Breaking news in the countryside

TACLOBAN, Leyte – A donor’s forum here has been conducted to help clarify and sort out needed pro-cedures and information related to the status of re-leases of assistance funds in Haiyan affected towns.

The forum sough to accel-erate the actual realisation of various rehabilitation and shelter programs of the local governments in areas severely affected by the super typhoon.

Attended by representa-tives and leaders from local government units including that of the Province of Leyte, the donor’s forum was meant “to speed up the recovery ef-forts of the affected local governments,” according to

Vol. I, No. 1 10 Sec� ons P12 TUESDAY, 1 APRIL 2014twitter @Visayanbizpost

P15.00 NATIONWIDE

web page visayanbizpost.com

Inside

Rehabilitation: improved coordination sought between fund agenciesDr. Andreas Lange, Chief Adviser and Team Leader of the GIZ reconstruction group working here in Leyte.

Among the donor agen-cies represented in the fo-rum were UNICEFf, World Food Organization, the Red Cross, the United Nation Development Program, Save the Children, OXFAM and

the Japanese international cooperation agency JICA.

The forum sought to “match the needs” of the Yolanda-affected local governments in Eastern Visayas with what available resources exist-ing donor agencies have at the present in the region.

GIZ, which co-sponsored the event with the Leyte

remained was a potent mix of warplanes, helicop-ter units, artillery, infan-try, and commandos with fi eld hospitals and suffi -cient logistics to sustain an incursion into Ukraine.

We believe that it can move within 12 hours, he said. Essentially, the force is ready to go. We believe it could accomplish its objective between three to fi ve days.

General Breedlove said the Russian presence might be intended as a coercive force during the West’s talks with Russia about Ukraine’s future and as Ukraine prepares for a presi-dential election in late May.

If the Kremlin decides to intervene militarily, Gen-eral Breedlove added, the force could be used to estab-lish a land link to Crimea, the peninsula in southern Ukraine that Russia an-nexed last month, so that it does not have to supply it by sea. The Russian force is also capable, he said, of carrying out a thrust to Odessa; moving to Transn-istria, the Russian enclave in Moldova; or intervening in areas in eastern Ukraine.

I think they have all the

NATO Sees threat from Russia

EUROPE –– Gen. Philip M. Breedlove said Wednesday that the Russian troops near Ukraine were poised to attack on 12 hours’ notice.

Brussels top commander said on Wednesday that the 40,000 troops Russia has within striking dis-tance of Ukraine are poised to attack on 12 hours no-tice and could accomplish their military objectives within three to fi ve days.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told Chan-cellor Angela Merkel of Ger-many on Monday that the Kremlin was beginning to withdraw troops from the border area near Ukraine.

But the NATO command-er, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, said in an interview with The New York Times that so far only a single battalion, a force of 400 to 500 troops, was on the move and that NATO intelligence could not say whether it was ac-tually being withdrawn.

What we can say now is that we do see a battalion-size unit moving, but what we can’t confi rm is that it is leaving the battlefi eld, said General Breedlove, of the United States Air Force. Whether that movement is aft to a less belligerent con-fi guration or returning to barracks, we do not see that.

General Breedlove said that the Russian force that Russian Troops/p7

provincial government, the United Nation’s Offi ce for the Coordination of Humanitar-ian Affairs, and the Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Re-construction gave technical support for the various reha-bilitation plans of the partici-pating local government units.

Meanwhile, explaining the apparent delay of the release of

Xiamen Lifestyle, p8 Entertainment, p9

funds for post Haiyan rehabili-tation efforts to reporters also invited to the forum, Leyte provincial Governor Leopoldo ‘Mic’ Petilla said that the pre-sent national pork barrel issue and the reported substandard construction of bunkhouses has made the national gov-ernment more careful in the

By MICHAEL R. GORDON

NYT News Service

VisayanBUSINESSPOST

Indigenous people support Iloilo water project

ILOILO –– The Nation-al Irrigation Administra-tion (NIA) here is positive that the informed consent of indigenous communities needed for the stage 2 im-

plementation of the JALAUR RIVER MULTI-PURPPOSE PRO-JECT will soon be completed.

Project manager Gerardo P. Corsiga confi rmed that the P11.212 billion economic as-sistance program funded by the Korean Export-Import Bank is gaining wide sup-

port from indigenous people and other communities who are starting to appreciate the need for potable water, devel-opment irrigation and power generation facilities in Panay.

Philippine senator Franklin Drilon who helped facilitate the project stressed that the

implementation of the project by NIA and its Korean coun-terparts will not only gener-ate 17,000 jobs in Western Visayas but also augment agri-cultural production, stimulate agri–industrial activities, and spur the local economy as well

Rex RapiStaffwriter, VBP

FOREX: US$=P44 UKL=P74 HK$=P5.72 BRUNEI$=P34.90 EURO=P61.65 JAPAN Y=P0.43 AUST$=P40.35 BAHRAIN D=P117.87 SAUDI R=P11.84 UAE DIR=P612.09 SING$=P35.04

MAROONED. One of the many sea vessels that plowed through houses and lives of the residents of Anibong, Tacloban City during

the onslaught of Super Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda). Photo by Aaron J.P. Almadro

4,606 jobs/p5

4,604 jobs waiting in Cebu

CEBU CITY –– Seventy-one of the companies who joined in the recent Mega Local Job Fair at the Cebu City Sports Development Center have announced the existence of 4,604 job vacancies still wait-

ing to be fi lled up in this city.Mostly call center fi rms,

these potential employers were given the go signal by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to assist the Cebu City Department of Manpower Development and Placement as it conducted

GREGGY JIGGS SANTOS

Staffwriter, PIO Cebu

Codilla: Grow your own food

CITY HALL –– Ormoc city Mayor Edward Codilla is working to strengthen the city’s backyard garden-ing program. The mayor is aiming to achieve faster food sustainability for the

city’s almost 200,000 citi-zens after typhoon Yolanda.

The city government is distributing varieties of vegetables and corn seeds, planting materials for root crops, as well as fruit seeds so that these can be grown. Root crops like sweet po-

JOHN ALFRED KABALICAN

Staffwriter, VBP

Grow your own food/p3

JEAN MAMASPAS

VBP Leyte

Indigenous support/p3

Rehabilitation/p2

SPECIAL REPORT

Muslim deal signed: will the guns now go

away? /3IMF: Slow Economic

Recovery /p4

The Game Vortex experience /p5

Child learner /p7

‘Needs-match’ for Haiyan towns

Motoring&Sports, p12

Editor JOHN ALFRED KABALICAN

editor@visayanbizpost.combreakingNewsTuesday, 1 April 20142

THE TRUTH AS IT HAPPENS.

Godofredo’s Car Care CenterRepair and maintenance of all types of vehicle models including heavy equipment.

Services o) ered:Engine overhaulBody & chassis repairBody work and repaintingChange oil and general engine workElectrical, mechanical & car-aircon systems repair.

We repair ‘Yolanda’ damaged vehicles.

Come and visit us at our shop at Maharlika Highway (in front of Tacloban Ultrasteel), Tacloban City.Contact: 0998-171-1428 or 0949-429-1868

UK’s Alex Jones climbs rock to raise P96M for Haiyan victimsBy NICOLA CHRISTEEN BEVAN

VBP LONDON, UK

Rehabilitation: needs-matching sought for Haiyan towns

release of Yolanda rehabili-tation funds. “There is that tendency because they don’t want those things to happen again,” Petilla said. He said he was optimistic, however, that the funds will be downloaded within the next several days.

Improve coordination

In an interview with the Visayan Business Post Mr. Yolando De Guzman of the GIZ stationed in Leyte, mean-while, also noted the need to improve effi ciency in the co-ordination of rehabilitation efforts between local gov-ernment units, the national government agencies, foreign governments, international

humanitarian agencies, pri-vate donors and nongovern-mental organizations who are all overseeing their indi-vidual approaches to rehabili-tation management activities.

The GIZ has an ongoing en-vironment and rural develop-ment program in Leyte, assist-ing Local Government Units in reformulating their Land Use Plan, disaster management needs, and integrating climate change adaptive strategies.

Diffi culty relocating

Meanwhile, local govern-ment units are still fi nding it diffi cult to acquire per-manent sites for the reloca-tion of Haiyan victims whose houses were totally washed out by the super typhoon.

