CACAO plantations in the Davao region do not employ children nor do they engage

in other controversial agricultural practices.

This was the assurance of business leader Lizabel “Wit” G. Holganza, who is the conference director of Kakao Konek, an in-ternational cacao industry confer-ence scheduled in Davao City in November.

Holganza, who is more popu-larly known as leader of ICT-Davao, Inc. and president of the Mindanao Transcription Academy, bared de-tails of the conference during the Club 888 business forum at The Marco Polo Davao yesterday.

“What we want to happen in

Davao is for our cacao producers to follow the United Nation’s good global agricultural practices. Chil-dren should not be used to labor in the farms, instead, they should be sent to school and be encouraged to become better cacao farmers,”

Holganza said.Davao City ranks second to

Davao del Sur as top producer of cacao in the region, contributing 24% to the total production in Davao Region. Holganza said that 90% of the entire country’s cacao production comes from Mindanao.

The city’s cacao production re-corded an average of 848.13 met-ric tons during the period 2006-

No child laborin cacao farms

P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.net

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012

EDGENagsubo ang tibuok nasud.

Serving a seamless societyDAVAO

THe Department of envi-ronment and Natural Re-sources (DeNR 11) recently

reactivated the Port Integrated Clearance Office (PICO) in Region 11 with the signing of a Memo-randum of Agreement (MOA) with other national government Agencies (NGAs).

DeNR Regional executive Di-rector Joselin Marcus e. Fragada said the reactivation of PICO is

vital in order to check the com-pleteness and accuracy of trans-port documents and supervise the loading and unloading of for-est products at the point of origin, as the case maybe.

In coordination with the Phil-ippine Ports Authority (PPA), PICO will identify all major ports within their area of jurisdiction where forest products are being loaded and unloaded.

PICO will be operational in PPA-manned ports also to serve as a one-stop shop office aiming to provide easy access and speedy processing of shipping/transport clearances to be secured by clien-tele engaged in domestic as well as export and import business transactions.

The ports of Terminal Facili-ties and Services Corporation or TeFASCO and Sasa Wharf are

identified as major ports for do-mestic and foreign vessels.

PICO will operate in a 24-hour basis, each participating agency assigning personnel for the day or on a three-shift basis, as the situa-tion warrants.

Signatories to the MOA are DeNR, Philippine Ports Author-ity (PPA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Bureau of Customs (BOC),

Page A1Indulge

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FNO, 11

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DENR reactivates port clearance office

90% of country’s cacao production from Mindanao.Davao del Sur, Davao City region’s top producers

By Carlo P. Mallo

EULOGY. Dir. Francisco Jose of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Region XI gives a eulogy for the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo after the mass for the latter at the Lady Ascencion in Matina, Davao City yesterday. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012THE BIG NEWS2 EDGEDAVAO

FCOMPOSTELA, 11

FOCHOA, 11

CACAO. Wit Holganza, conference director of Kakao Konek (left), states that 90% of cocoa production in the country comes from Mindanao during Club 888 media forum at Marco Polo Hotel yesterday. At right is Alfred Corpuz, vice chair of Cacao Industry

Development Association of Mindanao, Inc. (CIDAMI). See headline story. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

NTD forum in Davao

exeCUTIve Sec-retary Paquito N. Ochoa on Wednes-

day sought for a compre-hensive review of all the pending programs and projects left by the un-timely demise of Secre-tary Jesse Robredo in the Department of the Interi-or and Local Government (DILG) to ensure that re-forms are implemented

and continued.Ochoa, who was des-

ignated DILG officer-in-charge by President Benigno S. Aquino III fol-lowing Robredo’s death in a plane crash that also killed his two pi-lots last Saturday, was at the agency Wednesday morning to seek a list of the programs in the pipeline as well as assure

DILG employees that there will be no interrup-tion in the services they provide to the public.

“While we join Sec-retary Robredo’s fam-ily and the nation in this time of bereavement, the President felt also that it is appropriate to desig-nate an OIC for the mean-time, in a very temporary

Ochoa takes over DILG

BAyAN Muna Rep. Neri Javier Colmena-res will move for the

deferral of the Department of National Defense (DND) modernization budget if Sec. voltaire Gazmin cannot satisfactorily explain the possible misuse of the mod-ernization fund through the overpriced communication system worth 1.8 billion pesos.

