edge davao 9 issue 25

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO [email protected]

THE camp of presiden-tial bet Davao City May-or Rodrigo R. Duterte

claimed that the administra-tion of President Benigno S. Aquino III is behind the attacks against the PDP-Laban presi-dential bet.

“We believe that his pop-

ularity now is the reason why the Aquino administration has unleashed a string of attacks against Duterte,” Duterte’s national campaign manager Leoncio Evasco said in a state-ment.

Evasco said the attack from the administration only

hopes that they can prevent the surge of the popularity of Duterte.

“We have seen our num-bers getting even bigger to validate what we are seeing on the ground: The rallies that are getting bigger and louder, the defection of forces from other

fences to our side, “he said.He said the growing

numbers of volunteers and thousands of people are now migrating to the cause of Real Change and Tapang at Mala-sakit, the campaign slogans of Duterte.

PNOY BEHIND SMEAR PLOT?Duterte camp assails President for demolition job

HORRIBLE IMAGES. Store owner Edgardo Zardillo shows packs of cigarettes printed with images of graphic health warning at his stall in Doña Pilar Avenue, Sasa, Davao City yesterday. Smokers seem to ignore the printed images on cigarette packaging as sales of the products continue to increase. Lean Daval Jr.

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EDGEDAVAOSports11th Pomelo Tee at RPV April 28-May 1 P16

VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 20162 EDGEDAVAO

NEWS EDGEDAVAO


Criminal raps vs. 2 suspects in shooting of 2 Saudi nat’lsTHE Zamboanga City

Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the criminal

case against two suspects for the shooting of two influential Saudi nationals last month.

Zamboanga City Prosecu-tor Ricard Cabaron dismissed the complaint for frustrated and attempted murder filed against Mujer Abubakar Ami-lassan and Junaide Cadir Saleh for lack of evidence.

Amilassan and Saleh were arrested a few minutes after Dr. A’id Al-Qarni, an interna-tional lecturer and renowned author of many inspirational books worldwide and Sheikh Turki Assaegh, religious at-taché of the Royal Embassy

of Saudi Arabia were shot last March 1.

Al-Qarni is reportedly on the Islamic State’s hit list.

The two suspects signed a waiver of detention after they were arrested and the prose-cutors have conducted a pre-liminary investigation.

Prosecutor General Claro A. Arellano, chief of the De-partment of Justice’s National Prosecution Service (NPS), said that the police can still file a motion for reconsideration (MR) within 15 days upon re-ceipt of the resolution.

Al-Qarni had just conduct-ed a lecture at the Western Mindanao State University

A day after presiden-tial frontrunner Rody Duterte topped the

Manila Broadcasting Corpo-ration/DZRH nation-wide survey, the Standard/Lay-lo national survey came up with its latest poll showing the Davao City Mayor break-

ing away from the 5-person pack.

“We have seen our num-bers getting even bigger, vali-dating what we are seeing on the ground. That Rody is on top means the people are on top. However, that Rody is on top exposes him to attacks.

We believe that his popular-ity now is the reason why the Aquino administration has unleashed a string of attacks against Duterte, hoping that they can prevent his surge,” Bohol Mayor Leoncio Evasco, Duterte’s national campaign manager was quoted by the

Standard as saying.With a little over a month

to go before the elections, political forces are consoli-dating behind Duterte whose ratings have consistently climbed since he declared his bid for the Presidency. Man-ny Pinol

CONTAINED. Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 11 spokesman Fire Chief Inspector Nestor G. Jimenez says fire fighters and volunteers have established fire lines in an effort to put out the ongoing fire in Mount Apo which already damaged at least 150 hectares of forest and grasslands. Jimenez was among the guests of yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media forum at The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases. Lean Daval Jr.

THE good news is the Davao City Council has passed the P31.5 million

assistance to the protesting farmers of Kidapawan City.

The bad news? The Com-mission on Election will have to review the process if it is not covered by the election ban.

The Commission on Elec-tion (Comelec) 11 will have to review the request of the city government to exempt the P31.5-million assistance for the farmers of North Cotabato from the election ban.

In yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps forum at The Ritz Hotel by Garden Oases, Comelec 11 assistant region-al director Marlon Casquejo bared that as soon as his office will receive the request letter of the city government the polling office will immediate-ly check the request if the city complied with the require-

ments.Casqejo said before imple-

menting a project or program under the prohibition should pass the requirements set un-der Comelec Resoution No. 991.

He said under the resolu-tion, the program should be reported with the Commission on Audit (COA), public infor-mation and awareness, and information dissemination ac-tivities from the COA circular.

“During the distribution goods, presence of candidates or even relatives of the candi-dates are not allowed,” he said.

“If they comply all of these requirements then they can apply for exemption,” he said.

Casquejo said as of yester-day morning, the Comelec 11 has not yet received any letter from the city government ask-ing for an exemption.

“Sa pagkakaron wala pa

mi nadawat na letter. Pag naa na mi madawat na letter we will just try to check whether na-comply ba nila and once complied, exemptions will follow (Our office has not yet received any letter as of now. If we receive the letter we will just try to check if the city com-ply the requirements and once complied exemption follows),” he said.

He said the process of ap-proval could only take short if the program is intended for calamity assistance since it is a priority measure.

Casquejo said the assis-tant city administrator Jhopee S. Avanceña-Agustin already asked a verbal request which he asked for a letter.

“If it will fall under the exemptions for the release of public funds the Comelec will issue an exemption,” he said.

He said the Comelec will

prioritize their request and once the letter reaches their office he will immediately send to their central office for imme-diate action.

City Social Service and Development Office (CSSDO) head Malou Bermudo, earli-er, the aid will be given to the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) and this group will be the one to distribute to the affected towns in North Cota-bato.

Bermudo said the city also coordinated with the Munic-ipal Social Welfare Offices in North Cotabato to have com-plete lists of famers who are affected with the drought.

“We will coordinate with the Municipal Social Welfare Offices because they are the ones who know the beneficia-ries,” she said.

She said based on the data

Comelec to reviewrice aid to farmers

Duterte moves up to no.1 in Standard survey

SOLDIERS of 6th Scout Ranger involved in the ‘accidental killing of Dan-

iel Ferrer at Sitio Mitundo, Ba-rangay Baracatan in Toril Dis-trict, Davao City last week are now under restriction.

This after the 10th Infan-try Division (ID) Board of In-quiry (BOI) found out lapses on their operation on April 1 which resulted to the death of Ferrer.

10th ID spokesperson Capt. Rhyan Batchar told re-porters in yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps forum, the BOI recommended that the involved unit shall undergo retraining and the parent unit of the troops involved to con-duct a separate investigation to determine the administra-

tive culpability of the soldiers involved.

He said based on the in-vestigation of BOI the troops failed to exercise due diligence to ascertain their target before firing their firearms contrary to the provision in the rules of engagement on the use of force against the enemy which states that “identification of target must be by visual means.”

Batchar explained the ac-cident that caused the death of Ferrer last April 1 while our soldiers were on security patrol against lawless armed groups (ALGs) reportedly roaming around in the moun-tain barangays of Toril District.

“The troops fired purely to

10th ID probe shows lapses by soldiers

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 3NEWSEDGEDAVAO


A MAGNITUDE 5.9 earth-quake struck the prov-ince of Davao Occidental

on Tuesday afternoon, accord-ing to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

In its bulletin, Phivolcs said the tremor occurred at 4:29 p.m. with its epicenter traced 308 kilometers southeast of Sarangani in Davao Occidental.

Phivolcs added that trem-

or was felt at Intensity 2 in Tupi, South Cotabato and Ala-bel, Sarangani while Intensity 1 felt in General Santos City.

The agency noted that the quake, which was tectonic in origin, had a depth of 86 kilo-meters.

Phivolcs said there was no reported casualty or damage, adding that there are no after-shocks expected from the tem-blor. (PNA)

Magnitude 5.9 quakejolts Davao Occidental

THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) asked the Philippine National

Police (PNP) Central Office to reveal the crime solution effi-ciency rate of every city in the country.

Speaking in yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps forum,

DCPO spokesperson Chief Insp. Milgrace C. Driz said showing the records of every city police will give the peo-ple an overview of how police units perform.

Driz also requested that if the central office will show data of crime volumes, the

non-index crimes and crime solution rate should also be included.

“To know how the police in the city are working and to their diligence to file cases that should be done,” she said.

Driz said that the crime efficiency rate of the city in-

creased in 2015 with 78.88 percent which is higher than the 55.97 percent in 2014 and 33 percent in 2013.

“We are increasing in crime solution efficiency and this means that the police are working hard,” he said.

COMELEC ON RICE AID. Commission on Elections (Comelec) 11 assistant director lawyer Marlon Casquejo says the city government of Davao will just need to comply with the requirements so that the P31.5-million rice

aid to Kidapawan farmers approved by the City Council on Tuesday will be automatically exempted from Comelec ban. Casquejo graced yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media forum at The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases. Lean Daval Jr.

DCPO maintains crime efficiency rate is high, disputes PNP record

THE National Grid Corpo-ration of the Philippines (NGCP) confirmed that

the power outage in the Davao City Wednesday happened af-ter its Toril 138 kilovolt (kV) transmission line 1 tripped at around 2:40 p.m. yesterday.

Milfrance Q. Capulong, NGCP corporate communica-tion officer for Mindanao, told EDGE Davao yesterday that line was damaged by a fallen tree but was also repaired at around 3:52 p.m. on the same day.

The fault in the trans-mission line resulted in the one 150-megawatt unit of the coal-fired power plant of Therma South Inc., a sub-sidiary of Aboitiz Power, “to

automatically shutdown as a precautionary measure” be-cause the “energy produced by the power plant will have nowhere else to go.”

Wilfredo Rodolfo III, branding and communica-tions manager for Mindan-ao of the Aboitiz Power, told EDGE Davao that measure was implemented to prevent the Easter Sunday blackout years ago after the STEAG coal-fired power plant tripped down.

“TSI power plant was not down. It’s okay this entire time. It was NGCP line that went down,” Rodolfo clarified.

Rodolfo said the plant started to be up after the line

NGCP restores power disrupted by fallen tree

[email protected] CHENEEN R. CAPON

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VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 20164

The Vote2016

EDGE DAVAO

SENATOR Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito and five others are barred from leaving the

country.This, after the Bureau of Im-

migration (BI) has implement-ed the hold departure order (HDO) issued against them by the Sandiganbayan.

Aside from Ejercito, the oth-er people who are not allowed to leave the country are: former San Juan city administrator

Ranulfo Decals, treasurer Rosa-linda Marasigan, city attorney Romualdo de los Santos, city budget officer Lorenza Ching, and city engineer Danilo Mer-cado.

According to BI spokesper-son Nikki Reyes, BI Associate Commissioner Abdullah Man-gotara signed the orderimple-menting the HDO.

On Monday, the the An-ti-Graft Court issued the HDO

and the BI only received a copy and implemented the order only on Tuesday.

Reyes added that their names would be uploaded in the bureau’s HDO list so that they can be stopped, in case they would attempt to pass through the Immigration count-ers at the international seaports and airports in order to leave the country.

The Sandiganbayan issued

the order against Ejercito in connection to a graft case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman against them last week.

Ejercito and 19 other for-mer and incumbent officials of San Juan were charged for their alleged involvement in using calamity funds to purchase Php 2.1 million worth of high-pow-ered firearms in year 2008, when the senator was still may-or of the city. (PNA)

Ejercito, 5 others in rapsbarred from leaving PHL

SENATOR Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos received yet another

boost to his vice presidential bid from the big organization of kagawads, or barangay councilors.

This was learned today as the Barangay Councilors League of the Philippines (BCLP), through its national president, Ricardo B. Junio, a kagawad in Valenzuela City, issued a manifesto of support for Marcos.

“BCLP-National supports Vice President Bongbong Marcos in his principle that an empowered local government translates to an empowered nation – specifically his spon-sorship on the creation of Re-tirement Fund for barangay officials and its call to rekindle the unity of the Filipinos,” the manifesto said.

In its facebook account, Junio said the league has 294,189 members nation-wide.

BCLP likewise expressed

support for a clean, honest and peaceful 2016 elections.

Marcos said he was elated by the outpouring of support he has been getting from the people and organizations like the BCLP as he vowed to con-tinue bringing the message of national unity to as many peo-ple and places as possible, es-pecially at the grassroots level.

“I am very thankful to all that have been supporting me in their own big and little ways. This only confirms my belief that the Filipino peo-ple are intelligent enough to know the truth. At ang katoto-hanan ay ang lagi kong sinasa-bi na sa pagkakaisa lamang ng mga Pilipino mai-aangat ang bansa at ang ating pamumu-hay,” he said.

