Breaking news in the countrysideVol. I, No. 2 11 Sections P12 Monday, 26 May 2014twitter Visayanbizpost

P15.00 nationwide

Visayan Business Post website visayanbizpost.com

Available soft loans pushed for return of micro and medium enterprises

Tourism down/p3

Carmen Bohol Mayor Jun Turibio said recently that the number of visitors to the Chocolate Hills National Monument, a region hoping to be named as a World Her-itage Site, has decreased by “almost 50 percent.”

Before the quake, we would get as many as 4,000 visitors a day, he said, but major aftershocks, as recent as February 21st, were dis-couraging tourists from re-turning.

However, Joshue Hinay, Bohol Island Tour Guides Association of the Philip-pines president said, from his point of view, the drop in tourism was more like 85%.

“For tourist guides like me, it’s at 85%. We

Tourism down across Visayas, ‘voluntourism’ up in Tacloban

CEBU –– Officials in Sta. Fe town in Bantayan have reported that tourist numbers have fallen during the Holy Week, compared to previous years, in the wake of damage caused by super ty-

phoon Yolanda.Despite the good weather,

Sta. Fe Mayor Jose Esgana estimated that tourist num-bers were down this week by 30 to 35%. The town, he said, had around 350 rooms for visitors before Yolanda struck. However, less than 300 were currently available as repairs to some resorts were still ongoing.

Esgana said it would like-ly take 2 to 6 years before their tourist industry could fully recover, even with help from the National Govern-ment.

In Bohol, more than 5 months after the devastat-ing earthquake in October last year, the region has also suffered major reduction in tourist numbers.

The BVP News Team, Western Visayas

FOREX: US$=P44.4 UKL=P74.9 HK$=P5.73 BRUNEI$=P35.5 EURO=P61.6 JAPAN Y=P0.44 AUST$=P41.1 BAHRAIN D=P117.76 SAUDI R=P11.84 UAE DIR=P12.09 SING$=P35.5

OrmOc city –– Recogniz-ing the steady flow of invest-ments and the need to keep them in, city mayor Edward S. Codilla has created an ex-ecutive commitee to look into possible reforms that will eventually update the city’s Investment Incentives Code.

City licensing chief Emilio Tingson disclosed to the Busi-ness Post that the technical committee, composed of rep-

ILOILO –– The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Region 6 and the De-partment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here have agreed to delineate responsibility over manage-ment of watershed areas in Panay.

NIA, DENR forge/p6

ern Visayas) program is the continued close monitoring of prices of basic commodi-ties and making sure that supply is stabilised while quality of goods being sold in the typhoon-hit areas do not decline especially in the local construction industry.

“The bringing of basic prod-ucts into the areas hit by the super typhoon was made easy

through the caravan sale and facilitation of transport of goods from Luzon and other areas into the region with the help of the Department of So-cial Welfare, Department of Transportation and Commu-nication, and Office of Civil Defense. Supply has become normal now and this status is helping a lot of people feel bet-ter”, added director Nierras.

IdentIfIed needsTo efficiently help small

and medium enterprises, DTI has identified their immediate needs. “Part of this is the need to provide access to technolo-gy and market, proper product development, and enhancing the supply chain”, said Nier-ras.

Technology, Nierras clari-fied, include stress debriefing

and technical training. The DTI has a Small and Medium Enterprises Roving Academy or SMERA being used for this purpose.

Businesses however asked government for financial as-sistance so that they could immediately restart their op-erations, since most of them went down to negative capi-

Government releases P802M to Yolanda areas

MANILA – True to the ear-lier assurance by Leyte Gov-ernor Leopoldo ‘Mic’ Petilla, Malacañang has announced it will release soon all of P1.791 billion initially earmarked for the rehabilitation of vital in-frastructures like municipal buildings, public markets, health and other civic centres’

considered as critical to gov-ernance in Haiyan-hit prov-inces and municipalities.

“The buildings are needed to facilitate the full normalisa-tion of local government ser-vices”, according to Secretary of the Interior Manuel Roxas II as he visited to hand over checks amounting to P802 million to various local gov-ernments in the Visayas.

Roxas visited the province

of Leyte where he person-ally handed the checks to lo-cal government officials who were able to earlier submit to the Department of the In-terior and Local Government required documents for the rehabilitation of their munici-pal buildings.

Roxas disclosed that the biggest amount of funds re-leased was P230M which is to be spent on immediate repairs

to the Tacloban city hall, the city’s public market and other vital centres.

Local governments that were able to earlier sub-mit their Program of Works (POWs) for damaged build-ings were the ones who re-ceived the initial tranche of funds according to Roxas.

The municipalities were also required to forward a

Ormoc to reform Investment Coderesentatives from the Sang-gunian Panglungsod will sit down with members from the executive department to de-termine which of the key areas of local investments will be given priority.

Eyed is the inclusion of in-centives for businesses that employ many persons and help in the growth of the gen-eral local economy. Tingson noted the increase of business activity in Ormoc because of development in business fa-cilities in the City.

The VBP News Team

North Leyte

NIA, DENR forge watershed man-agement accord The VBP News Team

Western Visayas

The VBP News Team

Leyte

Government releases/p3

Small and medium/p2

TACLOBAN, Leyte – The race is on for the immediate recovery of small and medi-um enterprises lost to super typhoon Yolanda in Eastern Visayas.

Trade and Industry Re-gional Director Cynthia Reyes Nierras told the VBP News Team that DTI has deter-mined that the region’s small and medium enterprises sec-tor suffered greatly from su-per typhoon Haiyan. These SME’s, according to Nierras, need to recover fast in order to help investors and people working in the businesses economically recover.

Nierras further told VBP that part of DTI’s ‘Tindog Eastern Visayas’ (Rise East-

The VBP News TeamTacloban City, Leyte

Special RepoRt

DTI: EV need fast SME recovery

Inside

PCG to inspect hotels, resorts /3HK compromise improve Phil se-

curity rating/p4Succeed with a

sari-sari store/p5It makes my

heart bleed/p7Declutter your

home/p9Talk to your kids like an adult/p10

Palaro ‘14 Overall Results/p12

Entertainment, p10

Parenting, p10

Bottled wateR. Mahaplag, Leyte sneaks into the thriving water business with its natural mountain water. (VBPNT)

Lifestyle, p9

VisayanBusinessPost

HaRveSt SeaSon. Rice farmers in rural Leyte begin harvesting and threshing out rice in time for the enrollment season where most proceeds from farming revenue usually go after summer. Photo by Jn Grey

the World, p7

Industry, p5

Editor JohN alfred KaBalicaNeditor@visayanbizpost.combreakingNews

Monday, 26 May 20142

The TruTh as iT happens.

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Services offered: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

Small and medium enterprises need to recover -- Nierras

talisation status after the su-per typhoon.

CredIt faCIlItIes

“The big challenge for DTI was the fast provision of start-up kits consisting of soft loans that micro and small enterprises could avail if their businesses qualified under the pre-assessment process of the lending institutions that gov-ernment tapped to help out”, disclosed Nierras.

These institutions included the Landbank, Development Bank of the Philippines, and DTI’s Small Business Corpo-ration.

The need to provide soft term loans according to Nier-

ras was brought about by the “cash basis” transactions that local businesses had to adopt with the loss of local credit facilities.

foCus lIvelIhood

Nierras however cautioned that certain specific require-ments are needed to be passed for key investment concerns or “focus livelihoods” and that DTI can only recommend application approval. The livelihoods are mostly food processing micro and small enterprises that benefit not only the business owners but the people employed by them.

“The lending institutions themselves would have to make the final determination on each application for soft

financing”, said Nierras.But what is important now

is that these facilities exist for businesses to go to if they need immediate financial as-sistance. VBP learned that, so far, out of 64 affected mu-nicipalities almost 200 appli-cations have been submitted, 100 of them have been project visited by the DTI and finan-cial institutions for assess-ment, and more than 50 appli-cations have been allowed to receive a soft loan.

The amounts vary accord-ing to the business loan ap-proved. As of this writing, P67 million has been approved for release, although more than P20 million have been actually given to loan recipients.

“The number of applica-tions are growing by the day as businesses try to comply with requirements by the lending institutions”, Nierras said.

The best approach is for lo-cal funding to be made avail-able, according to Nierras. In the municipality of Tanauan where roasted pig or lechon is known to be delicious, the mayor is working to revive this industry with local fund-ing. “Non-government or-ganizations and some foreign

funding may be able to fill in some gaps but local efforts are very much needed in order for us to achieve optimum recov-ery”, said Nierras.

ConstruCtIon Industry

Meanwhile, the local con-struction industry here is beginning to move as more building supply establish-ments try to resume business. A GI sheet manufacturer has also arrived to provide cheap-er but quality roofing materi-als. “It is quality that we also need to make sure for these building materials being sold to meet basic standards, add-ed Nierras.