Municipal mayor Reme-dios Petilla of Palo, Leyte which was one of the lo-calities hardest hit conceded the lack of suffi cient lo-cal funds for this purpose.

“This problem is shared by all LGU’s. Our municipality is not wealthy. It is diffi cult to fi nd a cheap tract of land that we can readily acquire for relocation”, the mayor ex-plained. Mayor Petilla how-ever added that there are do-nors who have “committed to help build the shelter units”.

A total of 500 houses are presently being built by the local government here for the survivors. Many families re-main homeless in this munici-pality despite efforts by the local government fi ve months

after Haiyan struck. “We are very concerned of their welfare and safety, the mayor added.

‘No building’ zones

In the city of Tacloban, residents whose houses were

FROM PAGE 1 once situated prior to the storm surge in what have now been declared as ‘no build zones’ by the govern-ment are also fi nding it diffi -cult to establish homes. Some have resorted to0 rebuilding abodes in the prohibited ar-eas where monitoring is low.

“We have to build homes or we will be forever under the mercy of the elements”, Er-linda Nolasco, 41, a resident of Barangay San Jose reasoned. “I have children to feed and they need shelter too”, she added.

She is not alone in this tight spot. Complaining that the bunkhouses are taking too long to be built and seeing that these bunkhouses may not be enough for everyone, many families have started rebuild-

ing homes in the hazard-prone areas like Barangay Anibong and coastal areas, making do with whatever scrap and light materials they could fi nd.

“This is going to become a problem in the near future even if relocation areas are provided. We have been try-ing to convince them not to go back”, said Governor Petilla. He expressed concern that, despite government efforts to forbid rebuilding in hazard-identifi ed places, many still want to return to their old resi-dences. “There is a probability that they will oppose reloca-tion later”, the governor said.

The provincial government is also looking to provide livelihood for the families sev-erly affected by the typhoon.

Leyte Governor ‘Mic’ Petilla

Inpatient Coverage

PhilHealth provides subsidy for room and board, drugs

and medicines, laboratory exam, use of operating room

complex and professional fees for confi nements of not

less than 24 hours.

(Please refer to the table of rate ceilings/maximum allow-

ances for inpatient coverage.)

Outpatient Coverage

Day surgeries, dialysis and cancer treatment procedures

such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy in accredited

hospitals and free-standing clinics.

Special Benefi t Packages

• Case Rates

• TB Treatment through DOTS

• SARS and Avian Infl uenza

• Novel Infl uenza A(H1N1)

Exclusions

The following shall not be covered except when, after

actuarial studies, PhilHealth recommends their inclusion

subject to approval of its Board of Directors:

• Fifth and subsequent normal obstetrical deliveries

• Non-prescription drugs and devices

• Alcohol abuse or dependency treatment

• Cosmetic surgery

• Optometric services

• Other cost-ineffective procedures as defi ned by Phil-

Health

For individually paying members

Benefi t Coverage

LONDON –– ! e UK’s ‘! e One Show’ television presenter Alex Jones visited Tacloban City early in March to see for herself the devastation ty-phoon Haiyan le" in its path back in November 2013.

During her time there she met with some families, heard their miraculous stories of survival, and visited the grave-yards of lost relatives. From her report on ‘! e One Show’ it was clear she was visibly moved by the experience, but deeply shocked by what she had seen. “! e typhoon hit in November, but it looks like it only happened two days previ-ously, it’s a mess”, said Jones.

Miss Jones then turned those feelings into determina-tion, when she bravely accept-ed Sport Relief ’s challenge to climb the ‘Moonlight Buttress’, a staggering 1,200" rock-face in Utah, USA. ! e challenge, named ‘Alex Against the Rock’ saw Miss Jones spend two and a half days climbing the rock, one of North America’s tallest

vertical rock faces.Alex raised an incredible

£1.3 million (96.2 million pe-sos) for the charity. A large part of the money raised will be spent to help the families a# ected by the typhoon.

Every two years the British non-pro$ t charity Sport Relief holds a series of events across the UK, with hopes of raising money for causes both in Brit-ain and worldwide. Ms. Jones while visiting with victims of typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban.

(Photos by Sport Relief)

Editor REX RAPI

editor@visayanbizpost.com

Tuesday, 1 April 2014 3Visayan Business Post

Topstories

Task Force Cocaine

DAVAO City -- The local chief executive here has declared total war against the smuggling of cocaine into the city. Acting mayor Paolo Du-terte has issued Execu-tive Order No. 17, creat-ing Task Force Davao Against Cocaine and Illegal Drugs. The task force, composed of EIIB, PDEA, PNP, Customs, Navy , and Coast Guard was given investigation and enforcement pow-ers. It will look into all types of cases involving illegal drugs in the city.

The issuance was in response to the recently discovered cocaine at a private shipment yard in Tibungco, Bunawan, Davao. (LGU DAVAO)

New Cebu Tour Points

Cebu City has now offi cially listed its Free-dom Park, the Warwick Barracks, Carbon and the Taboan Public Mar-kets as tour destinations. These places, considered to represent the city’s heritage, will be adopted in the itineraries of Tour Operators in the city.

Mayor Michael Rama who visited the new tour sites with City Tour Guide Operators, Cebu City Tourism Commission, and Media announced that the in-clusion of these sites for tourism purposes is part of the city’s program to help the city become a more pleasant and beau-tiful place to visit and live in. (GJ SENADOS)

Refugees No More

CEBU CITY – After almost fi ve months of seeking refuge at the Tent City provided by the city government at South Road, all of almost 3,000 refugees from East-ern Visayas who fl ocked to this city after super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ have now been able to return home to their provinces.

The local government bid farewell to their guests with Mayor Mi-chael Rama announcing that the typhoon vic-tims will be going home through the ‘Balik-Probin-sya Program’ which gave the refugees not only free fare to Leyte and Samar but some pocket money. (GJ SENADOS)

NewsBrief

as its eco-tourism industry.“As a multi-purpose pro-

ject, it will provide potable water to Iloilo and give en-vironmental benefi ts such as fl ood mitigation and con-trol. And with the project expected to be completed by year 2015, we are confi dent that this enterprise will make Western Visayas the rice gra-nary of the Philippines once again”, the senator added.

Sen. Drilon earlier stated that the Jalaur project, the fi rst large-scale reservoir dam to be built outside Luzon, will provide uninterrupted irriga-tion water supply to 32,000 hectares of farm land and ben-efi t more than 783,000 farm-ers. He said he is confi dent that, with the project’s com-pletion, annual rice produc-tion in Region 6 would signifi -cantly increase. The project is

also expected to expand the production areas of sugarcane and other crops in the region.

Korean Finance Minis-

Indigenous people support Iloilo water project

FROM PAGE 1

ter Bahk Jaewan supported Drilon’s statements saying “this project will signifi cantly help improve the agricultural

productivity and ultimately increase the rice self-suffi -ciency of the Philippines.”

The project’s detailed

engineering plan is cur-rently being prepared by Korean consultants with their local counterparts.

IRRIGATION AND POWER GENERATION PROJECT. An interim design for a dam to be built through Phase 2 of the JALAUR RIVER MULTI-PURPPOSE PROJECT. The plans are being prepared by Korean Consultants with their Philippine counterparts in Iloilo. (NIA Region 6)

Development project will give potable water, environment and economic bene$ ts -- Sen. Drilon

Muslim deal signed: will the guns now go away?

MANILA – The govern-ment has recently signed with the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) what Senator Miriam Defen-sor Santiago fears to be an ‘il-legal document that creates an independent sub-state in the southern Philippines’.

The deal requires the Phil-ippine legislature to pass a new ‘Bangsamoro Law’ that will allow the Muslim com-munity to effectively govern themselves in defi nite parts of Mindanao.

Guns decommissioned

The peace framework re-quires all rebels of the greater MILF faction to decommis-sion their arms and embrace a peaceful manner of existence so that development efforts can be pursued as an alterna-tive to the protracted war in the south.

The military establishment was quick to clarify that the peace deal brokered in Ma-laysia in no way automati-cally mean that full cessation of hostilities have fi nally been gained. “There is a lot of groundwork to be covered”, says Defense Secretary Vol-taire Gazmin who pointed out that crucial to the peace ac-cord would be the sincerity of the MILF to follow the various

‘stages’ described in the deal necessary to achieve lasting peace in Mindanao.