The BCLP credited Mar-cos for sponsoring and push-ing for Senate Bill No. 12 entitled, “An Act Providing Barangay Officials, including Barangay Tanods, Members of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, Barangay Health Workers and

ONE Cebu gubernatori-al bet Winston Garcia and his running mate,

Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, officially declared their support for the vice presidential bid of Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

Garcia and Soon-Ruiz re-cently met with the senator in their headquarters in Cebu City last Sunday (April 3). The tandem leads the One Cebu Party, which also announced its support for Cayetano’s presidential running mate, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

“(Cayetano) and my brother, Pablo John, are good friends. I am a good friend of his father and I know what kind of person he is,” Garcia told reporters. “The WinNer team supports Cayetano... We choose him as our candidate because I know him, and he is a very reliable friend,” he fur-ther said in a statement issued on Monday (April 4).

Garcia said that based on the surveys they conducted,

Cayetano continues to be the leading vice presidential bet in Cebu. Garcia also vowed to de-liver one million votes for the senator.

Ruiz, meanwhile, stressed that Cayetano had been her personal choice even before their party declared support for Duterte’s presidential bid.

She noted how the sen-ator has helped Cebuanos in the past by providing medical assistance for indigent pa-tients in the province. She said this is why Cayetano landed as the number one senator in Cebu among all senatorial bets during the 2013 elections.

For his part, Cayetano said he considers the local tandem’s endorsement as an answered prayer.

“Salamat sa Diyos, it is an answered prayer for me and Mayor Duterte to garner more support,” Cayetano said. “The endorsement is mutual. We also support the tandem of Winston and Nerissa… We be-lieve in the WinNer team and in One Cebu,” he added.

INDEPENDENT presiden-tial aspirant Sen. Grace Poe has promised she would

be tough when dealing with criminals, especially those involved in the illegal trade, and corrupt officials in gov-ernment.

Poe said she would prove that regardless of who sup-ported her in the presidential elections, she would dispense justice to both friends and foes.

The survey frontrunner said the only way to make people trust the government again was to ensure that cor-rupt officials, regardless of their political leanings, would have no place in government.

”Dapat patas ang pagtrato kaibigan man o kaaway, maya-man man o mahirap. Papa-tunayan ko naman kahit ‘yung mga kaibigan ko, halimbawa,

sa mga pagdinig sa Senado, naging patas naman tayo sa pagdinig sa kanila. Kung tunay na may kasalanan sila ay hin-di naman tayo nag-atubili na sabihin iyon at mag-file ng kaso laban sa kanila,” Poe said in an interview with Bombo Radyo Cebu.

The senator led the public inquiry into the Mamasapano tragedy and the state of the Metro Rail Transit, two of the most controversial hearings in the Senate.

Poe is also the primary sponsor of the Freedom of Information bill in the Senate, which passed in a record time of eight months but remains pending in the House of Rep-resentatives. The FOI is a vital tool in eliminating corruption and institutionalizing citizen’s participation in keeping the government honest.

“Lalo na kapag ako ang naging pangulo, talagang dapat mabawasan ang kora-psyon,” she said.

Under her administration, Poe said government officials with corruption charges will be immediately removed from office. She also encourages the courts to speed up trial.

Aside from the billions stolen from the country’s cof-fers, Poe said corruption was the main culprit for people’s distrust in government.

In last Monday political rally in Valenzuela City, Poe assured the supporters that she would go down to the root cause of criminality by going to barangay to barangay if she has to in order to make sure that the streets are safe.

Poe, who had repeatedly warned public officials and uniformed personnel against

condoning crime and corrup-tion in government, said she would not go easy on police officers who failed to reduce the crime rate in their area.

She also promised a more focused and extensive moni-toring of the peace and order situation across the country.

In a “Gobyernong may Puso,” a special room will be set up in Malacanang where the president can personally receive updates.

Poe, who believes ba-rangay officials should be trained and equipped in fight-ing criminality, vowed to put up closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in all baran-gay crime hotspots.

While stiffer measures will be implemented to main-tain peace and order, Poe said her administration would ad-here to due process. (PNA)

Barangay councilorsleague for Bongbong

Cayetano clinches Cebu

Poe out to prove strong stance against corruption, criminality

Former Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte takes a selfie from the people in Alegria, Surigao del Norte as the Byaheng DU30 goes on tour in some places in Mindanao.The Byaheng DU30 is a 30-day caravan which aims to campaign Duterte’s presidency. Photo from Byaheng DU30 Facebook Page

EDGEDAVAO

Barangay Day Care Workers Retirement Benefits,” which was approved by the Senate on third and final reading last December.

The measure, sponsored and defended by Marcos be-ing the chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Govern-ment, provides a retirement

pay of P100,000 for each qualified Barangay Chairman, P80,000 for each member of Sangguniang Barangay, and P50,000 each for the Baran-

gay Treasurer and Secretary, Barangay Tanod, Member of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, and Barangay Health and Day Care Workers.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 5EDGEDAVAO

PROPERTY

ES C A N D O R Development Corporation

(ESDEVCO) cited its top sellers for the month of March 2016 with a thanks-giving lunch last April 5 at The Royal Mandaya Hotel.

ESDEVCO is the developer of initial venture The Matina Enclaves, a sprawl-ing mixed use real estate development located in Ecoland, Davao City.

The Matina En-claves project head

Gerald Kent Garces announced the Top Sellers for Month, namely: Charity Fu-rog, Jocelyn Asoy, Rizalyn Denaga, Cherry Codilla, Ofe-lia Genodepanon, Romeo Hierro, Gil-bert Monecillo and Joseph Avila.

“I thank the Top Sellers for their en-thusiasm and dedi-cation. Good luck to another fruitful and productive month,” Garces said.

Meantime, the recent project up-

dates for the Mati-na Enclaves condo-minium Building 1 (B) include the ongoing installa-tion of staircase, installation of exte-rior walls on the 4th floor, installation of plumbing works, in-stallation of interi-or walls on the 2nd floor.

The Matina Enclaves recently broke ground for Building 2 and at the same time com-pleted the topping off of Building 1.

Esdevco cites March top sellers


APP-BASED transport service Grab on Tues-day announced a part-

nership with World Bank to provide the government with free GPS data to better man-age travel speeds and journey times in two of the Philippines’ largest cities — Manila and Cebu.

Through the OpenTraf-fic initiative, Grab and World Bank aim to help address traf-fic congestion and road safety challenges under the Depart-ment of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and its concerned agencies.

Aside from OpenTraffic, another initiative dubbed

Driver will meanwhile identify road incident blackspots and improve emergency response.

To date, 200 government staff from the agency, the Phil-ippine National Police (PNP), the Metro Manila Develop-ment Authority (MMDA), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and

the Cebu City Transportation Office have been trained to use the OpenTraffic platform.

DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya in a statement welcomed the initiative noting that using big data is one of the “potential solutions” to the challenges faced by the coun-try’s transport systems.

EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

SY-LED Banco de Oro Uni-bank, Inc. (BDO) has ex-tended a seven-year Php

998-million loan to the local subsidiary of Interflour Group Pte. Ltd. of Singapore, one of the largest millers in Asia.

In a statement, BDO said the loan extended to Mabu-hay Interflour Mill, Inc. (MIMI) would partly finance the con-struction of its flour mill within a 5.2-hectare property in Subic Bay Gateway Park Phase II.

Construction is expected to end in early 2017, after the company entered the local market in 2014. The mill will turn wheat into food flour for distribution both here and abroad.

The statement said the mill has a capacity to produce 500 metric tons of flour dai-ly but this can be doubled to 1,000 metric tons by 2019.

BDO senior vice president

and head of international desk Edward Wenceslao said the loan agreement was a “wel-come development” for the bank.

“BDO supports initiatives by conglomerates that gener-ate employment opportunities in fast-growing business dis-tricts like Subic,” he said.

Interflour Chief Executive Greg Harvey said he was very optimistic on their future local operations, citing that there were about 25,000 bakeshops n the country.

“We welcome the support of BDO and thank them for the cooperation in working with us to develop local em-ployment and more affordable flour for the Philippine com-munity in general,” he said.

To date, Interflour has nine flour mills, eight of which are in Southeast Asia and one in Turkey. (PNA)

BDO extends P998-M loan to large flour miller in Asia

Grab ties up with WB to help PHL ease traffic

EMPERADOR Inc., the world’s largest brandy company, reported a net

income of PHP7 billion on rev-enues of PHP43.6 billion last year, inclusive of foreign oper-ations. The company made the highest quarterly net income in the fourth quarter of 2015, amounting to PHP2.26 billion, showing a 38% year-on-year increase versus the fourth quarter of 2014 and as much as 56% quarter-on-quarter in-crease against the third quar-ter of 2015.

Emperador chairman Dr. Andrew L. Tan said, “The fourth quarter of 2015 also

marked a significant mile-stone in Emperador’s history as an agreement with Beam Suntory Inc was reached to buy Fundador – Philippines’ best-selling premium brandy and an iconic brand for more than 150 years. The purchase also included other Spanish assets like Terry Centenario, Spain’s number one selling brandy; Tres Cepas, the num-ber one brandy in Equatorial Guinea; and Harveys, the num-ber one selling sherry wine in the United Kingdom. The turnover of the Spanish assets recently occurred early this month.”

Emperador Inc. president, Winston Co, also said, “This re-cent development truly marks an epoch in Emperador’s his-tory. The long-term potential of our brandy business is more compelling than ever. We have become even more global.”

Meanwhile, Emperador now has a much bigger prod-uct portfolio of brandy and whisky that has greater global presence. The core local prod-uct, Emperador brandy, can surely benefit from this inter-national route to market given export opportunities in other countries.

Mr. Co said, “We are best

positioned to capitalize on premiumization opportunities in the Philippine market. We now have a broad spectrum of products available locally rang-ing from standard to ultra-pre-mium offerings. Our core local product, Emperador brandy, remains to be the undisputed leader in the local liquor in-dustry. We also now have a compelling presence in foreign liquor in the Philippines with our Fundador brandy and sin-gle malt whisky products, The Dalmore and Jura.”

Emperador Inc. is major-ity-owned by Alliance Global Group, Inc.

Emperador generates P7-B net income in 2015


MANILA-BASED Global Telehealth, Inc., a cor-porate startup of tele-

communication giant Globe Telecom, rolled out Konsul-taMD in a bid to provide the public with immediate and affordable medical services remotely.

“KonsultaMD is a 24/7 health hotline service manned by licensed Filipino doctors who provide medical assess-ment and information, in-cluding basic healthcare and permissible medication over the phone,” Vincent Syquia, business head development for KonsultaMD, told report-ers in yesterday’s edition of Wednesday’s sa Habi at Kape at Abreeza Mall.

Syquia said the Konsul-taMD will enhance the ac-cessibility of the public to licensed doctors. In the Phil-ippines, he said that there are only seven doctors to attend in every 1,000 Filipinos.

The KonsultaMD, he add-ed, turned medical services like consultations more af-fordable by just dialing the KonsultaMD hotline at 79880 via mobile phones or (02) 798 800 via landline.

“The cost of regular con-sultation in health centers is usually P200 to P300, while doctor’s consultation is around P500. Our service cost only P60 per month per person which gives our sub-scribers unlimited access to Konsulta MD,” he added.

While recognizing the lim-itation of remote consultation and presumptive diagnosis, he said, most of its attending doctors were able to assist calling clients on their con-cerns on general medicine like cough, fever, cold, sore eyes; pedia-related concerns; and ob-gyne concerns of women since it was launched on Au-gust last year.

“Our data revealed that 99.9 percent of our clients are satisfied, while the other 0.1

percent those who insisted prescription which we cannot do,” he added. The service has already more than 100,000 subscribers since it was launched last year.

Syquia also said three to four hour travel time to the nearest hospital or health cen-ter is cut into minutes through the use of KonsultaMD. “There is no waiting time.”

“The doctor is literally at the palm of your hands,” he said, adding an average of four to five doctors every shift are receiving calls from clients to ensure a round-the-clock ser-vice.

“The telehealth service provided by the KonsultaMD makes the entire health in-dustry more efficient,” he said, adding the service health the government in attaining its goal of universal healthcare for all Filipinos regardless of their location.

As much as the Konsul-taMD may lessen the possibil-ity of self-medication, it still encourages face-to-face con-sultation with medical doctor who can give final diagnosis and medical prescription.

“Our doctors can only per-form presumptive diagnosis and prescribe over-the-count-er medicines,” he said.

Apart from remote con-sultation and over-the-count-er medicine prescription, subscribers can also receive medical information on tele-phone triage, reading of lab and diagnostic results as well as health coaching and nutri-tion counseling.

“Our clients don’t need to be sick just to be able to avail our services,” he said, adding that subscribers may speak to doctors as many times as they want.

However, he said, the ef-fectively of the service will depend on the honesty of the caller.

Meanwhile, KonsultaMD

A TOTAL of 13 hotels and restaurants in Davao City will be soon be Ha-

lal certified as the city gears itself to become a destination of foreign tourists from Islam-ic countries.

This is according to Islam-ic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. president for tourism and investment Ma-lou Ampuan who said these establishments will be among the 53 establishments target-ed by the Department of Tour-ism and Halal International Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines, Inc. to be certified nationwide.

For Davao City, Ampuan said, the establishments in-

clude hotel chains Marco Polo Davao, Seda Hotel, Grand Regal Hotel, and Park Inn by Radisson- Davao.