Colmenares ques-tioned during the DND budget deliberations the P1.645 billion allotted for 6,356 handheld radios which cost a staggering P258,823.00 for each walk-ie talkie. He also exposed the P138,400,000.00 price of 100 base radios which cost 1.4 million each. The Bayan Muna solon was also shocked that P99.483

Million was used in buying 2,934 Global Positioning system units which cost P33,907.00 each.

“The lame excuse that these units are 10 times overpriced because they have military specs is un-acceptable, especially since the AFP cannot explain what specs these units have other than being durable” said Colmenares.

Colmenares also ques-tioned the sincerity of the Aquino government in re-solving human rights viola-tions because of the failure of the military to appear before the Regional Trial Court in Negros trying the case of Pfc. Rafael Cordova and Pfc. Reygine Laus who are accused of killing Bayan Muna member Bayles in June 2010.

“The promise of Aquino and Sec. voltaire Gazmin that they will cooperate in the resolution of the mur-der case of Bayles is an empty gesture consider-ing that for two years Col. Richard Bayhon and Col. edilberto Soratos refused to heed the 4 or 5 subpoenas issued by RTC Branch 55 in Negros trying Pfc. Cordova and Pfc Laus,” he said.

The progressive solon doubted the AFP’s sup-posed commitment to hu-man rights when the US state department itself has been withholding millions of dollars every year be-cause of human rights viola-tions. Colmenares exposed the US$ 2 million withheld in 2009 during the time of Sec. Gilbert Teodoro.

Colmenares grills DND execs at budget hearing

DePARTMeNT of Jus-tice (DOJ) Secretary Leila M. De Lima on

Wednesday said that the abduction of murder con-vict Rolito Go was not an isolated case.

De Lima also suspects that there is a kidnap-ping syndicate operating around the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) area.

During an ambush in-terview, De Lima said there were reported kidnap-pings, hulidap incidents, but that the victims opted to keep silent.

“They refuse to cooper-ate for some reason. I be-lieve there are syndicates

operating within the area, they have a spotter to iden-tify who should be the next victim. The previous inci-dents involved the wives or loved ones of the inmates,” she said.

“We would want to know exactly how many incidents of hulidap have happened,” De Lima said, adding that she plans to form a dedicated team of members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to dig deeper into the hulidap/kidnapping phenomenon.

The NBI is the Philip-pines’ premier investigat-ing body and is an attached

agency of the DOJ.De Lima is currently

the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the Bureau of Correc-tions (BuCor) after BuCor director Gaudencio Pan-gilinan took an indefinite leave of absence following the alleged abduction of convicted murderer Rolito Go last week.

The BuCor is also an at-tached agency of the DOJ, which has administrative control and supervision over the NBP in Muntin-lupa City and the penal colonies in Abuyug, Leyte, Davao del Norte, and Coron and Iwahig, both in Pala-wan province. [PNA]

De Lima suspects existence of kidnap syndicate in NBP

MINDANAO Devel-opment Authori-ty chair Luwalha-

ti Antonino said on Tues-day she is saddened by the loss not only of a good friend but also a colleague in Cabinet who devoted a great deal of effort help-ing national government pursue Mindanao’s prog-ress and transformation.

“Secretary Jesse was a true harbinger of transformational lead-ership and his passion

for good governance has reverberated as inspira-tion among many of our young leaders in Mind-anao,” Antonino said in a statement.

The MinDA chair re-called how Robredo has showed determination in vigorously pursuing ini-tiatives designed to effect genuine governance re-forms in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mind-anao (ARMM).

Robredo, along with

Antonino and Presiden-tial Peace Adviser Tere-sita Deles comprise the core group of Cabinet members overseeing the implementation of Presi-dent Aquino’s ARMM Re-form Agenda.

“In pursuing pub-lic service, he has long dedicated his life to something greater than himself. He will deserv-edly be remembered for a long time,” said Antonino. [MinDa]

Antonino extols Robredo

THe ReGION 11 office of the Department of Public Works and

Highways is trimming down the number of its employees from 300 to just 200.

