P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAORODY MOVES

TO 3RD IN SWS SURVEY

FIRST QUARTER 2015 SOCIAL WEATHER REPORT (SWS)BEST LEADERS TO SUCCEED PRES. AQUINO

(TOTAL PHILIPPINES, DEC. 2014 AND MARCH 2015)DEC 201437%211951099332521121815

MARCH 201536%31151511118743311111123

JEJOMAR BINAYGRACE POEMAR ROXASRODRIGO DUTERTEMIRIAM DEFENSOR-SANTIAGOJOSEPH ESTRADACHIZ ESCUDEROBONGBONG MARCOSALLAN PETER CAYETANOMANNY VILLARANTONIO TRILLANESPANFILO LACSONLOREN LEGARDAMANNY PACQUIAOBONG REVILLAFRANKLIN DRILONNONEDON’T KNOW/REFUSED

*Without any given list, responses below 0.5% are not shown

Binay lead drops slightly; Duterte, Poe are biggest gainers

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duter-te has shot up the

latest Social Weather Sta-tions (SWS) survey and now ranks third in the list of possible presidential candidates.

In the March 2015 SWS survey on the three best leaders to succeed PNoy in 2016, Duterte got 15 percent of the total 1,200 respondents na-tionwide. This was a 10 percent increase from the

December 2014 survey in which he only got five percent.

Duterte is now tied with Department of In-terior Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas, who could be the standard bearer of Liber-al Party in the 2016 presi-dential election.

Interestingly, Duterte had assured Roxas in a telephone conversation last Tuesday night in Camp Quintin Merecido

that he (Duterte) will not run for president next year.

“Huwag kang maga-lala kasi sinabi ko sayo hindi naman ako mag presidente kaya lang ayusin natin tong bayan (Don’t worry because I assure you I am not in-terested in becoming President. But let us fix this nation),” Duterte told Roxas in the middle of his speech during the turn-

FRODY, 10

Photo by Lean Daval Jr.

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

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 20152 EDGEDAVAO

NEWS

THERE is still no reloca-tion site for the settlers who will affected by the

proposed City Sports Com-plex inside the University of the Philippine Mindanao (UP-Min) in Bago Oshiro, Mintal once the project is pursued.

Speaking in yesterday’s I-Speak Forum at City Hall, City Planning and Develop-ment Office’s (CPDO) city housing and homesite divi-sion chief Roy Ryan A. Rigor II told reporters that while the proposed project is urgent, the relocation site for the set-tlers is yet to be determined.

“As to where, that’s what we are discussing now. Even if the city will relocate them to Los Amigos, the settlers are insisting that based on the Memorandum of Agreement between the city government and UPMin in 1996, they should be relocated in the UP compound,” Rigor said.

Rigor was referring to MOA with the Board of Liq-uidators and UPMin which states that UPMin will look for the relocation area for the settlers once there is devel-opment that will affect the settlers.

“Based on my observa-tion, some settlers are not amenable to be relocated in Los Amigos because they only want to be in UPMin,” he said.

Rigor said according to the settlers, the 1996 MOA is binding.

Rigor said as of the mo-ment, the city government has no responsibility for the relocation of settlers in UP-Min.

Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte had earlier said if UPMin has no relocation for the settlers, he will offer the Los Amigos area to the settlers so that the

project can be implemented.Duterte said the proposed

City Sports Complex should remain in the vicinity of UP-Min and the settlers inside should vacate the area.

He said he does not rec-ognize the claimants’ issue in the UPMin campus in Bago Oshiro, Mintal since the area is known as government res-ervation land.

Duterte said if the claim-ants do not have land titles to the land they are occupying, they must vacate the area be-cause it is already a matter of public interest.

CHARGES were filed before the Tagum City Prosecutor’s Office

against the police officer who allegedly hid evidence from a drug raid on Tuesday morning Barangay Magdaum, Tagum City.

Cases of Obstruction of Justice and Violation of Section 27 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 were filed against Police Officer (PO)2 Domijun Valleser of the Tagum City Police Station.

Section 27 of RA 9165 is the criminal liability of a public officer or employee for misap-propriation, misapplication, or

failure to account for the con-fiscated, seized and/or surren-dered dangerous drugs.

Eastern Mindanao Crim-inal Investigation and Detec-tion Unit (EMCIDU) director Senior Superintendent Joel Pernito said the charges were filed against Valleser at around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday be-fore prosecutor Noel Palma.

Different forces of the Phil-ippine National Police (PNP) had implemented a simul-taneous enforcement of 12 search warrants in Barangay Madaum, Tagum City on Tues-day morning.

Eight suspects were ap-

THE Province of Bukidnon yesterday showed an unfold-

ing political phenomenon in Mindanao as different political groups gathered to welcome a man widely believed to be the country’s next President, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Led by the political king-pin of the province, Gover-

nor Jose Zubiri, the prov-ince’s four congressmen, 18 of the 22 mayors and over 400 barangay chair-men gathered in Valencia City for Duterte’s “Listening Tour,” a nation-wide con-sultative forum focusing on Federalism.

Setting aside their local political differences and agenda, the leaders of the

province joined Zubiri in signifying support for Dute-rte who is being pushed by Mindanao leaders to vie for the Presidency, a move which could make him the first President from the troubled Southern Philip-pines.

“What is happening in Bukidnon will happen in the rest of Mindanao

and the Southern Islands should Rody declare that he will run for President,” said Zubiri.

Zubiri’s statement re-flected what happened in the previous sorties of Duterte in other parts of Mindanao where oppos-ing political groups who were fighting tooth and nail

TROOPERS of the 6th In-fantry Division are now pursuing an undeter-

mined number of Bangsam-oro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who strafed the head-quarters of the 1st Mecha-nized Brigade in Barangay Kabingi, Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao Wednes-day night.

The incident took place at 10 p.m., 6th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt. Jo-ann Pe-

tinglay said Thursday.The shooting lasted for 10

minutes. No one was reported hurt nor killed among the gov-ernment troopers.

She added that the ar-mored vehicles parked near the headquarters did not incur any damage.

Return fire from members of the 1st Mechanized Brigade may have wounded an unde-termined number of the BIFF, Petinglay stressed. (PNA)

FIRE DAMAGE.Barangay 23-C Kagawad Jehan J. Nakilan shows the extent of the April 1 fire that gutted 44 houses in Soliman, Quezon Boulevard, Davao City. Some of the fire victims failed to secure entry passes to the area due to question-able documents which were required by the City Planning and Development Office. Lean Daval Jr.

Still no relocation sitefor UPMin settlersBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

Bukidnon all-out for RodyAT A GLANCE: Gov. Zubiri, 4 congressmen, 18 mayors, 400 barangay chair pledge support

Tagum cop charged forhiding drug evidenceBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

BIFF strafe Army HQin Maguindanao

FTAGUM, 10

FBUKIDNON, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 3NEWS

MAYOR Rodrigo Dute-rte does not find anything wrong with

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief negotiator Moha-gher Iqbal using an alias.

“That is not fictitious in a sense that he is unknown. The identity is very clear but the name may be different,” the mayor said.

Duterte said since Iqbal is a revolutionary, it is normal for him to use an alias.

“Syempre you are always wanted by the law gamit gami-tin mo talaga ang ibat-ibang

pangalan (Of course if you are wanted by the law then you will really go by different names),” he said.

Meanwhile, Duterte said he cannot blame the MILF if it does not want to renegotiate the provisions of the Bang-samoro Basic Law (BBL) with government.

Duterte’s statement came a day after Central Committee MILF Vice Chair Ghazali Jaafar said his group will not rene-gotiate the eight provisions of the BBL that Cagayan de Oro

PHILIPS Lighting has launched a campaign to save energy by switching

to LED bulbs which save up to 85 percent of energy com-pared with conventional bulbs.

In a roundtable discussion in Davao City yesterday, Philips Lighting country marketing manager Christine Villanueva said this is particularly im-portant today as the country faces a shortfall in electricity by about 700 megawatts with the month-long maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya power plant.

“This is the capacity of a large power generating unit. It could mean one hour of rotat-ing brownouts in two weeks of summer,” she said.

The Malampaya power plant in Palawan was shut

down from March 15 to April 14. Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Patilla said while the country survived the month-long shutdown, power de-mand is still on the rise and consumers should still contin-ue to converve energy.

Villanueva said one of the simplest and most effective ways consumers can conserve energy is by switching from conventional bulbs to LED bulbs.

“LED bulbs save up to 85 percent of energy versus con-ventional bulbs and can last up to 15,000 hours with a main-tained brightness of 70 per-cent,” she said.

Villanueva also said tech-nology advancements in the past few years have made LED bulbs more affordable, with

the cheapest Philips bulb now costing only P149 from P999 two years ago.

For factories, tubular LEDs (TLEDs) give 60 percent sav-ings on energy cost with pay-back period of less than two years, she said.

“One factory can generate annual savings of P570,000. One PEZA (Philippines Export Processing Zone Authority) zone can get annual savings of P19 million, and the 63 total PEZA zones in the Philippines can save up to P1.2 billion,” she added.

To promote the use of LED, Philips launched the #May-MagagawaKa campaign to encourage Filipinos to start saving energy now to manage the impending power shortage this summer and the years that

follow.The campaign was

launched in Manila on March 18 and in Davao City yesterday.

“A power outage can be catastrophic for the economy,” said Fabia Tetteroo-Bueno, Country Manager of Philips Philippines, during the cam-paign launch in Manila. “We lose the comfort of our homes and the stability of livelihood and business.”

“It will impact all sectors – consequently, it will take the unified efforts of all these sec-tors to prevent it from happen-ing in the future,” she added.

Jointly organized by Philips, Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) Bank, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Phil-

A MIDDLE East-educated sheik (Islamic scholar) now leads the Bangsam-

oro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) after its founding chair Amiril Umra Kato died of car-diac arrest on Tuesday dawn.

BIFF spokesperson Abu Misry Mama said the new lead-er, Sheik Ismael Abubakar, was among the best leaders next to Kato.

Abubakar was the BIFF vice chair for political affairs at the time of Kato’s death.

Mama said Abubakar served as a brigade command-er of the Moro Islamic Liber-ation Front (MILFs)’s 105th Base Command before he bolt-ed the MILF with Kato.

Mama said BIFF leaders, in a special meeting after Kato was laid to rest, agreed to in-stall the 40-year old sheik, also known as ‘Commander Bun-gos,” as its new chair.

The spokesperson said the BIFF’s struggle for indepen-dence will continue despite the loss of Kato.

The also group denied they are weakened now with the death of their founder.

Mama refused to reveal Kato’s final resting place.

Kato formed the BIFF in March 2010. He left the MILF over disagreements on the handling of peace talks with government. (Ferdinandh Cabrera/MindaNews)

THE Davao City Scholar-ship on Tertiary Educa-tion Program (STEP) is

now calling for applications from high school graduates who want to pursue college degrees or technical and voca-tional course diplomas.

In yesterday’s I-Speak Me-dia Forum at City Hall, STEP technical assistant Emilio Do-mingo Jr. told reporters that the city could cater to new ap-plicants for the coming school year.

Domingo said the appli-cants should go to the STEP office at City Hall with their re-port card and National Career Assessment Exam (NCAE) re-sult for assessment.

He said the applicant can choose either a college or tech-nical and vocational course once they pass the screening.

Domingo said the incom-ing freshmen should have a final grade of 93 and NCAE average of 95. The qualified scholar should maintain a

grade not below 85.Domingo said the college

level scholars should have a general average of 95 and no grade below 87 in each sub-ject taken. The scholar should maintain an average of 85 and grades not below 85 in each subject.

Domingo said for the In-digenous Peoples (IP) mid-wifery course, the report card must have a general average of 85 and NCAE average of 85. The scholar should maintain a general average of 80 and grades of 80 in each subjects.

Domingo said every qual-ified scholar for college and IP midwifery will receive P50,000 a year for the school fees and P1,000 monthly al-lowance.

He said qualified recipi-ent of educational assistance for IPs will receive P7,500 each semester. The applicant should have a general average of 80 and NCAE average of 75.

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

GOTCHA. A Land Transportation Office (LTO) enforcer apprehends a motor-ist for violating the “No Plate, No Travel” policy along Quimpo Boulevard in Davao City yesterday. Several sectors led by the Metropolitan Manila

Development Authority (MMDA) slammed the policy, saying it is unfair to motorists who are being blamed for the inefficiency of car dealers and the LTO itself. Lean Daval Jr.

EDGEDAVAO

Kato deputynow heads BIFF

Philips: Shift to LEDbulbs to save energy

UPSIDE DOWN. A member of Karadyawan mistakenly holds a placard up-side down while holding a picket rally in front of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) office in S.I.R. Matina, Davao City yesterday to call

for the dismantling of Alamara paramilitary group in Kapalong, Davao del Norte and to condemn the continuing militarization of Lumad communities. Lean Daval Jr.

STEP opens applicationfor college, tech scholarship

Duterte: Nothing wrongwith Iqbal using an aliasBy FUNNY PEARL A. GAJUNERA

FPHILIPS, 10

FDUTERTE, 10

FSTEP, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 20154 EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

TO highlight the mile-stone in the implemen-tation of Pantawid Pam-

ilyang Pilipino Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), a Recognition Ceremony – dubbed Pagtatapos Nyo, Tagumpay ng Pilipino will be held at the DSWD Regional Of-fice on April 17, Friday.