“These establishments will be showcased during the Philippines Halal Tourism Expo 2016 slated on April 22 until 24 at the Abreeza Mall,” Ampuan told report-ers in this week’s edition of Wednesday’s sa Habi at Kape at Abreeza Mall yesterday.

Other food and accom-modation establishments will come from Manila with 20 for Luzon, and Cebu and Boracay with 10 each for Visayas.

The certification of these establishments is in line with the Mindanao launched Phil-

ippine Halal Tourism Project of the tourism agency. The project aims to put the coun-try on the Muslim travel index of CrescentRating, world’s leading authority on ha-lal-friendly travel since 2008.

Ampuan said the halal certification of these estab-lishments will also become one of the criteria on the as-sessment on the readiness of the country to accommodate Muslim tourists by Crescen-tRating.

Meawhile, Ampuan said the expo will also gather Ha-lal certifiers, suppliers, and establishments. “It will be a meeting point point of Halal buyers and suppliers,” she

added.The expo will be also

a venue to showcase Mus-lim-friendly destination in Mindanao and in the Philip-pines.

Ampuan said four airline companies, namely, Philip-pine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air, Air Asia and V- Air were invit-ed to showcase their routes.

“The event is organized to increase the level of aware-ness on the principles and concepts of halal. Ultimately, it aims to improve the position of Davao in the tourism indus-try by aligning our programs to halal tourism, one of the fastest growing global tour-ism concept,” Ampuan added.

13 city hotels to getHalal certification

OLD ATTRACTION. A foreigner and his daughter roam around Sta. Ana wharf to have a glimpse of one of the oldest ports in the Davao Region. Sta. Ana wharf still attracts local and foreign tourists despite its sorry state due to dilapidation. Lean Daval Jr.

Globe Telehealth launches KonsultaMD in Davao

F GLOBE, 10

VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 7EDGEDAVAO THE ECONOMY

PHILIPPINES’ inflation rate rose to 1.1 percent in March 2016 from 0.9

percent the previous month, but the Bangko Sentral ng Pili-pinas (BSP) is not worried say-ing this is within expectations.

In a text message to re-porters Tuesday, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said mon-etary officials earlier expected inflation rate to stay between 0.6-1.4 percent last March.

“This is also consistent with our latest runs showing that over the policy horizon, inflation will slowly move up to within target (levels),” he said, referring to the government’s three to five percent target for 2016-18.

Last March’s inflation rate was lower than year-ago’s 2.4 percent and brought the first quarter’s average to 1.1 per-cent.

Inflation has been below

target since May last year when it fell to 1.6 percent from the previous month’s 2.2 per-cent due to low oil prices.

Monetary officials and an-alysts alike project inflation to go up to within target levels in the second half of this year, giv-en the expected normalization of oil prices and impact of the dry spell on agricultural prod-ucts among others.

Tetangco said monetary officials saw inflation this year to average at the low end of the government’s target.

“We will continue to moni-tor developments,” he said.

The central bank chief also said that amidst the uptick in domestic inflation rate, there still no need to adjust the BSP’s policy stance since it remained appropriate.

“Right now we see no ur-gent need to change stance of policy,” he added. (PNA)

BARELY a month since the Land Transporta-tion Franchising and

Regulatory Board (LTFRB) announced that the flag-down rate for taxis nationwide will be fixed at Php 30, the Board on Tuesday ordered it to revert to its provisional status.

“The Board deemed it best to stay the implementation of our Consolidated Decision while we are diligently review-ing and evaluating the Motions for Reconsideration,” LTFRB Chairman Atty. Winston Ginez said.

Ginez noted that in the Board’s evaluation of the var-ious Motions for Reconsid-erations that were filed, the

Board decided to study the impact of the fare adjustment.

He noted that this was to ensure that the Board will be able to strike a balance that would be economically bene-ficial for both the riding public and the operators and their drivers.

In the Consolidated Or-der, the Board ordered a stay in the implementation of its Consolidated Decision issued on March 8, when the order for fixed flag-down rates was announced.

To recall, the Board issued Consolidated Decision on March 8 approving the perma-nent reduction of the existing taxi fare nationwide to Php

30 for the flag-down rate, Php 3.50 for every succeeding 500 meters and Php 3.50 for the waiting time per 90 seconds.

It also ordered the re-im-plementation of its previous Order on provisional reduction of the existing flag down rate of Php 40 to Php 30 of all taxi services nationwide (except in the Cordillera Administrative Region) and Php 35 to Php 30 of taxi services in the CAR.

However, various Motions for Reconsideration on the Con-solidated Decision of the Board have been filed by different transport groups, which includ-ed Metro Davao Taxi Operators Association, Taxi Operators and Drivers in Cagayan De Oro City,

Metro Cebu Taxi Operators As-sociation, Inc. (MCTOA), Dump-er Philippines Taxi Drivers As-sociation, Inc. (Dumper), Asso-ciation of United Taxi Operators in the Cordillera Administrative Region (AUTOCAR) and Angat Tsuper Samahan ng mga Tsu-per at Operator ng Pilipinas Genuine Organization Trans-port Coalition (STOP & GO).

Under LTFRB’s Revised Rules of Practice and Proce-dure, the timely filing of a Mo-tion for Reconsideration by any party adversely affected by the Board’s decision, order or resolution stays the immediate execution or implementation of the assailed decision, order or resolution. (PNA)

THE Philippine peso weakened to a green-back Tuesday partly due

to news that Saudi Arabia is not keen on freezing oil output if Iran will not join it.

It finished the trade at 46.26 from 46.10 in the pre-vious session, which a trader also traced to some foreign investors decision to unload some holdings of local equities.

The local unit’s weak-

ness started early on when it opened at 46.24 from the pre-vious day’s 46.00.

It traded between 46.27 and 46.16 resulting to an aver-age of 46.22.

Volume of trade reached USD660.76, higher than the USD 519 million in the previ-ous session.

On Wednesday, the cur-rency pair is seen to trade be-tween 46.10 and 46.30. (PNA)

PHP weakens versus USD as oil prices slip

PHL’s inflation rate rose to 1.1% in March 2016

LTFRB orders P30-taxi flag down reverted to ‘provisional’ status

MEGAWORLD, the country’s largest de-veloper of integrated

urban townships and the big-gest lessor of office spaces, has breached the P10-billion mark in net core income for 2015. The company’s core profit reached P10.40-billion (net of P181-million non-re-curring gain from P10.58-bil-lion), up 10.58% from last year’s P9.40-billion (net of P12.16-billion non-recurring gain).

“We already have a strong roster of townships across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao that are backed by adequate landbanking and careful-ly-thought masterplans. We have already mastered the art of township development. What we want to put focus on now is how to further grow our rental portfolio, which is integral to being a township developer. Malls and offices are key components of an ur-ban township,“ says Francis Canuto, chief finance officer, Megaworld.

Megaworld’s consolidated revenues, excluding non-re-curring gains, grew 9.37% year-on-year in 2015 to P44.81-billion from the previ-ous year’s P40.97-billion. Each of Megaworld’s core business - residential, rental and hotel operations – hit double-digit

growth in 2015.Megaworld’s leasing

business has been the fastest growing business segment in 2015, as rental income grew to a remarkable 23.46%. Leas-ing income from malls, com-mercial centers, and offices reached P8.73-billion in 2015 from P7.07-billion the previ-ous year.

“Our rental business had been growing exponential-ly the last five years. We are confident that we will reach the P11-billion target by the end of this year as we see con-tinuous growth in consumer spending as well as further expansion of BPO companies, particularly in key growth ar-eas in Visayas and Mindanao where Megaworld is already present, ” adds Canuto.

The company launched five townships in 2015, bring-ing its total township develop-ments across the country to 20. These are Eastwood City in Quezon City, (18.5 hect-ares); Newport City in Pasay City (25 hectares); McKinley Hill (50 hectares), McKinley West (34.5 hectares), Uptown Bonifacio (15.4 hectares) and Forbes Town Center (5 hect-ares), all in Fort Bonifacio; The Mactan Newtown in Cebu (28.8 hectares); Iloilo Business Park (72 hectares) and Sta.

Megaworld’s net incomesoars to P10.4B in 2015Property giant’s rental income in all-time high

SUN Life of Canada (Phil-ippines) Inc. (SLOCPI) retained its status as the

top-ranking life insurance pro-vider in the Philippines based on the premium income last year.

“This is the fifth consecu-tive year that Sun Life topped the industry in premium in-come. Unaudited quarterly statistics submissions to the Insurance Commission con-firmed that Sun Life posted a premium income of P32.8 billion in 2015, up from P 30.7 billion in the previous year,” a statement read.

Combined with Sun Life Grepa Financial, Inc., the Sun Life group in the Philippines made close toP43 billion pre-mium income in 2015.

In terms of new business measured in weighted first year premium (WFYP), SLOC-PI grew by close to 17% to P6. 04 Billion, while Sun Life Grepa grew by 46% to P1.61 Billion.

Overall, Sun Life Philip-pines saw growth in 2015 through new products, ag-gressive expansion programs, effective branding campaigns,

intensive agency recruitment and heightened operational ef-ficiencies.

“Sun Life Philippines had a banner year in 2015. We have an incredible team working there and their hard work and dedication to customers shines through in everything they do,” said Kevin Strain, Sun Life Fi-nancial Asia president.

Strain said last year was a “significant year for Sun Life Philippines when it celebrated its 120th year in the country and reaped major local and in-ternational awards.”

Sun Life Philippines was also recognized as Employer of the Year by the People Manage-ment Association of the Philip-pines and Asia’s Life Insurance Company of the Year at the 19th Asia Insurance Industry Awards. “These awards truly spoke well of Sun Life Philip-pines excellent leadership and operations,” said Strain.

For her part, Sun Life Phil-ippines President Riza Mantar-ing attributed Sun Life’s contin-ued success to the unwavering trust and patronage of its cli-ents and the team’s excellent

execution of its various initia-tives designed to fuel further growth.

Last year also marked Sun Life’s successful completion of its aggressive 5 year growth plan called Route 5. “With all of us focused on realizing our Route 5 goals of having 5,000 advisors, 5Billion in net in-come, 5 billion in AFYP, and P50 Billion in mutual funds AUM by 2015, we ended the year achieving all that and even exceeding our targets,” Man-taring said.

“A big part of our success is our most prolific and dynamic agency force whose passion to serve and sense of mission to help every Filipino achieve financial freedom have led us to the top. But of course, our utmost gratitude goes out to all our clients and business part-ners whose continued trust has inspired us to always as-pire for excellence,” Mantaring concluded.

Sun Life of Canada (Phil-ippines), Inc. (SLOCPI) is the longest-staying life insurance company in the Philippines now with 45 new business of-

fices, 39 inter-branch sales of-fices; 64 customer centers and eight financial stores through-out the country.

The company has close to a thousand employees and 7,800 Sun Life advisors. Sun Life Phil-ippines offers individual insur-ance, education savings plans, mutual funds and retirement planning, group insurance and retirement benefits.

SLOCPI is a member of the Sun Life Financial group of companies, a leading inter-national financial services or-ganization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and cor-porate customers.

Sun Life Financial and its partners also operate in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, In-donesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2015, the Sun Life Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $891 billion.

Sun Life is PHL’s top insurance provider

TRANSPORT WOOS. A multicab passenger vehicle plying the Panacan-downtown route traverses R. Magsaysay Avenue in Davao City yesterday. Transport groups Piston and Transmision are planning to join the nationwide

transport rally slated on April 18 to protest against taxi flag down rate reduction and the implementation of phasing out of multicab in the city. Lean Daval Jr.


F MEGAWORLD, 10


VANTAGE

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EDITORIALBeth’s mission

ELIZABETH Zimmerman-Duterte is one tough nut to crack with one soft heart to share.

Caught in a fierce battle with the Big C, Beth, former wife of presidential bet Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte is on a mis-sion—to help bring her husband to the presidency.

Strange? Perhaps. But not for Beth, mother to former Mayor (and now running as unopposed Mayoralty bet) Inday Sara, vice mayor Paolo and Sebastian.

Despite her medical condition, Beth has plunged into the cam-paign trail, not merely relegated to a kibitzer but deciding to go ac-tive in this crucial stretch of the campaign.

Beth and Mayor Rody have gone a long way in the latter’s jour-ney from being a practicing lawyer to prosecutor and to being chief executive of Davao City.

Despite what transpired between them, mutual respect is always there.

Beth is now leading the “Byaheng DU30” a 30-day caravan by 30 volunteers to campaign for the candidacy of Duterte for President.

Shrugging off stage 3 cancer, Beth has decided to stop her radia-tion sessions to come out and help in the campaign.

Based on medical records, she has 16 more radiation sessions to complete the 33 sessions prescribed by her doctor. That will have to wait after she comes back from the one-month caravan.

Beth knows that there are a lot of questions in the minds of Fili-pinos about her former husband, and she is only very much willing to answer the queries personally.

In the Facbook page of Byaheng DU30, Beth said she wants to meet her fellow Filipinos and answer their questions about the man in Digong.

Beth has said this clear. She is still very much a part of Digong’s life. “I wanted to help him because he is still part of my family, he is the father of my children. We may be annulled in court but we were also married in the church and the Catholic church never anulled our marriage.”

