – will be set aside if the national interest dictates it. It is a form of pragmatism that moves beyond niceties and goes straight to the issues that affect the lives of each and every one of us.

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

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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FUNNY PEARL GAJUNERACHA MONFORTE

Correspondents

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Reporters

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

LATELY we have been hearing the incessant debates on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and

the clamor for the adoption of federalism in the country as a solution to the per-ceived skewed development approach adopted by several administrations in the past. Foremost advocate is Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte, so far one of the two top gainers in recent poll survey conduct-ed by the Social Weather Stations (SWS). In fact, when compared with the other gainer, Sen. Grace Poe, Mayor Duterte is a better opinion polls performer, consider-ing that technically he has no national au-dience, unlike the good senator, and that he is a mere city mayor. He must be made of sterner stuff for people outside Mind-anao to have begun to take him seriously.

Maybe a little review of fundamental concepts will be helpful in making us un-derstand better the passionate cries for genuine autonomy in Muslim Mindanao or the adoption of a federal system in the whole country. “Nation” is a cultur-al concept. “State” is political and legal. The former is a perception that a group of people belongs to one enlarged com-munity, sharing a similar culture. The latter pertains to a politico-legal status of one or several enlarged communities,

p o s s e s s i n g the require-ments for s t a t e h o o d under public international law. A state may contain several na-tions and a nation may not necessar-ily be a state. A state that contains a singular nation is called a na-tion-state. Most culturally homogenous countries, such as South Korea, Maldives, etc., are rightly considered nation-states. Countries such as China, Malaysia, Sin-gapore, Russia, the United States, etc. are states that contain various nations within. The several Indian nations in North America are examples of cultural communities subsumed into a different state – the United States of America. The same can be said about the aborigines of Australia, New Zealand and Brazil, Chechnya in Russia, etc. What about the Philippines?

I posit that the Philippines is rough-ly 75 percent nation-state. We have not

attained yet the ideal, complete cultural homogeneity but we are moving forward to that goal. Among key factors that con-tinue to hamper us are geography and regionalism. We are likely to consider ourselves as an Ilonggo, Tagalog, Bisaya, Ilokano, etc. rather as a Filipino. Preju-dices and cultural icons are also used to strengthen our regional identities – in the end, reinforcing our differences, in-stead of our shared traits. For centuries, the Muslims never identified themselves as Filipinos. In fact, the concept “Muslim” itself does not refer to a singular cultural community. It is a religious category. A quick review of our pre-colonial history tells us that Maynilad was a mere out-skirts then, ruled by a sultan. And the Muslims in Mindanao were never sub-jugated by any foreign power. Consider then the pride of these people which was easily swept aside when the Spaniards established the colonial capital in Manila or when the Americans inaugurated the Republic with a highly centralized ad-ministration.

There are countries that performed better in assimilating sub-regional groups into the mainstream culture. The northern tribes of Japan, the various kingdoms and principalities of Italy and

Lorraine in France, among others, are few examples of successful integration of a minority culture into the dominant, national identity. To date, there are still countries suffering from conflicts due to cultural divide and the apparent notion of age-old neglect. The Chechen rebels in Russia, the Muslims in China, Irish re-publicans in UK, Karens of Burma, and even the blacks and Hispanics in the US are excellent examples. The same can be said about the Muslims in southern Phil-ippines.

The struggle in the south is sover-eignty-based in origin. It was only when the Tripoli Agreement was inked when the rebels initially abandoned hopes for a free and independent country of their own. The ARMM is merely an attempt to materialize the desire for an autonomous or self-governing set-up confined in a fi-nite territory. It was a failed experiment, however. The BBL intends to cure that anomaly by instituting more genuine re-forms that uniquely reflect the desires of the some people. We owe it to them that they stopped clamoring for an indepen-dent nation of their own. Mind you, they have the historic-legal reason to do so. You do not kill a good idea with a bullet. Only a better idea does.

TODAY, we live in a world where ev-erything seems to be larger than life. People don’t pay attention

anymore to things that are trivial. Most people don’t say, “Thank you,” anymore. If you do, the recipient won’t reply, “You’re welcome.”

But are there really small things? “Sometimes when I consider what tre-mendous consequences come from lit-tle things – a chance word, a tap on the shoulder, or a penny dropped on a news-stand – I am tempted to think… there are no little things,” Bruce Barton comment-ed.

We think so, too. In 1776, one vote gave America the English language in-stead of German. In 1800, one vote in the Electoral College gave Thomas Jefferson the Presidency over Aaron Burr. In 1868, only one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment. In 1876, one vote gave Rutherford D. Hayes the Presi-dency of the United States.

David used a small stone to kill the giant named Goliath. Three simple words – “I love you” – can start a lifetime com-mitment. Only one fling can destroy a re-lationship. And, yes, it only takes a spark to start a fire. “Men trip not on mountains; they stumble on stones,” goes a Chinese saying.

Great men and women from the past – such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gand-hi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Te-

resa – changed the course of history by performing a series of little things.

B e n j a -min Franklin points out how import-ant the little things are if we wish to reach our goals: “For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost; being over-taken and slain by the enemy, all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.”

Henri Frederic Amiel reminds, “What we call little things are merely the caus-es of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of depar-ture which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One sin-gle black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution.”

“It’s the little details that are vital. Lit-tle things make big things happen,” John Wooden reminds.

Laurie Beth Jones, author of The Power of Positive Prophecy, related her own story about a former boss who didn’t want her to spend so much time with clients. “Go

after the big clients,” she was told. “Leave the peanuts to the others.”

But still she did what she wanted to do. “When the numbers were totaled,” she wrote, “my combination of small sales outtotaled his few big ones.”

Jones resigned from her job and start-ed her own company. “Dinosaurs became extinct yet rabbits still abound,” she point-ed out.