Some 13,756 Pantawid Pamilya students in the re-gion graduated from high school this year. At least 100 of them will join the regional recognition day come Friday afternoon.

DSWD Secretary Cora-zon Juliano-Soliman said that having Pantawid Pamilya high school graduates is one positive offshoot of the gov-ernment’s investment to the health and education of poor children and their families. She added that allowing the children to finish high school will give them the chance of employability — in return they (the graduates who got employed) can help their fam-ily break the repeated cycle of poverty.

“The half-day activity aims to recognize the grad-

uating beneficiaries for their efforts in successfully ful-filling another stage in their academic life. In this event, exemplary graduates from all four provinces will be sharing their experiences to inspire their fellow beneficiaries to value education,” said DSWD XI Regional Director Priscilla N. Razon.

Pantawid Pamilya is a hu-man development program that provides cash assistance to families with children 0-18 years old that religiously com-ply with specific conditions of sending children to school, keeping them healthy, and parents attending the month-ly Family Development Ses-sion (FDS).

A total 333,673 Pantawid Pamilya high school students nationwide graduated this year. About 106,021 of these students are from Mindanao.

Meanwhile, DSWD will launch the Listahanan 2nd Round Household Assess-ment on Friday morning at Grand Menseng Hotel. Listah-anan advocacy stickers and grievance hotlines tarpaulins will also be launched. DSWD/Sheryll Jane S. Fernandez

IT’S the same story every summer.

The water levels in Pu-langi River in Bukidnon and Lake Lanao, major sources of hydropower in Mindanao, con-tinued to drop worsening the power situation in some cities in the island already reeling from daily rotational blackouts.

Starting Tuesday, the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (Cepalco) whose franchise area covers the city and Jasaan and Villan-ueva towns in Misamis Orien-tal, has imposed an eight-hour rotational blackout.

Pagadian City and neigh-boring Zamboanga Sibugay province were also under se-vere power curtailment, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said Wednes-day.

To make matters worse for Cagayan de Oro and Pagadian, the newly built 150-megawatt boiler unit 2 of Therma South, a power plant owned by the Aboitiz Power in Davao City, failed to go on line due to dam-ages it sustained during the Mindanao-wide blackout on Easter Sunday.

Prior to that, Cepalco se-

cured a 20-MW supply from Therma South supposedly to alleviate the critical power sit-uation in Cagayan de Oro.

Mindanao Development Authority Director Romeo Montenegro said water level in the Pulangi River went down to 280.85 meters above sea level way below the baseline limit of 286 meters as of Tuesday.

As a result, Montenegro said the hydropower plant in Pulangi is now capable of pro-ducing only 30 MW out of its 250-MW rated capacity.

“It (Pulangi hydropower plant) is not out but it is pro-ducing only 30 megawatts be-cause there is no more water except silt,” he said in a text message.

The same thing happened to Lake Lanao where, he said, the prolonged dry spell or mild “El Nino” has reduced the elec-tricity output of the six cascad-ing hydropower plants along the Agus River.

“All Agus plants are run-ning but some units are derat-ed or having reduced output,” he said.

Montenegro said water lev-el in Lake Lanao had plunged to 699.82 meters above sea level.

He said the maximum wa-ter level for Agus hydropower plants to operate safely with-out damaging its machineries is 702 meters above sea level.

“Cepalco’s current load portfolio cannot cover high de-mand because of the summer heat,” he explained.

Pulangi and Agus River in Lanao provinces supply at least 52 percent of the electricity in Mindanao.

Cepalco Vice President Ralph Paguio said that even with their standby power plants and the independent load producers they did not have enough electricity to cov-er their entire franchise area.

“This forced us to resort to power curtailment to equitably share whatever supply there is,” Paguio said.

He said they offset the shortfall with power from Ce-palco’s coal-fired power plant, Minergy, which produces 42 MW and participating inde-pendent load producers in Cagayan de Oro.

But he said still there was still a shortfall of electricity they could not meet.

Cepalco spokesperson Marilyn Chavez said they are

only receiving 65 to 70 MW from the NGCP.

Chavez said the city has a daily shortfall of 30 MW.

She said CEPALCO needed a total of 150 MW a day to en-ergize its entire franchise area.

Aboitiz Power communi-cations officer Wilfredo Alfre-do III said the electricity sup-ply from Therma South could have eased the situation in Cagayan de Oro.

“The brownouts could have been cut to only two hours not eight hours,” Wilfre-do said.

In a statement, Aboitiz Power said the sudden Mind-anao-wide blackout on Easter Sunday caused the damage at the Therma South boiler unit 2 which was scheduled to go on line this month.

Therma South President Benjie Cariaso said repairs to the boiler unit 2’s air-pre-heater as well as the electro-static precipitator can run up to 10 months delaying its com-missioning.

But he added that their unit 1 coal plant is still sched-uled to operate y June 2015. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaN-ews)

THE Department of En-vironment and Natu-ral Resources (DENR)

in Region 12 has allotted around P7 million for the re-forestation of three upland villages in Maguindanao and South Cotabato.

Datu Tungko Saikol, DENR Region 12 executive director, said the initiative is part of the expansion this year of its continuing refor-estation project under the national government’s Saja-hatra Bangsamoro program.

He said they have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with implementers of the Sajahatra Bangsam-oro for the launching of the greening activities within this month in barangays Buliok in Pagalungan town and Sam-bulawan in Sultan Kudarat town, Maguindanao, as well as in Sitio B’lungan, Barangay Upper Sepaka in Surallah, South Cotabato.

The official said the three villages had been identified as priority expansion areas of the Sajahatra Bangsamoro.

Under the MOA, he said the agency will specifically include the three villages in its coverage area for the National Greening Program (NGP).

“We will be planting cof-fee, fruit and forest trees in around 300 hectares of forest lands in these areas,” Saikol said in a statement.

He said the P7-million allotment will cover for the seedling production, planta-tion establishment and the monitoring, maintenance and protection of the refor-estation sites.

Saikol said the agency will partner with people’s organizations based in the three villages for the imple-mentation of the greening projects, which are due for completion by December 2017.

Dr. Taugan Kikay, Saja-hatra Bangsamoro project management team leader, lauded the expansion of the greening program in the three villages.

He said they’re hoping that the program will ush-er in more opportunities in terms of the development of idle upland areas within Bangsamoro communities.

“This project comple-ments with our efforts to bring sustainable livelihood opportunities to our mar-ginalized communities and eventually improve the lives of residents,” he said.

Sajahatra Bangsamoro is a joint undertaking of the Government of the Philip-pines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that aims to uplift and develop Bangsamoro communities.

It covers initiatives on education, health and live-lihood through scholarship grants, assistance to madaris, issuance of Philhealth cards, basic health care services, livelihood projects and cash for work.

Launched in February 2013, the program is a prod-uct of talks between Presi-dent Benigno S. Aquino III and MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim immediately after the signing of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsam-oro. (MindaNews)

TWO mild earthquakes struck the provinc-es of Sultan Kudarat

and Zamboanga del Norte on Thursday morning, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

In its bulletin, Phivolcs said the first quake with magnitude

of 2.7 occurred at 3:29 a.m. with the epicenter traced at 40 kilometers northwest of Kala-mansig in Sultan Kudarat.

The quake, which was tec-tonic in origin, had a depth of 31 kilometers.

The second tremor with a magnitude of 3.6 happened at 5:37 a.m. with epicenter locat-

ed at 41 kilometers northwest of Liloy in Zamboanga Del Norte.

Phivolcs said the temblor, which was tectonic in origin, had a shallow depth of 14 ki-lometers.

Phivolcs has not recorded any felt intensity from the two tectonic quakes and there was

no casualty or damage report-ed from the tremors.

It added that no after-shocks are expected from these quakes.

The Philippines lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where 20 to 25 earthquakes per day -- mostly imperceptible -- are common, Phivolcs said. (PNA)

DSWD celebrates Pantawid HS grads in the region

SALVAGE WORK. A young resident of Soliman, Quezon Boulevard in Davao City tries to salvage concrete bars from the ruins of a neighbor’s house which was razed by fire on April 1. Lean Daval Jr.

Mindanao power woes worsen as Pulangi, Lake Lanao water levels drop

DENR-12 allots P7M for reforestation of 3 Maguindanao, SoCot upland villages

Mild earthquake jolts the provincesSultan Kudarat and Zamboanga del Norte

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

COMPANIES in Mind-anao are looking for fresh graduates spe-

cifically those specializing in sales and customer service,

a survey of the JobStreet.com Philippine showed,

In the same poll con-ducted among companies last February, the informa-

tion technology/computer hardware is the highest pay-ing specialization for fresh graduates with an average monthly salary of P22,429.

The survey was catego-rized under fresh graduates, junior executives, supervi-sors and managers.

“Right now, the BPO in-

Firms eye fresh graduatesJobStreet.com survey shows IT highest paying job in MindanaoBy CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY

dustry is the game changer in our environment,” Job-Street.com country manager Philip A. Gioca said during a press briefing at the Metro-politan Suites Thursday.

Of the more than 1,000 company-respondents in Mindanao asked by the job site, 85 percent of these said they are looking to hire fresh graduates.

JobStreet.com market-ing manager Leng Ombao said these firms, although they are now really partic-ular with experience based on the result of the survey, would prefer those with in-ternship when they were still in college.

The survey also showed that companies want grad-uates with communication skills and initiatives.

JobStreet.com, in its 2015 Mindanao Jobs and Salary Report for Mindanao, listed sales and customer service as the most in-de-mand specialization.

It also noted that “while IT specialists get the high-est average salary across most position levels, the list of specializations providing

the best pay in Mindanao is more diverse compared to the results generated for Metro Manila and Cebu.”

“While IT-related spe-cializations dominated both the national and Cebu salary reports, they figured only twice in the Mindanao ver-sion,” JobStreet.com said.

After IT, the second highest paying specializa-tion for fresh graduates is hotel management/tourism services with an average monthly pay of P18,600, fol-lowed by healthcare/phar-macy, marketing/business development and customer service.

Gioca clarified that re-sult of the survey is intend-ed only for today and may change in the next years.

“Today, the highest paying job is the IT. It may change next year,” he said.

Ombao also clarified that their company is only being used as a finding tool by job-seekers and does not charge them a single centavo.

JobStreet.com has around 420, candidates for Mindanao alone with 1,400 companies as its clients.

GAME CHANGER. JobStreet.com Philippines country manager Philip A. Gioca says Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the game changer industry right now as it has the largest employment requirement. Gioca and the com-

pany’s other executives presented the 2015 JobStreet.com Jobs and Salary Report in Mindanao in a press briefing yesterday at Metropolitan Suites in Davao City. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 20156 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

SHELTER CONCERNS. Governor Arturo T. Uy of Compostela Valley Province discusses on Thursday with DSWD officials [L-R] Assistant Director Ma. Vilia L. Vigil, Regional Director Priscilla N. Razon and Budget Officer Teresita V.

Mercado, the continuing implementation of Modified Shelter Assistance Pro-gram in the province. Over 12,000 permanent shelters have been earmarked for ComVal. DSWD

THE strong business pro-cess outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philip-

pines has buoyed sales of desk-tops and laptops despite the rapidly growing smartphone market.

Dell Philippines Country Manager Christopher Papa said on the sidelines of Dell Solutions Tour 2015 in Taguig City that large volume of desk-tops and laptops were sold to corporations particularly the BPO market.

Papa told reporters that the expansions of firms in var-ious sectors -- brought by the strong Philippine economy -- have driven the growth of technology companies like Dell which has strong presence in markets of BPO, banks, tele-communications, manufactur-

ing, utilities, and small and me-dium enterprises (SMEs).

“We’re actually positioning towards SMEs. It’s cost effective and you can do enterprise-level control in the networking com-ponent but at the ease of man-aging it as a simple device,” he mentioned.

Aside from selling desk-tops, laptops, and tablets, Dell also caters business solutions including server, storage, and network.

According to the Interna-tional Data Corporation’s (IDC) Asia-Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker released March 2015, a total of 26.8 million mobile phones were shipped to the Philippines in 2014. About 47 percent or 12.6 mil-lion of the total shipped mobile phones were smartphones.

The share of smartphones wid-ened from 24-percent share in 2013.

“The narrowing price gap between smartphones and feature phones made smart-phones more palatable to bud-get-conscious Filipino consum-ers, leading to the faster adop-tion of smartphones in 2014 compared to previous years,” IDC explained the growth of smartphones in the country.

Papa, however, noted that Dell currently has no plans to re-enter the smartphone space despite its strong market.

In the previous years, Dell has launched smartphones but the company made and exit in the said business.

“It [smartphone] is not our core strength. We may not have the smartphone. What we

want to do, since a lot of these data will be produced like the IoT (Internet of Things), mov-ing forward, you need the infra-structure. We have very strong network infrastructure and data center that is secured and capable. That’s where playing a lot,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Dell intro-duced in the Philippine market its XPS 13 which is the world’s first virtually borderless infini-ty display as well as the newest networking solutions for SMEs in its X-Series and N-Series.