Newly-assumed DPWH regional director Mariano Alquiza said that aside from following the downsizing policy of the DPWH national office, he is also particular about having a few efficient workers rather than having many who are productive or who have nothing to do at all.

Alquiza, a Dabawenyo civil engineer who rose from the ranks, succeeded re-

tired lady regional director Sinaolan Macarambun.

When he assumed office two months ago, Alquiza re-minded DPWH officials and employees of the depart-ment’s policy direction and core values.

“In public service, they should value commitment, integrity, excellence, profes-sionalism, performance-based and time-bounded,” he said.

He said that in putting into action the national man-

date which is “Matuwid na Daan”, they should be in right project, quality, program, cost, time and people.

Alquiza said that from the time when he was still a lowly employee of the DPWH, he would always let his implemented projects speak for themselves.

Alquiza, who studied in Davao City, was regional di-rector of Cordillera Autono-mous Region (CAR) based in Baguio City before his assign-ment here. However, he had served in various capacities within the Davao Region in the past. (ASA)

DPWH 11 reduces work force by 100

New RD vows efficient project implementation

By Anthony S. Allada

THe PROvINCe of Compostela val-ley added another

feather on its cap by be-ing declared to be de-clared by the Department of Health (DOH) filariasis-free in the entire country.

This was learned during the opening yes-terday of the two-day 1st National Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Stakeholders Forum at the Apo view Hotel in Davao City.

“There are 12 million Filipinos are estimated to be at risk of getting in-fected with lymphatic fila-riasis. About 44 provinces are endemic of this dis-ease including all prov-

inces of Region xII but Compostela valley has succeeded in eliminating this disease,” according to a document distributed to forum participants and media practitioners.

Lymphatic filariasis is only one of the six dis-eases classified as NTDs present in the country. Others are Schistoso-miasis, Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis, Food and Waterborne Diseases, Leprosy and Rabies.

“It is caused by filar-ial parasites transmitted from person to person through bites of infected mosquito. It can eliminat-ed when endemic com-

Compostela Valley now filariasis-free

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012 3EDGEDAVAO THE BIG NEWS

THe local govern-ment-initiated Care for School Chairs

Program was given a boost as the Philippine Amuse-ment and Gaming Corpo-ration (PAGCOR) donated 2.7 million pesos recently, a thing Tagum City Mayor Rey T. Uy is thankful for.

On August 22, 2012, Mayor Uy received the check from PAGCOR through the City Treasurer edgar C. de Guzman during the city government’s flag raising ceremony.

The local chief executive announced to the employees of the city government that PAGCOR Chairman Cristino Naguiat, Jr. had assured him that his agency is willing to put in another financial support of the program if there are still logs to be processed into school chairs.

The Care for School Chairs (CFSC) Program -which marks its first year

anniversary this August - is a brainchild project of Mayor Rey T. Uy which fabricates school chairs from confiscated logs donated by Department of environment and Natural Resources (DeNR) and are distributed for free by the city government to schools not only in the city, but also to needy schools in Luzon, visayas and in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the LyR Group of Companies in partnership with the Rotary Club of Tagum also donated paints worth 500,000 thousand pesos last August 22, 2012 that was formally accepted by Mayor Uy.

He also extended his gratitude to LyR and the Rotary Club for flexing its corporate social responsibility that will create a big impact in alleviating the quality of education here in the region.

Penongs, a well-known restaurant with several stores in Davao Region, threw its full support to the program by also donating 30,000 thousand pesos.

Meanwhile during last week’s distribution of chairs led by Mayor Uy, a total of 795 school chairs were separately distributed to Don vicente Romadles National High School in Laak, Compostela valley, Dujali National High School and Tanglaw National High School both in the Municipality of Dujali and Kimamon National High School in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.

As of August 21, 2012, a total of 66,339 pieces of school furniture consisting of armchairs, desks, tables, kiddie chairs, computer tables, bookshelves, rostrums were already made and delivered by LGU Tagum through the CFSC since August 2011.