The full political dexterity of the Aquino administration would now be summoned as the Bangsamoro law goes through the delicate plenary of both House of Representa-tives and the Senate.

Reduction of forces

The peace accord is a sig-nifi cant step towards the dis-mantling of not only the MILF armed organization but those of private armies that are com-mon in Mindanao. The De-partment of National Defense is keen on ending the presence of armed groups in the area because of the cost of forces and equipment necessary to maintain its peace.

The military seeks to re-duce its forces in the region under the accord’s program for normalisation, with the maintenance of peace and or-der to be taken over by a civil-ian police force composed of Bangsamoro elements.

AFP security forces can then be repositioned to take assignments related to the protection of the country’s territorial sovereignty against external threats.

The deal is a positive and an ambitious high point in the re-

lationship between Mindanao and Manila. Though it will ‘not be a walk in the park’ for those who will ultimately be-come responsible for the min-ute details necessary to avoid misunderstanding between government’s national securi-ty intentions and the future of supposed 11,000 MILF armed combatants.

Expectations

MILF leader and chief ne-gotiator Mohagher Iqbal has warned that the decommis-sioning of MILF fi rearms will be an emotional matter for MILF fi ghters. It is has been considered a norm for them to carry arms.

The MILF then will cease to exist as an armed group and start positioning itself as a so-cial movement, said Iqbal.

Meanwhile, a lot is expect-ed from the MILF itself as its members maintain close fam-ily ties with private armies and other armed groups like the MNLF and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. This is where the implementa-tion of the peace deal becomes tricky.

Private armies

Under the new accord, the MILF and the Philippine military will cooperate and

“From this shared security, we shall enhance the era of prosperity that is drawing upon our region”. –– Pres. Benigno C. Aquino III, 27 March 2014

act jointly to control not only loose fi rearms and private ar-mies but to keep the ceasefi re in Mindanao.

The BIFF is a breakaway group of the MILF and is still seen together with the MNLF as a signifi cant threat to the peace process.

For most observers in Mindanao, including experi-enced military operatives sta-tioned there, the BIFF ques-tion is something the MILF will have to deal with squarely in order for the peace accord to gain proper momentum on the ground and for develop-ment to move forward in all aspects of the soon to be en-acted Bangsamoro law.

Respect for culture

But there is a genuine rea-son to celebrate the signing of this much awaited deal owing

to the changing of relations between military and MILF elements in the region.

“There is a marked improve-ment in the way Bangsamoro members are behaving in re-lation to peace efforts, some-thing that was uncommon a few years back”, said Col. Ra-mon Zagala, military spokes-man. “Part of the change can be attributed to how Filipino soldiers have learned to re-spect Muslim culture”, he added.

At the day’s end, the posi-tive leaf growing from the peace that has germinated from this new deal must not be taken lightly. Zagala was correct to emphasize that the problems of insurgency are multi-faceted: economic, political, religious, and leg-islative issues need to be an-swered. (visayanbizpost.com news team)

NEWS ANALYSIS

MILF child warriors are sought to become a thing of the past.

> Your dream Our focus <

Editor ANDY BEVAN

info@visayanbizpost.combusinessWeekTuesday, 1 April 20144

IMF: Slow economic recovery will keep interest rates at historic lows

A slower-than-expected recovery across the global economy will keep interest rates in rich countries at his-toric lows for several years, the International Monetary Fund has warned in its World Economic Outlook.

Interest rates will rise gently over the next cou-ple of years in response to higher GDP growth, but will likely be pegged back by a stuttering performance by Europe and slower growth in China, the Washington-based organisation said.

The gloomy diagnosis will dismay savers, who have seen the value of their sav-ings whittled away by infl a-tion since the fi nancial crisis.

Savers are seen as the big losers from the fi nancial crash, which forced cen-tral banks to slash rates to almost zero to prevent commercial and residen-tial borrowers from go-ing bust in large numbers.

The IMF blamed the Asian savings glut along-side a longstanding demand for safe haven assets and a

lack of investment oppor-tunities, especially in the developed world for the persistence of low inter-est rates across the world.

It said that while the 2008 fi nancial crisis had exacer-bated the problem, low in-terest rates stretched back 30 years and many of the fundamental drivers will remain in place when the crisis is a distant memory.

It has been known for many years that the accu-mulated savings of Asian workers, western pension savers and the oil rich coun-tries in the Middle East have outstripped the capacity of the world economy for in-vestment. Many economists have highlighted how savers cannot fi nd enough produc-tive industries in which to invest and have increasingly come to rely on buying gov-ernment bonds to supply an income. The traditionally low interest rates paid by government bonds has fallen further since the fi nancial crash in countries seen as a safe haven, including the UK, US and Switzerland.

The IMF said low interest rates might spur risk-taking

behaviour by investors who demand a higher rate of re-turn on their investments. It said: “A protracted period of low real interest rates would have negative implications for pension funds and in-surance companies with defi ned-benefi t obligations. An environment of contin-ued low real (and nomi-nal) interest rates might also induce investors and fi nancial institutions more broadly to search for higher real (and nominal) yields by taking on more risk.

“Increased risk tak-ing, in turn, might increase systemic fi nancial sec-tor risks, and appropriate macro- and micropruden-tial oversight would there-fore be critical for main-

By PHILLIP INMAN

Economic Correspondent

taining fi nancial stability.”The World Economic

Outlook is the IMF’s ma-jor analysis of the global economy ahead of its spring conference in Washington next week. The meeting runs alongside the annual meeting of the World Bank and get-togethers of G20 ministers and the Finan-cial Stability Board, an off-shoot of the G20 of nations that is attempting to bring calm to global markets.

Analysts at the IMF said a slowdown in China and many emerging markets would slow the general pace of the recovery and be another reason for cen-tral banks to keep interest rates low. It said a return to health in the US would not

be enough to reignite the Asian tiger economies that did so much to propel global growth ahead of the fi nan-cial crisis and in the years immediately afterwards.

The analysis ties in with predictions that interest rates will begin to rise in the UK and US next year, but only slowly and peak-ing at no more than 3%.

The G20 has urged greater cooperation and co-ordination by govern-ments to prevent rising in-terest rates from slowing the recovery. Some coun-tries have borrowed heavily

to maintain growth in the past few years and encour-aged capital infl ows with higher than average inter-est rates. The prospect of higher rates in the US has caused a reversal of the fl ow of funds to the detriment of many emerging markets.

In a speech in Washing-ton on Wednesday, the IMF head, Christine La-garde, said that without greater co-ordination and reforms to outdated labour protections and cosy busi-ness arrangements, global growth would remain sub-dued for many years. (TG)

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde

The WORLD BANK Headquarters in Washingtton DC

East West to merge with Greenbank

BSP, MANILA -- Here’s good news to East West bank depositors and inves-tors: there is no stopping now to the expected merger of EastWest Banking Cor-poration, which owns East West bank, and the Green Bank Inc., an Agusan del Norte concern which is popularly known as the Ru-ral Green Bank of Caraga.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has approved the deal between the two

banks. Awaiting the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the merger will have East West as the surviving entity.

The Philippine Deposit In-surance Corporation which insures the deposits of both banks has earlier given its go-signal for the deal.

East West is publicly listed. It has made a disclo-sure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it will make its announcement once the Philippine SEC gives its approval to the merger.

Both banks have formally

informed the SEC that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipi-nas has formally approved the Plan of Merger and

East West, one of the fast-est growing fi nancial institu-tions which offers affordable small and medium business loans has branches in Lu-zon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The institution is try-ing to boost its position in the national banking scene, with its strategy of spreading fast services to people in un-banked places, EW president and chief executive Antonio Moncupa in a statement said.

By JEAN MAMASPAS

Bizpost Leyte

Avida Towers. Cebu City

Dare to be cool.0 e new Nissan Navara.

Nissan Palo Tacloban

Editor JOHN ALFRED KABALICAN

editor@visayanbizpost.com

Tuesday, 1 April 2014 5Visayan Business Post

the metro

starTravel &Tours™

ORMOC CITY -- People play video games to have fun or relax after a hard day’s work. Unfortunately, modern video game consoles are expensive. However, here in Or-moc City, gamers can actually rent one.