Papa mentioned that for the fiscal year (FY) 2016, from February 2015-2016, Dell Phil-ippines eyes 25 to 30 percent sales growth.

In FY 2015, sales increased by 25 percent from FY 2014. (PNA)

Strong BPO buoys desktop, laptop sales

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)- 11 is re-launching

its electronic library (elibrary) to guide potential investors about business opportunities of the region.

Grace Aduca, DTI regional industry development division head, said the relaunching of the elibrary, which would fea-ture 12 investment briefs from the region, is scheduled to be held on April 27.

Aduca said the DTI eli-brary aims to provide business

information needs of the pri-vate and government sectors and the academe in a conve-nient, affordable, and efficient way of delivery.

She said resources from the union catalogue of DTI eli-brary include trade, industry and investments information; Philippine National Standards (PNS); full text reports, photo albums, directories from lo-cal and foreign trade fairs or exhibits; design and technical information related to product development; and intellectual

property (IP).Dr. Sitti Amina Jain, DTI

regional director, said the eli-brary will be of big help for po-tential investors in the region, and the country in general, as data needed by them can be easily searched over the Inter-net.

Jain said businessmen and potential investors can browse www.elibrary.dti.gov.ph, where the region’s own eli-brary will be incorporated.

“The information needed by our potential investors will

literally be at their fingertips. Investors need only check at our website and they will be presented with various DTI programs and necessary in-formation of every region that they can use for future invest-ments,” Jain said.

Jain said the relaunching of the elibrary is a collabora-tion of the various informa-tion units of the DTI funded through the government’s Information Systems Strategic Plan (ISSP) Fund. (MindaN-ews)

TO take advantage of the largest culi-nary event coming

to the Philippines, native food products will be sold market-style to sup-port their producers and encourage sustainable production.

These were the words spoken by Department of Agriculture (DA) Under-secretary Bernadette Ro-mulo-Puyat when asked what the department was doing to participate in the upcoming Madrid Fu-sion Manila 2015.

Madrid Fusion is Spain’s famed culinary event which will make a debut in the Philippines for the first time. lt will feature a trade exhibit, among other activities, where the DA will pro-mote native products

The event is also part of the events lined up for the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) Visit the Philippines Year (VPY) 2015.

During the trade exhibit DA will be pro-moting native products listed under the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste, a collection of rare productions that belong to the cultures, histo-ry, and traditions of the world.

Romulo-Puyat said that these food products were included in the list precisely because they are “produced in the Phil-ippines.”

“The manner by which these products are prepared reflects the traditional knowledge of Filipinos, passed down through generations,” Ro-mulo-Puyat said.

Among these prod-ucts include heirloom rice, cacao, vinegars, and wines are only a few among the distinctly Fil-ipino and Spanish prod-ucts.

Artisanal products such as cheese, calaman-si, dalandan liquor, mus-covado sugar, vinegar, and artisanal salts will also be available.

In addition, the event’s regional lunches will feature the native Filipino produce as well. Other products to watch out for include adlai, barako coffee, batuan, kamias, siling labuyo, and muscovado sugar.

Best known Spanish brands will also show-case their products in-cluding fresh, cured, and processed pork products, brandy and sparkling wines like Freixenet, Vall-formosa, Masachs, and Codorniu among others.

The first two days of the Trade Exhibit are ex-clusive to trade visitors (e.g. bakers, chefs, cooks, restaurant owners, food industry professionals, students of Culinary Arts, Hotel and Restau-rant Management) who can enter the venue for free. While the third day is open to the public for a registration fee of Php 500.

Aside from the trade exhibit, Madrid Fusion will also hold an Interna-tional Gastronomy Con-gress, and Flavors of the Philippines.

During the Congress, a notable roster of Miche-lin-starred Spanish chefs and distinguished Asian and Filipino chefs will demonstrate modern and avant-garde techniques.

DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. for his part ex-pressed excitement on the event being an oppor-tunity to “brag” about the country’s best local food brands.

Madrid Fusión Ma-nila is set to take place on April 24 to 26 at the SMX Convention Cen-ter in Pasay City. (PNA)

Native food productsin culinary art event

DTI 11 to re-launch e-library

ENERGY experts from member economies of the Asia-Pacific Eco-

nomic Cooperation (APEC) have reported that the Pho-tovoltaic (PV) solar power technology has made inroads in their respective renewable energy (RE) programs.

The Philippines amended its installation target of solar energy generation from 50 megawatts (MW) to 500 MW last year, after seeing solar

power generation as one of the most promising source of renewable energy.

Director Mario Marasigan of the Renewable Energy Man-agement Bureau of the Energy Deparment said on Wednes-day that although it amended the installation target, the gov-ernment remains careful so as not to hurt power consumers who do not get power subsi-dies from the government.

“For the Philippines, we

have implemented the net me-tering for PV solar installations in academic institutions. This has encouraged the academe to build their own RE systems, such as the solar PV on their rooftops,” he said.

The sharing of experiences was part of the ongoing 44th Meeting of the APEC-Expert Group on New Renewable En-ergy (APEC-EGNRET44) being held at the Fort Ilocandia Re-sort Hotel in Laoag City, Ilocos

Norte.Meanwhile, Gavin Yu of

Korea noted a growing num-ber of new renewable energy manufacturers as the RE sec-tor develops.

He said that from 2007 to 2013, the number of manufac-turers more than doubled, the employment figure more than tripled, while the revenue size increased sixfold.

Korea, he said, has a dis-tinct microgrid system in small

island areas instead of inde-pendent systems, which rely on fuel-fed generators.

The country piloted con-nection projects that generat-ed energy from wind, PV solar and geothermal integrating with Energy Storage System (ESS), all in Ulleung Island, he said.

With its sound Renewable Portfolio Standard, the roof-top and parking lot of Renault Samsung Motors in Busan was

converted into a Solar PV Pow-er Plant, now the largest solar PV plant for the single facto-ry and provides electricity to 7,300 households.

Korea’s PV Rental Program is also promising as it allows household owners to reduce their electricity bill to 80 per-cent, he added.

“PV rental companies earn rental fee and benefit from the Renewable Energy Point set by

Solar power teach gains ground

FSOLAR, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015

EDGEDAVAOINdulge! TRAVEL

THE Provincial Gov-ernment of Davao Oriental opened on Sunday, April 5, the newly completed zipline ride in the soon-to-launch Ali-wagwag Nature Park in Cateel town, Davao Oriental. Considered as one of the park’s major highlights, the 680-meter zipline hovering 55 meters from the ground pro-vides the user an overlooking view of the rainforest canopy and the pristine Cateel River, with the majestic Aliwagwag Falls serving as the backdrop. Vacationers and locals who flocked at the Aliwagwag Falls over the weekend to relax and enjoy in time for the Lenten Season say the newly installed zipline is probably one of the most exhilarating experiences they had during their stay here. Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon, who initiated the Aliwagwag Development Site Project, says this zipline ride is yet another reason for tourists to visit Cateel as well as the rest of the province.

Touted to become a ‘must-experience’ outdoor adventure activity here, the zipline ride is only one of the many as-tounding features the eco-park boasts. Also built with the park is a monkey bridge that crosses over the falls, giving tour-ists overlooking view of the cascading torrents below. A restaurant, which will soon be regularly opened to serve meals to guests, will highlight the Cateel’s famous ‘lechon de leche’ on its menu. A con-cessionaire’s area is also es-tablished that would display souvenir items for sale. In addition, a viewing deck, a vast parking area and clean comfort rooms are also placed within the area. Showcasing conservation and biodiversity, an aviary will be established here to showcase the area’s wildlife, particularly the sixty-four bird species that made the surrounding forests its haven. Boasting with natural beau-ty, the grand Aliwagwag Falls remains to be the main at-traction of the park. Although not yet officially opened to the public, tourists and locals have started to visit the area to take a dip in the cool and refreshing

waters of the Aliwagwag Falls. Children and adults have their each designated swimming ar-eas. With teeming potentials, several activities are set for ev-eryone to enjoy here, including canopy walks, trail-hiking, pic-nics, and river cruising, among many others.

Boosting Eco-tourism Set to launch Davao Orien-tal’s eco-tourism industry this year, Governor Malanyaon is determined on her ambitious plan to make Davao Oriental a premier destination in the country. Gov. Malanyaon said ‘it’s about time to push the poten-tials of Davao Oriental’ as it possesses a bounty of tourism come-ons that are at par with many world-class destinations. Having earmarked a bud-get for tourism development sourced out from the Provin-cial Government coffers and some support from the nation-al government, the province since last year had simultane-ously implemented tourism site development in every town, including the City of Mati, as a way of laying the foundation for tourism development. In fact, several sites in the province have already been

First zipline ride launched in Cateel, Davao Oriental

completed and launched, such as the Sunrise Boulevard in Baganga, Cateel Riverview Park in Cateel, Pintatagan Wel-come Park in Banaybanay, and Subangan Museum in the City of Mati. Meanwhile, nearing

completion are the Mt. Hami-guitan Eco-Park in San Isidro, Pusan Point in Caraga, and Tourism Site in Boston. Moreover, more projects are underway as the Provincial Government is fast tracking

the completion of the imple-mentation of its tourism de-velopment plan for the whole province. Still in the pipeline are the developments in the towns of Governor Generoso, Lupon, and Manay.

Other features of the park include a restaurant, viewing deck, swimming areas, and concessionaire’ stand, among many others. Photo by Eden Jhan Licayan

At P300.00 per ride, users are swerved down through a 680-meter suspension cable hovering 55 meters from the ground which provides the user an overlooking view of the rainforest canopy and the pristine Cateel River, with the majestic Aliwagwag Falls serving as the backdrop. Photo by Joel Owano

MARCO POLO DAVAO supported the Kamp Pag-asa last April 10, 2015 at the Manuel L. Quezon El-ementary School, Ponce Street, Davao City. Group of volunteer associates from different depart-ment visited the campers with special needs and spent some time before distributing the dinner do-nated by the hotel for the summer camp. This is part of the hotel’s advocacy to support kids and families with disabilities through their Corporate Social Re-sponsibility Program. Now on its 16th year, Kamp Pag-asa 2015 is a seven-day summer camp being orga-nized by a group of volunteers through the assistance of lo-cal government agencies and various private corporations in-cluding Marco Polo Davao. The summer camps is being par-ticipated by 100 children with disabilities and special needs coming from different parts of Davao and are closely being taken care of by a volunteer individually assigned to assist

them during the camp. Series of activities like pa-rade, arts and crafts-making, evening shows, field trip, sci-ence film viewing and exercises are being prepared through-out the week in order to pro-vide opportunities for youth with disabilities not only to en-joy and develop their capabili-ties but also to promote aware-

ness and positive attitude of the general populace towards children with disabilities. Associates from Marco Polo Davao visited during their sec-ond day affair dubbed as “Ma-dayaw na Pag-abot” where the volunteers where given a chance to be with children and spend a little of their time with the community.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

MX3 conferred the hall of fame in Golden Globe Annual Awards in Business ExcellenceMarco Polo Davao visits Kamp Pag-asaFOR THREE CONSEC-UTIVE YEARS , MX3 bagged the highest rec-ognition as “Best Dietary Supplement of the Year” thus conferred the HALL OF FAME in the recent Golden Globe Annual Awards in Business Ex-cellence in Manila Hotel last April 11. The award was based on rigid criteria set by Golden Globe Awards Council & the National Data Research Examiner & Marketing Ser-vices focusing on the innova-tive business practices of a company that deliver quality products and services, epito-mizing customer consen-sus and engagement with reputable & ethical business image, displaying excellent value proposition and pric-ing and adherence to truth-fulness in business manage-ment. It’s another push for DMI Medical Supply Co. Inc. to be the dominant leader in the market for nutraceutical products, promoting health

and wellness to the Filipino people. So timely that ASE-AN integration is here that we can no longer settle for less. We have to be competi-tive as our Asian counter-parts bringing quality prod-ucts and excellent services in the world. Being a Hall Famer in Best Dietary Supplement catego-ry is a challenge to MX3 to be the Flag bearer in the In-ternational market. It served as a validation to inspire and produce more product lines that would promote health to the Filipinos and the world.

Rocky’s: The pioneer in men’s hair care in the mallROCKY’S BARBERSHOP is the first barbershop to open in a mall in Southern Philippines. This fact may only be known to only a handful. Taking the recognition for this honorific will be the Rocky’s maiden branch at the Victoria Plaza Mall, the first mall to open in Davao in 1996.