The caravan is intended to go around mainly the Visayas and Mindanao to thank the supporters and convince the undecided.

Beth’s mission is no joke considering her frail condition. But she is not fazed by the risks of the Big C. In her heart and mind is the mission to bring about the change in the country that she believes only Mayor Duterte can bring.

SECOND pretense exposed: Mar Roxas and Jejomar Binay

Smarting from his self perceived “vic-tory” in the first round of debates in Cagayan de Oro, Mar Roxas thought that he presented himself as the smart, well studied and decent choice for president. He took to giving lengthy answers with statistics. He also bared his irri-tation and temper when defending the current administration, even stating how proud he was of the current administration in spite of the ad-mitted fact that shabu continues to be cooked inside the Bilibid prison by drug lords he suc-cessfully had arrested. Whether the Rappler editors thought this was an impressive display of leadership talent is anyone’s guess. We give them the benefit of the doubt. What we need to remind ourselves is that the premise of pe-riodic elections are not about who looks good as a candidate. The first question is whether the current administration is able to do its job. Everything else ought to follow.

Mayor Duterte’s booming response calling Mar Roxas a fraud is very telling for many who see the Mar Roxas candidacy as unraveling. This comes amid the recent decision to let his Vice Presidential running mate Leni Robredo campaign on her own, which to my mind is worrisome for the administration. It is pos-sible that the LP leadership perceives Mar as a liability. As with Zamboanga, both he and Vice president Binay entered the fray only to

exacerbate an already tense situation. Sadly, dealing with the MNLF in Zam-boanga is noth-ing new for the government. It ought to have learned from two recent ex-periences such as the Camp C a w a - c a w a and Cabtangan siege that took place in the city. A friend told me that Duterte only verbalized what many are afraid to say about Roxas in particular and the PNOY government in general. It just pains me to see that every time there is such a situ-ation the government is a beehive of activity, not because there are great solutions brewing to resolve the conflict, but because characters like Mar roxas and Jejomar Binay are jostling for political points.

This is where, sadly, Jejomar Binay didn’t do well. He was unable to drive the discussion on this and probably intended to capitalize on the debate to answer allegations against him. Given his current circumstances, I and many others expected him to try to unravel Mar Rox-as and the failures of the present administra-

tion so that he could differentiate himself and score some points. I guess he was exhausted from pushing his desire to bring notes or doc-uments he lost the energy to focus on what he wanted to drive. He seemed more concerned about how he and many others can

Mayor Duterte and Senator Poe, on the other hand, got this right, and it is that elec-tions are always a referendum on how cred-ible and effective a current government is, as embodied in the Tuwid na Daan slogan of the current administration. Poe got Roxas on the defensive about Mamasapano, an argument he will never win since he already has claimed not knowing about the operation in spite of his being DILG secretary in command of the SAF 44 troops. Not knowing and blaming others for what is clearly his responsibility brings out the discussion on other blunders, such as Yolanda and Zamboanga, where he has found it too difficult to dispel eyewitness accounts of his non-performance, and the ire of many in Mindanao who were slighted not only by his statement about “muslim mananakop”, but about allowing the MNLF to expand their siege under his watch, and publicly admitting to knowing nothing about the Mamasapano operation that was supposed to be under his watch.

Duterte cleverly exposed Mars weak points and temper, enabling him to admit that the Shabu kitchens in the Bilibid prisons are

real, and that in spite of whatever gains Rox-as may have made catching drug pushers, or playing around with drug and crime data of selected Philippine cities to try to make his opponents look bad, he already has forgotten that he was DILG Secretary in charge of remov-ing such a menace, hanging out his own poor performance to dry. What damned him further was his governments blind eye on allowing the drug to be cooked inside prison. In his desire to make himself look decent, Roxas managed to say that he was proud of the current govern-ment in spite of the shabu kitchens that only increase the number of criminals to catch, and the recent tanim bala scandal that he seemed powerless to stop. Recent alliances made with jueteng lords the Pineda family, and the list of political dynasties in different regions includ-ing the Romualdos of Camiguin only cement the hypocrisy that is Tuwid na Daan. He obvi-ously revealed the truth about his own and his governments performance and it is shameful. No spin can ever explain it away.

For Mar to say in his closing statement that it is about bringing back decent government is the icing on his cake, only that it spilled on the floor, and he slipped on it. It was not a repudi-ation of his opponents, it was an indictment of the administration he represents, and of him-self. The grave scandal putting the current ad-ministration to shame is that it nominates its worst performer to succeed it.

VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

GOD gave us Ten Commandments to fol-low. Oftentimes, we make a list of 10 places to visit, 10 things to do, 10 favorite

foods, 10 best movies of all time, and so on. So here are 10 things to remember to make

life worth living and more memorable.The value of time: “The management of

time should be the No. 1 priority for us,” writes C. Neil Strait. “Without some organization of our day, it will waste away without purpose and drain away without accomplishment.”

Each day, God gives us 24 hours but how do we spend them? “Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes,” Paul J. Meyer points out. “A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberate-ly kicked over.”

The success of perseverance: It was through perseverance that the snail reached Noah’s Ark. But “lots of people limit their pos-sibilities by giving up easily,” says Norman Vin-cent Peale. “Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It’s no use. I can’t go on. If you do you’re licked, and by your own thinking, too. Keep be-lieving and keep on keeping on.”

To get through the hardest journey, we need to take one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping. “Perseverance is the most overrated of traits if it is unaccompanied by talent; beating your head against a wall is more likely to pro-duce a concussion in the head than a hole in the wall,” Sydney Harris reminds.

The pleasure of working: It’s the only thing we can do for eight hours. We can’t eat for eight hours nor drink for that long. “Rest and play are the desserts of life,” Harold May-field says. “Work is the meal. It is only a child

who dreams of a diet of dessert alone.”

Walter Hov-ing suggests: “Find a job that’s suited to your talents and then do a lot more work than you’re paid for. In time, you’ll be paid much more for what you do. Workers who get what they can, as fast as they can, are bound to be disillusioned. Such people fail to make progress simply because they aren’t profitable to the people who hire them.”

The worth of character: “What you are in the dark” is how D.L. Moody defines character. “There is no substitute for character,” Robert A. Cook declares. “You can buy brains, but you cannot buy character.”

“Promises must be kept, deadlines met, commitments honored; not just for the sake of old-fashioned morality, but because we be-come what we do (or fail to do), and character is simply the sum of our performances,” reminds Howard Sparks.

A Chinese philosopher once said, “Par-ents who are afraid to put their foot down usually have children who step on toes.” That’s what discipline is all about.

“Discipline is demanded of the athlete to win a game. Discipline is required for the captain running his ship. Discipline is needed

for the pianist to practice for the concert. Only in the matter of personal conduct is the need for discipline questioned. But if parents believe standards are necessary, then discipline cer-tainly is needed to attain them,” believes Mrs. Wright W. Brooks.

The influence of example: Experience is the best teacher, so they say. The world is re-plete of examples of people who succeeded in life because they fought for what they thought was right. During the time Noah was building the ark, he was very much in the minority – but he won. When Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brothers, he was a decided minority – but he won. When David, ridiculed by his brothers, went to meet Goliath, in size he was in a decided minority – but he won!

Albert Schweitzer summarizes, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”

The tranquility of solitude: Just what is solitude? To the simple, prison but to the think-er, it is paradise. “Practice the art of ‘aloneness’ and you will discover the treasure of tranquil-ity,” says William A. Ward. “Develop the art of solitude and you will unearth the gift of seren-ity.”

Unfortunately, modern world has devel-oped a phobia of being alone. “We prefer the most trivial and even obnoxious company, the most meaningless activities, to being alone with ourselves; we seem to be frightened at the pros-pect of facing ourselves,” Erich Fromm says.

The virtue of patience: Patience comes from two Greek words, meaning “stay under,” not always bobbing up. “One moment of pa-tience may ward off great disaster; one moment

of impatience may ruin a whole life,” so goes a Chinese saying.

The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it open. “Remember that quiet patience can and does master and outlive all boisterous, stormy human discords,” reminds Lowell Filmore.

The improvement of talent: Encourage people to use their talents in their own ways and they will often turn a squirrel cage of frustration into a ladder of success. “There is a good deal of wasted talent in the world, and some of the waste comes from sheer ignorance,” deplores Gilbert Highet. “People simply do not know how to apply their energies.”

“Talent is what you have,” explains Lloyd D. Mattson. “Person is what you are. It is the person who uses the talents; and if the per-son is inadequate, the talent won’t account for much. Most of us look at an unusually talent-ed person and assume that all it takes to win is talent. Don’t be fooled. Talent is only the begin-ning.”

The sound of music: A little boy who loved music was bitterly disappointed because he could neither play nor sing. But Amati, the violin-maker, told him: “There are many ways of making music. What matters is the song in the heart.” So Antonio Stradivarius was encouraged to become the world’s greatest vio-lin-maker.

“Music study has great value insofar as a mastery of it enables one to live more richly and wholesomely, to be a stronger, better, hap-pier, more cooperative individual; to succeed more fully in the greatbusiness of being human,” says Vernon Leidig.

Henrylito D. [email protected]

THINK ON THESE!

10 things to remember

Going beyond debates: Exposing pretense and fraud (part 2)

John [email protected]

MY TWO CENTS’

VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 201610 EDGEDAVAONEWSPNOY... FROM 1

Comelec... FROM 2

10th ID... FROM 2

NGCP... FROM 3Globe... FROM 6

Criminal... FROM 2

Megaworld... FROM 7

DCPO... FROM 3

“Rody is on top means the people are on top. However, that Rody is on top exposes him to attacks,” he said.

Evasco said with the mil-lions of support from the people to it is clear for Dute-rte’s rivals now that he is the presidential candidate to beat which is the reason of the at-tacks against him.

“A truth courtesy of the Filipino people whose over-whelming show of love for Rody is enough to drown even the most finely orchestrated of attacks,” he said.

He said that slowly, Duter-te is getting closer to his goal of “ensuring victory not only for

him but for the Filipino people who are desperate for change, desperate to end criminality, poverty and corruption that hounded the nation so long now.”

Pulse Asia on Monday de-nied the survey result show-ing that Duterte is taking the lead with 26 percent of 4,000 respondents as their top pres-idential bet.

Senator Grace Poe, with 24 percent, allegedly dropped to second place in the fabricated March 21-25 polls. Meanwhile, administration bet Mar Roxas supposedly scored 21% while Vice President Jejomar Binay got 19 percent.

provided to their offices, the municipalities that are affected with the dry spell are Arakan Valley, President Roxas, Mag-pet, Antipas and some parts of Kidapawan City.

The City Council has ap-proved on Tuesday the P31.5 assistance for the protesting famers who are hit by the drought in North Cotabato as requested by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The fund will enable the city to procure and give 15,000 sacks of rice to the farmers of North Cotabato.

This approval came in when Duterte vowed on Friday that he will give food assis-tance to the victims of drought after the bloody dispersal of protesting farmers in Kidap-awan City, North Cotabato last week.

The dispersal resulted to two deaths from the group of the protesters and dozens were wounded from the police and farmers.

The ordinance states the Office of the City Mayor has is-

sued a certificate of urgency on April 4, requesting for the ap-proval to support then farmers of North Cotabato.

It said the North Cotabato has been experiencing drought and rat infestation as the re-sult of dry spell which affected 31,663.70 hectares of agricul-tural lands in the province.

There are 13,286 farmers who are suffering from the P1.47 billion damage based from Damage and Assessment Needs Analysis report of the Department of Agriculture (DA) 12.

The assistance will be drawn from the P309 million quick response fund (QRF) which was recommended by Davao City Disaster Risk Re-duction Management Office (CDRRMO).

During the discussion, City Budget Office head Erlinda Furog assured the city council the city government still has enough money to respond to the needs of the Dabawneyos once a calamity or disaster will heat the city.

protect themselves and secure their position from what they perceived at that time as ene-my threat; they did so without criminal intent,” he said.

He said the incident hap-pened at around 10:30 in the morning, April 1, 2016 at Sitio Mitundo, Brgy Baracatan, Toril District, Davao City.

Batchar said the soldiers saw one man carrying a long firearm prompting the troops to fire shots towards them. He said a person was able to jump for cover and run away leaving behind his firearm.

“The persons were later

identified as Danny Pile, the one who was carrying the long firearm and his nephew, Daniel Ferrer who was closely following next to him. Upon search, they discovered the lifeless body of the victim, lat-er identified as Daniel Ferrer, nephew of Danilo. The sol-diers also found one “rifle” left by Danilo, which turned out to be an air gun,” he said.

He said the soldiers im-mediately brought the dead body of Ferrer to a nearby detachment at Sitio Lawaon, Barangay Sibulan. ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

She said the PNP showed the index crime of the city in the past five years which has a total of 38,537 without includ-ing the non-index crime.

Index crimes are defined as acts perpetrated by crim-inals and other lawless ele-ments such as theft was phys-ical injuries robbery, murder and rape.