Loijentech Game Vortex Electro Computer Shop which is located at Coching building along Bonifacio Street in District 7, allows one to use the latest Xbox ONE for a mere P45.00 per hour. This next generation game platform employs kinect sensors and high end virtual graphics that gamers look for. Yet, with the shop’s wide variety of game genres and selections, relaxation and even competitive games at Game Vortex is truly an amazing ex-perience in this quaint city.

Introduced as a small concern by Mr. Loije Efrim ‘Maning’ Calixtro, the business initially used the family’s personal game consoles. It made a good turn with an in-vestment of P100,000 from his father who later bought his own Xbox for the shop. Game Vortex strengthened its po-sition in the city’s game scene by using posters and face-book although it took a while before people really started to realize the nature of the business. Its owners also saw the need to establish a strong bond between the costum-ers and the shop, so they started to conduct Xbox gamers’ tournaments and Christmas parties. The shop gave free t-shirts as souvenirs, free extra game times, and extended discount promotions for longer gaming hours. This strat-egy signifi cantly improved the bond between the shop and its customers. To further promote this bond, Game Vortex has taken its Xbox community tournaments to a new plane. When it conducted the Diablo III tournament earlier this year, for instance, the gamers had to have at least a Level 60 character and a fl ash drive for them to save their game pro-gress so that they can play in any unit. This summer, plans are up for an NBA 2k sports game tournament to further excite the gamers. The tournament winners in all cases usually get a competitive prize.

Game Vortex is friendly to newbees in the Xbox plat-form, but new gamers just have to tell the owners what kind of genre they want to play and the kind of game-play they can handle. The shop owners will give suggestions to help narrow the customer’s game search down.

Although equipment and game selection upgrades are costing the shop more with the infl ux of demand caused by their growing community of customers, Game Vortex is looking forward to expand its operation through a pos-sible new and bigger business space that can accommo-date its clients. Mr. Calixtro is crossing his fi ngers on this but says he is keeping an open mind and is very interested.

The Game Vortex experienceBy JOHN ALFRED KABALICAN

Staffwriter, VBP Leyte

Business Sense

Tourism at its best!‘Active tour packages with local counterparts is the next

big thing in world eco-tourism’ -- Joy Martin, CEO STT

FROM PAGE 1

4,604 jobs

Increase in prices of fruits noted in Ormoc

ORMOC City ––People here eat fruits as a delicious and rich source of healthy sustenance. But what if their market price has reached levels that ordinary people could no longer afford them?

This is a question people now ask as prices of fruits con-tinue to go up in this city after super typhoon Yolanda (Hai-yan) transformed productive farms into desolate spaces.

The agriculture sector in this part of the coun-try is still trying to recover, including the fruit grow-ing and selling industry.

Vendors here have been continuously jacking up the prices of most of their commodities because of

the dwindling fruit sup-ply reaching Ormoc City.

“Before, we grew our own fruits and vegetables. Peo-ple could buy fruits here for a very low cost. Vendors even lowered their prices to compete with others. This has now become a thing of the past”, says Luisa Delan-tar, 36, a local fruit vendor.

“But there is a steady de-mand for fruits in this city.

To fi ll this need, we are forced to buy from traders supply-ing from Cebu, Luzon and Mindanao”, Delantar added.

The price of ripe man-goes in this city has risen to between P80.00 to P90.00 per kilo, up from the usual P60.00 to P70.00 before the super typhoon. Bananas here sell nowadays for P70.00 to P85.00 per kilo, up from the usual P40.00 to P60.00.

“We cannot do otherwise. Either we raise the prices or not sell at all”, says Ed-gar, 27, another local vendor.

The prices retail sell-ers pay to fruit suppli-ers for their products are steep because of freight and other overhead costs.

Vendors have to pay for the products that cost more because, at source, suppliers pay laborers and for trans-port to have these delivered from Davao, Mindanao or from Luzon. “So in order for us to earn a little bit, we also increase the prices of what we sell here to recov-er our capital”, said Edgar.

He hopes for the local supply chain to normalize because, according to him, fruit prod-ucts for sale costs lower when sourced and abundant locally.

By JOHN ALFRED KABALICAN

Staffwriter, VBP Leyte

FROM PAGE 1

FRUIT OF LIFE. Dwindling local supply have increased the prices of

fruits and vegetables in the City of Ormoc.

Codilla: Grow your own food

EASY TO GROW AND HARVEST. Ormoc Mayor Edward Codilla urges

city residents to plant vegetables in their own backyard.

tato are being prioritized as these can withstand drought, strong winds and typhoons.

The mayor’s program is a

response to the expectation that the narrow supply of ag-ricultural food products will continue over the next sev-eral months in the province of Leyte. “We are encouraging not only the farmers but local

residents to plant their own vegetables and fruits in their own backyards”, employees of the city’s agriculture depart-ment said. Ormoc residents are advised to re-plant basic leafy and green vegetables like malunggay, alogbate, or other crops that can be harvested within a short span of time.

Presently, funds for the city’s agriculture programs are being sourced locally while in-ternational organizations are also helping the city recover from the widespread destruc-tion caused by the super ty-phoon. The local government was able to store 70 bags of corn, 1000 bags of rice seeds, and some vegetable seeds be-fore the super typhoon made its landfall. It now has plans to distribute these to farmers to help them restore their crops.

The Ormoc government

has been invited by inter-national organizations to submit long-term propos-als for the food security of its constituency. The growing of livestock is also a current priority. The Department of Agriculture predicts that within 3 years Ormoc will ex-perience signifi cant improve-ment in the agriculture sector.

this year’s job placement fair.DOLE-7 Supervising Labor

and Employment Offi cer Mr. Efren Vito reminded the ap-plicants during the job fair to work hard if they get hired. He also gave tips on how to behave when applying for a job.

“The aim of the job fair is to help more people get jobs and keep the unemployment rate down”, Vito said.

Stinelle Legarde, 23, of Alegria who was one of only 129 successful job applicants said that the recent Cebu job fair was really a big help con-sidering the diffi culty of quali-fying for an offi ce work these days.

An Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management graduate from Cebu Techno-logical University, Stinelle was hired by Qualfon, a busi-ness processing offi ce based in this city.

The Department of Labor is monitoring the country’s an-nual rate of jobless persons.

EEEEEddddddiiittttooorrriiaaall

Publisher URBANO B. MAMASPAS, PA (Ret.)

Editor-in-Chief JEAN MAMASPAS

On-line Editor ELIZABETH BEVAN

News Editor JOHN ALFRED KABALICAN

World Page Editor NICOLA CHRISTEEN BEVAN

Business Editor & Web Page Administrator ANDY BEVAN

Editorial Consultant AARON JP ALMADRO

Art & Design JEIA MAMASPAS

Legal A! airs ATTY. ISIDRO SARONA JR.

Columnists, Correspondents, Sta! writers, & Contributors: REX RAPI (News), ALVIN ARPON (Column), JOY MARTIN (Column), SHANNAH CASTILLON (Tech-nology), MEAN FLORES (Beauty & Fashion), KRISTINA MACAPAGAL (Faith & Inspiration). Marketing & Circulation: JONAMEL CABALO & REGIE GRATONES.

Our mission is to provide a link between communities, government, and busi-nesses by delivering news and information that educate, motivate and inspire.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted by law, no part of Visayan Business Post may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without its prior written permission.

The Russian leadership has recalled its ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) two days after its member countries suspended cooperation with Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Rus-sian state media reported.

Gen. Valery Yevnevich will return to Moscow in light of NATO’s actions, said Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov. Antonov protested what he con-sidered NATO’s ‘policy of whipping up ten-sions’. He says this is the reason why Rus-sia “see no possibility to continue military cooperation with NATO”.

This is a delicate development since Rus-sia is questioning NATO steps to bolster its presence in Eastern Europe. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has asked

NATO about its alleged plans to strength-en its defences also in Eastern Europe

Russia’s move to annex the Crimea re-gion from Ukraine last month has sparked the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. The West deems Moscow’s annexa-tion of Ukraine’s Crimea region as illegal. Responding to criticism from Kiev and the West over the presence of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine, Lavrov however said Russia had the right to move forces on its territory and said they would return to their permanent bases after com-pleting military exercises.