Some suppliers have also expressed interest to set up shop in the region so that no vacuum will be created in the construction supply chain as more people try to rebuild their homes and facilities.

speCIfIC approaChes

Each local business need would have to be addressed but we have to focus on those that help as many people as businesses can provide. “There are other programs DTI is implementing to sup-port and continue our recov-ery”, Nierras concluded.

from Page 1

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For individually paying membersBenefit Coverage

immediate liveliHood. Sources of subsistence income like the making and selling of local food delicacies in Barangay Cuatro de Agosto, Mahaplag, Leyte is one of many livelihood areas being given priority by government. (Photo by VBPNT)

micRo enteRpRiSeS and small businesses like the making of brooms, home implements, and housewares usually employ other individuals aside from the business proprietor and his family. The sustained and immediate development of these enterprises in the countryside have been the continuing interest of the government since it helps lower unemployment and creates revenue for local governments. Providing technology and skills training and helping find wider markets for these products is one of DTI’s main concerns. (VBPNT)

Editor rex raPieditor@visayanbizpost.com

Monday, 26 May 2014 3Visayan Business Post

Topstories

Cebu CITOM earns P6M

CEBU CITY –– The city Public Information Office here has reported that Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CITOM) operations earned P6,021,780.00 this March.

The earnings are part of the city’s drive against traffic violators who are penalised as well as for regular fees.

The fees included ad-ministrative fines which netted P1,380,680.00, smoke belching: P3,000.00, testing fees: P130,050.00; travel line fees P35,600.00, road parking permit fees: P15,800.00; motorcy-cle for hire permit fee: P75,600.00; motorcycle for hire fine: P30,200.00; trisikad fee: P114,500.00; clamping fee – P224,150.00; impound-ing fee: P136,150.00; towing fee: P19,500.00; pay parking fee: P3,560,260.00; jaywalk-ing fee: P157,450.00; po-lice report: P63,040.00; bicycle registration fee: P23,960.00; sticker fee: P34,400.00; route plate fee P1,750.00; and driver’s/vehicle clear-ance fee: P15,690.00. (GJ senados)

Guard robs own mom

Security guard Mar-lon Sumayang of Brgy. Libertad, Ormoc alleg-edly robbed at gunpoint and in their own home his own mother, Lourdes Sumayang, 56, married also a resident of Brgy. Libertad. Cash money amounting to P19,000 was allegedly taken by the suspect who threat-ened to shoot his own mother if she refused to hand over her money. The suspect is being in-vestigated by the local police.

Tractor ‘dis-appears’

A P45,000 farm trac-

tor just allegedly dis-appeared according to owner Vilma Challis Borlasa, 28, resident of Albuera, Leyte.

Police later recovered the tractor as it was sold for P1,000 to a Leonilo Mingaw Jr, a tanod of Brgy. Lao by cohorts Mi-chael CapuyanPanaligan, 23, and Junray Capuyan Ojaybar, 26, both resi-dents of Brgy. Lilo-an. The suspects are await-ing indictment.

NewsBrieftRending in tacloBan

> Your dream Our focus <

Tourism down, ‘voluntourism’ upfrom Page 1

don’t have much work now.”, Hinay said. However, church leaders have been making eve-ry effort to maintain the tra-ditional Visita Iglesia (church visits), where pilgrims visit seven churches in the region during the Holy Week. Make-shift churches have been put up in front of the rubble of those churches destroyed by the quake, in order to wel-come visitors.

Msgr. Jeffrey Malanog, Dio-cese of Tagbilaran vicar gener-al, said the absence of church structures did not mean that people were unable to visit seven churches during the Holy Week.

In an ironic twist however, Leyte, the region most severe-ly damaged by the series of

natural disasters that afflicted the Visayas at the end of 2013, has actually seen a rise in visi-tor numbers.

Huge international sym-pathy in the wake of super typhoon Yolanda has created a new form of tourism, becom-ing known as “Voluntourism.”

“We have never had this much people from differ-ent countries coming in,” Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin said. “They are donating and at the same time, they are helping.”

Income from international humanitarian agencies and “disaster tourists” is helping Tacloban recover, not sim-ply through their donations and volunteer work, but also by just being in the city and spending their money.

Flights to Tacloban are fre-

quently full and much of the street traffic consists of rental cars used by the multitude of humanitarian groups that have based themselves in the city.

The regional tourism office, working in conjunction with a local travel company, has been quick to respond to the trend and promote the ‘Voluntour-ism’ idea. They are now offer-ing tour packages that include a city tour and visits to local attractions, as well as the op-portunity for volunteering work.

“We came up with the idea of harnessing the spirit of vol-unteerism from people so that when they come here, they will not only volunteer but they will also be able to enjoy the sights and attractions of our city and nearby munici-

palities,” said Antonio Cinco Jr., a consultant of the regional tourism office.

Hotels in the city are fully booked, with the humanitar-ian agencies having reserved many rooms for months in ad-vance. 25 of the city’s 50 ho-tels have now reopened, and two new hotels have had to open early, in order to meet the demand. “The hotel industry here is the first industry that helped revive the economy of Tacloban,” said businessman Oliver Cam, who owns Wel-come Home Pensione.

The typhoon badly dam-aged the 108-room Leyte Park Resort Hotel, but it remained open for business throughout. After major rebuilding work, 73 rooms have now reopened.

“Most of our guests are from international humanitar-

ian agencies,” said hotel opera-tion manager Kester Cinco.

The regional tourism chief, Karen Tiopes, said that for-eigners currently occupied around 60% of the 902 hotel rooms available in Tacloban.

In Panay, party-going tour-ists on the holiday island of Boracay, were asked to keep the noise down on Good Fri-day. The municipal govern-ment banned parties and loud noise on the island over Good Friday to give Catholics a chance to reflect on the sig-nificance of Holy Week.

“The policy has been en-forced on Boracay for three years now,” said Wilbec Gi-leto of Club Paraw, one of the busiest bars on the island. He pointed out that Good Friday is a “solemn day for Catholics that should be respected.”

certificate from a govern-ment depository bank on their existing trust accounts.

The remaining funds will be downloaded to local govern-ments later as these are still being processed by the De-partment of Budget and Man-agement.

Almost ninety-two percent of the governance facilities in 150 municipalities of the four provinces seriously damaged by the super typhoon reported total damage to their vital gov-ernment infrastructures.

Reports submitted to DILG showed some P853 million worth of damage to partially destroyed buildings.

In the recent releases of

funds, meanwhile, the prov-ince of Eastern Samar will get P100, 219,564 while Biliran province is set to receive P19, 917,634.

Meanwhile, Western Samar will receive P16,528,192, Iloilo will get P78,829,195, the Prov-ince of Aklan P27,006,079, and Capiz will have P66,053,141. Antique which was also af-fected will get P24,877,150.

Among the priority pro-jects being given focus are the rehabilitation of basic service facilities of local government units that cannot be immedi-ately repaired by the munici-palities on their own because of lack of available local funds. Several municipalities are still working to submit the DILG requirements.

from Page 1

Gov’t releases P802M to Yolanda provinces

Philippine Coast Guard to inspect hotels, resorts for water safety

CEBU City – The Philip-pine Coast Guard here has an-nounced it will inspect resorts and hotels in the region. The random inspection will verify compliance to water safety re-quirements.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Central Visayas Com-mander Neil Azcuna said that PCG will start enforcing on May 17 a government circu-

lar calling for the inspection of resorts and hotels to see if indeed these have set up nec-essary water safety measures.

“Water safety includes the presence of trained life guards and life savers in the vicin-ity of pools and beaches and if they have the necessary life saving equipment”, said Azcu-na. “We will check if their life guards are trained, and who trained them,” added Azcuna.

Hotels and resorts must have properly trained lifesav-ers and, if found lacking, will

be given ample time to com-ply. “Compliance is a must here in Cebu specially that most are coastal communities frequented by domestic and international tourists”, ex-plained Commander Azcuna.

In a similar development, the Naval Forces Central in Central Visayas (Navforcen) has announced that, along with the PCG, they will con-duct life saving trainings for free to groups of at least 20 people. Navy Lt. James Reyes said that proper training is

By VBP News Team

Central Visayas

needed considering that there are several misconceptions when it comes to saving the life of a drowning person.

Reyes said that part of this training is making the lifesav-er estimate the capacity of the

drowning victim, or else both of them may die. “There are some things that the public needs to know and can only be learned through training from the right authorities”, Lt. Reyes concluded.

landSlideS. Road obstructions like this pile of wet mud, soil and rocks are common occurences in the Abuyog-Mahaplag-Baybay road network of the Maharlika highway in Leyte whenever there is a tropical depression or during heavy rains. The same happens along the Mahaplag-Agas-agas road lead-ing to Sogod, Southern Leyte where rocks fall from the steep mountains flanking the national highway.