Non-index crimes are those in which police initiated operations for the apprehen-sion of suspects for violating the special laws such as anti-il-legal drugs operations and an-ti-illegal gambling operations.

Driz said if the index crime and non-index crime will be computed together under the same category, there will be another variable for crime cleared and crime solved.

“Crime cleared means there are already cases filed against the perpetrators but the suspects are yet to be ar-rested and with regards to solved the suspect was al-ready arrested and charged,” she said.

She said as result the crime solution efficiency will come up.

Driz, however, said she cannot justify the peaceful-ness but the people them-selves could attest that Davao City is a peaceful city.

“Mga tao mismo ang naka-kaalam kung gaano ka-peace-ful ang Davao City despite of this crime rates (The people really know that Davao City is peaceful despite of the crime rate),” she said.

Driz came up the state-ment after the PNP bared its Crime Situation for calendar year 2010 to 2015 showing The PNP recorded a total of 6,010 murders for the top 15 chartered cities nationwide

for 2010 to 2015.Based on that document,

the recorded index crimes for the top 15 chartered cities na-tionwide, Davao City posted the most number of recorded murders with 1,032. It was followed by Quezon City with 961 and Cebu City with 806. Naga City meanwhile posted the least number of murders at 45 while Makati had 113 incidents.

Driz admitted that there many cases in the city but most of the people killed were drug related incidence.

“The perpetrators were unknown and we have to wit-nesses that could point out the suspects,” she said.

“Most of this are drug re-lated cases as well as personal grudge on the part of the vic-tims,” she added.

PNP records also showed that the city also ranked sec-ond among the 15 chartered cities in terms of recorded rape incidents. From 2010 to 2015, Quezon City recorded the most number of rape cases at 1,122 followed by Davao at 843.

Driz retorted to this state-ment saying that most of rape cases in the city are product of incestuous rape committed in-side domiciles.

“Unlike in other places in the country, even if there is a police presence, for example in their streets, still the cops could not still do anything,” she said.

She said she already talk-ed to police stations in the city and the station commanders told her that most of the sus-pects were properly informed that is why the charges are im-mediately filed.

“It means to say, solved,” she said.

was repaired around 4 p.m. yesterday. However, “it will take several hours before the plant to start up and synchro-nize to the grid.”

Meanwhile, the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) announced that in-cident could have caused four hours of rotating power interruption in its franchise area which include Davao City, Panabo City, and other munici-

palities in Davao del Norte.However, the NGCP was

able to repair the transmission line around 3:42 yesterday.

Rossano C. Luga, assistant vice president for reputation enhancement of DLPC, said the distribution utility has to assess as how many hours they will implement now that all the two units of TSI are synchronized to the Mindanao grid.

is operated by Manila-based Global Telehealth, Inc., an af-filiate of Globe Telehealth , Inc. and Mexico-based health hotline provider Salud Inter-active.

He also said the Konsul-taMD does not yet offer video calls between the patient and the doctor because of the “in-consistency of the network and fluctuating internet band-with.”

Syquia said TeleHealth

services is relatively new to the Philippines but has been a growing industry abroad for more than two decades.

“Studies of US-based TeleDoc, a TeleHealth service provider, showed that 92 per-cent of the people who called them did not seek further medical services,” he added. CHENEEN R. CAPON with re-ports from Yssa Banas and Chrislen Bulosan, ADDU In-terns

Barbara Heights (173 hect-ares), both in Iloilo; Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island (150 hectares); Twin Lakes in Tagaytay (1,300 hectares); ArcoVia City in Pasig City (12.3 hectares); Southwoods City in the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna (561 hectares); Davao Park District in Lanang, Davao City (11 hectares); Alabang West in Las Piñas City (62

hectares); Suntrust Ecotown in Tanza, Cavite (350 hectares) and The Upper East (34 hect-ares) and Northill Gateway (50 hectares) both in Negros Occidental; a vast property beside the Pampanga Provin-cial Capitol in the City of San Fernando (35.6-hectares); and Westside City in the Entertain-ment City in Paranaque (31 hectares.)

(WMSU) in Zamboanga City when the incident happened.

He sustained three gun-shot wounds in his right shoul-

der and middle portion of his chest while Sheikh Assaegh sustained wounds in his right thigh and left leg. (PNA)

EXPLAINING. Captain Ryan Batchar, spokesperson of the Philippine Army’s 10th Infantry Division, comments on the issue of Daniel Ferrer, an 11-year old boy who was accidentally shot and killed by members of the 2nd Scout Ranger battalion in Sibulan, Toril district. Batchar was joined by Eastern

Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) public information chief Captain Roda Leoncito during yesterday’s AFP-PNP Press Corps media forum at The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases. Lean Daval Jr.


ENVIRONMENT

Text and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO

(First of Two Parts)

“OF all the global p r o b l e m s that confront

us, species extinction is one that is moving the most rapidly and the one that will have the most serious consequences,” contends Dr. Peter Raven, a well-known American biologist.

Unlike other global ecological problems, Dr. Raven stressed, the crisis is completely irreversible. “Extinction is forever,” deplores the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The Philippines, because of its many islands, has one of the world’s most unique and diverse species. Thousands of species and subspecies of flora and fauna comprise the archipelago’s wildlife resources.

A c c o r d i n g the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Philippines has more than 2,500 endemic flora and fauna species, excluding insects and other invertebrates.

“The Philippines has tremendous wildlife resources,” wrote Jesus B. Alvarez Jr. in a 1981 position paper. “We have unique and beautiful birds which are in great demand, both here and abroad. We also have rare interesting mammals. Most outstanding are the tamaraw and the Philippine eagle which could be placed alongside the world’s finest species.”

Unfortunately, many of the country’s endemic flora and fauna are on the verge of extinction. “A few decades ago, the wildlife of the Philippines was notable for its abundance; now, it is notable for its variety; if the present trend of destruction continues, Philippine wildlife will be notable for its absence,” commented Dr. Lee Talbot, who was once a member of the Southeast Asia Project on Wildlife Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Among those that has been considered on

the verge of extinction is the exotic waling-waling, which used to abound in the forests of Mount Apo.

“The waling-waling’s beauty adorns our treetops, especially in Davao, Cotabato, and Zamboanga where it is endemic. But there are threats to its survival, as the flowers that grow and thrive in the wild are harvested for commercial and decorative purposes, and their habitat is destroyed by deforestation,” said Senator Loren Legarda who pushed for making the orchid the country’s second flower icon (after sampaguita).

Waling-waling “is one of the finest orchid species endemic to the Philippines, desired by orchid growers and breeders alike for its showy and attractive flowers and ability to impart its vigor and floral characteristics to its progeny,” wrote Dr. Helen Valmayor in her book, “Orchidiana Philippiniana.”

“A Pictorial Cyclopedia of Philippine Ornamental Plants,” described the exotic waling-waling in these words: “The flowers are flat, to eight centimeters across; the sepals and petals are obviate, bluish pink, with buff-yellow stain, and dull-crimson reticulations on the lateral sepals; the lip is small and concave, purple-red at base, strongly recurved and brownish purple at apex; with three prominent keels.”

The waling-waling, named in “allusion to a moth in flight,” was discovered on Mindanao in 1882. It used to grow on tree trunks in the rainforests of Davao, Sultan Kudarat and other parts of the island. It is worshipped as “diwata” (fairy) by the native Bagobos.

Unfortunately, the exotic orchid is almost on the brink of extinction. “The waling-waling is almost extinct in the wild,” deplored Dr. Domingo Madulid, one of the country’s noted botanists. “Rarer varieties of this plant can only be found in expensive nurseries.”

Recent surveys show that the waling-waling can

be found in abundance no longer in the Philippines but in other countries, particularly Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Hawaii.

It is the best orchid variety of the country, Madulid said. But most Filipinos didn’t know that it could be one of the biggest sources of dollars for the country. In the 1950s, the “systematic plunder” of wild plants, including orchids, started.

Madulid said that long before the country was sending maids to Singapore and Hong Kong, upland farmers had been despoiling the forests and selling rare orchid varieties, such as waling-waling, abroad.

There’s an interesting on how the world came to know waling-waling. Valmayor, in her very informative book, shared this story: “One of the most successful and secretive collectors was Carl Roebelin, who was in the employ of Frederick Sander of the Orchid House of Sanders at St. Albans, England.

“About 1879, the Spanish government of the Philippines initiated a regular mail service between Manila and Mindanao. This provided a satisfactory means of sending collected plant material from the southern island to Manila. Consequently, Sander commissioned Roebelin to explore Mindanao for spectacular and still undiscovered orchids.”

It was February or March of 1880 when Roebelin came to Mindanao in the Bay of Illana near Cotabato. The place was described as “a very mountainous region on the western side of Mindanao.”

Valmayor added this additional information: “At that time, only the coastal regions and some rivers were controlled by the Spaniards. The interiors were populated by hostile tribes who were wary about white intruders.”

The story continued: “Earlier, (Roebelin) had heard of stories from natives about an orchid that grew on trees in m o s q u i t o - i n f e s t e d jungles with ‘flowers as big a dishpans.’ This

Saving Davao’s endangeredspecies: Waling-waling

whetted his appetite to seek the mysterious orchid, thinking of fabulous prices it would command in Europe.

“To reach the area, Roebelin had to travel with Sam Choon, half Chinese and Filipino, for apparently he was the only one who could trade safely with the natives. (The two) sailed up the river towards Lake Magindanao to the interior village of a rather peaceful tribe, the Subanons. They lived above the mosquito zone in tree houses about 50 feet above the ground. These raised dwellings protected them from the marauding warlike Bagobos, who would attack the villagers at night. Ladders for the tree houses made up of tree trunks were pulled

up for the night, making them safe from raids of the Bagobos.

“Roebelin slept for the night in one of these tree houses very close to the tree branches. While asleep he was awakened by a loud roar and the shaking of the flimsy thatched hut. He was sure it was an earthquake and proceeded to tie himself to a branch while the shaking continued. He dropped off exhausted, fell asleep, and when he woke up in the morning he saw the beautiful spray of purple and brown flowers which the natives called as ‘waling-waling.’”

Roebelin took some plants and mailed them but they never reached England, “as themail service was disrupted by the earthquake.”

Valmayor wrote:

“Roebelin returned to England with only an illustration of waling-waling, but he was again dispatched by Sander to go back, and this time he did secure the orchid.”

When the orchid flowered in England in 1882, German taxonomist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach named the plant after Sander, hence the name “Vanda Sanderiana,” or “Euanthe sanderiana,” as another taxonomist preferred to call the plant.

After that, Sanders introduced waling-waling to orchid enthusiasts and lovers in London the following year. Since then, it has influenced another thousand or more colorful and attractive vandaceous hybrids that are now part of the world’s multibillion-dollar orchid and cutflower industry.

For almost a century, waling-waling disappeared in the Davao gardens. But thanks to Charita Pentespina, it has “returned” to its native home. Then a neophyte orchidist, Puentespina successfully pioneered in mass producing the

waling-waling through embryo culture in 1985.

During the 48th Araw ng Dabaw, the first waling-waling seedlings in compots (community pots) were sold to the public, which in no time generated interest among hobbyists and commercial orchid growers.

Since then, the waling-waling has become a fixture in almost every garden in Davao. “The return of the waling-waling to every home garden in Davao and elsewhere in the country is one thing,” one noted author wrote. “It is another thing to see it bloom in its habitat at the foothills of Mount Apo.”

Yes, waling-waling is endemic to the country. “Our national symbols are vital to our identity as Filipinos,” Legarda pointed out. “As we discover more about ourselves, we must also update the symbols that represent us. I believe that initiatives to do so increase the engagement of everyday Filipinos with the symbols of our nation, and aid in our nation-building process.”



DAVAO GENSAN PARTNERS


DAVAO PARTNER ESTABLISHMENTS

CLASSIFIEDS EDGEDAVAO

FOOD

EDGEDAVAOINdulge!

General Manager Kennedy Kapulong trying out some sorbetes.

Chef Bang (center) together with the sales team of Seda.

Seda’s drink of the month, the Tanggero.Pinakbet with Shrimp Tempura (top) and crabs.

A celebration of FILIPINO FLAVORSand moreTIME FLIES FAST AND JUST LIKE THAT, SEDA ABREEZA IS TURNING THREE THIS MONTH OF APRIL and to celebrate the hotel’s milestone. I was given a sneak peek of the food promo-tion as well as of the happenings that will occur within the month last April 2 and you could say that I am truly excited to share these.