Rocky’s Barbershop is the brain-child of a young entrepreneur, Tom Gempesaw, who was 26 when he dared to venture into the men’s grooming business, a field entirely new to him growing up in a family who was into the real estate trade. “I saw the need for it,” was his simple reason for doing so. “I have always been inclined to-ward business even as a child selling old clothes and toys to our helpers,” Tom said. Opening Rocky’s Barber-shop was the perfect opportunity to tread a new ground, “and I wanted to have a business of my own,” he added. When the Davao’s first mall opened in 1996, he jumped at an opportunity to fulfill a dream and formed his own company, the TSG Haircutters. He put himself in the shoes of his male clientele and personally saw the convenience of bringing a grooming service closer to the men. “There were hair salons, but not a single barbershop. Surely the male population would want the same convenience the grooming service in a mall, which the women enjoys, can offer—air-conditioned environ-

ment, spacious parking, kill time, run errands, and perhaps dine or shop— and besides there are men who still prefer the barber than a sa-lon stylist,” Tom pointed out. Tom oversaw the operations of Rocky’s barbershop with meticu-lous eye. He chose the best staff— all Davaoeños, who underwent train-ing despite experience, pinpointed the necessary grooming services be-yond the traditional haircut, made sure the working space was kept spotless and made courtesy and pro-fessionalism the creeds. Tom’s business insight and prac-tice served him well. With a very positive response to the Victoria Plaza Mall market, which listed the city’s top rank businessmen, he did not hesitate to open another Rocky’s barbershop when Gaisano Mall of Davao opened in 1998, and expand-ed his venture to include another branch at SM City when it opened in 2001. The latter serviced the former and new clients on the Southern sec-tor of the city. In 2004, Tom decided to open an-other brand— Big Tom’s barbershop, at the new NCCC Mall in Matina. “I wanted to broaden my market. I

noticed that there was a need for the same quality of service that Rocky’s offers, this time to a different demo-graphic,” shared Tom. Big Tom’s offers the same line up of services that Rocky’s offers, only at lower price points. It became an instant hit both to the frequent mall visitors and residents within the Ma-tina area. The same concept he used on his next branch. In 2008, Tom extended the quality service of his barbershops southward. Tom opened another Big Tom’s at the KCC Mall in General Santos City. “I want to position myself in the fast developing city in the neighboring region,” said the young businessman. In 2011, the first major undertak-ing of the Ayala Land rose in Davao. Included in the project plan was the first Ayala Mall. Rocky’s was able to position itself alongside the major sa-lon brands in the country. It was the fourth branch for Rocky’s the first to outlet to cater to the elite clientele the Abreeza Mall was targeting. With the steady growth and excel-lent business background, Rocky’s was invited to be one of the service concessionaires in SM Lanang Pre-mier, one of the few premier malls of SM across the country. Like the Abreeza Mall, the premier brand of SM aims to cater to the upper level of the market. It was an opportunity to service the existing clients in the northern

Some of the participants at Kamp Pag-asa pose with the volunteers from Marco Polo Davao

MPD General Manager Dottie Würgler-Cronin warmly welcomed by the children.

KAPUSO view-ers were able to witness again the wonders of Father Kokoy (Dingdong Dantes) on GMA’s Primetime series Pari ‘Koy with a special marathon entitled Pari ‘Koy: Ang Pagdating ng Blessing last Satur-day as part of the Network’s special Holy Week pro-gramming sched-ule. As the story progress-es, Father Kokoy will en-counter more interest-ing characters along the way—one of them is Si-mon played by Kapuso actor Carlo Gonzalez. For Carlo, it takes a whole lot of effort to be in Simon’s persona. “It’s a really challenging role dahil ito ang unang beses na gumanap ako ng role ng isang ama. Hindi ko pa naranasan na magkaroon ng anak sa tunay na buhay kaya mahirap din humugot ng “fatherly figure” lalo na sa mga mabibigat na eksena,” adds the Kapu-so actor. Simon is the abusive husband of Noemi, the character played by Sunshine Dizon. It is Carlo’s first time to work with Sunshine, and de-

spite having to play scenes where he would hurt her, he admits that Sunshine is very pro-fessional and is easy to work with. He shares, “Napak-agaan katrabaho ni Ms. Shine [Sunshine Dizon]. Ito ang unang beses na makatrabaho ko siya at all praises ako sa kanya. She’ so giving sa mga eksena at maalagain siya sa set. Ang sarap ni-yang katrabaho.” “Of course mahirap ‘yung mga eksenang sinasaktan ko siya dahil pinalaki ako na mataas ang respeto sa mga ka-babaihan at hindi ko nakaugaliang manakit

ng mga babae,” further claims the Kapuso actor. Carlo feels that he has a strong sense of support from the pro-duction team, and is entirely grateful for the efforts done by their director, Maryo J. Delos Reyes. He expresses, “Direk Maryo is easily becoming one of my fa-vorite directors. Magaan katrabaho at nakukuha ko kaagad ang gusto niyang mangyari. Lagi siyang nagpapayo kahit mga maliliit na bagay tungkol sa karakter ni Simon kaya mas nagig-ing effective ang bawat eksena sa kanya.”

Meanwhile on Pari ‘Koy, Martha (Chanda Romero) finally agrees to set Simon free from jail and forgives him, but the people of Brgy. Pinagpala are starting to get disappointed with Father Kokoy after he tried to defend Simon. Unexpectedly, Mar-tha reaches out to the townspeople to explain why Father Kokoy had to do it. Pinggoy (Da-vid Remo) on the other hand, encounters an-other problem that will really test his faith. Pari ‘Koy airs Mondays to Fridays after 24 Oras on GMA Telebabad.

INdulge! A3VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

Carlo Gonzales on his challenging role in Pari ‘Koy

MX3 conferred the hall of fame in Golden Globe Annual Awards in Business Excellence Eat treats galore in Taste

Buddies this Saturday

and wellness to the Filipino people. So timely that ASE-AN integration is here that we can no longer settle for less. We have to be competi-tive as our Asian counter-parts bringing quality prod-ucts and excellent services in the world. Being a Hall Famer in Best Dietary Supplement catego-ry is a challenge to MX3 to be the Flag bearer in the In-ternational market. It served as a validation to inspire and produce more product lines that would promote health to the Filipinos and the world.

Senator Cynthia Villar graced the event as the Key-note Speaker inspiring all the awardees to give their best in their chosen field and help fill in the gap of unemployment problem in the country. Golden Globe Annual Awards covers all the achiev-ers nationwide in Luzon, Vi-sayas and Mindanao. Aside from manufacturers and pro-ducers, the event also gives recognition to individual & groups who excel in Entre-preneurship, Arts, Entertain-ment, Medical & Diagnostic Industry as well as Public Service.

Rocky’s: The pioneer in men’s hair care in the mall

noticed that there was a need for the same quality of service that Rocky’s offers, this time to a different demo-graphic,” shared Tom. Big Tom’s offers the same line up of services that Rocky’s offers, only at lower price points. It became an instant hit both to the frequent mall visitors and residents within the Ma-tina area. The same concept he used on his next branch. In 2008, Tom extended the quality service of his barbershops southward. Tom opened another Big Tom’s at the KCC Mall in General Santos City. “I want to position myself in the fast developing city in the neighboring region,” said the young businessman. In 2011, the first major undertak-ing of the Ayala Land rose in Davao. Included in the project plan was the first Ayala Mall. Rocky’s was able to position itself alongside the major sa-lon brands in the country. It was the fourth branch for Rocky’s the first to outlet to cater to the elite clientele the Abreeza Mall was targeting. With the steady growth and excel-lent business background, Rocky’s was invited to be one of the service concessionaires in SM Lanang Pre-mier, one of the few premier malls of SM across the country. Like the Abreeza Mall, the premier brand of SM aims to cater to the upper level of the market. It was an opportunity to service the existing clients in the northern

part of the city with the hopes of ex-panding the barbershop’s client list. Tom nodded to the offer, and in 2012, he opened the fifth branch of Rocky’s. Tom believes that the strengths of Rocky’s and Big Tom’s lie in the qual-ity of service it extends. The home-grown barbers are very reliable and experienced in the craft. To hone and expand the staff’s skills further, it is in the company’s program to enroll them in various trainings available. “New styling techniques come up and the barbers should be updated with these,” said Tom. “The client’s comfort and satisfac-tion is valued. Every visit to Rocky’s and Big Tom’s should be experiential, a one-stop shop. This is why we go be-yond what the traditional barbershop will offer,” said Tom, referring to a menu that lists hair, facial, hand and foot care. As for the future plans for the business, “Expansion is imminent, I intend to have Rocky’s presence felt more and be in every man’s top of mind, around Davao and Mindan-ao,” Tom said. “As long as the barbershops con-tinue to provide the excellent person-alized service to its clients and adapt to the new male grooming innova-tions, I believe Rocky’s and Big Tom’s will continue to be the premier male grooming destination in Davao and soon, to more areas of Mindanao,” said the pioneering mind.

ENJOY buffet dining experience the Taste Buddies way! This Saturday, Solenn Heussaff and Iya Villania-Arellano share tips on how to get the money’s worth when dining in eat-all-you-can restau-rants together with guests Kapuso art-ists Jeric Gonzales, Jak Roberto, and Abel Estanislao. See the boys turn their competitive mode on at Dad’s World Buffet as they try to outdo each other in the halo-halo-making challenge while the girls learn how to carve meat and tell which sauce is best to pair it with. Another must-see is Samboko-jin’s Japanese chef’s expertise on the art of sushi-making and the group trying to come up with their own version of sushi. Savor life’s fresh, fun, and fab adventures with Taste Buddies this Saturday, April 18, at 8:45PM on GMA News TV!

R13

PG

PG 12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

YOU'RE MY BOSS

Toni Gonzaga, Coco Martin

PG 1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

THE LONGEST RIDE

12:40 | 3:00 | 5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

KID KULAFU

Jake Macapagal, Cesar Montano

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

Britt Robertson, Scott Eastwood

FURIOUS 7

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker

April 16-21, 2015

A4 INdulge!

My dreamy staycation at

NOBU HOTELONE of South-East Asia’s most exciting developments, the City of Dreams Manila is a new integrated casio resort that combines elec-trifying entertainment, exciting regional and international dining, designer brand shopping, a spacious contemporary casino, as well as an amazing array of accommodations, and on a recent trip to Ma-nila, I was given the chance to have a staycation at Nobu Hotel, one of City of Dream’s three five-star hotels.

The first and only Nobu Hotel in Asia, the 321-room hotel is inspired by the world-renowned Japanese culinary genius Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and championed by Academy award-winning actor Robert De Niro and Hollywood producer Meir Teper. After checking in, I was quickly ushered to my mod-ern, Japanese-inspired Cor-ner room. As soon as I set my eyes onto the beautifully designed room, I knew I was in for a memorable stayca-tion. Nobu’s rooms have a definite boutique feel which the group called the “Nobu style” which fuses the unique beauty, fashion and culture of each destination. Every small detail in the spacious 42-square meter room, from the live orchid on the corner sill, to the Japanese-thong in-spired slippers and the cus-

TRAVEL

Nobu Hotel’s fabulous pool area.

At Nobu features culinary creations by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa.

Nobu’s lounge offers afternoon tea in an intimate environment.

Chilling out at Nobu’s o u t d o o r deck area.

Evening turn down service treats.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015EDGEDAVAO

ally a dream to sleep in. The coffee and tea-making facilities in the room feature Ikaati Tea, premium hand-crafted teas sourced from fabled gardens of the world. Paired with Nobu’s 24-hour room service created by the Nobu restaurant chefs using unique style of fusion cui-sine, staying in at the Nobu Hotel is definitely an experi-ence worth every peso.

Go with the flow I admit that I cannot stay put for too long and a short elevator ride to the hotels amenity floor was what the doctor ordered. Located on the first level of the property, the hotel’s 23 meter-long infinity pool is nestled in a formal garden that is dotted with pools that reflect the colours of the area’s golden towers as well as Manila fiery sunset. The nearby Nobu Fit-

tom-made calligraphy art, lend a cozy yet luxurious feel.

Staycation heaven For me, staycations pro-vide much needed me time, a break from all the hustle and bustle of the daily grind and my room at the Nobu Hotel was the perfect man-cave for me. From the huge flatscreen smart TV, to the complimen-tary high-speed internet ac-cess, everything was within easy reach from the massive king-sized bed that was liter-

ness gym offered a sweeping view of the gardens and pool while I worked out. The Nobu Spa which is exclusively available for ho-tel guests features signature treatments such as; Nobu Rakuen, a peaceful, tranquil spa ritual that begins with a footpath, followed by fused massages with relaxing es-sential oils; the Renewal Mas-sage, a massage treatment that blends yoga stretched, Swedish massage techniques and acupressure movements; Juan’s Hilot Pride, a thera-peutic body massage that is native to the Philippines; all aimed at elevating one’s ex-perience at Nobu Hotel. From the foodie, to the artsy, to the active, all my needs were satisfied during my staycation at the Nobu Hotel Manila. Each mo-ment, space and scent etched in my mind and my dreams. For more infor-mation you can visit their Face-book page at www.f a c e b o o k . c o m /cityofdreamsma-

nila. Nobu Hotel is located at the City of Dreams along Aseana Ave., corner Roxas Blvd., En-tertainment City, Parañaque. Follow me on Instagram or on Twitter at @kenneth-kingong for more travel sto-ries, foodie finds, and happen-ings in, around, and beyond Durianburg.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 7

So you want to raise pigs?EDGEDAVAO

AGRITRENDS

Text and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO

PORK, the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig, is one of the most common-

ly consumed meats worldwide. It is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved. Curing extends the shelf life of the pork products. Hams, smoked pork, gammon, bacon and sausage are examples of preserved pork.