Now, let me tell you a story that was featured in 365 Moments to Cherish by Robert Strand:

At age 21, Jacques Lafitte, a son of a very poor carpenter from a small city, set out to seek his fortune and future life’s work in Paris. He had no references from influential people no brilliant academic career behind him, but he was young and full of hope.

With his usual thoroughness, he start-ed looking for a job. Days became weeks, and still he had no job or income. But he kept at it. Nobody in Paris noticed this de-termined young man.

One morning, he applied at the of-fice of a famous Swiss banker, Monsieur Perregaux. The banker asked him few questions about himself. Then, he slowly shook his head and said there would be no job offered at the moment.

Sadly, and more discouraged than ever, Jacques left the bank and walked slowly across the courtyard. As he did so, he paused, stopped, and picked some-

thing up. Then, he continued into the busy street, wondering if perhaps it wasn’t time to return home.

At about that moment, he was over-taken by a man who tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, sir,” he said, “I’m an employee at the bank. Monsieur Perre-gaux wishes to see you again.”

For the second time that morning, Jacques faced the famous banker. “Pardon me,” the banker said, “but I happened to be watching you as you crossed the court-yard of the bank. You stopped and picked something up. Would you mind telling me what it was?”

“Only this,” the young man replied, wonderingly, as he took a bright new straight pin from the underside of the lapel of his coat. “Aaah,” the banker ex-claimed. “That changes everything. We always have room here for anyone who is careful about little things. You may start at once.”

Sweat that small stuff! Julia A. Fletch-er Carney wrote this short poem as a re-minder: “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. Thus the little minutes, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity.”

An unknown author penned these words: “Little dreams can lead to great-ness, little victories to success. It’s the little things in life that brings the greatest happiness.”

Little things mean a lot

Henrylito D. [email protected]

THINK ON THESE!

Jonallier M. Perez

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Is there a Filipino nation?

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 201510 NEWS EDGEDAVAOCouncilors... FROM 1

MNLF... FROM 2

Security... FROM 2

43 repatriated... FROM 3

Heightened... FROM 3

Surigao... FROM 2

Water... FROM 3

Duterte... FROM 2

MOU since there is already an approved ordinance in 1998 on the Memorandum of Agree-ment (MOA) between UP and the city for the proposed Elias B. Lopez Sports Complex.

Lawyer John Christopher T. Mahamud, representative of the City Legal Office, explained to the councilors why there is a need to sign of new MOU even if there is already an ordinance which has not been imple-mented up to the present.

“I would like to assure the proponents of Memorandum of Agreement in 1998 that this Memorandum of Understand-ing if approved today by City Council will not supersede the MOA in 1998,” he said.

Mahamud said the pur-pose of the MOU is to form the technical working group (TWG) to study why the 1998 MOA was not implemented.

He said there are factors in the MOA that are not viable in the present day. One of these is the provision that the sports complex will be managed by private entity which is still non-existent.

Mahamud also said the previous MOA is disadvanta-geous to the city if implement-ed since it is only a usufruct contract in which the UP will only allow the city to use the land for 50 years. UP will be the one to decide if it will renew the contract after 50 years.

“During our meetings, we realized that there are a few amendments that we need to

recommend,” Mahmud said.He said instead of enter-

ing into a usufruct contract, the city should propose a joint venture for the proposed sports complex that would benefit both parties.

Mahamud also said the previous MOA states that UP will donate the 20-hectare land, an act that is not allowed by the UP Charter.

For his part, committee on rules, privileges, laws and or-dinances chair councilor Ber-nard E. Al-ag said his commit-tee decided to bring the matter back to plenary discussion because the representative of the settlers in the area agreed to cooperate with UP in its re-location and compensation.

A settler who refused to be identified, however, denied Al-ag’s statement, saying what they want is to re-align the project in an area where there are no farms and settlers will not be affected.

The settler said there is an-other 20 hectares in the area that is not occupied. The set-tler said the settlers are asking why the UPMin wants to put up the sports center in an area where there are many settlers.

The settler also said they will not agree to a compensa-tion and relocation because until now there are settlers af-fected by UPMin Library who have not been compensated yet even though there is a MOA between Board of Liquidators and UP to compensate them.

tening Tour” during which he advocates for a shift from the Presidential to a Parliamenta-ry form of government.

His visit to Mindoro, how-ever, comes at a time when the Philippines’ dispute with Chi-na is at its tipping point.

In a report, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) released on Monday new pho-tos of the reclamation projects

being done by Beijing in islets and atolls which are already well within the country’s 200-kilometer EEZ.

The reclamation, accord-ing to the AFP, has destroyed coral reefs with total damages placed at $100 million.

Vessels belonging to the Chinese Coast Guard were also involved in a water-hosing in-cident with small Filipino fish-

ing boats which sailed in the country’s traditional fishing waters.

China is apparently turn-ing coral reefs in the area into airstrips and small ports capa-ble of handling military aircraft and ship, a move which has created tension among other claimant countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, and even Malaysia.

MOVE IT. Allan Logronio, president of the Association of Farmers in 117 Bago Oshiro, shows a map of the University of the Philippines Mindanao (UPMin) from the Bureau of Land to encourage the realignment of the proposed sports complex so farmers will not be affected by the planned project. Lean Daval Jr.

the issue between the MNLF and MILF has always been there from the start of the BBL.

“The MILF and the MNLF cannot go together, so it is not possible to unite them,” the mayor said.

On Sunday, a meeting was held between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

and the Office of the Presiden-tial Adviser on the Peace Pro-cess (OPAPP) at Seda Hotel in Davao City.

Olamit said the MNLF was invited to the meeting but backed out after learning that MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal was also in-vited.

exploded at 4:43 pm, two minutes after it was left by the carrier who was believed to be in his 20s and was yet to be identified.