Motorists are advised by the Department of Public Works and Highways to take precautionary speed limits, follow regular re-routing directions seriously, and avoid the danger of having to go through roads where clearing operations and road repairs are being conducted by the agency to keep this high-way always passable for travelers and cargoes alike. (Photo by VBPNT)

lifeguaRd. A mother watches over her kids swimming in a pool.

Editor aNdy BeVaNinfo@visayanbizpost.combusinessWeek

Monday, 26 May 20144

Hongkong compromise improves Philippine security rating

HONG KONG - Hong Kong and the Philippines have reached a compromise over demands for an apology from the Philippine’s Govern-ment to the families of eight tourists killed in a failed hos-tage rescue attempt in 2010.

In a statement, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said “The Philippine gov-ernment expresses its most sorrowful regret and pro-

found sympathy, and extends its most sincere condolences for the pain and suffering of the victims and their families.”

However, the statement carefully avoided the word “apology”, which had been a longstanding demand of the survivors and families of the victims. President Aquino had previously re-sisted apologizing, due to the legal implications of of-fering a state apology for an illegal act by one Filipino.

Manila Mayor and former President, Joseph Estrada,

traveled to Hong Kong on Tuesday to meet with officials and the relatives of victims to offer compensation and an apology on behalf of Manila.

Mayor Estrada was ac-companied by former Fi-nance Secretary Jose Pardo and Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, an aide to President Aquino. The Philippine police chief has also written to the families.

The tourists were part of a group taken hostage on a Manila tour bus by a dis-gruntled former police of-

The VBP BusiNess Team

visayanbizpost.com

Manila is world’s 2nd best emerging city

MANILA – Manila has been named as the 2nd best placed of the world’s emerging cities, to improve its global standing in the next two decades, says a study by US consultantsA.T. Kearney Inc.

The Philippine capital was second only to Indonesian capital city, Jakarta.

“Two Southeast Asian cit-ies, Jakarta and Manila, head up the list of emerging cities most likely to progress. Al-though both cities are cur-rently in the lower half of the GCI on the dimension of busi-ness activity, their rapid im-provement on the ECO’s lead-ing indicators would allow

them to reach the business leaders faster than any other low- or middle-income city in the world except São Paulo,” said A. T. Kearney’s report.

The report went on to say that Manila “is bolstered by a relatively sharp increase in hu-man capital indicators, with an especially notable improve-ment in healthcare quality and availability.”

The Philippines economy has seen a dramatic growth recently, second only the Chi-nese economy in Asia. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) grew 7.2 percent in 2013, the topping the government’s tar-get of 6-7 percent.

A.T. Kearney’s Emerging Cities Outlook studied cities in low- and middle-income countries, considering the lev-els of business activity, human

capital and innovation, as in-dicators to their ranking.

“Cities that wish to im-prove or maintain their global positioning must focus es-pecially on strengthening business activity and human capital. As physical distances become less relevant and global competition intensifies, cities in emerging economies will increasingly jockey for position with one another and with cities in higher-income countries,” A.T. Kearney said in its report.

The Ethiopian capital Ad-dis Ababa, placed third in the ranking, with São Paulo in Brazil and New Delhi in India in fourth and fifth. The list of top 10 emerging cities, was completed by Rio de Janeiro, Bogota, Mumbai, Nairobi, and Kuala Lumpur.

The VBP maNila News Team Manila

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ficer. Manila police tried to storm the bus, but eight Hong Kong tourists were killed, as well as the hostage taker.

Tse Chi-kin, the broth-er of tour guide Masa Tse who was killed in the inci-dent, described the phrase “sorrowful regret” as be-ing “marginally acceptable.”

“It’s still an apology,” Es-trada told reporters. “We feel sorry for what happened.”

In return, Hong Kong has agreed to lift the ‘black’ travel rating against the Philippines, which advised Hong Kong

travelers to “avoid all travel.” The rating placed the Philip-

pines in the same risk group as Syria, a country currently be-ing ravaged by an all-out civil war. The threat level has now been downgraded to an amber alert which carries the lesser warning of “exercise caution”.

Hong Kong tourism to the Philippines had fallen for a while after the killings, though that was likely due to shock over the incident itself, rather than the travel alert.

By 2012, the number of Hong Kong tourists to the

Philippines was almost back to pre-incident levels.

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez said tourist numbers from Hong Kong had been ris-ing even before the black travel alert was lifted. He noted that Hong Kong is among the coun-try’s top 10 tourist sources.

Referring to the number of Hong Kong visitors, Secretary Jimenez told reporters “Even before the amber alert, and be-fore the upgrade, it was already growing slightly but of course we didn’t want to flaunt it. It will now grow a lot faster”.

Megawide gets Mactan International Airport development contract

MANILA – The Megawide-GMR consortium has signed the concession agreement, for the Mactan-Cebu Interna-tional Airport development project with the Department of Transportation and Com-munications (DOTC).

The 25-year concession agreement was finalized after Megawide-GMR completed all the post-award require-ments, including a payment of P16.1 billion to the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), which included a P14.4 billion pre-mium payment and P1.7 bil-lion in taxes.

Megawide chairman and CEO Michael Cosiquien said that Megawide-GMR had

funded 30% of the payment, while a loan from BDO Uni-bank made up the remaining 70%.

With Megawide-GMR emerging as the winning bidders for the project last December, MCIAA will turn over the operation and main-tenance of the airport to the consortium within the next six months, or by October 2014.

Cosiquien said Megawide-GMR will invest P17.5 bil-lion in a new passenger ter-minal building, construction of which will begin in early 2015, to be completed by Jan-uary 2018.

“The existing terminal will remain, as a renovated do-mestic terminal from January 2019, with the new terminal dedicated to international flights”, Consequien added.

The DOTC said the signing of the contract had followed the expiration of the 15-day deadline for any 3rd parties to file a motion for reconsidera-tion, contesting the award.

The DOTC said there had been no temporary restrain-ing order issued from the Su-preme Court, preventing the project from proceeding.

The Megawide-GMR con-sortium submitted the high-est bid of P14.404 billion for the public-private partner-ship (PPP) project in Decem-ber 2013, beating the Filin-vest-Changi consortium’s bid of P13.999 billion, into second place.

The awarding of the PPP project had been held up for several months, as Filinvest had attempted to get the Megawide-GMR consortium disqualified from the process.

The VBP maNila News Team Manila

new teRminal= foR inteRnational fligHtS. Megawide-GMR’s design for the new Mactan-Cebu International Airport. (Courtesy of Megawide-GMR)

Dare to be cool.

Monday, 26 May 2014 5Visayan Business Post

Editor regie graToNesinfo@visayanbizpost.com Local industry

SAN VICENTE, Mahaplag -- At 45 years old, Gen-na Cabalo has gone through almost all the rigors of life: she married early, worked for a long time as a saleslady, survived an operation, and lived to succeed where most would easily start but fail: operating a roadside ‘bahay-kubo’ sari-sari store.

Genna’s Store started with a mere P1,000.00 worth of start-up capital which she and her husband, Toto, used first to sell gasoline, diesel and kerosene in soft drink bot-tles along the highway. The loan was from Ongay Felipa, her husband’s grandmother.

After only a year of selling fuel products, the couple took a ‘business risk’ and accepted money worth P3,000.00 from a loan shark. This small amount they used to buy and sell some basic groceries starting with canned goods, candies, noodles, ‘tuba’, candles, matches, and soft drinks. The couple did not have any other source of income other than Toto getting irregular work as a carpenter and con-struction worker.

“To succeed with a sari-sari located in an area where sari-sari stores are a cottage industry of sorts you need to wake up early to open your store ahead of the competi-tion”, said Genna. This the couple did. At 4:00 o’clock in the morning, the couple would already be up and about their small business, with Genna still having to cook breakfast for their two small children who would later walk to school.

As the years passed, the couple had to endure so many types of customers -- some taking out small “vale’s” that would never be paid for, usually by relatives and friends living nearby. ‘Utang lipay, bayad likay’, as Toto would put it.

Still they make it a point to do their store duties with a happy disposition. “Whatever your personal problems, always smile to your customers and treat them nicely so that they will feel good about buying your goods”, said Toto. “The sari-sari store operator will do well stretching his patience even to those who have not paid their dues”, adds Genna.

“The other secret in operating a sari-sari store is al-ways getting new stocks and not placing too much “pa-tong” (profit margin) on your goods”, explains Genna.

Here is the universal wisdom usually advised that successful small business entrepreneurs like Toto and Genna subscribe to: be happy with whatever work you do, be industrious, be patient, and persevere.