NATO has warned that Russian troops could begin moving on Ukraine within 12 hours of being given an order. There are 40,000 troops massed near the Russian border.

All in all, Russia’s troop movements near Ukraine have been viewed as a state-ment of a new Russian policy of extend-

ing its hand into other territories near it borders. World wars have been sparked by national territorial annexa-tions, history repeatedly tells us.

With the geopolitical situation in the Afghanistan, Iraqi, Libyan, Syr-ian and Israeli fronts not panning out according to planners in Obama’s Whitehouse, the recent policy shifts by China in the West Philippine Sea, North Korea’s ballistic missile test-ing, and now by Russia in Crimea, the world is looking at how the US will try to stabilize peace in these areas and re-spond to challenges against the West’s capacity to maintain the status quo.

Let us just hope that these excur-sions by Russia and China will not lead the world into another kind of cold war. The signs are disturbing. The guns have been drawn and a single shot is all that is to be taken.

Gearing for another cold war

OpinionTuesday, 1 April 20146

With Editorial and Business address at Rizal StreetZone 21, Ormoc City, Leyte, 6541 Philippines

The QuickMuch is to be desired from the multi-party

system of Presidential elections in this country. Intelligent consideration of national concerns take a vow when banal issues take centre stage with so many candidates vying for that cool place called Malacañang. This probably explains our lack of direction in terms of lasting policies that a Presi-dent should have explained to the people prior to being elected by them, and for those reasons. Re-gretfully, ours is a kind of “hell” Manuel L. Quezon may not have wanted us to cover.

The possible menu for 2016: Cayetano, Rox-as, Binay, Marcos, Revilla, Escudero. Lacson and Grace Poe might join in the melee, too. These are the politicians who have indicated, or are ‘being pushed’, to make the try out. So, they say. Don’t forget the preachers, dreamers and attention grab-bers who usually take the last minute in fi ling COC’s at the Commission on Elections. Sad list? Take the cue.

Hefty ambition can make the mind spin. In the national plane, it has taken credit for quick mistakes that easily kill a country’s competitive future. That is the thought supposed aspirants should consider ahead of their plans for the next presidential elections.

The DeadLiberal Party’s Mar Roxas is hoping to keep

his end of the bargain when he agreed to hold his own and ran for vice president in 2010. Members of the offi cial family are presently towing the line, hoping to see Roxas somehow recover in the mid-term surveys. But Roxas, whose constituents in Capiz doubt could win the mayoralty race in his own hometown, is looking at a very wide, blank space. It may be sensible, heroic in fact, for him to hold his own again so that the ruling party can consider a more viable option for 2016 ‘for the country’s welfare’.

At the moment, the LP is much like Nemo’s ship, formidable yet without a captain –– at least for its expedition in 2016. This perception is mak-ing recent LP members think about their future. It will be for LP stalwarts to decide amongst them-selves who should stand for the next Philippine presidential race.

The Liberals lag poorly behind Jejomar Binay’s fl uid machinery. Binay’s crew, it is said, prepared his Certifi cate of Candidacy for President in 2010. Nobody is really taking a hard look at how they operate.

“A lie travels around the word while the truth is putting on its boots”, so said old Winston Churchill.

The truth has walked far from what is happening today in ‘Yolanda’ areas where there are various local and international en-tities trying to help ordinary citizens slowly recover from what they lost to the super typhoon. The lie is that relief goods have been or are being distributed and received at once.

The truth is that so many relief goods have been missing. The relief goods reached the areas where they are supposed to be distributed, delivered by donor groups. But these have not been completely received by the people who need them.

Research conducted by the Visayan Busi-

ness Post News Team reveal the contin-ued existence of a practice during post ty-phoon scenarios in the rural setting: relief goods are held by local authorities usually involved in relief operations. The relief goods are often re-classifi ed, repacked, and re-allocated. A signifi cant number of the goods would slowly end up in com-mercial concerns to be sold, or at the resi-dences of the authorities, never to be seen again.

Rumours persist that in the City of Tacloban these relief goods are sold. Whoever sells them does not sell per kilo, in the case of rice, but in sacks. Whoever buys them acquire by the lot at so pittance a price.

It is diffi cult to understand even by one raised in Leyte how this norm came to be in a place where people are all victims and are supposed to understand the needs of the time.

It is illogical to see social workers and local offi cials hoard, at the dead of night, foodstuff that the economic constitution of their own families do not need. It is diffi cult to accept the truth that these authorities will never want as much as the ordinary citizen who skip meals to see their families through for the week.

The hoarding, stealing and selling of relief related goods by any person, public offi cial or not, could only be attributed to the vociferous greed of people who see the misfortune of oth-ers as an opportunity to enrich them-selves.

No social sin is greater than that which prolongs or abets human suf-fering. That is the reason why even hardened criminals sentenced to death are allowed to accept their ex-ecution with proper dignity.

A travelling lie

THE TRUTH IN PERSPECTIVE.BUILDING A COUNTRY WITH RESPONSIBLE

VisayanBUSINESSPOST

Every time I open my computer to check on my facebook, twitter and instagram ac-counts, ‘selfi e’s’ of my friends welcome me.

But what really is a selfi e? Why is it a trend that even the president of the United States, UK’s prime minister and no less than the Pope himself has submitted themselves to doing one?

The art in an arm’s length is what they call it. A self-portrait may it be in a restau-rant, at work, or in the comfort of our own homes (talking about the very popular mir-ror selfi e), can be so quick and easy to do especially with your very popular smart phones and top of the line handy cameras.

It is as quick as fi nding the right angle, checking the photo for adjustments and uploading it to any of one’s registered net-working sites. As easy as A-B-C.

However, an unknown psychologist claims that doing ‘selfi es’ may be a mani-festation of a mental disorder of some sort, a ‘growing narcissism at its fi nest’. I hope that this claim will be subjected to a reli-able clinical study because, if that is the case, all of us would somehow have an ex-isting “ailment”.

In this technologically advanced soci-ety, one way or another, we are all guilty of it. Clicking the “like” button on face-book would, in this kind of understand-ing, show an approval for an unclassifi ed level of insanity.

This is not to say that it is a bad thing. However, in this time and age, people do a selfi e for so many different reasons. For instance, those who live miles away get a boost when they see close up pictures of their loved ones. It has become a form of communication, updating relationships. Because photographs speak more than words, selfi es have also signifi cantly emo-

Has#tag Selfi eBy JOY MARTIN

Columnist, visayanbizpost.com

By GUILLERMO LOPEZ Columnist, VBP

tionally connected families.Celebrities have likewise made

their selfi es an opportunity to pro-mote their sponsors and careers. It has, in fact, become part of the grow-ing facilities in the advertising in-dustry, permeating into the realm of practical life, what media buffs call ‘real time coverage’.

And some simply just want to see how they look; unhesitatingly shar-ing it to others hoping that someone will click the “like” button. For sim-ple souls, taking a picture of one’s self, or one’s food, or one’s dog and posting these works of wonderful personal art is an expression of hu-manity, of feelings, and state of being.

Whatever the reason may be, I say Selfi e is promoting confi dence in oneself, may it be too much or a lit-tle less. By and large, if it makes one happy, by all means go for it.

By ALVIN ARPON

Columnist, VBP

1. Give every dollar a job – balance your budget to zero every month, budget for sav-ings as well.

2. Save for a rainy day – always put a little into the budget every month to save for unexpected bills.

3. Roll with the punches – don’t worry, adjust your budget to cover any over-spends that happen.

4. Live on last month’s income – save a little every month into a buffer and then relax! You can pay your bills this month because the money is already there!

The YNAB software pro-vides all the tools needed to follow the four rules, but im-portantly, it only looks for-ward. You don’t have to enter months or years of previous transactions, as most other fi nancial software will want you to do, in order to give some

Gizmo101

YNAB -- You haven’t budgeted like this

A budget is an essential tool in helping keep track of fi nances in our busy lives. But what if you don’t have the time or patience, to record manually, all your income and outgoing on paper, or the skill, to create a computer spread-sheet? Enter YNAB, or You Need A Budget!

YNAB is one of the most user-friendly money manage-ment programs we’ve seen and promotes its own fi nancial planning philosophy to help manage your budget. The ob-jective is to rearrange your fi -nances so, eventually, you can live off your previous month’s salary, rather than living pay check to pay check and strug-gling to pay the bills at the end of every month.