Initial investigation con-ducted by police revealed that a cellular phone was used as the triggering device.

Delos Santos said the bomb could have been more powerful had substance been added to it.

“The one who put it has

knowledge on bomb making, so we should not tolerate this to happen again and I asked the public to cooper-ate with us to arrest these individuals that want to sow fear or terror in our people,” he said.

The police official said they could not yet establish the motive of the incident but added that extortion could be the reason behind it. (Roel N. Catoto/MindaNews)

public of NPAs non-involve-ment of any trouble that would mar the 2015 Palarong Pam-bansa.

“I may guarantee, if there is any trouble, it could not come from the NPA. They would not want to do it,” he said in a media briefing before hold-ing a closed door meeting at the Bulwagan ng Lalawigan located at the Provincial Gov-ernment Center in Mankilam, Tagum City.

He was with top heads of

the military and the police at the regional and the provincial levels, Davao del Norte munic-ipal mayors of Palaro billeting areas, and with his provincial counterpart, Provincial Gov-ernor Rodolfo P Del Rosario, chair of Davao del Norte Peace and Order Council (PPOC).

He called on the NPAs to “stay away”, and “to stay out” as he discouraged them from doing anything that would jeopardize Davao del Norte’s hosting of the Palaro.

“Huwag muna kayong makialam,” he said address-ing the NPAs but he, however, welcomed them to “come and watch” the sports event.

Meanwhile, he said “there should be some kind of de-liberate restraint for every-body,” and hinted of govern-ment forces controlled action against the NPA during the Palaro “because that would endanger lives”. ((PIA 11-Joey Sem G. Dalumpines/Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation

and CommunicationLAND TRANSPORTATION

FRANCHISING AND REGULA-TORY BOARD

Regional Office No. XIDavao City

Petition for Approval of Sale and Transfer of a Certificate of Public Convenienceto operate a PUJ-Dual Ordi-nary Regular Service.

Case No.2015-XI-00247 (2002-XI-02299)

ELENA H. TE, Petitioner-Vendor

RENATO A. BAJENTING, Petitioner-Vendee

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

NOTICE OF HEARING

Petitioners request author-ity for the Approval of Sale and Transfer executed by ELENA H. TE in favor of RENATO A. BA-JENTING of a Certificate of Pub-lic Convenience with Equipment issued in this case authorizing the operation of a PUJ-DUAL Ordinary Regular service on the route CIRCULATION ROUTE 2 and for cargoes as dual service from said route to any point in Region XI with the use of ONE (1) unit, which Certificate is still valid and subsisting up to Sep-tember 9, 2018.

NOTICE, is hereby giv-en that this petition will be heard by this Board on MAY 4, 2015 at 09:00 a.m. at this of-fice at the above address.

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

Parties opposed to the granting of the petition must file their written opposition supported by documentary ev-idence on or before the above date furnishing a copy of the same to the petitioner, and may if they so, desire appear on said date and time.

This petition will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and the documen-tary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive addition-al documentary and/or oral ev-idence.

WITNESS the Honorable BENJAMIN A. GO, CESO V, Re-gional Director, this 1st day of April 2015 at Davao City.

TERESITA DELA PEÑA-YÑIGUEZ Chief Transportation Develop-

ment Officer

The fishermen were crew members of fishing boat F/B Love Merben II that was ap-prehended for illegal fishing on Aug. 26 last year off the coast of eastern Indonesia.

The Maritime Industry Au-thority listed the boat’s oper-ator as Felisa Abe of Barangay Tambler here but the fishing expedition was financed by lo-cal tuna firm Citra Mina Group of Companies.

Aside from the livelihood assistance and the stress de-briefing, Domingo said they have launched a mandatory

conciliation process through the single entry approach or SENA between the repatriated fishermen and Citra Mina.

The repatriated fisher-men had accused Citra Mina of abandonment during their ordeal.

“The process is aimed to resolve the conflict between the fishermen and Citra Mina,” she said.

SENA is an administrative approach “to provide a speedy, impartial, inexpensive and ac-cessible settlement procedure for all issues and complaints

arising from employer-em-ployee relations to prevent them from ripening into full blown disputes.”

Under this approach, all la-bor and employment disputes will undergo a 30-day man-datory conciliation-mediation process to effect settlement among the contending parties.

Domingo said the concilia-tion process is being facilitated by DOLE-12, National Labor Relations Commission-12 and the National Conciliation and Mediation Board-12. (MindaN-ews)

He added the police and military have identified strate-gic places for checkpoints.

“We are very much ready to hold the Palarong Pambansa 2015,” he said.

At least 50,000 people are expected to arrive in the city for the Palaro, del Rosario said. About half of the visitors are athletes, crew and their fam-ilies coming from 18 regions across the country.

The games will be held at the Davao del Norte Sports Complex except for the gym-nastics which will be held at the Panabo City gymnasium.

Duterte also asked the public to be courteous when-ever the police or soldiers conduct inspections at check-points.

Everybody including gov-ernment officials must submit for inspection, he stressed. “If

you have questions, don’t ar-gue with the soldier on duty, look for the commander. But I want the police and soldiers to be in full uniform with name-plates.”

The City Government of Davao may provide addition-al financial assistance for the beefing up of security as well as augmentation forces for the event, he added. (Keith Bacon-gco/MindaNews)

Chloride pipeline. Once com-pleted, this project will allow for increase in water pressure and accommodation of additional service connections.

DCWD general manag-er Edwin V. Regalado advises would-be affected customers to store enough water prior to the scheduled water interruptions and asks for their understand-ing and cooperation. Water supply may be restored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if unforeseen problems arise.