Most of all “pray and give time to Daddy God, share blessings to the church through offerings”, said Genna.

Through their small sari-sari store, Genna and Toto have been able to send their daughter through college, Jon-amel, who graduated with honors and a degree in Chemi-cal Engineering. Their youngest son, Janel, will enter col-lege with a scholarship from the Department Of Science and Technology (DOST).

Succeeding with a Sari-sari Store

Business Sense

By JeaN mamasPas

VBP Leyte

Ormoc reports P2B agriculture loss to Yolanda

ORMOC CITY -- Depart-ment of agriculture officer in charge Dante Alvarico of Or-moc City has disclosed that the city’s agriculture sector lost P2.069 billion to typhoon Yolanda.

Alvarico said that the city’s industrial crops like abaca, coconut and sugarcane were damaged but most badly hit was the coconut industry which suffered 90% in terms of coconut trees felled.

According to the city’s agriculturist, very minimal copra can be expected in the next 5 to 7 years. Production of the local coco wine known as “tuba” will be severely af-fected together with other commercial products sourced

from coconuts.“Experts are now saying

that the newly planted coco-nut trees would start bearing its fruits after 7 years, so that’s a very long time for the resto-ration of the coconuts alone here in the city” Mr. Alvarico said.

Meanwhile, Alvaricio add-ed that the city’s rice industry also suffered 70% damage. As of now, the city’s rice suffi-ciency is around 90% with the remaining 10% being current-ly sourced out from provinces in Mindanao.

Leyte was one of Cebu’s top sources of rice. Cebu is now buying its rice from provinces in Mindanao, spiking the price of rice in Cebu City.

Alvarico explained that too much water during the ty-phoon also damaged most of the city’s rice plantations, irri-gation canals, and agricultural

infrastructure so that Ormoc will not be able to substan-tially supply its own rice in the next several months.

Meanwhile, Alvarico dis-closed to Visayan Business Post that the city’s pineapple industry suffered an estimated P1 Billion worth of typhoon-related losses based on statis-tics provided by Sal’s High-lands Pineapples, the city’s premier pineapple plantation corporation.

The pineapple business’ management forecasted that it will take at least two years to recover from these losses. The corporation is trying to save 80% of its existing pro-duction.

Everyone, even the small farmers have lost so much in the area so “expect that the price of food here in Ormoc will be higher these days”, said Mr. Alvarico.

Alvarico, however, told VBP that although the sugar-cane industry suffered 30% in terms of its production, the city is hoping that the next cropping will provide more sugar cane.

Due to the heavy damage to crops in the city, the city official warned that even if its agricultural status is still holding between 90-100% in sufficiency, with the changes of climate, the city’s agricul-ture sector will be struggling to cope with the supply needs of the city in the next coming months.

“So the challenge for the people in the agricultural sec-tor in our area is to fully re-store the city’s crops within a short amount of time. Rice, corn and vegetables is cur-rently being given first focus by the local government”, Al-varico concluded.

By JohN alfred KaBalicaN

Staffwriter, VBP Leyte

SummeR HaRveSt. Rice farmers near Baybay City in the Province of Leyte take ad-vantage of fair weather, gather-ing this summer’s rice harvest. The present produce is the first in this rain-fed farm which was re-planted after super typhoon Haiyan destroyed most of the crops of the previous season. Rice farmers in this area are hoping that they will get a bet-ter harvest next season as pro-ceeds from this gathering will go to the rising tuition fees of their college students. Gov-ernment is pushing for food sustainability in all areas af-fected by typhoon Yolanda with various agriculture programs that include distribution of rice seeds. Photo by VBPNT

dRied fiSH. A local staple that goes daily with rice into most average families in the Waray region. The local dried fish industry is steadily recovering in Leyte. Photo by VBPNT

puBliSHing. The Visayan Business Post breaks into the publishing scene in Southern Leyte with its strategy of direct circulation. The national newspa-per from Eastern Visayas has a policy of first breaking Visayas’ countryside news with its strong presence in the internet through visayanbizpost.com, its facebook and twitter accounts. (Right) Maasin City mayor Maloney L. Samaco pores into the Business Week section of the Business Post. He welcomed and congratulated Visayan Business Post Publishing for spreading its news circula-tion into Maasin City and the South Leyte areas. Photo by VBPNT

Monday, 26 May 201466

Editor JohN alfred KaBalicaNeditor@visayanbizpost.comthe metro

starTravel &Tours

Tourism at its best!Discover the beauty of your country.

from Page 1

NIA, DENR forges accord

Ormoc city shoot-out kills 3, wound 5By JohN alfred KaBalicaN

VBP LeyTe

ORMOC, Leyte – A morning police anti-drug enforcement ‘buy-bust’ operation here turned deadly after four suspects involved in the trafficking of illegal substances shot it out with government op-eratives.

Suspected drug pusher Sim Serrano immediately died when he and his three other companions armed with high caliber pistols and a sub-machine gun indiscriminately fired at a crowd watching a lo-cal cockfight in Barangay Tambulilid. The suspects were trying to evade gov-ernment authorities con-ducting the entrapment operation. But Serrano and his cohorts pulled out their guns fired at pursuing po-lice, starting the shootout.

Chief Inspector Edgardo Encina of the Ormoc City Police Office (PCPO) and Senior Inspector Pedrera Rebato of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said they were forced to fire back on the

suspects to protect them-selves and the crowd hang-ing around the area where an illegal cockfight was also being conducted.

A local dentist, Jay Movil-la and one Wilfredo Alberto who happened to be in the scene were hit by stray bul-lets. Both died on the spot. RodulfoVillar, 62; Alex Oli-veras, 40; Melodia Mangu-bat, 32; and Joey Liporada, of legal age, all residents of Ormoc City were also wounded in the firefight and were rushed to the Or-moc Doctor’s Hospital to be treated.

Recovered from the scene of the shootout were P500.00 in cash, one plastic sachet of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu”, nine pieces of empty plastic sachets that the suspects were using to repack the il-legal drugs, one .45 caliber pistol, one magazine, two pieces of live ammunition, and three pieces of empty shells from a .45 caliber pis-tol. A .38 caliber revolver loaded with three pieces of live ammunition was also found by the police, osten-sibly left by the fleeing sus-pects.

Muslim leader cautions Philippine Military

MANILA - Ghadzali Jaafar, a leader of the largest Muslim rebel group urged the Philip-pine military to take precau-tions on Monday after fight-ing, in which 20 people were killed, threatened the stabil-ity of the peace accord signed with Malacañan on March 27th.

The vice chairman for po-litical affairs of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which signed the ac-cord, called for an investiga-tion into the clashes last week on the island of Basilan.

The head of the armed forc-es, General Emmanuel Bau-tista, denied the claim that his men had targeted MILF members and said the troops were hunting rival Abu Sayyaf insurgents, who were not involved in the peace agree-ment.

The MILF peace treaty, signed in the hope of ending the 45 year old conflict, re-mains unstable as other insur-gent groups, particularly Abu Sayyaf, an organisation on the US anti-terrorist blacklist, continue to inflict armed at-tacks on the army.

“Both parties must know

what happened. This mistake must be remedied, so it will not again happen,” Jaafar told reporters. “My message to the military is: ‘Please do not dis-turb the honeymoon between the MILF and Malacañang,’” he added.

It is believed that 18 Muslim rebels died in the shoot-out near the town of Tipo-tipo on Basilan, an island known as a Muslim militant stronghold. Jaafar accepted that only four of those killed were MILF members, whilst the remain-der were Abu Sayyaf fighters.

“I think it was intentional, but I don’t know if they know

By The VBP News Team

Leytethat they were attacking the MILF,” Jaafar said. “Why at-tack the MILF at this point in time?”

Bautista responded that the military consulted MILF lead-ers in the area before engaging the Abu Sayyaf Group.

“There was no participa-tion of MILF forces in the encounter,” he said, though he acknowledged that “indi-vidual members” of the MILF, with possible family links to Abu Sayyaf, had become in-volved in the fighting.

“The MILF should deal with them,” Bautista con-cluded.

Because life is clear.

caSH foR woRk. Community citizens affected by the super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in Barangay Pobla-cion municipality of Mahap-lag, Leyte, perform gardening work on a patch of land. They would be given at least P260 per day of 8-hour work. The funds for the program come from the Department of Social Welfare and Development as part of efforts to help victims of the typhoon. The community garden the workers work on will become their own source of vegetables come harvest time. The cash-for-work pro-gram is replicated in all the municipalities affected by the typhoon. Photo by VBPNT

The accord called “Water-shed Resource Management Agreement for JRMP-II” saw the assignment of nine af-fected barangays in Calinog to NIA 6 which will be re-sponsible in propagating the watershed areas of barangays with Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title or CADT.