By-products of pork have varied uses. Pigskin, for instance, is used for the manufacture of shoes, razor strops, belts and oth-er leather goods. The inedible fat (excluding lard) is utilized in the manufacture of soaps, animal feeds, lubricants, leather dressing, candles, fertilizer, shaving cream, and chemicals.

Hair from hogs also has uses: toothbrushes; mattresses and upholstery for furniture, cars, and passenger airplanes; air filters; baseball mitts; and parachute seat pads.

A number of pharmaceutical products are made from swine glands. Physicians are known to use insulin, liver extract, and oth-er medicines, made in whole or in part from hogs’ glands. They use these preparations to treat peo-ple afflicted with diabetes, ane-mia, and arthritis.

The collagen of connective tissues like sinew, lips, head, knuckles, feet and bones is made into glue and gelatin. Gelatin is used in canning hams and other large cuts and in baking, ice cream making, capsules for medicine, coating for pills and photography.

There are several strengths of the country’s swine industry, according to The Philippines Rec-ommends for Pork Production. These are: relatively large, stable and continuously increasing pig population that is well distributed throughout the country, large and continuously increasing domestic market for pork, high utilization of pork relative to other animal products, and well-organized pri-vate industry players.

Other strengths of swine industry include easy access to good genetics and state-of-the-art technologies on swine pro-duction, feed milling, and other related activities from both local and foreign sources. Likewise, entrepreneurs, farm managers, and practitioners are technically equipped.

Advantages

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARD) of the Department of Science and Tech-nology, the Department of Agri-culture, and some non-govern-mental organizations are batting for raising pigs as it is a profitable

venture. Among the reasons cited are the following:

· From the standpoint of the efficient production of meat, pigs are superior to cattle, goats, or sheep when the feed they are eat-ing is of a high quality. However, when the feed is of lower quality, swine is not as efficient as rumi-nant livestock.

· Pigs are voracious eat-er of crop by-products, offal of livestock and poultry, kitchen leftovers, restaurant refuse, and grain damaged by rain or fire. Pigs convert these efficiently into pork.

· Pigs of all classes, except young piglets, can tolerate all kinds of feeds, even (to some extent) low quality, highly fi-brous foods. Pregnant sows can be fed with freshly cut forage or corn soilage mixed with a small amount of protein food concen-trate to reduce cost while im-proving the sow’s reproductive efficiency.

· Pigs can produce two litters per year or as many as five litters in two years.

· Pigs can contribute a con-siderable amount of fertilizing manure to the soil. A mature pig can produce 600 to 700 kilo-grams of manure annually. The nitrogen content of fresh pig ma-nure ranges from 0.55-0.6%; the phosphate content, 0.5%; and the potassium content, 0.4%.

The Philippines ranks third to China and Vietnam in terms of pig production in Asia, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Other top produc-ers of pigs are Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Malaysia.

As of July 1, 2014, the coun-try’s total swine inventory reached 11.98 million head, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) reported. This was 0.68% higher than in 2013 inventory of 11.96 million head. Stocks in backyard farms went up by 0.94 percent. Likewise, stocks in com-mercial farms grew by 0.22% against the 2013 level.

About 65% of the total stocks were raised in backyard farms and 35% were in commercial farms. “During the first half of 2014, total hog production was 966.00 thousand metric tons liveweight,” BAS reported. “It was 1.02% higher than in 2013’s level of 956.25 thousand metric tons liveweight.”

Prospects and downside

Zoilo M. Lapus in a feature which appeared in a website, pig333.com, cites several pros-pects and shortcomings of pork industry in the Philippines. Among those that were men-

gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases,” wrote Dr. Aleli A. Colla-do in an article.

Breeders: “The breeder market will continue to be lucra-tive as the commercial sector is projected to increase while the backyard raisers slowly dimin-ish,” Lapuz wrote. “Filipino back-yard raisers, however, will contin-ue to thrive for cultural reasons. There will be greater demand for pig semen due to higher landed costs of live breeders.”

Meat imports/exports: The data from the Bureau of Ani-mal Industry showed pork as the biggest meat import commodity. “The global trend of increasing free trade has sent fears that im-ported frozen pork poses a big threat to the local pig industry. This also becomes a sensitive issue to local producers due to the problem of pork smuggling,” Lapuz wrote.

However, globalization should be seen as opportunities to local pig producers. “The large number of overseas Filipino workers is a big potential for com-mon Philippine dishes as canned pork products,” Lapuz said. “Im-portation of pork bellies, however, could remain strong due to the strong urbanized demand for ba-con and pork barbeque.”

However, the PCAARRD sug-gests that to enhance its global competitiveness, “the govern-ment should work with the pri-vate sector in providing the live-stock sector with policy reforms on importation, trade, pricing of inputs and support in terms of technology and infrastructure.”

Aside from those mentioned above, there are other issues that need to be addressed. Take feeds, for instance. Feeds constitute al-most 80 percent of the production expenses of swine production. “For this reason, it is highly im-

portant that economical as well as nutritionally balanced diets are provided during all phase of the life cycle,” wrote W.G. Pond and J.H. Maner, authors of Swine Pro-duction in Temperate and Tropical Environments.

The pigs should be given ra-tions appropriate for their ages and their physiological conditions. If these are considered, good ani-mal performance is ensured and unnecessary expenses are avoid-ed. In addition, punctuality and regularity of feeding will have to be observed strictly.

Free-range production

Although backyard raising of pigs is still practiced in most parts of the country, there is a method that is gaining acceptance: that of free range. This is a method of allowing pig to grow with their own instinct and natural behavior with the approach of science into management that are applicable between the farms and farmers.

Although not yet widely prac-ticed in the country, free-range pig production is not new. It was thought to be originally done by our ancestors by raising them in their backyards. Curiously enough, other countries are al-ready developing free-range pig production by adapting the sys-tems from United Kingdom, Aus-tralia, France, Denmark, Japan, and United States.

Given the country’s limita-tions in terms of area and finan-cial assistance, Aris Santos in Pangasinan believes that he can raised free-range pigs using other approaches and methods which can help protect the natural re-sources, improve profits, help rural communities as well as pro-duce quality meat thereby giving quality healthy life to producers and growers.

In a technology guide, Lorry

B. De Jesus reported that a free-range pig production with “the Japanese concept of a happy pigs approach” is being developed at AO Santos Farms in San Quin-tin, Pangasinan. Pigs are simply released on the ground at about their growing stage. Feeds are based on the usual formulation used in his breeder farm but with-out the use of antibiotics.

“I got the idea from my previ-ous trainings that we can do out-door production to specify free-range pigs that allows animals to grow with their own instinct and natural ways,” Dr. Elmer Vitug, the farm’s on-call veterinarian was quoted as saying. “I readily ap-plied that concept in the farm and with good results, we know that it has a potential.”

A study done by Dr. Oliver D. Abanto, it was found that the free-range condition provided the animals a diverse environ-ment which allows them to have more body activities or exercise, thus utilizing energy for work and muscle deposition rather than fat development. More so, the exercise may result in excellent meat color due to higher muscle pigmentation and the resulting resistance of the animal to stress during transportation and animal handling prior to the slaughter. However, the exercise may also re-sult in development of larger mus-cle fibers and more connective tissues causing toughness in meat.

“In general, the meat of the animal tested is leaner, has bright reddish color, good flavor but moderately tough. However, these observations are just indications and not yet conclusive since data were only taken from one animal, and the animal used was still rel-atively small (76 kilograms). The result may vary in animals weigh-ing 100 kilograms or more,” Aban-to reported.

tioned:Animal health: The Phil-

ippines was declared free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination in 2011. “It signaled the hope that we could start the export of pig meat and breeder animals to other countries. How-ever, we are still held back by a complete clearance on Ebola vi-rus, even if the latter was proven non-pathogenic and not similar to the African epidemic,” Lapuz wrote.

As in the previous years, the country has to address oth-er health problems that include PRRS, hog cholera, PCV2 and associated diseases, porcine epi-demic diarrhea, porcine respira-tory disease complex and other viral, bacteria, and parasitic prob-lems.

“About 20% of the value of swine production is due to dis-eases, estimated at P107.6 billion, of which about 19% is lost due to

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 20158 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

Federalism deserves a serious lookEDITORIAL

AS hope dims on the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) ever be-ing passed by Congress, Mindanao begins to see how much sense there is in Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign for a

shift to a federalist form of government. It had perhaps been ini-tially viewed with skepticism by a people who had long been ex-posed to political “advocacies” that were no more than gimmicks and stepping stones for politicians to gain attention from voters. Duterte’s push for federalism has always been seen as a platform for his predicted run for the presidency, and in many ways this is a self-fulfilling prophecy because the people who attend his “listen-ing tour” invariably and inevitably push for his candidacy in the 2-16 polls.

In fact, what many do not know is that a proposal to shift to federalism was put forward in 2008 under then Senator Aquili-no Pimentel Jr. Joint Resolution No. 10, which had the support of 13 senators, would have created 11 autonomous regions and 11

centers of finance and development in the Philippines. Under the proposal, there would be 11 states plus one federal administrative region – Metro Manila – as the seat of the federal government.

The other states would be Northern Luzon (with Tuguegarao as capital), Central Luzon (Tarlac City), Southern Tagalog (Tagaytay), Mimaropa (Mamburao), Bicol (Legazpi), Eastern Visayas (Cat-balogan), Central Visayas (Toledo), Western Visayas (Iloilo City), Northern Mindanao (Cagayan de Oro), Southern Mindanao (Davao City), and Bangsamoro (Marawi). Each would be autonomous, and each would enjoy its own taxes before giving a portion of it to the federal government. In other words, development would be from within, not from an overly centralized government that tends to favor the national capital region.

Whether or not Duterte is using federalism as a mere vehicle for his presidential ambition, this form of government deserves a serious look. And now is the best time do it.

Columnists: MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • ZHAUN ORTEGA • BERNADETTE “ADDIE” B. BORBON • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • EMILY ZEN CHUA • CARLOS MUNDA Economic Analyst: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

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VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

“ALL marriages are happy,” notes Nancy L. Van Pelt, author of Highly Effective Marriage. “It’s the living together

afterward that causes all the trouble.”Why are some marriages successful

while others fail? While is there a marriage made in heaven and a marriage bound to end even before it begins?

It maybe because some people understand how complicated a person is and others have no idea on how to deal with the individual he or she is supposed to stay with forever – “in riches and in poorer and in health and in sickness”?

“People are different,” explains Gordon O. Martinborough, the man behind the book, I Love You. “And because this is so, we often perceive the same things differently. There are three primary modes of perception. Some people are visual and they are influenced most by what they see. Others are auditory and they are influenced most by what they hear. Still others are kinaesthetic and they are impressed most by what they feel.

“While it is true that usually people operate on all three levels,” Martinborough continues, “in the experience of most persons, one mode is dominant. Now, how does this apply to love? Different people express their love in different ways, and different persons desire to be loved in different ways.”

But generally, there is a formula on why couples stay together. Forever may be farfetched but it is attainable. “You will always be my endless love,” so goes a line of a very popular song.

If you ask Dr. Ed Wheat what is his formula for a superb marriage, he would

tell you: “Do it BEST.” By doing best, you will have not just a successful marriage but a superb one. Best actually is an acronym which stands for Blessing, E d i f y i n g , Sharing, and Touching.

Dr. Wheat is an American physician and certified sex therapist. He has helped thousands of troubled couples improve their love-lives and build happier marriages with his unique counselling methods.

Some years ago, he published a book aptly titled Love-Life for Every Married Couple. In this book, he explores marital conflict in a straightforward manner, focusing on the reasons why couples experience frustration and unhappiness in their love-life.

“I read everything I can get my hand on regarding marriages, the home, and family relationships,” said Rev. Charles Swindoll, another noted Christian author. “But in all my reading, I know of nothing better than Dr. Ed Wheat’s book when it comes to the subject of intimacy between husbands and their wives. It is biblical, practical, specific, easily understood, and filled with hope.”

Now, that you have an idea of what the book is all about, allow me to share you some insights from the book, particularly his BEST prescription. Let’s start with the

letter B, which stands for “blessing.”“The principle of blessing is a biblical

one, and the Christian is commanded to practice it,” he writes. The word “blessing” in the New Testament context (eulogia) is based on two Greek words: eu, meaning “well,” and logos, meaning “word.” Thus, the first way of blessing your marriage partner is to speak well of him or her, and to respond with good words even when your partner’s speech becomes harsh, critical, or insulting.

You also bless your partner and your marriage in these three other ways: (1) through your practical behavior, which shows loving kindness toward him or her in actions large and small; (2) through conveying your attitude of thankfulness and appreciation for him/her, and (3) through your prayer to God on his/her behalf.

“Edifying,” another biblical term, refers to the building up of individuals. Elizabeth Barrett Browning expressed the principle of edifying in a few succinct words when she wrote to the man she would marry, “Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth.”

Dr. Wheat refers edifying to “an extended love expressed in positive ways that enlarges the self-worth of the beloved.” He points out, “You see, this is a great gift that you can give to your partner.”

But how do you edify your mate? A careful study of New Testament principles and the example of the Song of Solomon indicates that husbands and wives each have their own ways of building up one another. The husband edifies his wife by praising her. The wife edifies her husband by her loving response to him.