The general public may

visit DCWD website (www.davao-water.gov.ph) and official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/davaowater) or call the Central Information Unit / Call Center through the 24-hour hotline 297-DCWD (3293) and press “1” on their phone dial to listen to latest daily water up-dates. They may also call / text 0927-7988966, 0925-5113293 and 0908-4410653 for oth-er updates, complaints, que-ries and matters pertaining to DCWD services. (Jamae G. Dela Cruz)

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 11

Globe myBusiness, Googlecollaborate on DigPH

EDGEDAVAO

ICT HUB

1st digital marketing convention in the Philippines for SMEsGLOBE myBusiness and Goo-

gle have teamed up to help small and medium-sized

Filipino enterprises grow via the first Philippine digital marketing convention for SMEs. The event, dubbed “DigPH,” brings together over 350 entrepreneurs on April 22 at Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

“Globe believes that SMEs are the country’s economic driving force,” Globe Senior Vice Presi-dent for myBusiness Martha Sa-zon said.

“That’s why we continuously develop products and services crucial to their growth and sus-tainability. Through DigPH, we’re giving business owners another innovative way to do business more easily. We’re providing in-sights into effective digital mar-keting strategies that will allow them to reach to new customers. We are also sharing affordable techniques to understand cus-tomer behavior and build their brand online,” she added.

Google and Globe myBusi-ness, together with Globe Digital Advertising (AdSpark), came up

with DigPH in response to re-cent research showing the over-whelming desire of SMEs to adopt smarter and more affordable marketing strategies to increase sales and customer engagement.

However, for a typical Filipino SME owner, marketing remains a challenge due to tight budgets and a lack of information. While digital marketing is a compelling channel to engage customers, many business owners do not know where to start and how to maximize the returns on their in-vestment.

On the other hand, Filipino consumers love using the web for both work and play. On any given day they turn to the web to shop, watch movies, listen to music, do research, or catch up with friends on a whole host of devices.

DigPH aims to bridge the gap between consumers and SME brands by equipping businesses with the know-how to reach their target market through digital marketing. Participants will learn from industry experts and SME owners in the country who are

ALL the fans of Nokia phones might get lucky in 2016 as the Finnish

manufacturer is expected to return to making mobile hand-sets. The once popular mobile manufacturer gave away its phone business to software gi-ant Microsoft in 2013 owing to tough competition from rivals Apple and Samsung.

Industry sources have in-dicated that Nokia aims to re-join the phone market as early as next year and has a num-ber of ambitious technology projects running along with a possible venture in the virtual reality arena.

A report on re/code notes that the move is driven by Nokia Technologies – the smallest of the three busi-nesses that remained after the Microsoft deal last year, along-side its mapping and network equipment businesses.

A former Nokia executive who also consulted for the company until last year as part of his last startup, Rich-ard Kerris, says that Nokia has a lot of great stuff in de-velopment which will blow away people when it hits the market.

So far, Nokia Technologies has released only two prod-ucts: an Android program- Zlauncher and the N1, an An-droid tablet design it licensed to another manufacturer that is selling it under the Nokia name in China. Nokia is likely to continue with this model of designing products and then license them to a company that will do the manufacturing along with sales and distribu-tion.

The company recently acquired Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 billion with aims to take on Ericsson. It has also announced its plans to sell off its Here maps unit in what appears to be the company’s plan at remaking itself as a provider of network equip-ment.

While official announce-ments are yet to be estab-lished, a possible re-entry in the smartphone market will be a tough one for Nokia ow-ing to the endless success ri-vals Apple and Samsung have been enjoying. It would not be surprising to see Nokia com-pete with Chinese biggies like Xiaomi and Asus to seek back its lost glory.

‘Mobilegeddon’

Nokia likely to returnto phone market in 2016

successfully using digital marketing techniques to expand their business as well live product demos and practical tips for suc-

cess on digital.Among the speakers

lined up for the full-day event are: Google Philip-pines Country Manager

Ken Lingan, GroupM Digital Head Laurent Goirand, Globe myBusiness Marketing VP Barbara Dawn Dapul, Adobo Connection Founder and Di-rector Jerome Uy, FourEyes Co-Founder and CEO Pavan Challa, DirectWithHotels CEO Emiliano Zulberti, Dia-mond Rent-a-car Operations VP Quincy Buenaflor, and Ad-

Spark Strategic Accounts Sr. Manager Mark Siggaoat.

In addition, there will be a panel discussion with Google Southeast Asia Channel Sales Head Matthew Heller and Go-pher Group COO Talei Wood, to be moderated by AdSpark Director Bela Gupta D’Souza. To learn more about DigPH, visit www.dig.ph.Google tweaks algorithm

to favor mobile-friendly sitesIF your website traffic

plummets suddenly Tues-day, you can blame it on

“Mobilegeddon.”Google, which dominates

online search, is launching an algorithm to favor sites that are “mobile-friendly.”

This means that people who use Google to search on their smartphone may not find many of their favorite sites at the top of the rankings. Sites that haven’t updated could find themselves ranked way lower, which in turn could

mean a huge loss of business.

Search giant Google, which

comScore M e d i a

Metrix

esti-mates has a

65% market share of U.S. Internet searches,

wants sites to load quick-ly and be easy to navigate on a mobile phone.

Google is doing this

because it wants consumers to “find content that’s not only relevant and timely, but also easy to read and interact with on smaller mobile screens,” Google said in a statement.

The update will not affect results from desktop search-es.

Google’s last big algo-rithm update, code-named Panda, impacted “11% of all search results,” says Danny Sullivan, the editor of the SearchEngineLand website. “It was a big shake-up, and this one could be even more dramatic.”

A website ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in a search query could hypothetically fall to ninth or 10th place, causing

a loss of thousands of dollars in potential business, says independent analyst Greg Sterling.

In 2012, Demand Media posted a $6.4 million loss in an earnings report, and blamed the loss on changes to Google’s Panda update, which removed the firm from top spots.