DENR meanwhile will take care of the rest including oth-er barangays situated in the so called Panay Watershed Divide. The agreement seeks to further ensure sustainable water supply for irrigation in the region through the Jalaur River Management Project II which is being implemented by NIA.

DENR Regional Executive Director Jim O Sampulna said that a forthcoming P500 mil-lion Forest Management Pro-ject fund from the Japan Inter-national Cooperation Agency (JICA) would be very timely for the Jalaur River Manage-ment Project.

In a related development, the Armed Forces of the Phil-

ippines and the Philippine Na-tional Police stated their com-mitment to ensure peace and order as the project begins to be project implemented.

AFP and PNP will ensure the safety and security of JRMP-II working personnel and equipment. BGen. Arnold M. Quiapo in a statement said that the 301st Infantry Brigade is fully behind JRMP-II as it is a vital project for social devel-opment.

The project’s detailed engi-neering is on its final stages, being revalidated by Korean consultants and their Filipino counterparts. Three dams will be built in Calinog, Il-oilo. These are the Jalaur High Dam, Jalaur After Bay Dam. and Alibunan Catch dam.

The design engineering for JRMP-II embodies a set of NIA requirements with cur-rent innovations in the field of water resources develop-ment. It also gives relevance to issues and developments on climate change. The project is a development program of the Aquino administration with Senator Franklin Drilon help-ing the project push through.

Tune in to DYVL Aksyon Radyo for developing news from Leyte!

Libot Karahibot (12:00 nn --1:00 pm ) Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridayswith broadcast veterans Thor Bibar & Hector Go

Hingyap han Leyteño (12:00 nn --1:00 pm ) Wednesdayswith Governor Dominic ‘Mic’ Petilla & Thor Bibar

be sufficient to protect the in-creasing volumes of personal data we have stored in the cloud.

But what if we could make use of a device most of us carry with us everywhere to act as a secondary key? A key that could prevent someone from logging into your account with a stolen password, un-less they also had physical ac-cess to this key?

I refer to the humble mobile phone.

Most of the main internet service providers – Google, Facebook, Dropbox, PayPal etc. all provide a little publi-cised, secondary key option, known as two-factor authen-tication. Using two-factor, a code number is sent by the service provider to a regis-tered mobile phone number, or generated by an app, when-ever a new device logs into a protected account. This way,

It makes my heart bleed!The Heartbleed bug exploit

and a series of high profile hacking attacks over the last year or so, have highlighted the fact that the more we make use of internet based storage for our personal in-formation, the greater the risk we take.

Hackers are now making use of highly sophisticated techniques to bypass, steal or guess our passwords. Even without stealing passwords through exploits like Heart-bleed, hackers can use power-ful computers to launch brute force password attacks, which can break even strong pass-words, in a relatively short space of time. These attacks throw millions of password combinations per second at the intended target, until they eventually guess the right one.

The fact is that we are now entering an age when pass-words alone are not going to

even if a hacker had access to your password, they could not log into your account, with-out also being able to enter the code number displayed on your mobile phone.

There is some inconven-ience trade off against secu-rity, of course. You won’t be able to access your account from a new device, unless you have your phone with you. If you lose your phone, you’ll only be able to access your account from a previously authorised device, before you can update the two-factor set-tings. However, for the extra security offered, I think the pros far outweigh the cons.

Although no system will ever be 100% secure, it’s a fact of life that we are all going to have to take additional pre-cautions with our data secu-rity, if we are to avoid falling victim to the darker side of the internet.

Monday, 26 May 2014 7Visayan Business Post

Gizmo101By aNdy BeVaN

Business Editor & Web Administrator

RecipientS of clothes, toys, shoes and medical help from Frimley Park Hospital Foundation Trust happily receive their gifts. The boxes of donations were gathered and sent by compassionate staff of the FPH Emergency Department in Southern England . (Photos by Rapunzel Adams, MD)

tacloBan evRmc through pedia-trician Dr. Rapunzel Adams distrib-uted goods from the FPH. They thanked the donors for these very needed help for poor victims of su-per typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

Mercy help from Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey, UK

The VATICAN -- In an emo-tional and faithful moment for the Catholic Church and its followers around the world, a crowd estimated at more than one million thronged St. Peter’s Square and the sur-rounding area to witness the declaration of two 20th centu-ry Catholic giants, Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, as saints.

Pope Francis presided over the massive canonization cer-emony, joined by his prede-cessor, the retired 87-year-old Benedict XVI, leading the Ital-ian press to dub the day the “Festival of Four Popes.”

Both were historic firsts. Two popes have never before been declared saints in the same ceremony, and two liv-ing popes have never before been on hand for the event.

The canonization was the largest public gathering in Rome since the funeral of John Paul II in April 2005. In his remarks during the Mass, Pope Francis praised the two new saints. “These were two men of courage, filled with the boldness of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy,” Francis said.

Pope John XXIII, known in his day as “Good Pope John,” is remembered above all for convening the Second Vati-can Council (1962-65), which launched the Catholic Church on a course of reform. Francis

today described Pope John as a “pastor” and a “servant lead-er,” calling him “the pope of openness to the Holy Spirit.”

John Paul II, the most trav-elled pope in history and the third longest-serving pontiff of all time, left behind an enor-mous legacy, including his role in the collapse of Communism and his outreach to both other Christians and the follow-ers of other faiths. Francis described John Paul II as the “pope of the family,” refer-ring to the special concern the Polish pontiff had for young people and family life. Among other things, John Paul II founded World Youth Day, a gathering staged every two or three years that routinely

draws crowds in excess of a million people, becoming the Olympic Games of the Catho-lic Church.

The family is also a point of emphasis for Francis, who will convene a global summit of bishops in October devoted to issues related to the family.

Today is “Divine Mercy Sunday,” an observance placed on the Church’s calendar by Pope John Paul II intended to foster devotion to the mercy of Christ. Francis, who has made mercy a cornerstone of his own papacy, prayed that the two new pope-saints will help Catholics “to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes and always forgives, be-

J. alleN Jr.International News

cause it always loves.”As part of the canonization

ceremony, a Vatican official asked three times that Fran-cis name his two predecessors as saints. Francis then read a Latin formula officially “de-claring and defining” that the two men have been enrolled as saints and can now be ven-erated by Catholics all around the world.

As part of the canoniza-tion rite, relics of each of the new saints were presented to the pope. In the case of John Paul II the relic was a vial of the late pontiff’s blood, while for John XXIII it was a piece of skin removed at the time of his beatification, the final stage before sainthood, in

2000.Catholic teaching holds

that a canonization is among the rare occasions when a pope utilizes his infallible authority, definitively assert-ing that the new saints are in Heaven.

The global resonance of to-day’s ceremony was reflected in the VIP turnout. Dignitar-ies on hand included twenty four heads of state and ten heads of government, with official delegations from 122 nations.

The United States was rep-resented by a three-member delegation led by John Po-desta, a former White House Chief of Staff in the Clinton administration and now a

special advisor to President Barack Obama.

Italian authorities fielded some 13,000 security person-nel, while the Vatican said the Mass itself involved more than 130 cardinals, 1,000 bish-ops and 6,000 priests from around the world. Italian me-dia outlets quoted Roman offi-cials as saying that more than 5,000 buses carrying pilgrims arrived in the city in the days before the event.

John XXIII and John Paul II join the subset of popes who have become saints, a total of 80 out of 268 pontiffs recog-nized by Catholic tradition, though just seven others have been canonized in the last 1,000 years.

Popes John Paul II and John XXIII are canonized

World headlinesEditor Nicola chrisTeeN BeVaNeditor@visayanbizpost.com

canonization. Millions around the world and in Rome witness the rare canonization of two former pontiffs Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII (above) as official saints to be venerated for their exemplary lives and unquestionable faith.

Editorial

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.

Senate President Franklin Drilon is silently working for his country, un-mindful of politicians who have fallen upon themselves to appease business or the current president. His programs are reaching into the future to give bal-ance between business development and social needs. Recently, he filed a bill to require all cigarette manufacturers to put graphic pictures of Cancer eating up on human life in their cigarette packing.

The bill is unprecedented. Drilon has done his homework, making sure that the idea of pictures of the dreaded effects of cancer caused by long term smoking would send the message clear to present and would-be smokers. Philippine sta-

tistics on early smoking has shown ea-ger starters in very young ages. Mostly from rural and urban poor settings, these children do not really understand what they are getting into.

It is anathema to put the deadly ef-fects of one’s products on individu-als along with the label that says “it’s smooth and sassy”. That is business su-icide, if level headed business analysts may argue. But cigarette manufactur-ers must admit that they have a deeper social responsibility to help smokers make an intelligent decision about go-ing on with or quitting the habit of smoking. It does not matter that taxes have increased in a measured response

against financial gains from ciga-rette sales to smokers.