“Remember, edification builds up, never

tears down,” Dr. Wheat reminds. “So love gives your partner freedom to grow and develop as a person without fear of failure and fear of hurtful criticism.”

What about “sharing”? Says Dr. Wheat: “Sharing should touch all areas of life – your time, activities, interests and concerns, ideas and innermost thoughts, spiritual walk, family objectives and goals, etc.”

Sharing, he adds, demands giving of yourself, listening to your partner, and, as you live life together, developing a sensitive awareness of moments that offer possibilities for deepening the love between you.

Finally, there’s “touching.” When we were still kids, a tender touch tells us that we were cared for. It calms our fears, soothes pain, brings us comfort, or gives us the blessed satisfaction of emotional security. As adults, touching continues to be a primary means of communicating with those you love, whether you are conscious or it or not.

The Holy Bible indicates that touching a woman kindles a flame that should be natural within marriage. If you would like to kindle a flame in your own marriage, then begin to show your love through physical touching.

“Blessing… Edifying… Sharing… Touching… A four-point prescription for a superb marriage,” Dr. Wheat says. “But prescription are useful only when taken as directed. As a family doctor, I find that some of my patients do not take their prescriptions or do not follow the directions on them. At their next visit, when there has been no improvement, the truth comes out.”

Prescription for a superb marriage

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!

WE are probably one of the most litigious countries in the world. Thousands, if not millions, of

pesos are spent on legal cases over technical matters that would have been ironed out at the onset had the opposing parties chose to see eye to eye. Many of these cases went all to the way up to the Supreme Court where Einstein’s relativity theory vis-à-vis time is exemplified most vividly. Especially in rural and depressed places in the countryside, filing a case against one’s neighbor may be a source of pride and power. It sounds weird but that is probably one of the remaining potent weapons of the weak and the poor. After all, Lady Justice is blind and the Equal Protection Clause is enshrined in the Constitution.

We have insatiable penchant for technicalities and substantial components of the conflict get buried in the process. The excessively misplaced emphasis on Mohagher Iqbal’s real name is reflective of our litigious culture. Yes, some may argue over the possibility that the chief negotiator is not a Filipino but a Malaysian and that the government peace panel is presumably negotiating with a phantom. Senator Alan Cayetano is no better. If Iqbal is a Malaysian, he said, then the peace negotiation was technically an invasion. There is so much ado about nothing here actually.

Among revolutionaries and rebels, the use of nom de guerre is a standard practice, notwithstanding laws regulating the use of aliases. Even if that antiquated national law specifically criminalizes Iqbal’s use of an alias, it is inutile to expect Iqbal or any other revolutionaries and rebels to simply comply with such. The last thing any rebel or revolutionary will do is to kowtow to the laws and edicts of the Establishment that he desires to topple. Revolutionaries, in particular, are not deterred by penal laws. They wage their revolution precisely to overhaul the socio-political order, the same

order that created those laws they deem repulsive. This explains why in many cases where acts committed are political in nature, criminal liabilities for illegal possession of weapons and murder, among others, are absorbed in certain crimes, like treason and subversion. All the more reason then for illegal use of aliases.

The proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law offers to solve the age-old peace problem in Mindanao. The Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao is a failed socio-political experiment---no debate on that. The reasons are deeply permeated in the grassroots level garnished by the practice of political patronage from imperial Manila. The seemingly incessant graft and corrupt practices in the region are mere offshoots of the more basic problem. I am a Christian myself. My Ilongo forebears came to Mindanao in search of land and resources that earlier belonged to Muslims and lumad communities. The struggle for genuine autonomy in Muslim Mindanao is sovereignty-based, not a mere armed clamor for administrative reforms. Thanks to the Mamasapano Incident or Massacre---however one calls it---there was an outpouring of grief and anger that eventually resulted to popular calls for the scrapping of the proposed BBL.

Iqbal is a Filipino. He was born of Filipino parents in Maguindanao. He is not a Malaysian. He is probably more Filipino than many UP graduates who chose to work, live and die abroad, instead of sharing their intelligence and skills among the Filipino taxpayers who earlier sent them to college. He is probably more Filipino than the cohorts of Chinese smugglers and syndicates who flood the country with counterfeit items and poison-laden food products in the name of profit alone. He is probably more Filipino than many of us who chose to be mere individuals, instead of being citizens of this country. He, who waged war in the mountains away from the comfort of his family home, is probably more Filipino than these corrupt politicians and government functionaries dwelling in palatial homes paid for by stolen public funds.

Lest I be misconstrued, this is not in defense of Iqbal or any other revolutionaries who committed so many atrocities. This is a passionate commentary against our shortsighted approach towards the proposed BBL that holds the promise of helping us find that elusive peace in Mindanao. The Framework Agreement could have been signed by Aristotle, if he were to rise from the dead, or by the Devil himself. That does not matter anymore. Form, not substance.

Iqbal’s real name: Much ado about nothing

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 201510 NEWS

Rody... FROM 1

Tagum... FROM 2

Lessons... FROM 14

Duterte... FROM 3

Solar... FROM 6

Bukidnon... FROM 2 Philips... FROM 3

STEP... FROM 3

over of computer equipment to the Community Security Group-Firearms and Explosive Office at Police Regional Office (PRO( 11.

Vice President Jejomar Binay is still on the top of the survey with 36 percent, fol-lowed by Senator Grace Poe with 31 percent.

The SWS survey showed that Binay’s rating had de-creased one percent from the December 2014 survey in which he garnered 37 per-cent. Poe, on the other hand, increased her rating by 10 percent from 21 percent in the December 2104 survey.

Former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Miriam Santiago tied in the fourth spot with 11 percent. Senator Fran-cis Chiz Escudero ranked fifth with eight percent, while Sen-ator Ferdinand “Bong Bong”

Marcos ranked sixth with sev-en percent.

Senator Allan Peter Cay-etano ranked seventh with four percent, whiel former Senator Manny Villar and Sen-ator Antonio Trillanes tied in eighth spot with three percent.

Former Senator Panfi-lo Lacson, boxing champion Manny Pacquaio, and Senators Bong Revilla, Loren Legarda, and Franklin Drillon tied in the ninth place garnering one per-cent each.

The survey was conducted from March 20-23, 2015 us-ing face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

In its website, the SWS said the survey was “not commis-sioned.”

“This is done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” the group said.

prehended during the raid with one casualty from the suspects who police said tried to escape during the operation.

Authorities confiscated 150 grams of shabu (meth-amphetamine hydrochloride) with a street value of P1.35 million from the suspects.

Also confiscated were 11 high powered firearms, three low powered firearms, and 15 undocumented motorcycles.

According to Pernito, his team was conducting an in-ventory for the documentation needed by the court when they noticed that a green pouch tak-en during the raid was missing.

When they checked the photos taken during the raid,

they discovered that Valleser was the one holding the green pouch.

“Pag kita namin dun sa pic-ture pinatawag kaagad namin siya and he denied it until pinakita namin yung ebiden-sya (When we saw the picture we summoned him immedi-ately. He denied it at first, but when we showed him the pho-tos) he was forced to admit it,” Pernito said.

Pernito said the green pouch contained drug para-phernalia and at least one sa-chet of shabu.

Police are still investigat-ing the background of Valleser to see if he had been involved in other drug-related cases.

agreed to rally behind the Davao City Mayor.

In Zamboanga del Norte in March, the feuding groups of the former Con-gressman Romeo Jalosjos and incumbent Governor Berto Uy both welcomed Duterte in separate events.

In other areas, opposing political groups are now ar-ranging a modus vivendi to be able to throw their full support to the Davao City Mayor.

Political analysts be-lieve that Mindanao and the Southern Islands will go full force for a Duterte Pres-idency because of his polit-ically correct and practical solutions to the problems confronting the South.

Duterte’s advocacy on Federalism which propos-es the creation of Federal States offers a viable and practical option to the be-leaguered Bangsamoro Basic Law which calls for the establishment of a pow-erful autonomous Muslim region with no defined ter-ritories.

Under the Federalism advocacy of Duterte, he is proposing that the Bang-samoro People be given their own Federal State in a Federal Parliamentary sys-tem of government in the Philippines.

This is an option which is both acceptable to the majority Christians of the island who are wary of the intentions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which is behind the BBL move and also to the minority Muslims who have long desired for self-gover-nance.

On the issue of Sabah which strikes an emotional chord among the Tausugs, Duterte has declared that

the Philippine government should not abandon the proprietary claim of the Sultanate of Sulu over the territory even if it is now part of the Federal States of Malaysia.

In the case of the 42-year-old Communist in-surgency which has largely affected the development of Mindanao and also the rest of the country, Duterte has declared that he is will-ing to work with the Com-munists in his government provided they lay down their arms and pursue re-forms legally.

Finally, for the people of Mindanao who are the country’s top producers of food and agricultural products, Duterte has em-phasised the need for rad-ical reforms in agriculture focusing on an all-out gov-ernment support for the sector under the battle cry “Available and Affordable Food for the Filipinos.”

With a voting popula-tion of almost 15 million, Mindanao’s full support for a Duterte Presidency could give other Presiden-tial contenders a very big headache.

“This is a political phe-nomenon unseen in Mind-anao ever since. The people are excited to see a Mind-anaoan become President and any local politician who will go against the tide of that popular sentiment risks losing the support of the voters,” said a Mindan-ao political analyst.

“Wala kang magagawa kung pulitiko ka, kailangan sumunod ka na lang sa gus-to ng mga tao. Gusto nila si Duterte,” said retired police colonel Patricio Piñol who belongs to a big political clan in North Cotabato.

ippines, and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), the #May-MagagawaKa campaign seeks to raise awareness and build urgency on energy conserva-tion in the country.

“When it comes to pow-er interruptions, it affects the quality of power and disrupts business,” said Henry Schum-acher, Executive Vice President of ECCP.

“It is hoped that the mea-sures undertaken by the pri-vate sector in joining the Inter-ruptible Load Program (ILP), implementing energy savings, and energy efficiency invest-ments will avoid power outag-es this summer,” he added.

As part of the #MayMa-

gagawaKa campaign, Philips launched an online video se-ries on Facebook and YouTube last month featuring real-life testimonials from Filipinos, whose lives were or would be afflicted by power outages—including small-business own-ers, tricycle operators, employ-ees, and homeowners.

“Each and everyone of us has a stake and responsibility in building a more energy-con-scious nation,” Tetteroo-Bueno said. “Now, more than ever, we need to save energy. This starts with smarter energy choices.”

When it comes to electrical consumption, she advised, it is the little things that matter – like switching from conven-tional lighting to LED.

Once qualified for the program, the recipient should maintain an average of 80 and have grades not below 75 in every subjects.

For technical and voca-tional, a scholar will receive a maximum of P15,000 per pro-gram. The applicant should have an average grade of 80 and NCAE average of 75. Once qualified, the scholar should maintain a passing grade.

Domingo said STEP has an available budget of P18 mil-lion from the trust fund that can cater to more than 1,000 scholars.

He said STEP currently has 981 scholars. Of this, 633 scholars are for college de-grees, 275 for technical and vocational courses, 58 for IP, 13 for Persons with Disabili-ties, and one for college of law and medicine.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez had said were “unconstitutional.”

Duterte said that he can-not blame the MILF if it has already lost trust in the gov-ernment.

“They already lost trust in the government, that’s clear. They (MILF) think govern-ment cannot deliver,” the may-or said.

On Sunday, Jaafar said that the negotiations of the MILF and the Government of the Philippines has already been made through the Com-prehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro.

He also said Malacañang has already approved the agreement.

In a press conference, Sun-day afternoon at Waterfront Insular Hotel, Jaafar said the negotiations of the MILF and the Government of the Philip-pines had already been made through the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsam-oro.

He also said Malacañang has also approved the agree-ment.

“We have already signed an agreement, and the nego-tiation is already finished. We do not intend to renegotiate what we have negotiated for many many years,” Jaafar said.

Rodriguez, who chairs the 75-member ad hoc committee scrutinizing the draft BBL, said in a television interview last Saturday that eight provisions in the BBL are “unconstitu-

tional.”“Eight of these provisions

are against the Constitution, while the ninth is not accept-able to most members from Mindanao,” Rodriguez said.

He said among the provi-sions that Congress finds un-constitutional is the creation of a separate Commission on Audit (COA), Commission on Elections (Comelec), Civil Ser-vice Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and Office of the Ombudsman for the Bang-samoro.

Rodriguez said that the provisions are unconstitution-al because Congress cannot pass a law that will interfere with the functions and oper-ations of independent consti-tutional commissions like the COA, Comelec, and the Om-budsman.

Jaafar, however, said the function of the House of Rep-resentative is to pass laws and not to identify whether a law is unconstitutional or not.

He said Congress should let the Supreme Court decide whether the BBL is constitu-tional or not.

He said the MILF’s opinion is that Congress should legis-late or enact the BBL into law “and let the Supreme Court decide whether there is un-constitutionality there.”

Jaafar also said if the na-tion’s leaders do not want the BBL to pass, they should find an alternative solution to stop the war in Mindanao.

the government,” Yu said.Chinese Taipei on the oth-

er hand has devised a solar PV mechanism that ensures fair participation of applicants and reveals the actual market value and costs of PV installation.