Just over half of all searches done on Google

are now performed through mobile devices, says Sullivan, a number that continues to grow, as more folks transition to spending more and more time on smartphones.

(Sullivan’s website came up with the term “Mobileged-don” in March, a play on a re-cent Los Angeles mini-crisis called “Carmeggedon,” when freeways were closed for sev-eral weekends.)

USA TODAY tested many top brands with the tool Mon-day, and came up with many that passed the test — and many that didn’t. Companies that need to update their sites quickly included restaurant chains California Pizza Kitch-en and Coco’s, fashion icon Versace, candy manufacturer Sees and European airline Ryanair, according to Google.

Website TechCrunch found that 44% of the For-tune 500 companies failed the mobile friendly test.

Overall, “as many as 40% of top websites are not currently mobile-friendly,” says Sterling. “There’s a big category of people who have completely ignored mobile.”

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 201512 CLASSIFIED EDGEDAVAO

GENERAL SANTOS CITY MARKETING OFFICEEDMUND P. RENDONMarketing SpecialistGeneral Santos CityMobile: (Sun) 0925-357-3460 (Smart) 0907-202-3844

DAVAO CITY MAIN OFFICEJOCELYN S. PANESDirector of SalesDoor 14 ALCREJ Bldg.,Quirino Ave., Davao CityTel: (082) 224-1413Telefax: (082) 221-3601

MANILA MARKETINGOFFICEANGELICA R. GARCIA Marketing Manager97-1 Bayanbayanan Ave.,Marikina Heights, Marikina City Tel: (02) 654-3509

GO BOLD GO COLOUR• All text

• Telephone Number (bigger point size)

• Bold Header

• Background• Text

Price: 100.00 Price: 175.00 Price: 230.00

ADD-ON

• Pictures/Logos• Graphic Elements

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 13EDGEDAVAO NEWS

THE traditional means of sending mail is not going to die anytime

soon. It’s not going to die ever. Snail mail remains in-tegral in moving goods, and technology not going to put it to halt.

That’s what Ma. Josefina Dela Cruz, postmaster gener-al and CEO of the Philippine Postal Corporation (Phil-post) said during the Davao celebrations of the 23rd corporate anniversary of the postal system last weekend.

Dela Cruz said that the post moves an average of three to four million mails and packages per month. This number has increased by 44.56 percent from 2013 to 2014, earning a net in-come of P640.43 million last year. Philpost delivered 133.25 million mails nation-wide in 2014.

The bulk of this income is from Philpost’s thriving “snail mail.” Dela Cruz said that 80% of this amount is from the traditional mail op-erations, which, in her words, many people thought was long dead because of digital communication (text mes-saging services, email, and social media).

The postmaster attribut-ed the growth of the post’s operations to e-commerce.

She said that mail volumes are going up because e-com-merce and online shopping spur logistics.

“The post is here to stay and is never redundant,” she emphasized, pointing out that there is no other way to move and to deliver products but by mail. She said that 30-33 percent of the packages that they move are imports and exports.

ImprovementDela Cruz dispelled the

common notions of bad delivery services (opened packages, undelivered mail, etc.) when she mentioned a five-billion peso budget for the development of the post’s services this year. This will cover improvements on the corporation’s connectivi-ty and infrastructure.

She said technology is not, in any way, going to kill the country’s postal system but will, instead, improve their services.

This development in-cludes reinventing Philpost’s vehicles and employing glob-al positioning system (GPS) devices to monitor deliveries and to efficiently find routes in the process. She said this will ensure the safe and suc-cessful delivery of mails to people. About 400 of these

new van-type vehicles will be deployed all over the country; there are 30 vans in Davao.

Dela Cruz also said that very soon, their mail men will be carrying Android smartphones to track them and to provide better deliv-ery services.

There are currently 200 mailmen (which others refer to as letter carriers) in Area 7, covering region 11, region 12, and Surigao del Sur. Mail-men remain to be integral components of Philpost’s services. That’s why, Dela Cruz said, the corporation is investing on them and look-ing after their welfare.

The Philpost has over 9,000 employees in the coun-try; 4,000 of these are letter carriers.

Public serviceDela Cruz said that Phil-

post, unlike private courier companies, literally goes the extra mile to extend their services to what she refers to as “missionary areas.” These are locations that may ap-pear to be off the radar.

She said private courier companies only go to where it’s commercially viable but Philpost provides services to areas because of a public service mandate. “We have to

Tech keeps snail mail alive

be there.”About 60 percent of

these “missionary areas” in-clude locations in Mindanao.

A part of Philpost’s rev-enue goes to subsidize these missionary operations, said Dela Cruz.

Snail mail goes expressDuring the anniversary

celebrations, Philpost also announced improved ex-press products and services.

Philpost is now pushing for express domestic deliv-

ery of mails and parcels, en-suring next day deliveries, with tracking systems.

For international desti-nations, Philpost is banking on its membership with the Universal Postal Union and the presence of bilateral agreement with 45 countries for the reciprocal exchange of EMS (express mail service) items.

A special rate on their electronic money transfer service will also be available until May 15. This will al-

low customers to send and receive money real time for only one peso in the 400 post offices nationwide.

Philpost was created as a government-owned and -controlled corporation in April 2, 1992 by virtue of Republic Act No. 7354, oth-erwise known as the Postal Service Act of 1992. It was created with the objective to provide postal services in the country and to that manages the country’s postal system. (MindaNews)

The colors of the morning skies slowly change as a fisherman drags his boat towards the deeper part of the waters for another day of fishing in Medina town, Misamis Oriental, April 19, 2015. MindaNews photo by Erwin Mascarinas


COMPETITIVE EDGE

MANILA Pavilion Hotel welcomes its new general

manager Jimmy Hideyu-ki Boyles, whose strong leadership has been tried and tested in his 40 years of hotel experience gained from working with various internation-al chain of hotels around the globe.