YNAB’s Method introduces us to four basic principles, explained in detail on their website:

The best thing about us-ing YNAB, however, is the company does not just sell you their software and forget about you. Rather than calling themselves a software com-pany, they prefer to be known as an education company that also sells software. To back this up, YNAB provides free daily webinars, teaching users how to get the most from the software. Best of all, at the end of every class, one of the par-ticipants receives a free copy of the software.

YNAB has also recently an-nounced that their software is

insight into you future spend-ing. YNAB is only interested in what you spend NOW and balancing that with what you earn NOW.

You should still enter all your new spending into YNAB, of course, either from your PC, the mobile app on your Apple or Android phone, or from fi nancial data down-loaded from your bank. Im-portantly however, the soft-ware deliberately avoids the tools that allow automatic downloading and synchroni-sation of bank data. You still need to verify every transac-tion, so you remain aware of your spending. It’s far too easy to lose control over your money these days, when we swipe or click to spend. YNAB reminds us of the importance of the counting that used to be done before a fi nancial trans-action took place.

Editor NICOLA CHRISTEEN BEVAN

editor@visayanbizpost.com

Tuesday, 1 April 2014 7Visayan Business Post

World headlines

2. You cannot be too lov-ing. What we think of as the product of spoiling a child is not the result of showing a child too much love but is the consequence of giving a child things in place of love like leniency, lowered expecta-tions, or material possessions.

3. Be involved in your child’s life. It Being involved means rethinking and rearranging your priorities. It means sac-

psychoParentis

Do you have a ‘problem child’?

A child’s behavior refl ect how his parents brought him up. The Ten Basic Princi-ples of Good Parenting, a new book by Dr. Laurence Stein-berg, gives us a view on how to better raise our children.

1. What you do matters. Your kids are watching you. Don’t react on the spur of the moment. Ask yourself: What do I want to accomplish, is this likely to produce that result?

rifi cing what you want to do for what your child need. Be there mentally and physically.

4. Adapt your parenting to fi t your child. Keep pace with your child’s develop-ment. Your child is grow-ing up. Consider how age is affecting his behavior.

5. Set and establish rules. If you don’t manage your child’s behavior in his youth, he will

Fashionable child-rearing.

Russian troops ready to strike Ukraine - NATOFROM PAGE 1

GEN. BREEDLOVE weights NATO’s options.

Jean Mamaspas

problem child/p8

opportunities and they can make whatever decision they want, General Breedlove added. This is a very large, very well-equipped force to be called an exercise.�

In January, the United States informed NATO allies that Russia had tested a ground-launched cruise missile, rais-ing serious questions about Moscow’s compliance with its arms control obligations.

American offi cials have sought without success to re-solve the issue with the Rus-sians, and the Obama adminis-tration is reviewing whether to formally declare the test to be a violation of a 1987 treaty that bans medium-range missiles.

While making it clear that he was not prejudging the outcome of that review, Gen-eral Breedlove described the Russian missile test as a mili-

tarily signifi cant development.A weapon capability that

violates the I.N.F. that is in-troduced into the greater Eu-ropean land mass is absolutely a tool that will have to be dealt with, he said, using the initials of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

I would not judge how the alliance will choose to react, but I would say they will have to consider what to do about it, he said.

“It can’t go unanswered.� General Breedlove said

that he did not know if the Russians had deployed the cruise missile, adding that this would be hard to deter-mine since it resembles per-mitted short-range systems.

A former US Air Force F-16 fi ghter pilot, General Breed-love commanded Air Force units in Europe before he was named the NATO commander in the spring of 2013. (TNYNS)

now free for all College Stu-dents, on proof of registration, for each calendar year of reg-istration.

For the rest of us, YNAB is offered free for a 34-day trial (enough to cover a full month-ly budget cycle) and then sells for $60 (P2,700), if you are convinced. A single license covers as many computers as you want, PC and Mac, so the whole family can manage their budgets and synchronise data via Dropbox.

YNAB claims it will save the average user much more than the purchase price, in the

fi rst month alone! I’m not sure if I have achieved that level myself, but using YNAB for a month, it’s already highlight-ed a problem my bank balance was headed for in May. I’ve now been able to reorgan-ise a few payment dates and saved myself some hefty bank charges!

If you think YNAB might be the answer to your budgeting problems, I would strongly recommend giving it a try. To get you started, use this link, http://ynab.refr.cc/FBNPB-WM, with our compliments and qualify for a 10% discount.

By ANDY BEVAN

VBP LONDON, UK

TOKYO — With Ameri-can offi cials distancing themselves from the Bu-dapest Memorandum in light of Russia’s takeover of Crimea, Japan is seek-ing more reassurance that its own security agreement with the Unikted States will hold.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who arrived in Tokyo on Saturday for two days of talks with Japan’s leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been asked about America’s promise to protect Japan against China and N. Korea.

Secretary Hagel who spoke at Yokota Air Base in Japan on Saturday said that the US remains committed to the defense of its allies in the Pacifi c.

One Japanese offi cial said, speaking on the condition

of anonymity, “We are just looking for a commitment from the American side.” Obama administration of-fi cials say they stand by the American commitment to protect Japan, while refrain-ing from explicitly stat-ing that the United States would intervene militarily in case of a dispute.

“There is no indication or weakness on the part of the United States as to our complete and absolute commitment to the security of Japan,” Mr. Hagel said, speaking to reporters aboard his fl ight to Japan.

Upon landing at Yokota Air Base just outside To-kyo to speak to a group of American and Japanese troops, Mr. Hagel said he was in Japan to reaffi rm America’s “continued com-mitment to our partnership,

our friendship and our treaty obligations.”“We are serious about that,” he said.

Mr. Hagel announced Sunday morning that the United States will deploy two additional ballistic mis-sile destroyers to Japan by 2017.

The additional ships will bring to seven the number of American destroyers in Japan, and will help Tokyo to defend against missiles launched by North Korea, defense offi cials said.

Mr. Hagel cited Pyong-yang’s pattern of “provoca-tive and destabilizing ac-tions” toward Japan and other neighbors. His com-ments came at a news con-ference with the Japanese minister of defense, Itsunori Onodera. The United States and Japan has mutual secu-rity treaty. (NYTNS)

Japan worried about China, N. KoreaUS: “We will protect Pacific allies”

Tuesday, 1 April 20148

fred. “It’s a family tradition to cook and eat at home in much the same way that all Filipinos are accustomed to. So, other than the fact that we found it expensive to eat our favorite dishes at sassy restaurants, we sort of natu-rally gravitated into the res-taurant business”, he added.

“Xiamen is a name of a Prov-ince in China where food is great”, said Uy. So his family decided to adopt it together with food preparation tech-niques famous in that part of the country. “But the most exciting thing about owning a restaurant is that you can cook your favorite food and earn from it too”, Uy muses with youthful enthusiasm.

But ‘sir Alfred’, as his staff respectfully calls him, admit-ted he did not have a single idea how to cook when he fi rst opened up Xiamen Cui-

The territorial row be-tween China and the Phil-ippines should not affect our eating preferences one bit. Dispute or not, we love how the Chinese cook food. We want to eat crossover menus between Chinese and Filipino inspired dishes.

This unique mix is one of the many reasons why many members of the Filipino-Chinese community con-tinue to stay and prosper in this country. In a logical sense, we share the same value of love for glorious food.

One should not wonder, then, how an electronics and computer engineer like Al-fredo Uy ended up cooking meals for a living. “Our fam-ily loves to eat good Filipino and Chinese food”, says Al-

Editor JEAN CABALO MAMASPAS

visayan.bizpost@gmail.com

World-class cooking.

sine back in February 14, 2008. “But I taught myself”, he quipped. “In this business you have to know everything that happens in the kitchen. And it means everything, including knowing how the food is pre-pared by the kitchen staff for your customers”, he insisted.

“Part of what the pa-trons pay for is the precise quality of the food they want to eat”, Uy explains.

But how did he choose what menu to serve? “Well, at fi rst, we cooked only food unique to the Chinese, but realized not all of them were moving. So we started to cook food that Filipinos loved to eat, like seafood, al-though these were prepared the Chinese way”, Uy said.

This process brought him to what he has now in terms of variations in dishes. “Cus-tomers decide what we retain

Cebu’s wonderful X !M"N C$%'%NE

The Gospel this WeekPs 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

“The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.”