It is therefore for statesmen like the good senator to determine whether this bill would pass. But it is a lucid manner of looking at a problem straightforwardly. The physical, psychological and social effects of smoking cigarettes have been the subject of positive study towards eliminating its negative in-fluence on individuals.

Perhaps, only Sen. Frank Drilon understands this.

A statesman

OpinionObama, Aquino and the Usual Suspects

US President Obama attended a state dinner re-cently, with President Benigno Aquino and a cast of characters that would have graced the finest Holly-wood thriller.

Two ex-presidents (one, a convicted plunderer), a dictator’s son, a martial law enforcer and a serial mili-tary coup plotter were amongst those on the guest list.

President Obama paid tribute to Aquino’s father, Ninoy, who “offered his life so that the nation might be free” referring to the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, ousted by the People Power Revolution in 1986. Seated nearby was the dead dictator’s son, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

Also in attendance was Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, infamous for being the Marcos family’s enforcer. Enrile is currently being prosecuted for his alleged involve-ment in a plot to steal billions in “pork barrel” funds. Marcos Jr. is also being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman for an alleged part in the same crime.

Obama praised Aquino, saying, “you bear the scars of those who would have taken this nation backwards,” referring to the bullet wounds Aquino suffered during a coup attempt in 1987. The revolt was led by another of the dinner guests, Senator Gringo Honasan, the mas-termind of many bloody military uprisings. Obama also greeted former President Fidel Ramos, who pardoned Honasan for the coup attempt in which President Aquino was shot! The coups were attempts to install Juan Ponce Enrile as president.

The guests were joined by another former presi-dent, Joseph Estrada, who was thrown out of office by a second People Power revolution in 2001 and invited back to Malacañang for the first time since. Estrada, now the elected Mayor of Manila, was tried and sen-tenced to 30 years for plunder, though pardoned by another ex-president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Un-fortunately, Ms Arroyo had to decline her dinner invi-tation, as she’s been under hospital arrest since 2010, herself charged with the crime of plunder.

Perhaps not surprisingly, President Obama avoided further comment on Philippines politics in his speech, preferring to concentrate on their other shared inter-ests. “There is our mutual obsession with basketball, there is our mutual admiration for Manny Pacquiao, even if sometimes he’s fighting against Americans and it doesn’t turn out the way we’d like,” he said. Pacquiao was not present at the dinner.

Entertainment was provided by local artists and three cabinet members –– Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and Pub-lic Works Secretary Rogelio Singson. The trio played one of Obama’s favourite songs –– Marvin Gaye’s 1971 classic “What’s Going On?”. The irony was lost on many.

“Corruption breeds equal corruption” is a saying lost to history as despicable men teach their own bloods how to per-fect the art of stealing.

It starts from men who feed their chil-dren the result of their own unlawful pursuits, their young flesh ingesting the bile evil of thievery. And so it becomes natural for those who benefit from sto-len effects to have to justify the benefit of having money, things, or privileges borne out of irregular transactions.

The case of Janet Napoles’ daughter, spoiled to the bones by the luxury of alleged stolen opulence, is an example of how society has condoned, by not questioning, the lifestyle of offspring of

the privileged even if they live far away from the scene of their parent’s crime. There seems to be a psychological ap-proval of the children not becoming part of the parties who are held to ac-count for public malfeasance even if they directly subscribe to the benefits of their crime.

Slowly, when the children mature, their propensity to enjoy riches they did not work for convince them about the regularity of illegal public or private trade. Their immoderate greed become common, acknowledged for the imme-diate maintenance of gratifying high profile status.

In many ways, the existence of crime and political dynasties is connected to the neutral effect of kingpins and oligarchs continuously uploading the secrets of legal thievery to their own

issues. It happens that “only family can be trusted” in the crude words of the Sicilian omerta. The beans are not spilled in equal terms by a non-family member turning state witness. In a practical sense, it is easier to trust your own blood not because “blood is thicker than wa-ter” but because human weakness is earlier identified when you meet a person daily and live with him as family.

Because children usually follow their parents to whatever ends, it is basic mathematics to have them easily adjust to the nature of com-fortable lifestyles but it should be associated with hard and honest work. After all, it is the obligation of parents to give their children the utmost ease of growth.

Corrupt children

The TruTh in perspecTive.Building a counTry wiTh responsiBle

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

VisayanBusinessPost

When super typhoon Haiyan struck our community in Tacloban, Leyte, we learned to value life all the more, its sim-ple pleasures, lessons, even its failures. The devastation caused by Haiyan was unimaginable. One couldn’t dare fathom what victims went through on the early morning of November 8, 2013. Precious lives, homes, and livelihood vanished af-ter four gritting hours as strong, heavy winds whipped the place.

No one knew how the tragedy would change the future. It was like a long si-lent pause to everyone’s life and a slow motion towards the end. To the people who experienced it, and to those indi-rectly affected but suffered just the same, our lives and perspectives will never be the same again.

When international news picked up the extent of Haiyan’s wrath, help from around the globe started pouring in.

Nature has it that when a catastrophe strikes a person’s life, someone from somewhere would be most willing to help. While the city was in total chaos, many countries did not stand silent. We realised that the world was not as evil as we think. There is still love and, more importantly, compassion. Big and small, voluntary help was needed and nothing beats the invincible spirit of working together for a common cause.

FRIMLEY PARK HOSPITAL FOUN-DATION TRUST in the south of Eng-land and one of the best hospitals in the whole of Surrey, showed its unwavering support, working hand in hand with the Filipino community. It’s Emergency Department have done a magnificent job in collecting boxes of clothes, toys, shoes and medical equipment shipped directly to Tacloban, successfully dis-tributed to where these were needed at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban through paediatric doctor Rapunzel Adams. The smiles of

With a little help from our friends

all those who received your help were priceless. “Salamat, Frimley Park!” (thank you, Frimley Park!) is all they could say.

Rebuilding Tacloban and neigh-bouring towns equally affected will not be easy. Months after the trag-edy, many people remain homeless, displaced with nothing to call their home. Many things are needed: hy-giene items like toothpaste, soap, toothbrush, and underwear are what people cry for. Since prices of daily commodities have shot up, these basic needs have become a luxury to the poor.

It is difficult to say when things will get better. Others have re-covered, but a lot are still trying to pick up the pieces of their lives and dreams. Nevertheless, no mat-ter how hard the problem is, while there is life, there is always hope; especially when there is a little help from our friends.

By Joy marTiN

Columnist, VBP London

The Edges

By guillermo loPez Columnist, VBP, Leyte

Snapshot

Monday, 26 May 201468

Malacañan state dinner

By lucy esPacio Columnist, VBP Cebu

Distance

Publisher urbano b. MaMaspas, pa (Ret.)

Editor-in-Chief Frank Villablanca

On-line Editor ElizabEth bEVan, News Editor John alFrEd kabalican, World Page Editor nicola christEEn bEVan, Business Editor & Web Administrator andy bEVan, Columnists Joy Martin, GuillErMo lopEz & luz Espacio, Entertainment MEan FlorEs, Editorial Consultant aaron Jp alMadro, Marketing & Circulation rEGiE GratonEs & JonaMEl cabalo, Finance & Business Manager JEan MaMaspas, Legal Affairs atty. isidro sarona Jr.

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

Editor JeaN mamasPasvisayan.bizpost@gmail.com

The Gospel this WeekPs 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19

“Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.”

Reading: Jesus calmed the fears of His apostles regarding their future. It is assured since they have a room prepared already for them in His Father’s house. If they believe in Jesus they will not get lost on their way to the Father nor will they feel a stranger be-fore Him when the time comes. They who have seen, heard and touched the Lord have already seen, heard and touched the Father because of the deep intimacy of the Son to the Father.

Reflection: Many of us cannot help wor-rying about the future. Time sometimes terrorizes us. But with Jesus, time ceases to intimidate because He promises a glori-ous future for those who believe. It is only a matter of attitude on our part whether we hold firmly to this promise or doubt it. In the end, it is we who are the author of the

We live and pass by His amazing grace.

God is Good!

wrappers are put in the bins provided.

Invest in good quality toy boxes for each child (visit reputable home ware stores for ideas) and make each one of them responsible for put-ting away their own things. This will give them a sense of achievement when the task is done.

If your kids are old enough to tidy their own bedroom unsupervised, then leave them to do it! It may not be to the same standard than if you were to do it yourself, but practise makes perfect and it is the effort that counts!

Regularly following a rou-tine will develop good or-ganisational habits in your children. Be sure to let them know that you appreciate their help.