Boyles progressively worked his way up from being a room night clerk, executive assistant man-ager, sales manager, di-rector of sales and mar-keting up to becoming the group sales director of the Sheraton Hotel properties in Indonesia.

With his acquired

knowledge, skills and ex-perience in the hospital-ity management and op-erations, his accomplish-ments has been recog-nized by awards that in-cludes Hotel of the Year, Best GM in Melia Hotels International, Best Ho-tel in Bali, Best City Hotel in Jakarta, Green Globe Platinum Award, Development Award and Sales Achievement Award while working as the general manager at Westin Surabaya, Renais-sance Sapporo Hotel, JW Marriott-Surabaya, Ja-karta Hilton Hotel, Melia Bali Villas & Spa Resort and Gran Melia Jakarta.

“Filipinos are one of

the best people to work with in the hospitality industry. They are very friendly and accommo-dating. As the new gen-eral manager, I am posi-tive that Manila Pavilion can become the pre-ferred hotel in the bay area as long as we keep on adapting to meet the demands of our guests,” Boyles said.

Boyles played a sig-nificant role in rein-forcing the productivi-ty, profitability, service delivery, public image, and competitiveness of all the properties he has worked with through his strategic and efficient means of achieving tar-

gets. With his strong background in the field of sales and marketing and hotel operations, the new general manager of Manila Pavilion Hotel aims to surpass the ho-tel’s glorious splendor anchored on its rich and colorful history.

Manila Pavilion Ho-tel is part of the Wa-terfront chain of hotels and is located at United Nations avenue corner Ma. Orosa Street, Ermi-ta, Manila. For inquiries and reservations, call 526-1212 or toll free # 1-800-10-WFRONT8 (9376688), or visit www.waterfronthotels.com.ph.

AIRASIA will be increas-ing flight frequencies from Kuala Lumpur

to Manila (MNL) from twice to 3x daily, as well as Kuala Lumpur-Banda Aceh (BTJ) from daily flights to 10x weekly.

The Kuala Lumpur-Ma-nila added frequency will commence on 12 July 2015, while the Kuala Lumpur-Ban-da Aceh added flights will begin operations on 16 July 2015. Both flights will be operated by AirAsia Berhad with the flight code AK.

In conjunction with this exciting news, AirAsia is of-fering a special promotion with all-in-fares from as low as RM216 (P2,634) one way from Kuala Lumpur to Ma-nila for all bookings made from 20 April 2015 until 26 April 2015 for the travel pe-riod from 22 April to 30 Sep-tember 2015.

All-in-fares from as low as RM119 (P 1,451.20) one way are also available for Kuala Lumpur – Banda Aceh flights, and the booking peri-od will be from 20 - 26 April 2015, for travel period from 16 July – 30 September 2015. Guests can also book their flights via AirAsia’s mobile app on iPhone and Android devices, as well as its mobile site mobile.airasia.com.

AirAsia also connects Malaysia to the Philippines with daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Clark and Kalibo - gateway to Boracay, as well as to Cebu with 3x weekly flights. While guests from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah can connect to Manila with dai-ly flights, and Cebu with 4x weekly flights via flights op-erated by AirAsia Zest in the Philippines. Apart from that, guests can take advantage of AirAsia’s network domesti-cally in the Philippines; and connect onwards to nearby cities of Puerto Princessa -

Palawan, Tagbilaran, Kalibo, Tacloban and Cebu via flights operated by AirAsia Philip-pines and AirAsia Zest.

AirAsia operates more than 250x weekly flights connecting Malaysia and In-donesia covering 16 cities throughout the archipelago. Direct flights available from various hub in Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Penang and Kota Kinabalu to Balikpapan, Bandung, Bali, Lombok Jakarta, Medan, Ban-da Acheh, Jogjakarta, Padang, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Pon-tianak, Semarang, Solo, Sura-baya, and Makassar.

Banda Aceh is known as the land of friendly smiles, untouched natural beauty and rich heritage located at the westernmost point of the Indonesian archipelago. It provides visitors with a wide range of experiences from idyllic beaches, outdoor & nature activities, to culture and heritage tours. The Ban-da Aceh mini travel guide can be downloaded via AirAsia’s travel guide page at http://www.airasia.com/travel-guides.

Discover more of the Philippines, as well as Indo-nesia by downloading AirA-sia’s ‘Awesome Philippines’ and ‘Awesome Indonesia’ travel guides at http://www.airasia.com/travelguides. The travel guides are free and include essential travel information at each domes-tic destination such as ac-commodation, transport and the must-see’s and must-do’s of in the Philippines which provide travelers with a bet-ter insight into the places they are visiting. For more updates on AirAsia’s latest news, as well as promotions, activities and contests, con-nect with them via Twitter (twitter.com/AirAsia) or Facebook (facebook.com/AirAsia).

Manila Pavilion welcomes new GM

Listing down things to bring and packing early are foolproof ways to prep up for your sweet summer escapade.

HURRAY for summer! It’s about time you let your skin feel the

sun and the shore one more time! You’ve prepared your swimwear, goggles, sun-screen and iced drinks, but are you really ready for the heat?

While you gear up for your most awaited summer getaway, Aboitiz-owned Davao Light and Power Company will help you check off some safety items which are actually already on your list:

1. towels – You may need the latest ones to look

fashionable, but most im-portantly, you’ll need them to keep you dry. Keep your wet hands from touching any electric devices or plugs as these can electrocute you into a crisp.

2. power banks – If your sunny vacation is summed up to merely 24 hours in a beach resort, then chargers are not necessary. Simply power up your phones and power banks to lessen the hassle during the trip. Plug-ging in your chargers into dubious outdoor outlets might not always be safe, plus, you’ll need to let go of

that phone anyway to enjoy the summer spree.