Davao is all about food and as Durianburg’s ur-ban lifestyle hotel, Seda is cooking up a storm by of-fering a series of Filipino-themed buffet offerings at its all-day-dining restau-rant, Misto. Sous Chef Giovanna “Bang” Flores and her team have prepped a wide-ranging set of menus for “Flavors of the Philip-pines,” a month-long gas-tronomic event launched by the Department of Tourism as part of their Visit the Philippines Again 2016 campaign. Diners at Misto get to go on a gastronomic tour around the country all Fridays of April with each evening carrying a differ-ent theme featuring Fiesta Flavors, Street Food Fla-vors, Island Flavors, Sum-

mer Flavors, and Regional Flavors. Dinner was formally opened with a toast by Seda Abreeza’s General manager Kennedy Kapu-long. Instead of the usual wine, the ceremonial toast featured Seda’s drink of the month, the Tanggero, a refreshing and silky mango and rum cocktail that is perfect for the sum-mer season. The preview dinner fea-tured iconic Filipino dish-es such as Lechon Cebu (which arrived a little later than expected no thanks to delayed flights), Mala-gos Cheeses,, Tuna Pak-fry, Crabs, Grilled Squid, Chicken BBQ, Caldereta, Relenong Bangus, as well as Filipino favourites with

a twist such as Pochero de Cebu, and Pinakbet with Shrimp Tempura. Although I am not a dessert junkie, I especially loved the Malagos Choco-late Cake that was served that night. The cake was not too sweet and the frosting that was made us-ing dark Malagos choco-late was rich with a hint of bitterness which pairs well with coffee. “For the younger set, Seda is bringing back its Seda Little Chefs pro-gram,” said Kennedy. Now on its second year, Seda Little Chefs allows kids from six to 12 years old to discover the delights of the culinary arts with the as-sistance of Seda’s talented kitchen team from April

15 to 16 from 1:30PM to 4PM. Kids may register for Php3,200 nett, slots are limited. Seda Abreeza also partnered with the De-partment of Tourism to support the Visit Davao Fun Sale for an art exhibit from April 13 to May 5 organized by Tabula Rasa featuring some of the best visual artists of Davao. Davao’s urban lifestyle has changed in such short a time and I believe that Seda was part of this revo-lution, changing the way we enjoy food and life in general. For inquiries and reser-vations for dinner or Seda Little Chefs, please call (082) 322 8888 or email [email protected].

Malagos chocolate cake.

Lechon Cebu.Malagos Cheese.


A2 INdulge! EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

THE ULTIMATE IN TASTE AND POR-TIONS! That’s what Italianni’s “Ultimate Rib Platter” is all about. Imagine sinking your teeth into 1 to 1.4 kilos of Baby Back Ribs with a choice of additional per side dish (Italian Fried Rice, Insalata Rucola salad, House salad and Spaghetti Aglio Olio) worth P145 only. This is something that two to three persons can share, A’More Di’Merrier, Italianni’s style. For only P995, an order is quite a steal! That’s value for money for you and your friends.

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY SOUTH-EAST ASIA AND THE PHILIPPINES’ NUM-BER ONE MOBILE BRAND GLOBE TELE-COM announced, last March 28, the launch of Southeast Asia’s first Dis-ney Mobile smartphone. Globe Telecom will be the first telco in South-east Asia to offer Disney Mobile smartphones through its new myStart-er postpaid plans for as low as P750 per month.Created especially for the trend-setting Disney fan and themed around popular Disney fran-chises, these smartphones carry the signature aesthetic of the Disney brand from its lively col-ors to matching themed acces-sories. The first Disney Mobile range for the Philippines comes in 3 themes – Mickey Mouse, Frozen and Disney Princess.Apart from its adorable hard-ware design, each device is packed with custom content that is sure to bring the fun and magic of Disney right in the palm of one’s hand. The smart-phones’ interfaces show tailored app icons, Disney-themed live and static wallpapers, widgets and exclusive re-recordings of famous Disney songs as ring-tones, such as It’s A Small World, Do You Want to Build a Snow-man, Part of Your World, and the like. Premium Disney apps are also included in each device

and in line with the smartphone theme. These range from Prin-cess Story Theater, Frozen Sto-rybook Deluxe, to Castle of Il-lusion, among others.Disney Mobile is an LTE device that gives users access to a whole range of other Disney content such as games, apps, books and the Disney Philippines website. “The arrival of Disney Mobile in the Philippines is one of the milestones of our multi-year comprehensive partnership with The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia. We are thrilled to offer these phones exclusively through our budget-friendly myStarter postpaid plans. Not only do our customers have ac-cess to Disney’s interactive con-tent, movie premieres and retail promotions, but also to a device

designed after one of the most iconic brands in the world,” says Globe Senior Advisor for Con-sumer Business, Dan Horan.“Disney continues to actively pursue innovative digital media opportunities and provide fans with the best entertainment ex-perience on whatever platform they want. Smartphones have immensely changed the way Filipinos consume entertain-ment and Disney Mobile allows us to bring our content closer to more fans in a fun and personal way,” said James Gray, General Manager for Disney Interac-tive, The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia.Alongside Globe and Disney, Cellprime CEO Eric Yu also shared that “We are proud to be working with Disney and Globe

Telecom to bring Disney Mobile to the Philippines. With this new exciting partnership, we aim to provide Globe Telecom’s millions of customers with de-vices that bring them the magic of Disney, every day, through their phones.” Cellprime is the manufacturer of Disney Mobile handsets in the Philippines.The Disney Mobile device is available exclusively with Globe myStarter postpaid Plan 500 with a P250 monthly cash out that can be charged to the monthly bill. Customers can go to any Globe store or online to get the plans.Globe myStarter plans are the new all-in-one budget-friendly plans. Plan 500 is already bun-dled with a smartphone and comes with unlimited calls and

texts to Globe and TM, 300 texts to other networks and 200 MB of data and a smartphone. It is also available on Plan 300 with a smartphone and 300 texts to all networks, 300 minutes to Globe and TM, and 200 MB worth of data.With the myStarter plans, cus-tomers will no longer worry about going over the limit as it guarantees a fixed bill ev-ery month and can easily be topped-up when needed. It is also the first postpaid plan that is capable of number portability where customers can opt to re-tain their prepaid numbers. The plan also provides free access to Facebook, Viber, and a separate 1 GB data wallet for Spotify Ba-sic.Disney Mobile smartphones are top quality dual SIM an-droid devices compatible with 4G LTE that runs on a Lollipop operating system. It has a 5” HD IPS Screen; 13 megapixel (MP) rear camera; 5MP front camera; and 1.2 Quad Core.In 2015, Globe and Disney en-tered a comprehensive collabo-ration to gain access to brand properties of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and global leader in short-form video, Maker Studios.Globe is the undisputed leader in mobile Postpaid, closing 2015 with revenues at P85.1 billion underpinned by growth in cus-tomer base now at 2.4 million, and 55% increase in mobile data revenues year-on-year.

Italianni’s introduces ‘Ultimate Ribs’ for groups

Globe Telecom launches Disney Mobile

Italianni’s ribs are mari-nated in spices and ingre-dients that complement the flavor and not bury it

so the meat shines. There is a symphony of flavors – a little sweet, a little tart, a little hot with a whole of

Also launches refreshing hand-crafted Summer coolers

deliciousness right in ev-ery bite. Have a serving of this new menu offering that is available all day, every day, in all Italianni’s branches (except Boracay). Together with this pro-mo are the newest thirst quenchers of Italiannis.

Take a sip of their freshly handcrafted beverages “Cranberry Twists” and “Lemonade Twists” for only P145. A choice of Wa-termelon Cranberry – that has cranberry juice mixed with muddled watermelon and a hint of cucumber, Cucumber Cranberry –

with cranberry juice mud-dled cucumber and lime juice, Mango Cranberry – with cranberry juice and muddled ripe mango, Or-ange Cranberry – flavored with cranberry juice, or-ange, and mint leaves. You may also enjoy the surprisingly sweet com-

bination of fresh peach-mango for a fruity twist of Peach Mango Lemonade, the refreshing minty trop-ical fusion of lemon and sweet Orange Lemonade; Ginger Lychee Lemonade with sweet tangy delight-ful drink made of lychee and a hint of ginger, and lastly, Fresh Oregano Lem-onade filled with uniquely ice-cold lemonade with a soothing aromatic flavor of fresh oregano mix all from their list of “LEM-ONADE TWISTS”. This is a perfect summer cool-down for you and your friends. For more information, you can check out our social media accounts at facebook.com/italianni-sph; twitter.com/italianni-sph; and instagram.com/italiannisph. In Davao, Italiannis is located at the ground floor of the Abreeza Mall.


INdulge! A3EDGEDAVAOENTERTAINMENT

‘Juan Happy Love Story’ airs this May on GMA

Benjamin Alves shares why he pursued acting

TWO OF THE COUNTRY’S FITSPOs (fit inspirations) because of their to-die-for sexy physique come together to do an extremely hot and sometimes naughty project entitled JUAN HAPPY LOVE STORY! Dennis Trillo is JUAN, ang pinapangarap na THE ONE ng girls. Responsible and go-getter si Juan. Matinik sa chicks, pero mas matinik sa negosyo, kaya naman from a car salesman ay naging used car shop owner. And his business is doing great. Nothing can go wrong at this point in his life. Heart Evangelista is HAPPY, ang nangangarap na ma-meet ang kaniyang THE ONE. May naging boyfriends naman pero nothing serious kasi nga hindi sila ang THE ONE. Feisty, loyal and family-oriented itong si Happy. Nothing is going right naman at this point in her life. This May, Kapuso Network’s Drama King Dennis Trillo and Philippine TV’s Sweetheart Heart Evangelista are back together again in the upcoming series Juan Happy Love Story. This program is the perfect combination of sexy and naughty peppered with romance and comedy as versatility of Dennis and Heart are showcased to delight their fans. Both Kapuso stars express their excitement for their latest project on GMA as this is the first time that they will be dabbling in a light-hearted, sexy and naughty comedy series. “I’m very excited but at the same time kinakabahan rin kasi naughty, sexy, love story ito. It’s very fresh so pampasaya siya ng buhay. Never pa ako nakagawa ng ganito and this role is very challenging. So thank you sa GMA for always giving me challenging roles,” said Heart.

Dennis, on the other hand, will certainly win hearts of women because of his character in the show and like Heart, he is equally thrilled to offer something new to the viewers. “Iba ito sa mga ginawa namin dati, siguro mas medyo makulit yung character ko ngayon. Refreshing makagawa ng ganitong project, kaya salamat sa GMA dahil nabibigyan kami ng proyekto na hindi pa namin nagagawa before.” Juan Happy Love Story, an original concept by GMA Entertainment TV Drama Department, is made more

amusing with its unique “he said, she said” method of narrative presentation. Viewers get to appreciate their own love stories as they share Juan and Happy’s journey, how a man and a woman who are worlds apart in their views about life and love find themselves in a whirlwind romance and end up getting married. When they experience difficulty having their own child, they will decide to adopt a little girl who helps them rekindle their love for each other and eventually save their marriage.

BENJAMIN ALVES WAS AN OUTSTANDING STUDENT A FEW YEARS BACK IN COLLEGE. In fact, he was the Summa Cum Laude for English Literature in University of Guam. However, Benjamin set aside his love for literature to chase his dream—acting. The Kapuso actor revealed it was the early stages in school when he started to discover that he was drawn to acting. Benjamin said, “Frustrated actor talaga ako dati pa. Mahiyain lang talaga ako. Second grade pa lang ako, gusto ko nang umarte.” Benjamin was still studying in Guam when he tried his luck in acting. However, his shy nature became a barrier to reaching his dreams.

“Nasa Guam pa ako nun, kaso nung time na mag-audition ako, hindi ako napipili,” Benjamin revealed. He added, “I’ve always wanted to act when I was a kid. I wanted to be in front of the camera, to be on stage kaso dati nga talaga, mahiyain ako.” Benjamin revealed that his dream to act slowly faded when he went to college. He pursued English Literature and graduated with honors from University of Guam. When he came to the Philippines, a door of opportunity to act opened for Benjamin at GMA Network. That is when he started to follow his childhood dream. He said, “Thankfully, nagbunga ‘yung career ko. And also, nabigyan ako ng chance na to also do my degree so I’m very thankful.”

Juan is raised by her Mamu and Papi, Mameng and Caloy (Ms. Gloria Romero and Mr. Nick Lizaso). Happy is the middle child of Boyong and Isay (Gardo Versoza and Lotlot De Leon). Her older sister is Joy (Ericka Padilla) and her youngest brother is Lucky (Vincent Magbanua). Dominic Roco will play Henry, Happy’s brother-in-law and Juan’s trusted mechanic who will be caught between the crossfire when Juan and Happy’s marriage starts failing. Making Juan and Happy’s married life more colourful (and challenging) are Bob (Joross Gamboa) and Agatha (Kim Domingo). JUAN HAPPY LOVE STORY is a product of

the visionary minds of the Creative Team headed by Roy Iglesias (Creative Director), Jake Tordesillas (Primetime Slot 3 Block Head), Agnes Gagelonia-Uligan (Primetime 3 Head), Denoy Navarro-Punio (Unit Head) and Marlon Miguel (Headwriter) , under the capable supervision of the Production team of GMA Drama headed by Ms. Lilybeth G. Rasonable (SVP For ETV), Ms. Redgie Magno (VP For Drama), Ms. Cheryl Ching-Sy (AVP for Drama), Ms. Hazel Felizmenio Abonita (Program Manager) and Ms. Darling Torres (Executive Producer). Under the direction of LA Madridejos, Juan Happy Love Story unfolds this May on GMA Telebabad.