Pagcor donates P2.7 millionfor Tagum’s chairs program

5,725 AND COUNTING. Dr. Kirbe Labarcon interviews a mother with her three children prior to their check-up in Brgy. Lasang, Bunawan Districts, while Dr. Jojo Salvacion (dentist) examines a young patient in Brgy. Sasa, Buhangin District. A total of 219

residents were treated in the two barangays by a team of doctors and dentists assembled by 2nd district Congressman Mylene J. Garcia. The weekly health program has so far served 5,725 patients/residents in 40 barangays.

DAvAO City Water District has sched-uled a water service

interruption from 8:00 PM of August 25 until 8:00 AM of August 26 to allow the realignment of 300mm di-ameter Mortar Lined Coat-ed Steel Pipe (MLCSP) and 150mm diameter Black Iron Pipe Crossing in front of Ma-a Brgy. Hall.

The 12-hour water cut will affect some areas in Ma-a specifically Me-troville Subd., Pantinople village, Garcia Settlers, Di-

naville Subd., Anahaw vil-lage, Diho village 4, Salce-do village, Ma-a People’s village, Ma-a Riverside, Las Terrazas, Purok A, Del Pilar village, New Wash-ington village and Roldan village.

DCWD Acting general manager edwin v. Regala-do appeals for the under-standing and cooperation of the would-be affected customers and advises them to store enough wa-ter prior to the scheduled water service interruption

as water supply may be re-stored earlier if work goes smoothly or later if un-foreseen problems arise.

The general public may call the DCWD trunk line at 221-9400 and press “1” on their phone dial to listen to the latest daily water updates, or contact its call center through the 24-hour hotline 221-9412 or 0927-7988966 for up-dates, complaints, queries and other matters per-taining to DCWD services. [Sylvia May L. Vosotros]

Water interruption Aug. 25 - 26

THe Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)on Wednes-

day refuted reports that Sen. edgardo An-gara is dismayed by the quality of Filipino dip-lomats being assigned by the Philippine gov-ernment abroad.

Reports said Angara criticized the Filipino diplomats’ lack of for-eign language training.

Angara also report-edly said many Filipino envoys who have been assigned to non-eng-lish speaking countries could not speak the lo-cal language.

During a Senate de-liberation on the DFA’s budget last week, Ang-ara was quoted as say-ing: “We get dismayed that some people re-ceive postings not even knowing the language used in the post.”

“I think it’s really a shame like when I meet Thai diplomats and they speak the lan-guage of Madrid and elsewhere so fluently,” he said.

The DFA said the senator’s statements have been miscon-strued by the media.

“To put things in their proper context, the good senator did not question the qual-ity of our foreign ser-vice corps. He merely proposed ways in which we could im-prove the Foreign Ser-vice Institute or FSI, the existing training arm of the DFA,” de-partment spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a text message.

To increase the competence of Fili-pino diplomats, the DFA said the senator

has suggested the DFA to maximize the use of grants from various countries and financial institutions.

While the DFA agrees with Angara that Filipino diplo-mats should speak the language of host coun-tries, it said the de-partment is not lacking in terms of diplomats who can fluently speak the language of their countries of assign-ment.

Nevertheless, Her-nanadez said the DFA continuously strives to further enhance the quality of its diplo-mats.

“FSI will continue to train our people through post-graduate studies and/or inten-sive language courses,” Hernandez said. [PNA]

DFA debunks reports on Angara questioning quality of diplomats

FORUM. Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag of the Department of Health graces the 1st National Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Stakeholders Forum at the Apo View Hotel yesterday. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

THe Philippines post-ed US$ 4.5 billion balance of payments

(BOP) surplus in the first seven months this year, lower than US$ 6.3 billion in the same period last year.

But for the month of July alone, the BOP surplus reached US$ 3.2 billion,

higher than month-ago’s US$ 14 million surplus and year-ago’s US$ 1.3 bil-lion surplus, data released Wednesday by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) show.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., in a text mes-sage to reporters, said the

national government paid some of its liabilities last July but this failed to off-set the BOP surplus due to gains from central bank’s foreign exchange opera-tions and income from its investments overseas as well as deposits of the na-tional government.

PHL posts US$ 4.5-B BOPsurplus in first 7 months

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 20124 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT EDGEDAVAO

GIveN the serious drought gripping the United States

and its ripple effects on global food markets, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Tuesday called on all na-tions to develop more co-ordinated and proactive polices to manage drought risks.