3. flashlights – unless you were born with night vision, you will definitely have to pack one of these. They will keep your paths or camps well lit at night. Some versions even have mosquito zappers to keep you free from annoying in-sect bites instead of lighting a suffocating coil all night.

4. portable stove – Be one with nature without accidentally setting the wild into flames. Be the camp-ing expert that you are and bring in some cooking uten-

sils for hot meals during your holiday. Packing a portable tin box where you can safely make an isolat-ed camp fire is also ideal for those who want the full fire-in-the-wilderness am-bience.

Most importantly, pack what you truly need. Do away with too many clothes or summer baubles you won’t actually use. Don’t be afraid to pack a lot when it comes to first aid kits, food and other conveniences you deem important. Lastly, en-joy the journey and relish the splash of summer!

AirAsia increases frequenciesto Manila and Banda Aceh

Davao Light’s electric summer lifeguards

VOL. 8 ISSUE 14 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO

GOLDEN State Warriors coach Steve Kerr likes to say his team teeters on

“explosive and careless” basket-ball, pulling off an astonishing play one moment and a perplex-ing one the next.

Kerr saw both extremes Monday night.

And the better half was just good enough to defend home court.

Klay Thompson scored 26 points, Stephen Curry had 22 points and six assists and the Warriors regrouped from an

early deficit to beat the New Or-leans Pelicans 97-87 and take a 2-0 lead in their first-round play-off series.

“We still get excited at times and do some crazy things. I kind of like the fact that we walk that line,” Kerr said. “It’s what makes us who we are.”

The top-seeded Warriors fell behind by 13 points in the first quarter after a strong start by Anthony Davis and Eric Gor-don quieted an announced sell-out crowd of 19,596 wearing golden yellow shirts. But a big

burst before halftime pushed the Warriors ahead, and their defense clamped down in the closing moments to put away the pesky Pelicans.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in New Orleans.

Davis had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Gordon scored 23 points for a Pelicans team that played with more poise and passion than it did in the series opener.

“We just have to stick with it,” Gordon said.

THE Pomelo Tee Founda-tion Incorporated will be the chief beneficiary of the

annual Pomelo Tee golf tourna-ment which reels off its 10th edi-tion this April 30 to May 3 at the posh Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club.

The proceeds will come from the expected 350 golfers from who are expected to join the tournament that promises bigger and better prizes since in celebration with their tenth year. Hole-in-one prizes at stake for these participating golfers include a brand new Mitsubi-shi Strada from Kar Asia Incor-porated, P500,000 cash, a 100 square-meter Altea Lot from Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Incorporated, a Royal Caribbean International Cruise and a mo-torcycle from EMCOR.

Awards will be given to golfers who makes the Longest Drive, Nearest to the Pin, Most Accurate Drive and the Risk and

Reward which will be on desig-nated fairways.

Registration is still ongoing at P4,500 per player while mul-ligan is sold at P500. Interested may inquire at 301-2101, 301-2102 or mobile numbers – 0922-8637003 or 0932-8442809.

Backing the event as co-pre-sentor are Phoenix Petroleum, Platinum, Davao Corrugated and Hexat Mining. Gold sponsors are Alpha Quality, Damosa Fairlane, Emcor, Kang Ho Bong, Petron, Pioneer Insurance and Tefasco. Silver backers are Bida Security Agency, Coca Cola, Consolidat-ed Explosives, Cortess Print-ing Press, Davao Beta Spring, Davao Eagle Master, Davao Pilot Association, Digital Pix-maker, Filipinas Port Services, Inc., Hermie Martin, ICTSI, JFM Corporate Center, Landbank of the Philippines, Louie Brodeth, LVL Construction, Leo Mag-no, Marco Polo Davao, Maxan/Jessimar Panisales, Maxze Bed

and Breakfast, Mindanao Agri Banana Ventures, Monark-Cat, OCEANIC, P.G. Canedo General Services, Peti Trading/Param-ina Technologies, Redbank Re-alty & Dev’t. Corp., Seda Hotel, Senator Chiz Escudero, UMBN/Mindanao Times, Unifrutti Phil-ippines, Inc (brodeth), Unifrutti Philippines, Inc (martin), Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay, Villa Stella by the Sea. Bronze supporters include Alveo, Ang Panday, Dan-iel Briones, Glowing Motors, JS Davtrade Int’l., Kingking Cop-per Gold Project, Merco, NCG Engineering, Norland-H2Zero, Northbank Holdings Corpora-tion, One Pharma, Robert Silver, San Miguel Brewery, Tanduay, Torre Lorenzo Land. Vicente Asuncion Palma Gil Hizon Corp. Hole in one sponsors are Mit-subishi/Kar Asia, Baron Travel and Sta. Lucia Realty. Other sup-porters are Metropolis Suites, Puma Golf, Kart Plaza and Mayor Rody Duterte.

INTERNATIONAL Boxing Organization president Ed Levine has sent out a notice

which says the IBO suspends the promoter of Loreto-Joyi for failing to pay its financial obli-gations.

However, the announce-ment makes no specific mention that promoter Siphatho Handi has been suspended by the IBO.

We called the IBO presi-dent’s office and also an email seeking clarification but up to now haven’t received a re-sponse.

The earlier IBO announce-ment said “Despite numerous assurances, deadlines and promises, as of this date Mamali Productions has failed to make good on it’s commitment to pay the fighters, officials and sanc-tion fees for it’s March 22nd tournament. “

It said “The IBO encourages Boxing South Africa to take ap-propriate steps against this pro-moter in South Africa pending legal action taken by Loreto’s management and to avoid fur-ther embarrassment and dam-ages to the participants” who.