R13/*R13

R16

PG1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

BATMAN V SUPERMAN:

DAWN OF JUSTICE

Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill

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

ELEMENTO/ *10 CLOVERFIELD LANE

12:20 | 2:00 | 3:40 LFS / *5:20 | 7:40 | 10:00 LFS

Cristine Reyes, Albert Solis/ *John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

THE JUNGLE BOOK

Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Bill Murray

April 7, 2016

12:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS

MR. RIGHT

Anna Kendrick, Tim Roth, Sam Rockwell

A4 INdulge!FOOD

I LOVE TO COOK. So do my parents. To top it all, our family loves to cook and eat together. Everyone in the family (cheers to my tita’s, tito’s, cousins, nieces and nephews!) has that ‘party bug’ that makes for a reason to eat and not be on a diet. That’s how we are.

From my home to yoursTried and true recipes from my family’s kitchen

My recent trip back home to Cotabato proved to be a feast more than ever. At home, it’s always a celebration – that mer-its no particular reason to celebrate. Just the fact that we are all in the same com-pound means a feast of the freshest seafoods from the fishpond. Here are some of the recent dishes we whipped up. I apologize for making you hungry. Enjoy!

Steamed Crabs With the rich abun-dance of fat crabs in Co-tabato City, no wonder we love to munch on some crabs and fresh seafoods anytime. With or without celebration, it’s always a staple in the dining table. And yes, that’s how we roll…with crabs! Nor-mally, what we do is from this is we come up with other dishes for the carbs. Like ginataang crabs with veggies and our favourite, crabs with Alavar sauce.

1 kilo crabs, cleaned Knob of ginger, mashed 2 cans sparkling carbon-ated drink Freshly ground black pep-per Smoked paprika

Make sure that the crabs are cleaned and dead before cooking. In a deep pan, add crabs, ginger, carbonated drink, ground pepper and paprika. Cook/ Steam until sauce reduces.Serve with fish sauce and calamansi.

Salted Egg and Sugpo This is one big experi-ment that turned to be a new favourite. Admit-tedly, I love anything with salted egg -- let me get that straight, I love when salted egg is mixed with either crabs or prawns. Could also be used with vegeta-bles.

5 to 6 pieces Tiger Prawns½ cup butter, softenedGarlic, minced finely 4 salted egg yolks, mashed2 hardboiled egg yolks, mashed

4 pieces red chilies, minced (with seeds) 1 can evaporated milk 1 teaspoon brown sugarGarlic powder ½ teaspoon Coriander powder Cinnamon powderDash of smoked paprika Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a pan, add butter and a little oil. Melt. Add garlic until brown but not burned. Add chilies. Sauté. Add mashed salted egg yolks and hardboiled egg yolks. Sauté for a minute. Pour evaporated milk and mix until consistency thickens. Let simmer but not boiling. Add brown sugar, coriander powder, paprika and cinnamon powder. Mix. Simmer. Once simmering, add steamed prawns. Season with salt and pepper. Gar-nish with slices of green onions. Serve over hot steamed rice.

Kid-Friendly Red Pasta with Carrots I had this prepared for the little nephews during dinner. We always have some special dish for them. This time it was pasta and chicken. Here’s an easy to prepare red sauce pasta with carrots. Yes, sneaky tita Leebai. You can always add your meats, balls and wha-thaveyou’s for a delectable pasta for kids and adults.

Pasta, cooked according to package (keep some pasta water) Garlic, mincedRed onion, sliced Carrots, shreddedCheddar cheese, grated750 ml red sauce pasta sauce (any to your liking) 1 tablespoon brown sugar Salt and freshly ground black pepper to tasteGarlic powder

Cook your pasta ac-cording to package. Keep pasta water for later use. Set aside. In a pan, with oil and butter, over low heat, sauté onion until translu-cent. Add garlic and sauté until brown but not burnt. Add pasta sauce and let simmer. Add shredded carrots and half of the

shredded cheese. Simmer until cheese melts. Add cooked pasta. Mix. If sauce get too thick, add some pasta water.Season to taste. Top with more grated cheese. Citrus Coleslaw I’m a coleslaw addict. I love how simple this recipe

is but can elevate a meal without overpowering the flavours and taste. Also, the fact that it can be pre-pared ahead of time is also a plus. You can always do a vinaigrette or a dressing for your coleslaw.

Fresh lettuce, torn½ head cabbage (green),

EDGEDAVAO VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

shredded ½ head red cabbage, shredded1 apple, cored, sliced finely White onion, rings Orange meat

Vinaigrette Oil Salt PepperBalsamic vinegar Lemon zest

In a bowl, mix the ingre-dients for your vinaigrette. Adjust seasoning accord-ing to your taste. Set aside. In a bowl (I use a chilled bowl), add your cabbages, apples and onions. Toss greens with your vinai-grette. Garnish with or-ange meat. You can also add some crushed nuts for that added crunch. Make #TheRoyalChef your Thursday habit. Fol-low my messy food affair at the theroyalchefeats.wordpress.com and on In-stagram at @theroyalche-fleebai.

DAVAO PARTNERESTABLISHMENT


EXTRA-JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT WITH DEED

OF SALE

Notice is hereby given that the estate of the late LICENIO MALINO BAGAY has been the subject of an EXTRA-JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT WITH DEED OF SALE executed among his heirs per Doc. No.196; Page No.40; Book No. 115; Series of 2016, of the NOTARY PUBLIC FATIMA IRENE T. ADIN

3/31.4/7.14

THE Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP) - Davao confirmed that

the two-week long forest fire in Mt. Apo is already con-trolled

“The survey conducted by the Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources (DENR) revealed that a to-tal number of 151 hectares were already affected by the fire that started on a Black Saturday in North Cotabato area and went down all the

way to Lake Venado,” BFP fire inspector Nestor Jimenez said during the AFP-PNP Press Conference at the Ritz Hotel yesterday.

However, Jimenez said the bureau is in need of more volunteers to totally put off the fire.

To date, he said there are only 300 volunteers present in the mountain composed the Lumads, local residents, personnel of Cental 911 and among others who are help-

BFP: APO FIRE CONTROLLEDJimenez says more volunteers neededBy YSSA BAÑAS and CHRISLEN BULOSAN

ing to fight the fire.He also said there is only

one active helicopter that pours tons of crushed ice over the mountain.

“We need more self-suf-ficient volunteers that have their own cutting tools, food and could stay up to four days in the camp. Some of our vol-unteers end up doing picnic on the campsite because they did not bring anything,” he said.

Although the situation is considered under control, the BFP is still seeking for a spe-cial airplane that can drop the water jelly and eradicate the fire within 30 minutes.

Jimenez said that Davao City portion of the mountain is safe already from the grass fire.

“We’re continuing to make all efforts to regulate the fire so that it won’t spread and affect Mount Talomo and the centennial tree that is only more than 300 meters away from the fire.” he added.

Jimenez also called out the people to avoid incidence like this to happen again.

“If we do mountain clear-ing, we have to set fire lines. Smokers should not throw lighted cigarettes anywhere.”

As of now, the BFP and DENR continue to prevent the fire from spreading, expecting it to be put off as soon as pos-sible. #

NEWS


COMMUNITY SENSE

ABOUT a hundred Mapaang corn farm-ers in Maco, Compos-

tela Valley no longer have to rely on the P28,000 they earn from each harvest, toiling on 2,500 square meters of land.

The farmers learned to grow organic onions, which allow them to earn as much as P160,000 for 2,000 kilos of high value onions they har-vested from the 2,500 square meters of land they set aside for the endeavor.

The 100 farmers are the first batch of beneficiaries of a joint livelihood skills train-ing program of AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Marine and the provincial Depart-

ment of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Jinglyn Ragase, one of the farmer-beneficiaries, thanked AboitizPower for the opportunity to grow organic onions, which sell at an aver-age of P80 per kilo. She said that her family’s income from growing corn, which is har-vested once every 4 months during favorable weather, is a far cry from onion growing.

Onions are also harvest-ed once every four months.

Ragase said that income from growing corn was not enough to provide for her family’s basic needs. She pointed out that almost 35 percent of the income from

a harvest of corn goes to buy-ing seeds for the next plant-ing season.

During the livelihood training program on organic onion farming, farmers re-ceived starter kits to enable them to begin planting right away.

The training teaches farmers to switch to growing onions as their main produce or to practice intercropping. After the first harvest, the farmers can use selected bulbs for the next planting.

Farmers also have the option to establish onion nurseries and sell the bulbs to fellow farmers.

Jan Risager, Therma Ma-

rine vice president for Mind-anao operations, said that the training is one of the ways for the company to give back to the community that has sup-ported all of AboitizPower’s sustainability initiatives like the A-Park where Therma Marine has planted 10,000 indigenous and fruit trees since 2012.

During the hands-on training last February 23, DSWD OIC provincial co-ordinating officer Michael Marqueso said that through the program, the government hopes to lessen Mindanao’s dependence on onion im-ports from Tarlac.

Barangay Mapaang is located seven kilometers away from Therma Ma-rine’s power barge moored in Maco, a first income class municipality about 60 ki-lometers from downtown Davao City. Mapaang is an upland community accessi-ble to the rest of the town through a steep farm-to-market road.

AboitizPower subsidi-ary Therma Marine, Inc. has two power barges in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte and Maco, Compostela Valley which provide 200-MW of depend-able peaking power to Mind-anao. It is one of the most ef-ficient peaking power plants in the region, helping 23 customers - electric cooper-atives and distribution utili-ties - by providing additional power supply when needed.

Therma Marine, DSWD give livelihood skills training to upland Maco farmers

Maapang farmers in Maco, Compostela Valley look on as they learn new techniques in organic onion farming during the livelihood skills training program by AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Marine and the provincial Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

DAVAO Light and Pow-er Company’s (DLPC) frontline services will

be available for the public on April 9, Saturday, declared as a legal non-working hol-iday in celebration of the Araw ng Kagitingan or Day of Valor.

Payment and customer services in the full service centers at Ponciano office and at SM Malls will be ac-cepted from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., respectively.

Meanwhile, Panabo branch customer services will be open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and its payment services will be from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Toril and Calinan pay-ment offices will be open from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon, and from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Only Sto. Tomas pay-ment office is unavailable during holidays.

Emergency service will remain available 24 hours through 229-DLPC (3572).

DLPC open on April 9

THE World Bank is set to conduct its second Review Mission for the

Philippine Rural Develop-ment Project (PRDP) in Min-danao on April 7-8, 2016.

The review will look into the planned, proposed and on-going implementation of the various Project compo-nents including infrastruc-ture, enterprise develop-ment, planning and support to implementation.

“There has been a surge in the projects submitted to PRDP specially the Mindanao Cluster since the last World Bank mission and since the first World Bank mission in August 2015,” PRDP Mind-anao cluster project director Lealyn Ramos said.

As of March 2016, Min-danao has a total indicative portfolio of P12.33 billion un-der the infrastructure devel-opment component, which is 30% increase from the first World Bank Mission when Mindanao only registered P9.91 billion portfolio.

Of the infrastructure portfolio, the approved sub-

projects cost a total of P6.26 billion for a total of 206 projects as of March 2016 which is 44 per cent of the total PRDP portfolio. Another P6.07 billion is on the pipe-line. Most of the projects are farm-to-market roads (FMR).

For enterprise develop-ment, Mindanao has also cor-nered the biggest allocation of P545.43 million. Of the figure, a total P124.38 mil-lion was earmarked for eight approved subprojects as of March 2016. Four subproj-ects worth P74.16 million are in Region 12.

Since the first review mission, 26 provinces or 100% of PLGUs, and other five City LGUs had already entered into Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the DA. PRDP had completed the preparation and packaging of 26 or 100% PCIPs duly ap-proved by the Provincial De-velopment Councils.

“The PRDP will ensure that good governance will be mainstreamed through transparency and account-ability measures at all stages

of the project development cycle” said PRDP national deputy project director Arnel de Mesa.

He said the Project has utilized science-based tools to innovatively institutional-ize proper planning of project interventions.

“PRDP uses value-chain analysis, vulnerability and suitability assessment tools, and geotagging technology as empirical basis to our inter-ventions,” De Mesa added.

The World Bank team who will visit project sites in Davao del Norte and Davao City is led by PRDP Task team leader Frauke Jungbluth. With her are Doug Forn; in-frastructure consultant Raoul Asanza, economists Hanane Ahmed and Luningning Bondoc; finance specialist Tomas Sta. Maria; social and environment safeguards con-sultant Jonas Bautista; and Monitoring and Evaluation specialist Hanif Rehemtulla.

PRDP is a six-year spe-cial program of the Depart-ment of Agriculture focused on establishing a modern,

World Bank to conduct review mission for PRDP

DA Secretary Proceso J. Alcala and World Bank Task Team Leader for the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) Frauke Jungbluth signaled the start of the World Bank Review Mission for the PRDP last Monday at the DA Central Office in Manila. The World Bank will visit project areas around Philippines to monitor the implementation of the Project. With them is PRDP Deputy Project Director Arnel De Mesa. (PRDP NPCO InfoACE)

THE Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), known for its

highly anticipated “Mad-ness” events, is holding its first-ever BPI Lifestyle Mad-ness on April 1 to 4, 2016 at Veranza Mall, General San-tos City. The event is a one-stop-shop offering financial solutions and exclusive deals catering to the various needs of its clients.