The United States is en-during the worst drought it has experienced since 1895 and 63 percent of the country has been affected by moderate to exception-

al drought as of the end of July, according to Mannava Sivakumar, director of the WMO’s Climate Prediction and Adaptation branch.

Apart from the United States, India is also going through a serious drought and rainfall there is 70 percent below normal countrywide, which could have a major impact on food production.

While in Mexico, 2.5 million people have suf-fered from droughts, and some areas of south-east-ern europe such as Roma-

nia and Slovenia saw tem-peratures rise and water deficits, said Sivakumar.

“Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of droughts, with impacts on many sectors, in particular food, water, health and energy,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said.

“We need to move away from a piecemeal, crisis-driven approach and develop integrated risk-based national drought policies.”[PNA/XiNhuA]

World Meteorological Organization calls on nations to develop drought policies

ASTRONOMeRS have found evidence for a planet being de-

voured by its star, yielding insights into the fate that will befall earth in billions of years.

The team uncovered the signature of a planet that had been “eaten” by looking at the chemistry of the host star.

They also think a surviv-ing planet around this star may have been kicked into its unusual orbit by the de-struction of a neighbouring world.

Details of the work have been published in Astro-physical Journal Letters.

The US-Polish-Spanish team made the discovery when they were studying the star BD+48 740 - which is one of a stellar class known as red giants. Their observations were made with the Hobby eberly tele-scope, based at the McDon-ald Observatory in Texas.

Rising temperatures near the cores of red giants cause these elderly stars to expand in size, a process which will cause any nearby planets to be destroyed.

“A similar fate may await the inner planets in our so-lar system, when the Sun becomes a red giant and expands all the way out to earth’s orbit some five bil-lion years from now,” said

co-author Prof Alexander Wolszczan from Pennsylva-nia State University in the US.

Lithium boostThe first piece of evi-

dence for the missing planet comes from the star’s pecu-liar chemical composition.

Spectroscopic analysis of BD+48 740 revealed that it contained an abnormally high amount of lithium, a rare element created pri-marily during the Big Bang 14 billion years ago.

Lithium is easily de-stroyed in stars, so its high abundance in this ageing star is very unusual.

“Theorists have identi-fied only a few, very specific circumstances, other than the Big Bang, under which lithium can be created in stars,” Prof Wolszczan ex-plained.

“In the case of BD+48 740, it is probable that the lithium production was trig-gered by a mass the size of a planet that spiralled into the star and heated it up while the star was digesting it.”

The second piece of evidence discovered by the astronomers is the highly elliptical orbit of a newly discovered planet around the red giant star. The previ-ously undetected world is at least 1.6 times as massive as Jupiter.

Co-author Andrzej

Niedzielski of Nicolaus Co-pernicus University in To-run, Poland, said that orbits as eccentric as this one are uncommon in planetary sys-tems around evolved stars.

“In fact, the BD+48 740 planet’s orbit is the most el-liptical one detected so far,” he added.

Because gravitational interactions between plan-ets are often responsible for such peculiar orbits, the as-tronomers suspect that the dive of the missing planet toward its host star before it became a giant could have given the surviving massive planet a burst of energy.

This boost would have propelled it into its present unusual orbit.

Team member eva vil-laver of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain commented: “Catch-ing a planet in the act of be-ing devoured by a star is an almost improbable feat to accomplish because of the comparative swiftness of the process, but the occur-rence of such a collision can be deduced from the way it affects the stellar chemistry.

“The highly elongated orbit of the massive planet we discovered around this lithium-polluted red giant star is exactly the kind of ev-idence that would point to the star’s recent destruction of its now-missing planet.”

The team thinks the planet was destroyed as its ageing star expanded in size

The discovery was made using the Hobby-Eberly telescope in Texas

Star is caught devouring planet

IN recent years, the in-ternational community and business sector have

adopted environmental pro-tection and sustainability initiatives based on the Kyo-to Protocol to reduce green-house gas (GHG) emissions and the Rio+20 or the United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustainable Development.

To help companies de-velop and maintain sustain-ability programs and acquire environmental certifica-tions, F-I-R-S-T Carbon Solu-tions Corporation, a leader in sustainability services, and Bureau veritas, an inter-national certification body, have launched a strategic partnership in support of sustainable development.