Reading: Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath; this raised a veritable storm of indigna-tion from the religious authorities who ruled that such act was not sanctioned by God. But people where divided: how could something that good come from someone evil? The blind as rebuked as a sinner when he dared declared his healer a prophet, for his blindness before was indicative of his sinfulness. Cast out from the Temple, he was found by Jesus and conse-quently, through an act of faith, he found his Saviour.

Refl ection: Some love the fact that someone is inferior to them. They take delight in the misery of others and legitimize their pettiness. Such is the case of the people and the Pharisee of today’s gospel. They would not believe that the blind man who was a sinner in their midst could fi nd healing and wholeness. That as too scandalous since he had to suffer more as pun-ishment for sins committed in this life. So they maligned him and his healer and declared un-holy the healing that had taken place on a holy day. The blind man who now could see should have been the sign that told them God is now walking in their land. Their deeds reveal that their spiritual blindness was far greater than the physical blindness of the man.

We live and pass by His amazing grace.God is Good!

in the menu. I think it’s a ‘se-cret’ in successful restaurant-management that they cook no longer the food which takes lesser orders”, he said.

At Xiamen Cuisine if you are a health buff, a vegetar-ian, or have a special medical condition like a particular food allergy, you can tell the waiter in-charge. They will inform the kitchen about it and prepare your food ac-cordingly. “The service must be smooth and good so that the customer will feel that he gets the value of what he is paying for: great food, good ambience and good service.”

Asked how a restaurant can be gauged in terms of the quality of their dishes, Alfred Uy has this to say: Start by trying their home specialty and best-sellers. Then try the same variety in another restaurant for your next stop.

“In our case, we adapt to the needs of customers. What-ever they want in the wasy that their food is prepared, we follow. This is true with veg-etarians and health conscious customers alike”, Uy said. But he was quick to add: “just make it tasty and healthy”.

Uy said he is not keen about opening a franchise for Xia-men Cuisine in any other area, even in Cebu. “It is diffi cult to make sure that the same food, quality and taste will actually be served” according to him.

“Cooking in our kitchen is a matter of feeling, taste and technique. It may be easy to say that this can be done for a franchise. But, I don’t see how. To me, what is being cooked here in our kitchen will never really be replicat-ed. Each food preparation is just so unique”, he explained.

But for those who want to

enter into the food business, Alfred Uy has this to say: “Be hands-on. There is no bet-ter alternative to the owner’s presence”, he assures. “There are lots of things to consider when you operate a business like a restaurant no matter how small it may be”, he says.

“Being the owner, you have to sort things out yourself. From dealing with suppliers and the inventory, to train-ing of staff, and maintenance of cleanliness. The list just goes on and on”, he counsels.

In short, you have to be physically present. If you can-not do it, then do not even think of owning a restaurant. It will just give you a sore headache”, Uy concluded.

Xiamen Cuisine is lo-cated at the ground fl oor of One Mango Building along Mango Avenue (Gen-eral Maxilom) in Cebu City.

By JEAN MAMASPAS

VBP Leyte

perhaps a little easier and less stressful for those that earn more.

Lots of people practice what I call ‘memory budget-ing’- which is fi ne, except it is virtually impossible to re-member every single thing that we spend our money on. I was one of those peo-ple, until six years ago when my husband got made re-dundant from his job after 15 years of employment.

Suddenly I found myself in a panic, worrying how we would be able to pay the mortgage and other household bills on my sal-ary alone! After a few sleep-less nights I decided to de-vise my own simple budget planner, a concept totally alien to me. It was the best thing I ever did!

Where to start: Budget-ing is simply about know-ing exactly how much mon-ey you have and what things you need to pay for.

If ‘memory budgeting’ does not work for you, then why not try the following easy and simple guide to

Ask a couple on average salaries what their main fi -nancial worries are and the words rent, food, electricity & water bills, school fees ,fuel bills, telephone bills, credit card bills, clothing, kid’s allowance, family va-cation, will surely be men-tioned among others.

And if you then ask how they ‘budget’ or if they use any type of budget planner to manage their fi nances and many of them would probably shake their heads and say “we just manage somehow”.

Like many people, I used to think that budgeting was only for the wealthy. You know, the kind of people who owned businesses and had money coming in from different sources so that they needed to keep track of everything! But as I realized later in life, whether you are a high income or a low in-come family, simple proper budgeting is the only practi-cal way to manage the fam-ily fi nances effectively.

Though I do agree it is

Plan your household budget

By BETH BEVAN

Web Editor & Correspondent, BizPost London

Home Affairs

BUDGET PLANNING:

• Start by writing down your total household in-come on a notepad. Include the dates when these are re-ceived. • List all your monthly ex-penditures- in order of prior-ity i.e. mortgage/rent, food, water, electricity, health in-surance. Again, include the dates when bills are due.• Be realistic with your amounts. If you are unsure then is better to over budget than under budget.• Set aside an amount for family entertainment. These may be a once a month din-ner in a restaurant or trip to the movies.• Tick your list off each time a bill is paid and keep all re-ceipts including ATM with-drawals• Regularly update your re-cord to ensure your cash bal-ance is up to date.

If you have access to a computer then you may try setting up your budget plan-ner on an Excel Spreadsheet.

FROM PAGE 7

Do you have a ‘problem child’?

g

LifestyleMenuFamilia

not learn how to manage him-self when he gets older. Ask yourself every day: Where is my child? Who is with my child? What is my child do-ing? The rules your child has learned from you will shape the rules he applies to himself.

6. Foster your child’s in-dependence. Setting limits helps your child develop a sense of self-control. Encour-aging independence helps her develop a sense of self-direction. To be successful in

life, he’s going to need both.7. Be consistent. If your

rules vary from day to day or enforce them intermittently, your child’s misbehavior is your fault. Identify non-negotiables. The more your authority is based on wisdom and not on power, the less your child will challenge it.”

8. Avoid harsh discipline. Parents should never hit a child, under any circumstanc-es. Children who are hit, or slapped are prone to fi ghting with other children or using aggression to solve disputes.

9. Explain your rules and

decisions. Good parents have expectations they want their child to live up to. Gener-ally, parents over-explain to young children and un-der-explain to adolescents.

10. Treat your child and his opinion with respect. Give your child the same courtesies you would give anyone else. Speak to him politely. Pay at-tention when he speaks to you, treat him kindly. Chil-dren treat others the way their parents treat them. Your relationship with your child is the foundation for her relationships with others.

Puzzle Game No. 0001

Editor MEAN FLORES

info@visayanbizpost.com

Tuesday, 1 April 2014 9Visayan Business Post

perfect song for a person’s voice will eventually come around, and her latest single “Made in the Philippines,” proves just that. The song, composed by singers Billy Crawford, Jay-R, Kris Lawrence, and Marcus Davis is a bubbly pop tune, somewhat similar to the Katy Perry beat.

3. Big numbers, a grand pro-duction: What she lacks in sing-ing she makes up for the grandeur of her concernt production. From the costumes, to the stunts, the audience can expect a theatrical performance, meant to wow.

Vice Ganda who is one of Anne Curtis’ main co-hosts in ABS-CBN’s noontime show “Show-time” said Curtis never fails to amaze. “Anne has matured to become a very responsible artist. She has learned to re-invent hewr-self’, Vice Ganda assures.

Anne Curtis has recently fi g-ured in new showbiz spats but says she knows how to handle herself more now, especially that she has grown into a bankable Ka-pamilya star with a big network of projects. (Mean Flores)

After the the late brouhaha over her “I can buy you, your friends & this club” controversy, Anne Curtis proves that she is still on top of her career. Not only is she the newest endorser of the famous Creamsilk product, she is also the face of the newest ABS-CBN ‘Dyesebel’ series.

After her successful AnneBisy-osa (ambitious) concert last 2011, she is now moving to perform yet another second major concert entitled The Forbidden Concert: Annekapal (over-confi dent).

During a press conference held recently, the actress said that she has earned the public’s support not just for her voice, but for her crazy antics and all-out produc-tions.

Here are a few things to expect from Anne’s upcoming concert:

1. She won’t be taking things too seriously: “I just don’t want people to take me seriously,” she said, adding that her main goal is to hold a fun concert, to have the guests bringing their laughter home.