2. Look around the house and decide what is essential and what’s not. Ask yourself if you really need to keep that juicer you bought in the sale three years ago, only to be used once and now just gath-ering dust on top of the fridge!

Some people often buy things on impulse only to find that the super duper, top of the range gadget they were led to believe would be a prac-tical addition to the kitchen collection, actually cost a lot in electricity to run!

3. How easy can you find what you’re looking for when you open the cabinets in your kitchen? Are the glasses kept with the cereal bowls and the coffee cups with the dinner plates? Consider changing them around. Organising your kitchenware and utensils in a practical way saves time for everyone and minimises ac-cidents around the home. For example, from a glass being knocked over when you try to reach a soup bowl from be-hind it!

4. Check your wardrobe and shoe cabinet. Again ask yourself the last time you wore each item of clothing or shoes. If you haven’t worn them in a year then chances are you never will again. So

Nothing is more calming and appeasing than to return to a tidy home after a hectic, stressful workday. A tidy home promotes a positive and active environment. It helps us to think more clearly and can ease emotional and psy-chological stress.

A ‘little’ clutter is consid-ered normal in most house-hold everyday life, especially if there are young children around. But when left to ac-cumulate or take up valuable family space it could affect your psyche.

When the clutter reaches a certain point, it’s not the mess that becomes the issue but the impact the mess has on all the people living with it.

For example, children are embarrassed to bring their friends around, and can carry their messy habits into adult-hood. Similarly, Mom starts to resent the rest of the fam-ily for not helping her enough around the house.

The good news especially for us Moms is that keeping our house tidy need not be a stressful and huge undertak-ing.

The key is simple: good or-ganisation and delegation. Do not hesitate to ask your hus-band or partner to help out. Most men really ‘don’t mind’ sharing the household chores if we ask them nicely. But we do need to ask them as “they can’t read minds”, so I’m told!

Here are some helpful tips on how decluttering could be best achieved:

1. Recruit your children to help by giving them a ba-sic cleaning & tidying rou-tine. For example: Ask your children to ensure that their books, toys and gadgets are put away before bedtime and that any biscuit or candy

Declutter your home

let them go! Find them a new home by donating to friends or relatives.

5. The bathroom is always the place most people hate to clean and declutter. But if you know what you need to do and establish a reg-ular cleaning routine then it shouldn’t be the most dreaded chore in the household.

Start by emptying the bins and discard empty tube of toothpaste or mouthwash bottles. Check the medicine cabinet; discard safely any medicines that have expired. Go through your make up, hair accessories, perfumes and co-lognes and again throw away what you no longer need or use, or better still donate.

If this is the first time you will be doing a major declut-ter job, then planning is es-sential before you undertake this activity. Set aside a whole weekend at least and involve the whole family! Be clear on what you want to achieve; set each member a specific task that they can concentrate on. Prepare a check list and tick it off for every task that is com-pleted.

By BeTh BeVaN

Home AffairsLifestyleMenu

misery or the joy of our living. Some people might attack our Christian optimism accus-ing us of clinging to an illusion or false hope, but what have they as an alternative? Their claim to an alternative meaningful life still demands an act of faith on those who follow it.

And so between the two messiahs or mul-tiple messiahs that present different visions of life, whom do we choose? May our faith be strong enough to believe that Jesus’ vi-sion for us is the best portion among the lot.

Response: Making an act of faith in Jesus tends to be mechanical sometimes without our awareness or the full participation of our being. It would be good to pause today and make a sincere proclamation of our faith in Jesus, relishing every word, allowing it to penetrate our whole being so much so that we can stand for that act of faith no matter what the world will say for or against it.

at Barton Wilmore Planning & Design, Beth Bevan’s col-leagues at Farnborough Col-lege of Technology (School of Applied and Health Sciences), the friends of Nicola Christeen Bevan, and the friends and family of former VFV volun-teers Grace Scott and Jasel Burroughs of the United King-dom.

The VFV Director told Visayan Business Post during her interview that the founda-tion continues to tend to the families of victims of super typhoon Haiyan who to date have not been able to find relo-cation yet. She said that most-

Helena Claire ‘Wim-wim’ Canayong, veteran director of the Volunteer for the Visay-ans met with the VBP News Team recently to receive for the foundation some boxes of assorted children and teen-age clothes and footwear from be-nevolent donors in the United Kingdom.

Director Canayong in-spected the boxes containing the donated items with mem-bers of the VFV and thanked the colleagues of Andy Bevan

ly affected are children who still need to adjust to their post-typhoon situation.

“Some of the neglected but important items that the victims need are personal hy-giene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, bathing soap, and underwear”, said Canayong who is working with other VFV volunteers to provide these items to the refugees.

Donor Nicola Christeen Bevan sought the donations in the United Kingdom for the VFV having been a VFV volunteer herself who was in the Visayas when the super typhoon struck.

By The VBP News Team

Tacloban, Leyte

Philippine Volunteer for the Visayans thank UK donors

Make it funDoing household chores

shouldn’t be a boring process. Put some music on. Prepare the family’s favourite snack and drinks to have at break time. And when everything is done and your house finally looks light and airy, it’s time to celebrate! Treat yourselves to a nice take out or, better still, take the family out for a nice meal in your favourite restaurant.

Regular de-cluttering around your home can really have a therapeutic effect on you and the people around you. Cleanliness at home teaches clarity of thoughts and basic responsibility at every turn.

However, note that clut-ter comes in many ways and manifestations. Cluttered fi-nances, relationships, work space, emails, to name a few. But these are topics for an-other day!

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volunteeR foR tHe viSayanS. Director Helena Claire Canayong with young members of the VFV happily receive clothes and shoes donated from the United Kingdom through the efforts of Nicola Chris-teen Bevan who was in Tacloban also volunteering for VFV when Haiyan struck. Photo by VBPNT

Monday, 26 May 2014 9Visayan Business Post

Editor meaN floresinfo@visayanbizpost.com

derstand what it is that we really mean. The amount of thought-related words like know, idea and interest par-ents use around kids can pre-dict children’s performance on theory of mind tests years down the road.

Baby-talk is a common er-ror parents commit because they see this as a ‘cute’ way of teaching them how to think. Little do we know that kids learn lesser and they come to suffer in the end as they grow older. More often they be-come laughingstock for not pronouncing basic words as when ‘s’ becomes ‘t’ for exam-ple as ‘because’ becomes ‘be-caute’ or so on.

Research point out that the more adult-like you talk to your child, the better he gets to reason out. Treating chil-dren like adults in the way we communicate to them allow

psychoParentis

‘Talk’ to your kids like an adult

Lumosity, a leading brain training and neuroscience re-search company involved in child psychology has found out that how you talk to a tod-dler can have a big impact on how they interact with others years later.

Children ages three to six years old develop a ‘theory of mind’ or the ability to under-stand other people’s thoughts and see things from their own perspective. They tend to give credence to the manner by which we communicate to them.

It is therefore important to set them to understand basic thinking patterns that help them to become more cogni-tive of thoughts rather than simple ideas.

So we parents should bet-ter be careful about our choice of words in expressing our own thoughts for them to un-

children to view the world in a more practical sense as they learn to interpret what words really mean in their propor context and therefore become responsible themselves in communicating.

As proud parents, we tell others about how good our child has become at explain-ing themselves like small ‘law-yers’. But if our child still talks like a baby, we excuse them for being young children.

Researchers believe that en-couraging very young children to think about the thoughts and experiences of others, of goodness, compassion, for-giveness, and productivity can set them up to become better social reasoners their entire lives.

So let us talk to our chil-dren responsibly and they will communicate with responsi-bility as well.

Fashionable child-rearing.By JeaN mamasPas

Being good as communicated to children has its own rewards. Photo by VBPNT

Monday, 26 May 201410

plus entertainment

Rachel Ann Go makes London Theatre debut

London West End -- The much anticipated return of one of the world’s most famous musicals ‘Miss Sai-gon’ finally happened on 3rd May, marking the 25th year anniversary of the show’s premiere at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1989.

The musical, written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg and re-worked by Sir Cameron

Mackintosh is said to have set a new record for a sin-gle day sales in West End and Broadway ticket sales history, selling £4,402,371 (P325.8M) worth of tickets in September 2013.

Among the 2014 Miss Saigon casts is Filipino pop music artist and actress Ra-chel Ann Go who made her Theatre debut as Ariel in the Atlantis Production of Dis-ney’s Little Mermaid in 2011. Rachel plays the role of Sai-gon bar girl Gigi Van Tranh, originally played by another Filipina Isay Alvarez in 1989.

Miss Saigon tells the tale of an ill fated romance be-tween an American GI and a Vietnamese woman during the Vietnamese war.