The UN reports that en-ergy accounts for 60 percent of GHG emissions causing global warming and if not acted upon, GHG emissions could potentially cause the extinction of over a third of earth’s species.

“Globally, there is a call

for companies to be more sustainable in their prac-tices,” said James Donovan, Chief executive Officer of F-I-R-S-T Carbon Solutions.

“This partnership will help them effectively ad-dress business challenges such as energy savings, and GHG and carbon emissions reporting.” According to Donovan, the partnership is also a response to an evolv-ing regulatory environment and the growing need for environmental certification.

F-I-R-S-T Carbon Solu-tions offers consultancy ser-vices that help companies prepare for certification re-quirements.

The company provides software tools—such as its Sustainability Workbench and ghgTrack™—that make sustainability tracking easy and manageable for busi-nesses.

On the other hand, Bu-reau veritas, an international certification body, provides certification services for ISO

14064 (Greenhouse Gas Ac-counting) and ISO 50001 (energy Management Sys-tem), among others, as well as independent assessments of a company’s management systems.

“This collaboration be-tween two industry leaders demonstrates our commit-ment to enabling companies to operate with more sus-tainability,” said emmanuel Danion, Bureau veritas Country Chief executive.

“We foresee long-term impact that will create con-tinuous and beneficial busi-ness results for many com-panies,” Danion said.

A Philippine-based com-pany, F-I-R-S-T Carbon Solu-tions also seeks to establish a stronger regional presence.

“With this partnership, we hope to create stronger awareness on sustainability initiatives among the busi-ness community, both here in the Philippines and across the region,” Donovan said. [PNA]

Sustainability partnership sealed

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012 5EDGEDAVAO

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 20126 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)

Month 2012 2011 2010

Average 43.31 45.11December 43.64 43.95November 43.27 43.49October 43.45 43.44

September 43.02 44.31August 42.42 45.18

July 42.81 46.32June 43.37 46.30May 42.85 43.13 45.60April 42.70 43.24 44.63

March 42.86 43.52 45.74February 42.66 43.70 46.31January 43.62 44.17 46.03

Stat Watch5.8%

1st Qtr 2012

6.4 %1st Qtr 2012

USD 4,931million

May 2012USD 4,770

millionApr 2012USD -135

millionApr 2012USD -209

millionMar 2012

P 4,580,674 million

Apr 2012

4.1 %May 2012P131,403

millionMay 2012

P 5,075 billion

Apr 2012

P 42.78Jun 2012

5,091.2May 2012

130.1 Jun 2012

2.8 Jun 2012

3.7 Jun 2012

349,779Apr 2012

18.8 %Jan 2012

7.2 %Jan 2012

1. Gross National IncomeGrowth Rate(At Constant 2000 Prices)

2. Gross Domestic ProductGrowth Rate(At Constant 2000 Prices)

3. Exports 1/

4. Imports 1/

5. Trade Balance

6. Balance of Payments 2/

7. Broad Money Liabilities

8. Interest Rates 4/

9. National Government Revenues

10. National government outstanding debt

11. Peso per US $ 5/

12. Stocks Composite Index 6/

13. Consumer Price Index 2006=100

14. Headline Inflation Rate 2006=100

15. Core Inflation Rate 2006=100

16. Visitor Arrivals

17. Underemployment Rate 7/

18. Unemployment Rate 7/

Cebu Pacific Daily 5J961 / 5J962 5:45 Manila-Davao-Manila 6:15Zest Air Daily Z2390 / Z2390 5:45 Manila-Davao-Manila 6:25Cebu Pacific Daily 5J593 / 5J348 6:00 Cebu-Davao-Iloilo 6:30Philippine Airlines Daily PR809 / PR810 6:10 Manila-Davao-Manila 7:00Philippine Airlines Daily PR819 / PR820 7:50 Manila-Davao-Manila 8:50Cebu Pacific Daily 5J394 / 5J393 7:50 Zamboanga-Davao-Zamboanga 8:10Cebu Pacific Daily 5J599 / 5J594 8:00 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 8:30Cebu Pacific Daily 5J347 / 5J596 9:10 Iloilo-Davao-Cebu 9:40Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri/Sun 5J963 / 5J964 9:40 Manila-Davao-Manila 10:10Philippine Airlines Daily PR811 / PR812 11:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 12:20Cebu Pacific Daily 5J595 / 5J966 12:00 Cebu-Davao-Manila 12:30Silk Air Mon/Wed/Sat MI588 / MI588 18:55 Davao-Cebu-Singapore 13:35Cebu Pacific Thu 5J965 / 5J968 12:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 13:25Cebu Pacific Tue/Wed//Sat 5J965 / 5J968 13:35 Manila-Davao-Manila 14:05