2. It’s all in the song choice: The

Former best friends Kim Chiu and Maja Salvador have reportedly settled their differ-ences after one year of being on bad terms with each other due to the latter’s romantic involve-ment with Gerald Anderson.

Kim was reportedly hurt that hes former boyfriend, Gerald, had to take on her bestfriend, Maja, for his next girlfriend.

The two ABS-CBN prin-cesses have reconciled, ac-cording to showbiz buzz Ogie Diaz. Diaz wrote, mention-ing the Twitter accounts of the two actresses (Mean Flores).

Kim Chiu & Maja Salvador, Friends Again?

plus entertainment

Republic of the PhilippinesDepartment of Transportation and Communication

LAND TRANSPORTATION FRANCHISING AND REGULATORY BOARD

Regional Offi ce No. VIIIOrmoc City

Application for Reconstitution of Records with Extension of Validity of a CPC to operate a PUJ service.With prayer to Adopt Trade Name.CASE NO. VIII-2014-0531RODRIGO ENSOMOApplicant/Petitionerx--------------------------------x

NOTICE OF HEARING

Applicant request authority for the issuance of a Certifi -cate of Public Convenience to operate a PUJ for the transpor-tation of passengers and freight on the route: FROM ISABEL TO MERIDA & VICE VERSA with the use of One (1) unit which Certifi cate is still valid and subsisting. In the present application, applicant request authority for reconstitution for records of the said certifi cate on the same route with the use of the same number of unit/s. Notice is hereby given that this application will be heard by this Board on APRIL 22 2014, at 9:00 A.M. at its Offi ce of the above address. At least TEN (10) days prior to the above date, applicant/s shall publish this Notice once in one (1) daily newspaper of general circulation in Visayas. This application will be acted upon by this Board on the basis of its records and documentary evidence submitted by the parties, unless the Board deems it necessary to receive ad-ditional documentary and/or oral evidence. WITNESS the Honorable ARTHUR L. SAIPUDIN, Re-gional Director, this 13th day of FEBRUARY 2014.

(Sgd.) GUALBERTO N. GUALBERTOClerk of Board

NoticeYour Lucky WeekARIES (March 21-April 19): A new moneymaking oppor-

tunity will. Unexpected bills will be incentive for you to ex-

plore possibilities that could help increase your earnings.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Your skills and knowledge

should be put to better use. Finding ways to budget and

increase skills will help you fi nancially and ease stress.

GEMINI Gemini (May 21-June 20): Don’t let restlessness get you. Use pent-up energy

to improve your home or self. Updating your image can move you forward.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Widen your social circle. Get involved in group activi-

ties or a club. Your generous nature will be put to good use, and you will make some

interesting new friends.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Now is a favorable time to make a move. Use every resource

available to you. Employment possibilities will open. Impress with your insight.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You are hardworking, recreate. Mix business with pleasure

and make new allies. Stimulate your creativity, explore cultures and customs.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): It’s time for a change. If an emotional situation is causing

you anxiety, consider moving on. Take a look at a community that interests you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22): Spice up your love life with a little romance. Go dining or

dancing, tune out any distractions and be with someone you enjoy being with.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21): Strive to get into a position that allows you to help

others. Improve your professional relationships. Help others and get high returns.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Interacting and socializing with clients and co-workers

will help you gain valuable business connections. Consider taking in a sporting event,

or devise your own friendly competition.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19): You’ll face opposition regarding a decision that chang-

es the landscape at home or your workplace. You will win in the end, but don’t go over-

budget if you want to avoid being ridiculed.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20): Whether you are involved in group functions or meetings,

compromise will be the key. Get together with loved ones and plan a trip or activity that

everyone will enjoy.

All about AnneMarian Rivera has agreed

to do a “very daring shoot” for FHM. She appears topless on the March 2014 cover of men's magazine, FHM, in a photo shoot dubbed her ‘most dar-ing ever.’

In the cover photo unveiled on FHM's offi cial website, the 29-year-old actress is seen wearing only earrings and a necklace.

The sultry Rivera, who de-buted on FHM's cover in Jan-uary 2013, was photographed

by lensman Mark Nicdao for this latest summer-themed pictorial.

Asked why she agreed to grace the magazine's pages a second time, Rivera said, “Ibig sabihin malaki ang tiwala ko sa FHM dahil ginawa ko ulit. Siguro bilang second time ko na ito, at alam ko na kung paano makipag-trabaho sa FHM.”

“Mas masarap makipag-trabaho nang walang wall. Mas transparent ka na sa kung

ano'ng gusto at ayaw mong gawin. Very amenable naman ang FHM sa mga gusto kong gawin,” the actress was quot-ed as saying on the magazine's website.

FHM's March 2014 issue also marks the magazine's 14th anniversary in the Phil-ippines. The men’s magazine is followed widely by Filipi-nos locally and abroad. Mar-ian’s longtime beau Dingdong Dantes could not be reached for comment. (Ricky Jolasco)

MANILA - Kapam-

ilya stars Vice Ganda

and KC Concepcion

bagged major awards

at the 30th Philippine

Movie Press Club

(PMPC) Star Awards

for Movies, Sunday

night.

Marian goes topless for FHM

The two frames above differ in so many ways. Can you spot

and count the difference? This game requires a good eye and a

keen, observant mind. Good Luck!

Test your observation skills

Visayan Business Post

Can Manny do the classic again?

Boxing insider’s William Holmes believe that Timo-thy Bradley (28-0) is the toughest opponent Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2) has had to face in a very long time. This is his analysis: The last time Pacquiao had fought some-one who was undefeated was Jorge Solis in 2007, and Solis has never been any-where near as dominant in his division as Bradley was when he fought in the Jun-ior Welterweight division.

Those who are knowl-edgeable about boxing also know that Pacquiao is not a full-blown welterweight. He regularly weighs in for fi ghts in the welterweight division between 142-144 pounds. If he had to, he could prob-ably make weight for the lightweight division, easily.

Bradley is the same height as Pacquiao and will have a two-inch reach advan-tage. Bradley is also a high-ly technical fi ghter who doesn’t mind boxing rough, similar to Juan Manuel Marquez–the lone fi ghter to give Pacquiao serious trouble in recent history.

If there’s one knock on Bradley, it is his lack of pow-er. Only 12 of his 28 victories have come by KO or TKO.

Bradley defeated Devon Alexander in January of last year to retain the WBO and win the WBC Light Welterweight title. He de-feated Lamont Peterson, the man who beat the other light welterweight king-pin, Amir Khan. He has also fought and defeated Kend-all Holt, Edner Cherry, Luis Abregu, and Junior Witter.

If you’re reading this ar-ticle, chances are you al-ready know about Manny Pacquiao’s incredible run through eight divisions. He’s fought and defeated Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley,Antonio Marga-rito, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Lehlo-honolo Ledwaba. His last loss was in 2005 to Morales.

Pacquiao brings an in-credible combination of speed, power, and aggres-siveness inside the ring. 38 of his 54 victories have come by way of KO or TKO.

But Pacquiao is aging, now 33, and has fought a lot of wars that has to have taken a toll in his body. Floyd Mayweather is a defensive master, Pac-quiao is not. His last TKO or KO victory was in 2009 against Cotto. He’s won four fi ghts in a row by deci-sion, and recently squeaked out a victory over the aforementioned Marquez.

There are many who feel Marquez deserved the nod in the Pacquiao’s last fi ght. It’s a stretch to say it was robbery. I don’t remem-ber the last time a chal-lenger won a title fi ght when he was out-struck in

power shots, out-thrown in nearly every round, and had zero knockdowns.

Perhaps a noted boxing historian can enlighten me.

It isn’t a stretch however to say that Pacquiao’s talent is on the decline. He appears to have been at his peak when he brutally knocked out Ricky Hatton in the sec-ond round in May of 2009.

I still think it’s more than likely that either Pacquiao or Mayweather will lose before they meet inside the ring.

That loss won’t come on Saturday. It will be a tough fi ght, but Pacquiao should win by decision.

The question is, will Pacquiao win by a wide enough margin to convince the pro-Mayweather fans?

By JC ANASTACIO

Sports Contributor, VBP

motoring&sports Editor SHANA NOLLITSAC

cfracky@gmail.com

Tuesday, 1 April 2014 12