The show is directed by Laurence Connor and fea-tures 17 year old American student Eva Noblezada as Kim, originally played by Lea Salonga who became world famous for her role as Kim and went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award.

‘Miss Saigon’ is currently playing at Prince Edward Theatre, London.

By BeTh BeVaNVBP London

Holywood stars we don’t know have very high IQ’s

StaR tRivia

NATAlIE PorTmAN has won an Oscar, she’s a mother, a wife and, most of all, a Har-vard graduate.

These accomplishments are admirable for anyone.

Basically, she’s one of those rare humans who pos-sess an unfair amount of both beauty and brains. A 4.0 high school student, she once said she’d ‘rather be smart than a movie star’.

Portman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psy-chology from Harvard Uni-versity in 2003.

Portman’s past professors at Harvard have these to say: “It was very clear when she was a student that she is a very determined person and capable of focused effort over a sustained period,” Former Harvard Psychology Professor and Dean of the Social Sciences Stephen M.

Kosslyn, who worked with Portman when she was a research assistant in his lab, told The Harvard Crimson after she won an Oscar in 2011. “She is now demon-strating the results of that determination and focus.”

Harvard Law School Pro-fessor Alan M. Dershowitz also considered Portman an exceptional student.

“She was in my seminar called Neuropsychology and the Law, and I didn’t know who she was because her name was Natalie Hershlag,” he said, referring to Port-man’s birth name. “It was a few weeks into the semester that I learned she was an ac-tress, but she was a terrific student.”

Portman earned an A+ from Dershowitz on her pa-per on new methods of lie detection and he later hired her as a research assistant for a book he was writing.

She is fluent in Hebrew, and has studied French, Japanese, German an Arabic. She’s twice been published in scientific journals and in 2006 appeared at Columbia to guest lecture on terrorism and counterterrorism.

EdwArd NorToN was a business analyst, who grad-uated History at Yale. After graduation, Norton moved to Osaka to consult on be-half of his grandfather’s non-profit, Enterprise Founda-tion, a leading provider of capital and expertise for

affordable housing. There he studied Aikido, a martial art, and became fluent in Japanese.

Norton has since donated more than $1 million to En-terprise and remains on the Board of Trustees.

He is a quadruple threat: he acts, directs, writes and produces.

Norton also speaks four different languages fluently: English, Japanese, French and Spanish.

Beaming. A proud Rachel Ann Go stands before a huge poster announcing the newest staging of the Cameron Mackintosh masterpiece ‘Miss Saigon’ at Prince Edward Theater in London. Go left local showbiz commitments in the Philippines to join the world renowned production where she plays Gigi Van Tranh, a bar girl during the Vietnam War.

One Direction to Manila

In an on-line video, British Boy Band One Direction have said that they will be coming to the Philippines next year.

The video appeared on Fri-day 9th May and showed Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tom-linson, Zayn Malik and Niall Ho-ran announcing that they are set to come to Manila on 21st March 2015.

The news came as something of a surprise, as the big revelation

to Filipino fans wasn't sup-posed to happen until next week. However, the band’s management company pulled the professionally produced video off-line over the week-end, claiming that it was an ‘unofficial release’, however, they were careful to avoid de-nying that the content of the video was accurate.

The VBP Entertainment News Team believes that

there are no accidents in the world of publicity management and this 'leak' is likely to have been care-fully stage managed. Oscar Wilde once said that, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not be-ing talked about.” The video has certainly caused 1D's fans in Phil-ippines to be talking about this and social media sites have been flooded with rumors.

However, the X Factor stars, currently touring in South Ameri-ca, haven’t yet confirmed whether they’ll be performing at one or more concert venues during their visit, or just doing a promo tour. It's expected that the full details will be revealed this week, as they originally scheduled.

One way or another, they are sure to draw crowds of enthusi-astic Filipinos wherever they go! Log on to visayanbizpost.com for more updates.

Life is what we make it:This is Your Lucky WeekAries (March 21-April 19): Changes are com-ing your way and bringing excitement; there are all sorts of opportunities to do new things. You want to teach others the way you think - things you think they need to know, or maybe someone is doing the same for you. If everyone can be honest, straightforward and not allow a note of self righteousness to creep in, then the influences around can be helpful. Lucky number 941.

TAurus (April 20-May 20): The thing that will hold you back is you failure to grasp new oppor-tunities. Be open to expressing yourself as an in-dividual. If you’re feeling gloomy at the moment, give yourself a good shake and stop feeling sorry for yourself. Go deeper to find out what people’s motivations are. Knowledge is freedom. Lucky number 428.

Gemini Gemini (May 21-June 20): On an un-derlying level you want more control over your life. It’s important to see that you can turn this present restlessness into a positive force. Open your eyes to new horizons and excitement that life has to offer. If you are feeling frustrated, you need to rethink your approach. Gentle persua-sion will work best. Lucky number 288.

CAnCer (June 21-July 22): Watch a tendency to be intense, even slightly obsessive. If you can be tolerant of other people’s viewpoint, and open to feedback, you’ll make progress faster. Uranus is where you need to change, where you need to lift your life up and shake it a little bit. Don’t let it become stale or dull or lifeless. You’ve been in a corner lately, and now is the time when there’s a bit more excitement. Lucky number 535.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22): The Moon is in a positive aspect to Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, and it’s in-spiring, challenging and lots of fun, so have fun!. The main thing to remember is you need to be yourself. Pluto is under pressure, which is great for meaningful encounters. Be more aware of your thinking processes, how you put ideas into words, and especially how you come across with your viewpoints. Lucky number 168.

VirGo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Uranus brings a blast of fresh air through certain areas of your life. An-ything which has got dreary or stale will weaken up a bit. Why not try to open up to other people a little bit more? Maybe you feel you would be humiliated if you disclose all your best ideas, but in fact you’ll gain from creative discussions. The thing is that the truth is what matters, not who’s saying it. Lucky number 530.

LibrA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): You’re entertaining your friends in a different kind of way, because you’ve got all these rather exciting ideas at the moment. The influence of Uranus is always indi-vidualistic, but it can make you honest. You tend to say things too forcefully, other people don’t always take it kindly. Be more tolerant, listen to yourself when you speak. Lucky number 699.

sCorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 22): Stay away from restrictions and things that seem to push you into a corner. Examine everything under the mi-croscope today. Don’t get suspicious or make judgments before you have all the information at your fingertips. When you find the answers, don’t push them too hard at other people. You might be tempted to be too forceful. Lucky number 321.

sAGiTTArius (Nov. 23-Dec. 21): You feel a little jittery or uptight, it’s because everything is beginning to shift for you. You want to sort one situation out in a sensible way now and are tak-ing constructive steps to find out what you need to know. Maybe there has been some mystery that you want to solve, or get below the surface of reality. You are likely to find long-term answers. Lucky number 998.

CApriCorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The Sun will make your life more interesting. Sometimes it can rock the boat a little bit, but you want to follow your own path, to be a little bit enlightened, to find new things, to talk to new people. Be careful about how you handle things. It’s important not to become obsessed with one matter, focused in on tiny details that you can’t see the broad picture. Lucky number 304.

AquArius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19): Your relationships are more sparkling with friends and neighbors especially, but basically with everyone around you. You’re lively, curious, very imaginative and quick-witted now and you’ll find yourself dashing around a great deal. You want to influence com-panions, so you’ll be mustering all your persua-sive forces and vigor. Be careful though, or you could run into opposition. Lucky numbnerr 976.

pisCes (Feb. 20-March 20): You need to get out of your cage and away from things which are dull, routine and boring. And although you may not be very self-disciplined, you can probably get a great deal done, because you can just be experimental and take the odd tiny little risk. Changes in your surroundings will be for the better. You may come across as being more forceful, noticing it in other people’s reactions. Lucky number 977.

Monday, 26 May 2014 11Visayan Business Post

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Monday, 26 May 2014 12

By the VBP sPorTs moNiTorManila

Visayas players shine at Palarong Pambansa 2014

the overall result show Regions 6 and 7 at the top 3rd and 4th places in the recently concluded 2014 Palarong Pambansa held in the Province of Laguna.

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LAGUNA, Philippines – Palarong Pambansa honored this year’s top volleyball play-ers at the Laguna Sports Com-plex with Bianca Gabrielle Lizares of Western Visayas and Edward Camposano of the National Capital Region leading the pack of 2014 sec-ondary school players.

Lizares also won the Best Server Award while Campos-ano earned the Best Attacker Award in their respective vol-leyball categories.

Meanwhile, Jyles Rangas of Western Visayas for the el-ementary boy’s category and Chenae Basarte of Central Visayas for the elementary girls category received awards also as top players.

The players were awarded by Governor ER Ejercito Es-tregan who handed the med-als and certificates to Palaro athletes at the Laguna Sports Complex.