Silk Air Thu/Sun MI566 / MI566 18:55 Davao-Singapore 15:20Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Wed/Fri 5J507 / 5J598 15:00 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 15:30Philippine Airlines August 15:55 Mani2Mani 16:50Zest Air Daily Z2524 / Z2525 16:05 Cebu-Davao-Cebu 16:45Cebu Pacific Daily 5J967 / 5J600 16:35 Manila-Davao-Cebu 17:05Philippines Airlines Daily PR813 / PR814 16:55 Manila-Davao-Manila 17:45Cebu Pacific Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat 5J215 / 5J216 18:00 Cagayan de Oro-Davao-Cagayan de Oro 18:20Cebu Pacific Daily 5971 / 5J970 18:40 Manila-Davao-Manila 19:10Cebu Pacific Tue/Sat/Sun 5J973 / 5J974 20:00 Manila-Davao-Manila 20:30Cebu Pacific Daily 5J969 / 5J972 20:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:00Airphil Express Daily 2P987 / 2P988 20:30 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:00Philippine Airlines Daily except Sunday PR821 / PR822 21:20 Manila-Davao-Manila 21:50Philippine Airlines Sunday PR821 / PR822 22:20 Manila-Davao-Manila 22:50

as of august 2010

A lawmaker is seeking an amendment to Republic Act 8424, or the National

Internal Revenue Code of 1997, to prompt taxpayers to pay their value added tax (vAT) in the region where their business branches are located.

Rep. Ferdinand Martin Ro-mualdez (1st District, Leyte) said the wisdom for his proposal was that those business branches were enjoying the local services of the local government units.

“Thus, it should follow that the vAT should be paid in the lo-cation of the business branches for the mutual benefit of LGUs,” said Romualdez, an Assistant Mi-nority Leader.

He said taxes were the life-blood of government, without which the government would be-come “anemic.” “Hence, the revi-sion, amendment and modifica-tion thereof are the order of the Filipino people,” he said.

In House Bill 6424, Romual-

dez sought the amendment of Section 114 (B) of RA 8424 so that “except as the Commis-sioner otherwise permits, the return shall be filed with and the vAT paid to an authorized agent bank, Revenue Collection Officer or duly authorized city or munic-ipal Treasurer in the Philippines located within the revenue dis-trict where the taxpayer is doing business.”

Presently, the law provides the vAT payment and filing of tax

returns shall be done within the revenue district where the tax-payer is registered or required to register.

The law also provides that in general, every person liable to pay the vAT shall file a quarterly return of the amount of his gross sales or receipts within 25 days following the close of each tax-able quarter prescribed for each taxpayer. Furthermore, vAT-reg-istered persons shall pay the vAT on a monthly basis. [PNA]

Solon wants taxpayers to pay VAT in regions with business branches

THe banana industry is hang-ing on by a thread, according to Pilipino Banana Growers

and exporters Association execu-tive director Stephen Antig.

Based on their assessment, the industry is being battered from all sides.

“All the writings on the wall point to a worldwide crisis. The markets are down, there is an abundance of supply, and there are diseases that we have to battle with,” Antig said, adding that the

same factors caused the worldwide banana crises in 1989 and 1994 to 1995.

Come the winter months, An-tig said that the banana industries will be tightening their belts fur-ther as demand for bananas in the northern countries are expected to dwindle.

“Their own produce will be sat-urating their market, it is an annual cycle.” Antig said.

Recently, the industry was in a meeting with the US Department of

Agriculture wherein they discussed how to fast track the importation of bananas in US territories like Ha-waii, the Marianas, and Guam.