The country also con-vinced its banking institutions to provide financing support.

At least 26 banks have em-braced green financing, with the green energy investment fund growing from US$1.6 mil-lion in 2011 to $222 million in 2013.

Japan is geared towards installing PV solar and wind power technologies because of its good wind resource.

Takao Ikeda of Japan said the government allocated more than 27 billion yen in 2014 for the research and de-

velopment of a utility scale bat-tery system.

By 2020, it targets to re-duce the cost of Lithium bat-teries, Redox Flow battery, NAS battery and other existing batteries, he said.

The United States, for its part, conducted the 2014 Sun-Shot Grand Challenge Summit and Peer Review in support of the ten-year SunShot initiative that began in 2010.

The SunShot initiative targets the production of grid connected PV power at 5 cents to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The result of the Ilocos Norte meeting will be present-ed to APEC energy officials in October during the Energy Ministers’ Meeting to be held in Cebu. (PIA 01/PCOO News Release)

schedules and longer travel time to the port.

The authors noted that a comprehensive policy frame-work is necessary to solve the congestion in the Port of Ma-nila and the underutilization of the Ports of Batangas and Subic. The truck ban revealed that volume restriction alone will not yield a catch-all solu-tion. Considerations have to be factored in to make poli-cies more effective.

Alongside possible in-centives, like a price dis-count mechanism, capacity expansion has to be under-taken and nonprice service attributes such as warehouse proximity have to be counter-balanced. Volume restriction must be complemented by capacitating the other ports, “commensurate to the vol-ume of cargo and transaction that are targeted to be divert-ed from the Port of Manila”.

Moreover, reviving the freight train network from Bicol to La Union as an al-ternative cargo transport seems more problematic than promising. Not only are the train tracks deteriorat-ing, but the researchers also conclude that the “current level of freight traffic through Batangas is too small to con-

sider it a major source of po-tential base traffic for freight railway.” Even if the freight railway was restarted, it would only be able to carry a certain amount, thus having a “negligible effect” on the con-gestion and traffic caused and experienced by the ports.

The researchers recom-mend a combination of short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions.

In the short term, policy-makers can introduce caps, revive the PNR freight oper-ation, and establish 24-hour web-based booking system to facilitate the logistics chain. But these have to be carried out together with a more strategic action—the govern-ment must invest heavily in capacity building at the ports and the train tracks, as well as rationalize future port devel-opment and investment pro-grams in port infrastructure.

Overall, if the Philippines hopes to take full advantage of its economic growth, enhance its position as a transport hub in the region, and position Philippine ports in the glob-al supply chain, the country must implement a strong and comprehensive national mul-timodal transport and logis-tics development plan.

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 11EDGEDAVAO

ICT HUBPLDT and Smart’s Nazareno nominatedas CEO of the Year by two int’l bodies

PLDT and Smart Communi-cations, Inc. (Smart) pres-ident and chief executive

officer Napoleon L. Nazareno has been nominated as CEO of the Year in two international awards programs for his contributions to the telecommunications in-dustry.

Nazareno was shortlist-ed both in the Telecom Asia Awards organized by the Hong Kong-based industry maga-zine, and Asia Communication Awards (ACA) organized by London-based publication Total Telecom. He already won Tele-com Asia Awards’ CEO of the Year distinction in 2012.

Other contenders for the awards include David Thodey of Telstra, Hiroo Unoura of NTT Holdings, Sung Min Ha of SK Telecom, and Saleh Abdooli of Etisalat.

The Telecom Asia Awards

CEO of the Year will be selected by an independent panel of in-dustry experts, “who will cast votes on the basis of innovation, financial performance, technol-ogy, market leadership, and cor-porate governance.” Awarding will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 20.

The ACA winner will be de-termined by an industry vote and assessment by a panel of judges, and will be announced on June 3 in Singapore.

Under Nazareno’s leader-ship, Smart continues to be the number one mobile service pro-vider in the Philippines, in terms of both subscriber base and rev-enues. As of end-2014, Smart had over 56.4 million subscrib-ers in its cellular and broadband services.

Together with Sun Cellular, the two wireless units of PLDT remain the undisputed leaders

KASPERSKY Lab has recorded a rare and unusual example of

one cybercriminal attacking another.

In 2014, Hellsing, a small and technically unre-markable cyberespionage group targeting mostly government and diplomatic organizations in Asia, was subjected to a spear-phish-ing attack by another threat actor and decided to strike back.

Kaspersky Lab believes that this could mark the emergence of a new trend in criminal cyberactivity: the APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) wars.

The discovery was made by Kaspersky Lab experts during research into the activity of Naikon, a cyber-espionage group also tar-geting organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The experts noticed that one of Naikon’s targets had spotted the attempt to infect its systems with a spear-phishing email carry-ing a malicious attachment.

The target questioned the authenticity of the email with the sender and, ap-parently dissatisfied with the reply, did not open the attachment. Shortly thereaf-ter the target forwarded to the sender an email contain-ing the target’s own mal-ware. This moved triggered Kaspersky Lab’s investiga-tion and led to the discovery

of the Hellsing APT group.The method of count-

er-attack indicates that Hellsing wanted to identify the Naikon group and gath-er intelligence on it.

Deeper analysis of the Hellsing threat actor by Kaspersky Lab reveals a trail of spear-phishing emails with malicious at-tachments designed to propagate espionage mal-ware among different orga-nizations.

If a victim opens the malicious attachment, their system becomes infected with a custom backdoor capable of downloading and uploading files, updat-ing and uninstalling itself. According Kaspersky Lab’s observations, the number of organizations targeted by Hellsing is close to 20.

Hellsing TargetsThe company has de-

tected and blocked Hellsing malware in Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Indone-sia and the US, with most of the victims located in Ma-laysia and the Philippines.

The attackers are also very selective in terms of the type of organizations targeted, attempting to in-fect mostly government and diplomatic entities.

“The targeting of the Naikon group by Hellsing, in some sort of a vengeful vampire-hunting-“Empire Strikes Back” style, is fas-cinating. In the past, we’ve

A Spy vs Spy Story

of the industry with 72.8 million cellular and broadband subscribers. The two com-panies also posted combined revenues of P115 billion as of end-2014, about 47 per-cent higher than the competition’s.

Revenue growth is being led by mobile data usage, which jumped by 63 percent in 2014. Data adoption is being stimu-lated among Smart, Sun, and Talk ‘N Text prepaid subscribers through Free Internet bundles, the Safezone platform which al-lows free access to selected applications, and Facebook’s Internet.org which gives free access to 24 websites.

The PLDT group is encouraging mo-bile data usage through a wide and grow-ing array of music, video, and other multi-media services.

seen APT groups acciden-tally hitting each other while stealing address books from victims and then mass-mailing every-

one on each of these lists. However, considering the targeting and origin of the attack, it seems more like-ly that this is an example of

a deliberate APT-on-APT attack,” said Costin Raiu, Director of Global Re-search and Analyst Team at Kaspersky Lab.

According to Kasper-sky Lab analysis the Hells-ing threat actor has been active since at least 2012 and remains active.

The Chronicles of Hellsing

ProtectionTo protect against Hellsing attacks, Kaspersky Lab recommends the following basic security best practices:

• Don’t open suspicious attachments from people you don’t know• Beware of password protected archives which contain SCR or other executable files inside• If you are unsure about the attachment, try to open it in a sandbox• Make sure you have a modern operating system with all patches installed• Update all third party applications such as Microsoft Office, Java, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader.• Kaspersky Lab products successfully detect and block the malware used by both the Hellsing and Naikon actors.• To learn more about the Hellsing threat actor and the Empire Strikes Back espionage campaign go to Securelist.com.

PLDT and Smart president and chief executive officer Napoleon L. Nazareno

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 201512 CLASSIFIED

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

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

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

GO BOLD GO COLOUR• All text

• Telephone Number (bigger point size)

• Bold Header

• Background• Text

Price: 100.00 Price: 175.00 Price: 230.00

ADD-ON

• Pictures/Logos• Graphic Elements

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 13EDGEDAVAO

1. Marketing Manager (2)2. Sales/Area Manager (5)

Qualifications are as follows:*College Graduate (Any Course)*Male/Female at least 21 years old*With very good Public Relations (P.R.) Skills*Good looks and pleasing personality is a big plus*Applicants with experience in Retail/Corporate Sales will be an advantage*Willing to travel Visayas/Mindanao Area*Female Models with experience in Exhibits/Trade Shows are also encouraged to apply

*Applicants who will be hired as regular staff will receive the ff. benefits:**SSS, Philhealth and Pagibig**Transportation and Communication Allowance**Monthly food allowance**Annual Sales Commission of around P800,000 to P1,000,000 for those who will meet Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Sales Target.

**Interested applicants may email their resume at sales@vmtech.com.ph or call our office at (0917)3293471(CEBU) or (0917)7952469 (DAVAO) for interview schedule

**NOW HIRING FOR CEBU AND DAVAO!!!!!!!

VM Security Technologies Inc., Wholesaler and Retailer of Security Equipments (e.g.cctv, biometrics, fire and burglar alarm, access control) and System Integrator (Structured Cabling/Auxiliary System), is currently hiring for the ff. positions:

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 201514 EDGEDAVAO

COMPETITIVE EDGE

MORE than a year af-ter the devastation brought about by Ty-

phoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the APEC Digital Opportunity Cen-ter through the ASUS Foun-dation opened an e-learning center at the Liceo del Verbo Divino last March 31.

The e-learning center is a joint project of the APEC Digi-tal Opportunity Center, Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, Manila Economic and Cultural Office, Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technol-ogy Office, and the ASUS Foun-dation to help pave the way for job opportunities for Tacloban residents through computer learning programs.

In 2013, Typhoon Yolanda,

one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, made landfall in the Philippines and affected an estimated 5.9 mil-lion workers, especially those living in Tacloban, the provin-cial capital of Leyte.

Many international and local organizations have ex-tended aid to help restore employment and livelihood in the devastated area. The ASUS Foundation donated 20 computer units for the center with 2 instructors, which will help thousands of people and students who were displaced by the typhoon increase their computer literacy so they can have more work and educa-tional opportunities .

“Our Search of Incredi-ble means using innovations

in technology to make lives better. We are very happy with this opportunity given by ADOC to be able to equip the people of Tacloban the computer know-how so they can rebuild their lives,” said George Su, ASUS Technology Philippines, Inc. Country Man-ager.

Since 2010, ADOC has been working with private and public sectors in the Philip-pines to set up e-learning cen-ters in urban and rural areas to reduce the digital divide by enabling people to overcome limitations due social or edu-cation status, and to enjoy the benefits of digitalization. The Tacloban e-learning facility is currently the sixth from ASUS Foundation in the country.

THE seven month-long truck ban last year in Metro Manila cost the

national economy around P43.85 billion. But while the country’s leaders insist that the operation has normal-ized in the ports since Febru-ary 2015, there are complex problems with port conges-tion and underutilization that need urgent attention.

A recent policy note re-leased by state think tank Philippine Institute for Devel-opment Studies (PIDS), Port Congestion and Underutiliza-tion in the Greater Capital Re-gion: Unpacking the Issues, discusses the nature and the root of the port congestion problem and explores vari-ous policy options and alter-native measures, including the revival of the Philippine National Railway (PNR), to improve current port oper-ations. The policy note was based on a comprehensive study of the logistics chain in the Greater Capital Region.

Of the three major ports in the Greater Capital Re-gion (Manila, Batangas, and Subic), the Port of Manila is widely used and most pre-ferred by shippers, freight forwarders, logistics services providers, and truckers. PIDS President Gilberto Llanto

and PIDS research associates Christine Ruth Salazar, Cher-ry Ann Madriaga, and Ma. Diyina Gem Arbo, together with PIDS consultants Epic-tetus E. Patalinghug, Alexis M. Fillone, and Noriel C. Tiglao, conducted a series of surveys and focus group discussions to uncover the factors that influence the sectors’ choice of port.

Convenience, for exam-ple, weighs heavily. Shippers, consignees, and importers cite the proximity of the Port of Manila to their areas of op-eration as a deciding factor. The rates are also much more affordable, and the immedi-ate availability of concerned government officials make transactions and release of goods much easier to carry out.

The biggest weakness with the Port of Manila, re-spondents complain, are “red tape” and the Bureau of Cus-toms procedures.

In comparison, issues with the Port of Batangas pertain to the status of sev-eral services, including ship-ping schedules, availability of allied services providers, and cargo handling facilities. Meanwhile, the Port of Subic is cited for its poor shipping

Smart named top employer anewFOR the third time in less

than a year, wireless ser-vices leader Smart Com-

munications, Inc. (Smart) was recognized by a prestigious award-giving body for its out-standing employera practices.

Smart won in the Employ-ee Engagement and Develop-ment category of the ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Sum-mit & Awards 2015 (ACSSA), an awards program organized by ECCI, a leading process im-

provement solutions provid-er in Southeast Asia, and its learning solutions arm APEX Global.

Just last November, Smart received the Meralco Top Em-ployer Award at the Asia CEO Awards. In June 2014, it was named Best Place to Work at the Asia Communication Awards in Singapore.