Following similarly successful legs in key cit-ies within Luzon, Visayas and other parts of Mindan-ao, BPI turns its focus on fast-growing parts of the country, as the bank’s cli-ents, families, young urban professionals, and overseas Filipinos in these areas get to explore and meet their financial goals through the long-running Madness pro-gram.

To make the experience more fruitful, visitors will be guided by BPI represen-

tatives who will give them on-the-spot expert advice on achieving their life goals. In addition, raffles—hourly draws and grand draws—will be held and are open for all, with gift certificates and premium home appliances from BPI’s partner mer-chants are at stake.

Apart from BPI’s de-posit and investment prod-ucts, the bank’s Auto Loan, Housing Loan, Ka-Negosyo Loan, Personal Loans, and BPI-Philam Life Insurance are offered in this event.

BPI Credit Card holders can also avail of items at Real 0%, pay up to 12 months in installments, and even get double the credit limit of their credit card, ideal for big-ticket purchases.

BPI Lifestyle Madness’ next stops will be in Ba-colod—June 2 to 5, Ilo-cos Nort—June 10 to 12, Davao—June 16 to 19, Bula-can—July 8 to 10.

BPI holds first-ever Lifestyle Madness in General Santos

value chain oriented, and climate-resilient agricul-ture and fisheries sector. It

is jointly funded by World Bank, national government and the local government

units throughout the regions in Mindanao. (Eva Mae Bac-ulio/PRDP Mindanao)


NOT only a few skeptics cast a shadow of doubt that the Provincial

Government of Albay (PGA) would be able to finish the construction of the facilities for the Palarong Pambansa 2016 on time.

With about only five months to prepare the games’ venues and facilities, the PGA, through the Provincial Engi-neering Office, and the con-tractor, the Verzontal Builders Inc., worked round the clock and left no stone unturned to beat the tight deadline.

The works could have started earlier in August 2015 yet but certain kinks had to be ironed out with the Bicol Uni-versity administration to be able to come out with a mem-orandum of agreement that would be beneficial to both parties – the BU and the PGA.

There was a moment in time that the negotiation reached a deadlock and was threatened to bog down be-cause of one BU Board of Re-gents member.

It was at this point that the technical working committee (TWC) entertained the idea of considering the transfer of the games venue to another place -- one of them is at Villa-hermosa, Daraga, Albay, an ex-pansive space where a Philip-pine Army’s infantry brigade is based.

The original main venue

was an excellent site in Trave-sia in the town of Guinobatan.

Dr. Ed Laguerta, Bicol res-ident volcanologist, cautioned that it is along the path of la-har flows from the Mayon Vol-cano.

The TWC had no recourse but to heed the wisdom of Laguerta’s advice – and so the Bicol University main cam-pus compound, with its wide sports ground.

For the best interest of and the glory of Albay, in par-ticular, and the Bicol Region, in general, both the PGA and the BU administration saw the light of agreement and decid-ed to proceed.

The engineering works for the sports festival started in October 2015.

Provincial engineer Dan-te Baclao and the Verzontal Builders Inc. buckled down to work.

They needed, among oth-ers, to build a strong grand-stand that could accommo-date some 2,500 people and not yield to strong typhoons.

“We contracted a Viet-namese company to construct the pre-fabricated metal posts and beams,” Baclao said in a 7:00 p.m. interview at the back of the huge green-col-ored grandstand that is having finishing touches on Monday.

He said it was the first time that the Vietnamese manufacturer made this kind

of netal material for posts, re-sembling the head and long neck of a swan.

“It can withstand the thrust of a strong typhoon,” the provincial engineer claimed.

In front of the spacious grandstand lies the red oval field that looks like a giant car-pet and guarded by huge lights atop giants posts.

Some 200 meters from the grandstand lies an Olym-pic-size swimming pool being cleaned by four workers.

“Anytime from now, we will be filling it water from

15EDGEDAVAO SPORTS

Albay all set for Palarong Pambansa 2016

Bradley wants win, legacyNOT for anything else,

but it’s his legacy which Tim Bradley is fight-

ing for when he meets Manny Pacquiao anew inside the ring this Saturday (Sunday, Manila time) at the MGM Grand here.

Neither was he thinking about his World Boxing Orga-nization (WBO) welterweight title or the prize purse in-volved that convinced him to accept facing Pacquiao for the third time over the last four years.

The 32-year-old native of Palm Springs, California said being mentioned in the same breath as the Filipino ring icon is more than enough to cement his status as one of best welter-weight fighters of his era.

“Getting this match for a third time is everything for my career right now,” said Bradley,

just one of six fighters to beat Pacquiao in his stellar boxing career (57-6-3, 38 KOs).

“Getting a win over a leg-end and an icon in Manny Pac-quiao, a fighter that has been reigning for over a decade and an eight-time world division champion, right there you can be remembered forever by be-ing a fighter like that.”

Bradley did beat the Fil-ipino southpaw in their first meeting in 2012, although the outcome of their WBO title fight ended in a disputed split decision win.

The American, a +200 un-derdog opposite his longtime nemesis in the latest Vegas odds, then lost a unanimous decision to Pacquiao in their rematch two years later.

Now, he wants to get even by beating the Pacman without

a cloud of doubt.“I said I wanna be remem-

bered. I don’t want to do this just to being another champi-on or another great champi-on, I wanna be remembered, I wanna be talked about. Any-time they bring up Manny Pacquiao’s name in the future I wanna be mentioned along those lines,” said Bradley, who also arrived here on Monday in time for his and Pacquiao’s scheduled grand arrival at the lobby of MGM Grand on Tues-day afternoon.

“To beat Manny Pacquiao so my name would always be relevant to the sport, and that’s what this fight is for me. It’s about being relevant for years. When I die out and I’m done with boxing, my kids will be talking about it for decades,” he added.

CHRIS Paul scored 25 points and the Los An-geles Clippers defeated

the Lakers, 103-81, on Tues-day night (Wednesday, Manila time) , beating their Staples Center co-tenants for the 10th straight time in Kobe Bryant’s last game as a visitor in his home arena.

Jeff Green added 21 points off the bench for the Clippers, whose franchise-record vic-tory streak over the Lakers is their second-longest active run against any opponent.

Bryant scored six points on 2-of-12 shooting following a 34-point performance in a loss to Boston on Sunday. The

crowd, including plenty of Lak-ers fans, made Bryant feel at home, cheering his introduc-tion and when he re-entered the game in the second quarter.

The Clippers paid tribute to the superstar guard, who retires next Wednesday, with a video shown just before he was introduced.

KAWHI Leonard made the go-ahead jumper with 4.9 seconds left

and scored 18 points as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz, 88-86, on Tuesday night (Wednesday, Manila time), giving Tim Duncan his 1,000th regular-season victory.

Rodney Hood missed the potential winning 3-pointer at the buzzer as Utah fell a half-game behind Dallas for sev-enth place in the Western Con-ference. The Jazz remained in the No. 8 slot and a half-game ahead of the Houston Rockets.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Manu Ginobili each added

14 points in the Spurs’ fran-chise-record 65th victory. They visit Golden State on Thursday.

Duncan became the third player with 1,000 victories in the regular season, following Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish. Duncan is the career leader in victories with one team.

Hood finished with 23 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter.

San Antonio’s bench was the difference-maker, outscor-ing the Jazz reserves 40-26.

The Spurs used a 19-2 stretch to open a 31-20 lead in the second quarter, but the Jazz

didn’t roll over. Utah was held scoreless for nearly four min-utes to start the second quar-ter, but responded with a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 35-33.

Spurs went into halftime with a 42-37 lead.

TIP-INSSpurs: Boris Diaw did not

play due to a groin injury. ... The Spurs were outscored 33-21 in the fourth quarter.

Jazz: Alec Burks missed his 50th straight game due to a fractured left fibula. Coach Quin Snyder said, contrary to reports, Burks has not been shut down for the season.

DEEP IN TRAINING. American Timothy Bradley trains with Tony Atlas.

Spurs beat Jazz as Duncan gets 1000th win

Clarkson injured in LA loss

various sources through the help of the Bureau of Fire Pro-tection,” Baclao said.

Other venues for other games are already in place, he said.

The Verzontal Builders Inc. has worked round-the-clock to finish the facilities on time despite limited schedule.

It has also constructed the facilities requested by some sports coordinators for their billeting centers which were agreed upon in the second and final national technical confer-ence in February, Baclao said.

The company will add 30-40 water containers in ev-ery billeting center to ensure enough supply of water, espe-cially that dry season has crept in the province.

This is aside from the wa-ter rationing that will be done by the Bureau of Fire Protec-tion, the engineer said.

Meanwhile, most of the athletes from the 18 regions of the country are now in Albay and have started their concen-tration training for familiariza-tion with the various playing venues for the 2016 Palarong Pambansa on April 10-16.

Department of Education

(DepEd) Bicol spokesperson Roy Banas said first to arrive were delegates from Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), num-bering 700, who came during the Holy Week.

Participants from Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) followed on Tuesday last week.

Banas said the DepEd is expecting thousands of ath-letes, teachers and coaches to be coming this first week of April.

Delegates from the Cor-dillera Administrative Region, Regions 10, 11 and Negros Island Region as well as con-tingents from Region 3 and Autonomous Region in Mus-lim Mindanao have reportedly arrived already.

Those from Regions 2, 6, 7 and 4A are expected to arrive Tuesday.

Expected to be in Albay on Wednesday are those from the National Capital Region, which has the biggest delegation.

All in all, Banas said, dele-gates who will gather in Albay are expected to reach 18,000 – composed of student-athletes, coaches and chaperons from 18 regions.

Banas said the playing

venues are now ready.The BU compound is now

being used for the training of the athletes while the playing venues rented by the provin-cial government like malls and hotels will be available on Fri-day.

The events to be played are archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basket-ball, boxing, chess, football, gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table ten-nis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball.

Demonstration sports are billiards, futsal, wrestling and wushu.

Meanwhile, the Bicol ath-letes have just finished Phase 1 of their concentration training in Barangay Travesia, Guino-batan while the second phase of training started on Monday up to Saturday in Albay Sports Complex.

There are 640 Bicol play-ers, of which 224 are in the elementary and 288 are in secondary, while 47 are join-ing the demonstration sports, 50 in special games while more than 30 are delegation officials.

Banas said the expenses of DepEd-Bicol for this year’s Palaro are lower because it will be held in Albay.

From PHP10.5 million ex-penses incurred by DepEd-Bi-col in the 2015 Palarong Pam-bansa in Davao del Norte, the costs now reach only PHP8.5 million.

The Bicol athletes are now 95-percent ready, including the preparation for training, procurement, uniform, food, sports equipment, incentives and transportation costs.

The DepEd-Bicol hopes to be in the fifth place in the over-all standing, from the previous 10th place.

Last year, Bicol delegates brought home nine gold, 14 silver and 19 bronze medals from Tagum City, the venue of the Palarong Pambansa 2015.

All virtually set, let the games begin! (PNA)

VOL. 9 ISSUE 25 • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 201616 EDGEDAVAOSports

POMELO TEE. Rancho Palos Verdes board director Joe Marfori hits from the fringe in last

year’s 10th Pomelo Tee. The event will be bigger and better this year. Boy Lim

THE 11th Pomelo Tee, the signa-ture annual tour-

nament of the Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club just got bigger and better.

With fabulous hole in one prizes at stake in designated par 3’s in-cluding 500,000 pesos cash courtesy of Pioneer Insurance, a brand new 2016 Montero Sport from Kar Asia Inc. (au-tomatic), a Royal Carib-bean Cruise, RPVGCC Golf Shares, a Kawasaki Motorcycle and a Daikin Airconditioning Unit, this year’s event prom-ises to be more exciting.

This according to tournament director Ting Castillo during the weekly SCOOP at the Royal Mandaya Hotel last Tuesday who was

accompanied by RPVG-CC Operations Manager Karl Moises.

Around 400 golfers from Davao City and from out of town are expected to see action in the upcoming 11th Pomelo Tee Golf Tour-nament this coming April 28-May 1 at the Rancho Palos Verdes Golf and Country Club in Indangan.

Moises cited that this year’s tournament is slated to be more challenging and tough but with more extrava-gant prizes awaiting the winners and the partic-ipants.

“We’re expecting that number since this is a 36-hole event and the players (a guest-mem-ber team composition) will be able to select 2

playing days from the total 4 day affair,” Castil-lo said.

This tournament will be a stroke play team and individual competition using the modified stableford for-mat.

The entry fee for the tournament is P4,500 per player with mulli-gan with a maximum handicap of 27 for the men and 32 for the women players to be applied.

Meanwhile, Castillo and Moises stressed that some of the proceeds of this event will go to the educational programs of the Pablo Lorenzo NHS, one of the beneficiaries of the Pomelo Tee as well as the various pri-ority projects of the Ro-tary Club of Davao.

11th Pomelo Tee atRPV April 28-May 1


edge davao 9 issue 25

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