Beside light flyweight champion Rey Loreto included Jetly Puri-sima who was featured in a ten round supporting bout.

Loreto scored a smashing 1st round knockout over former champion Nkosinathi Joy in a re-match after the Filipino stunned the South African to win the title by a 3rd round knockout.

The failure of promoter Handi to keep his commitment to have the funds deposited in the bank account of former North Cotabato governor and broadcast journalist Manny Pi-nol who handles Loreto and was in South Africa for the fight has damaged the image of the Inter-national Boxing Organization and the South African Boxing Association.

The promoter owes the boxers a total of $45,000.

Handi had promised the IBO, the SABA and the boxers representative, Manny Pinol to transfer the funds to Pinol’s bank account in the Philippines by April 17.

In a communication to IBO president Ed Levine whose of-fice we ourselves have called

several times for the sake of the boxers, Pinol informed us that Handi hasn’t kept his promise and that he (Pinol) had sent Lo-reto “a modest sum of money” after the boxer called and said he needed the money to fin-ish the construction of a small house he is building for his fam-ily.

In the face of promoter Han-di’s failure to pay the boxers, Pinol has asked the IBO “what action they would take to give these boxers what is due them.”

Pinol who hired a panel of South African lawyers to file the necessary cases against Handi to recover the fighters purses had put the legal action on hold in the face of the promoter’s promise to pay but because of the third failure of Handi to keep his commitment he will be “forced to elevate the matter to the South African courts.”

Pinol concluded “I know this would be embarrassing not only for the promoter but also for Boxing South Africa and the IBO but I believe this should be done to protect the interests of the Filipino boxers.”

THE Davao Eagles may be enjoying the benefit of playing at home, but

they need to be at their best form if they are to succeed in landing within the top five in the overall standings in this year’s Palarong Pambansa.

This was how Depart-ment of Education (Deped) 11 spokesperson Jenielito Atillo summed up the Eagles in their quest for a respectable finish in the country’s biggest sporting spectacle for elementary and secondary athletes.

“Our athletes must com-pete at a high level. They really have to push hard during the competition as the other del-egations have also prepared

well for the Palaro,” Atillo said.To give the athletes moral

support, Deped is also call-ing on the people of Davao to go out, watch the games and cheer for the home team when actual competition starts.

“I also appeal to the public, if you have spare time please go out and cheer for our Ea-gles. They need your support and I definitely believe they will be inspired by your pres-ence,” Atillo said.

Deped and the Davao Re-gional Athletic Association (DAVRAA) Board had moved the athletes to Tagum Compre-hensive National High School in Tagum City as early as April 6 for their training regimen.

Atillo said they also im-posed curfew within the camp and even sent in nutritionists and dieticians to check on the athletes’ food intake leading to the competition.

The Eagles landed eight in last year’s Palaro in Laguna, an improvement of their 11th-place finish the previous year.

This year, Davao del Norte Gov. Rodolfo R. del Rosario and Deped officials are targeting at least a fifth place finish in the overall standing at the conclu-sion of the Palaro on May 9.

Davao is sending a 572-member strong delega-tion for this year’s Palaro, in-cluding 476 athletes who will be competing in 23 events.

Deped urges public to cheer for Davao athletes

SHOW SUPPORT

By CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY

IBO suspends promoter of Loreto fight

Pomelo Tee proceeds to go to worthy projects

Warriors take 2-0 lead

New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (23) drives past Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Bogut during the first half in Game 2 of a first-round NBA basket-ball playoff series Monday, April 20, 2015, in Oak-land, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

LEARNING KARATEDO. (Left) Jhyryll “Baby” Sensano 12 year-old and (right) Jake Karyl “Dodong” Sensano 10 year-old of Datu Balong, San Isidro Davao del Norte, are

among the trainees of the annual AAK-Davao Summer karatedo camp sponsored by Milo and handled by AAK Davao manager Rommel Tan. Boy Lim


NOT IN THE UNDERCARD16 EDGEDAVAOSports

MP Promotions Mi-chael Koncz has denied a report

that claimed four Filipino boxers were scheduled to fight on the Manny Pac-quiao-Floyd Mayweath-er undercard at the MGM Grand Garden SArena in Las Vegas on May 2.

Koncz informed the New Standard/boingmir-

ror.com “there was never going to be four boxers on the undercard so whoever said this is very wrong.”

The longtime adviser of Pacquiao who manages MP Promotions said “nobody was scheduled to fight on the Pacquiao-Mayweather undercard. It was the night before” which is customary.

He said “we tentatively

had to settle for a May 1 card. However, they did not get their P1 visas on time even though the visa pro-cess was expedited by our lawyers, so we took them off the card as the safety of the fighters are a major concern and there was not enough time for them to get acclimatized and trav-el.”

Koncz said “if one of our fighters is not 100 per-cent we will not jeopardize their health and safety.”

The four fighters men-tioned in the story were IBF Asia Pacific super light-weight champion Adonis Cabalquinto and newly crowned IBF World Youth super flyweight champi-on Aston Palicte of Davao,

WBA Asia Pacific bantam-weight champion Marlon Tapales, and world rat-ed super flyweight Drian Francisco.

The four boxers were reported to have an inter-view at the US Embassy on Tuesday and were to be ac-companied by matchmaker Joven Jimenez of MP Pro-motions USA LLC.

Jimenez was quoted as expressing the hope that the four boxers would get their visas so they can push through with their fights on the undercard.”

Jimenez who is also a trainer said he was hoping “they could get their visas immediately so they could apply for their licenses to fight in Las Vegas.”

Koncz denies two Davao boxers are in Manny-Floyd card

DAVAO BOXERS. Adones Cabalquinto (left) and Adrian Palicte (right) were mentioned as two possible Filipino boxers in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight.


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Edge Davao 8 Issue 14