At the ACSSA, Smart was recognized by esteemed judg-es from different Asian coun-

ASUS, ADOC open e-learning center

tries for being an “organization who considers employees as an important asset to the orga-nization with the proper pro-grams and policies in place.”

Employees ‘living more’Smart has a “Live Well,

Live More” program which aims to inspire employees to live by the company’s “Live More” mantra. Since 2011, the program has evolved through activities where employees can live out their passions, devote time for their families, and prioritize a healthy life-style.

Among the components of this program are over 20 em-ployee clubs focusing on vari-ous interests like photography, religion, and sports; a rewards and recognition program; family events; and community service activities.

Smart also holds financial wellness fairs where experts share their knowledge on sav-ings and investments.

To promote work-life bal-ance, Smart holds sports tour-naments and wellness classes for its employees.

In a Towers Watson 2014 survey, Smart’s employee en-gagement score proved to be higher than global norms for

high-performing companies.

Workforce developmentAmid the challenges of

evolving customer needs, Smart remains an innovation powerhouse with the people at the core of its leadership. Smart’s commitment in build-ing a strong talent base is ev-ident with 70% of managers promoted within. Majority of its supervisors, managers, and heads have spent at least 11 years in the company. Sixty percent of its senior managers started out as staff members or as supervisors.

Smart also has the Smart University program which caters to employees of all positions and departments – from orienting new hires, to enabling on-the-job coaching, grooming new supervisors, and training leaders to rise above their roles. It partnered with various renowned train-ing firms to customize its pro-grams, as well as its e-learning courses.

In last year’s ACSSA, Smart won first runner-up in the Re-source Efficiency category for its Green Merchandising pro-gram, a sustained effort to re-duce the impact of Smart’s op-erations on the environment.

Children get instruction at the E-Learning Center

Smart AVP for talent and organization performance solutions Cheryll Ag-saoay (third from left) accepts the award from Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development executive director Tiur Ramundong. Flanking them are Smart senior manager for employee welfare Aldous Brigino and Smart senior manager for learning and development Tony Emboltura.

Lessons from truck ban give cluesto improved port infra policies

The ADOC turnover ceremony

FLESSONS, 10

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO

PALARO SPONSORS. Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, center, signs the marketing contract with key officials of the sponsor companies  for the 2015 Palarong Pambansa. noel baguio/davnor-pio

INTERNATIONAL Boxing Organization (IBO) world junior flyweight champion

Rey “Hitman” Loreto returned to his home in Davao City but still wondering when he is going to get his champion’s purse of around P2 million for successfully defending his title in South Africa last March 24.

Loreto, who fought de-spite having been operated for acute appendicitis more than a month only in Baguio City, is currently renting a room which he shares with his 15-year old brother and a cousin.

“Hindi pa kasi tapos yun pinapagawa kong bahay sa Calinan,” said the 24-year old Loreto at the SCOOP Session of The Royal Mandaya Hotel.

“Yung premyo ko po sana ang gagamitin ko para mata-pos na ang bahay namin,” said Loreto, who plans to stay here for more than three months for his full recovery.

Loreto, who is this year’s Co-Boxer of the Year in the an-nual Gabriel Elorde Awards, still decided to fight despite having a fresh wound from his operation because he really needed the money to finish the construction of his house.

“Pinaubaya ko na lang sa Panginoon sa itaas. Hindi ko nga agad nalaman na nanalo na pala ako,” said Loreto, who improved his record to 20 wins, 12 KOs and 13 defeats.

Loreto said that he was first hit on the body before he countered it with a left-right combination that sent down the challenger in 1:46 of the 1st round.

Loreto, who stays in La Trinidad, Benguet when train-ing, plans to keep himself fit by working out at the Empire Boxing Gym in Matina or at the Sonshine Boxing gym in Buhangin.

“I also want to train my younger brother and his cous-in,” said Loreto, who retained his title by a sensational first round knockout on South Af-rican challenger Nkosinathi Joyi in East London, South Africa.

Handi, also the manag-er of Joyi, failed to remit the

amount of $45,000 represent-ing Loreto’s purse and that of another Filipino boxer, Jetly Purisima, who fought in the undercard of the champion-ship bout but lost a 10-round bout by decision.

Loreto said that he was not also given a brand new championship belt by the South African boxing promot-er Siphato Handi.

Through the assistance of former North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol, Loreto has al-ready filed a formal complaint with the Philippines Games and Amusements Board (GAB) against Handi.

Loreto filed the com-plaint exactly 17 days after he knocked out again Joyi, who was also pummeled to submission in the third round during their first champion-ship bout held February last year in Monaco.

After the last fight, Loreto and his trainer were immedi-ately sent safely back to their hotel for security reasons.

“Marami kasing galit na mga tao doon pagkatapos ma knockout yung kababayan nila. Sinabi ni Gov. na baka daw may babaril sa amin,” said Loreto, a native of Tamay-ong, Calinan.

Handi, shortly before the weigh-in on March 23, in-formed Piñol, as chief execu-tive officer of Sonshine Sports Management which is Lo-reto’s contractual promoter, that the financial support of the Eastern Cape Government for his boxing promotion was delayed but promised that the money would be ready by March 25.

When informed by Handi of the development, Piñol im-mediately asked Loreto and his trainer, Joven Jorda, and boxer Purisima to be present during a meeting called by the South African promoter.

Present during the meet-ing were Handi, IBO supervi-sor Len Hunt, Boxing South Africa supervisor Phakamile Jacobs, the representative of the Eastern Cape Govern-ment, Loreto, Jorda, Purisima and Piñol.

NATIONAL coach Tab Baldwin has picked 26 PBA players for the

new Gilas Pilipinas pool, set-ting into motion the country’s ambitious bid to land a spot in the basketball competitions in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Baldwin declined to give out the names of the invited players who will undergo tryouts either in late July or early August, saying the task of announcing the pool’s com-position has been given to the PBA.

“It’s in the PBA’s hands now, we’re just going through a few process, but the names are all done. I’ve submitted them to all of my superiors, it’s really in their hands now when they are going to re-lease it,” Baldwin told Spin.ph.

Baldwin bared that his bosses at Smart Communica-tions, the main backer of the Gilas program, have already approved the names on the wish list and he is now in the process of talking to officials of the other ballclubs in meet-ings arranged by Commis-sioner Chito Salud.

“I’m waiting on them, I

still have to meet with a few of the clubs (Commissioner) Chito (Salud) is setting that up,” he added. “I’ve done my part of it (naming of players to the pool), they’ve approved all the names I’ve submitted, so now I’m just waiting for the right moment for them to release it.

“I could add more before it is released, but I could sub-tract somebody if I felt like it,” added the American-New Zealander.

Baldwin is confident all of the names on his list will be given the green light by the PBA teams as he sets out to form a defense-oriented team for the 2015 Fiba Asia Cham-pionships set in Changsha, China from September 23 to October 3.

“I can’t comment on that (of all of the players will be approved). The ball is now in the PBA board, and that’s how it is always designed to be. But I am very optimistic,” he said.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that life serves you curve balls every now and then. So let’s just wait and see what happens,”

Baldwin added.June Mar Fajardo, Greg

Slaughter, Paul Lee and Jayson Castro are among the players considered as shoo-ins to the squad, which will take over from the Gilas team that finished runner-up to Iran in the Fiba-Asia champi-onships in Manila and won a game in the Fiba World Cup in Spain.

Baldwin said the Gilas style of play will be largely dictated by the materials at his disposal, but hinted that he wants a team that can play good defense.

“It’s (style of play of Gilas 3.0) gonna be some of my philosophy and some of what the talent that is in the Philip-pines delivers to me,” he said.

Baldwin bared that as soon as the list of the new Gilas pool is made public, he will immediately schedule the tryouts, which will be set right after the Governors’ Cup.

“Definitely there will be a trial at the end of the third conference, when we start the Gilas campaign. I am call-ing all the 26 in the camp,” said the veteran coach who

led New Zealand to a histor-ic fourth-place finish in the 2002 world basketball cham-pionships.

“We’ll give the guys a little amount of time off after the third conference. It depends on how quickly the third con-ference ends. If the finals se-ries is short, we can start ear-lier. If it goes the distance, July 26 I think is the last possible date, then we will be looking at something around August first.”

Asked if he plans to hold practices between the an-nouncement of new Gilas pool members and the end of the season-ending Governors Cup, Baldwin sais he is weigh-ing all options.

“Certainly we can’t do anything formal, because it is still a trial. But if there’ll be time, I’d be happy to open the gym somewhere and work with the guys who are no lon-ger active in the third confer-ence,” he said.

“But again nothing formal (in those practices), you can’t run it as a trial. You have to wait until everybody is avail-able.” added the former New Zealand national coach.

TAB’S LIST26 named to SMART Gilas 3 training pool

FOLLOWING a successful run last year, the Sama-hangBasketbol ng Pili-

pinas (SBP) and Talk ‘N Text (TNT), the value brand of the undisputed mobile services leader Smart Communications (Smart), are once again team-ing up for the second TNT Tat-luhan, a nationwide three-on-three basketball tournament for the youth that will give the winning team a chance to rep-resent the country at the Inter-national Basketball Federation (FIBA) tournament.

Aimed at promoting bas-ketball at the grassroots level, the FIBA-endorsed TNT Tat-luhan is open to any team of three players (plus an alternate player) under 18 years old. The tournament will run from April to May in 18 legs around the country that will culminate in a national championship in Met-ro Manila.

THE CHAMP. Rey “The Hitman” Loreto at the SCOOP Forum at The Royal Man-daya Hotel. SCOOP Photo

Loreto still waiting for unpaid purse

SBP, Talk ‘N Text launch 2nd Tatluhan

The TNT Tatluhan champi-on will win a cash prize worth Php100,000 and will automat-ically represent the Philippines in the Manila World Tour Quali-fier scheduled on August 1 to 2.

Last year, members of Team Naga City composed of Joshua Irvin Ayo, Raphael Jude De Vera, Karl Kenneth Estra-da and Adoniz Christian Nis-mal bagged the TNT Tatluhan championship, and became one of the four teams that rep-resented the Philippines in the Manila World Tour Qualifier,

which gathered the leading teams from Indonesia, Qatar, New Zealand, Japan, and Tai-wan.

The Philippines’ Manila West Team made it to quar-ter-finals of the FIBA 3X3 World Tour in Japan, which was eventually dominated by Serbia’s Team Novi Sad.

“Our strong performance last year definitely proves that Filipinos are at par with the best basketball teams in the world. This year, we hope to in-spire more Filipino youth and

show them that with enough discipline, hard work and train-ing, they can compete with the world’s best players in the big-gest basketball game of their life,” said Sonny Barrios, SBP executive director.

“As the country’s undis-puted leader in the mass mar-ket segment, Talk ‘N Text’s wide reach and network will be instrumental in support-ing SBP’s thrust to promote basketball in all corners of the country,” said Cherish Tupaz, TNT Marketing Head. “More-over, the TNT Tatluhan is one of the many direct ways we can bring and share ‘panalo’ mo-ments with our subscribers.”

To join the 2nd TNT Tatlu-han, all team members must be TNT subscribers before regis-tering. Local announcements will be made by SBP regional heads for specific registration details.

VOL. 8 ISSUE 11 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 17 - 18, 2015

PALARO PARTNERSHIPDavNor inks partnership with Palaro sponsors

16 EDGEDAVAOSports

The Provincial Gov-ernment of Davao del Norte and two of the

top corporations in the Davao region sealed their partner-ship to ensure the success of the 2015 Palarong Pambansa on May 3-9, 2015.

Governor Rodolfo del Ro-sario led the contract signing ceremony for the marketing partnership, which has gen-erated a total of P7.9 million.

He was joined by Anto-nio “TonyBoy” Floirendo, Jr., Chair of ANFLOCOR Group of Companies and Alexander N. Valoria, President of Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Inc. (TADECO), which is the main partner for this year’s national games.

Key officials of major sponsors and donors also signed their respective mar-keting contract offering finan-cial backing for the Palaro.

The major sponsors in-clude Davao Light and Power Corporation and Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines.

The donors are TYR Mind-anao, Provincial Government of Davao Oriental, Provincial Government of Compostela Valley, Smart Communica-tions, Calian Agri-Ventures, Inc., Holiday Garden Island Development Corporation, Mindanao Agri-Banana Ven-

PARTNERSHIP. Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario, center, signs the marketing contract with  Antonio “TonyBoy”  Floirendo,  Jr., right, Chair of ANFLOCOR Group of Companies and Alexander

N.  Valoria, President of Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Inc. (TADECO), which is the main partner of the 2015 Palarong Pambansa. noel baguio/davnor-pio

by NOEL BAGUIOtures Corporation, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., Tagum Cooperative, Rely Con-struction and Supply and the City Government of Mati.

Del Rosario stressed that since the staging of the Palaro is a very complex undertaking and sponsor support is vital to the success of the national games.

“Your support fuels the success of the national games,” del Rosario said, as he acknowledged the spon-sors after the signing cere-mony.

He said that with their generosity, the province is on track to stage the best Palaro ever.

The governor also cited the benefits that the spon-sors will earn through their investment in the Palaro dream, saying that the event provides the companies the opportunity to maximize their association with the country’s largest sports con-clave, which has captured the imagination and stirred the emotions of Filipinos for decades.