“If things work out as planned, we might be able to export before the year ends. However, pack-ing houses will have to pass their quality control,” Antig said.

While the future looks gray and overcast for the Cavendish exporting industry, the largest ag-ricultural industry at present in Mindanao, Antig remains hopeful

for a better 2013.“I hope the odds will be in our

favor next year, we don’t know how much longer we can hold on if this continues for long,” Antg said.

At least two members of PB-GeA have expressed their intent to shut down their operations due to the continuous losses that the industry is experiencing since March this year when China im-posed stringent quality control for Cavendish imports from the Phil-ippines.

LOADING STATION. Students of a university along C.M. Recto Ave. visit a loading station before attending their respective classes yesterday. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

Banana industry is headed for crisisBy Carlo P. Mallo

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012 7EDGEDAVAO THE ECONOMY

A day after its competi-tors lifted the price freeze on oil products

in selected areas earlier hit by massive flooding, largest oil refiner Petron Corp. fol-lowed at past midnight Tues-day to impose the same level of pump price hikes that had earlier been enforced by its rival oil companies.

In a text message sent to reporters on Monday night, Petron said “it will be match-ing the price adjustments of competition in areas affected by the floods last week effec-tive 12:01 a.m., August 21.”

Oil firms on Monday morning implemented price hikes of P1.80 per liter on premium and unleaded gasoline, P1.70 per liter on regular gasoline, P1.60 per liter on kerosene and P1.50 per liter on diesel.

The adjustment specifi-cally took effect in areas that were previously covered by an industry-wide price freeze last week, particu-larly Metro Manila, Bataan, Pampanga, Zambales, Bu-

lacan, Laguna, Cavite and Tarlac.

With the price increase, Petron said fuel prices in the said areas would now “nor-malize”, or be at pace with prices in other parts of the country that were not cov-ered by the one-week hike moratorium.

This week’s hike was practically a cent-by-cent deferment of the one im-posed by petroleum com-panies the previous week, which took effect only in non-calamity areas.

Oil firms decided to de-fer last week’s wave of fuel hikes in order to allow the various communities to re-cover from the recent epi-sode of devastating floods caused by heavy southwest monsoon rains.

On a nationwide scale, oil firms have now jacked up pump prices for six consec-utive weeks. They pointed to the uptrend in interna-tional prices as reason for the successive upward ad-justments. [PNA]

Petron hikes oil prices

HOT CAKES. Sales ladies of a snack stall along Roxas Avenue start to display freshly cooked hotcakes early to make sure their customers will have something to eat when snack time comes. [LEAN DAVAL JR.]

THe energy Regula-tory Commission (eRC) has approved

the power sales agreement (PSA) between the Alcan-tara-led Sarangani energy Corp. (SeC) and South Co-tabato electric Cooperative 2 (Socoteco 2), an electric distribution utility here.

Under the 25-year PSA, Sarangani energy would supply Socoteco-2 with 70 megawatts (MWs)of base load power.

With supply from Saran-gani energy, electricity rate of Socoteco-2 in turn will sell the electricity from Sa-rangani energy at P6.31 per kilowatt hour (kWh), lower than the P8.24 per kWh if otherwise, from 2017 to 2027, the eRC decision said.

The projected rate, how-ever, does not assume in-creases in the cost of fuel, it said.

The eRC’s 75-page deci-sion was signed by Zenaida Cruz-Ducut, eRC chairper-son, and commissioners Ma-ria Theresa A.R. Castaneda and Alfredo J. Non.

The decision was dated

last July 30 but a copy was only made available recent-ly.

Sarangani energy will build a 120-megawatt Cir-culating Fluidized Bed Com-bustor Boiler Coal-Fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani at a proposed cost of US$ 280 million, or P12.05 billion.

Sarangani energy plans to expand the capacity of the power plant to 200 MWs for a total project cost of US$ 450 million.

Tomas Alcantara, chair-man of Alsons Consoli-dated Resources, Inc., said in a statement that the PSA would ensure that consum-ers of Socoteco-2 enjoy “the benefits of safe, reliable and affordable energy.”

“We remain steadfast in our dedication to building a secure, ecologically sustain-able, and prosperous future for the people of Socssksar-gen and the rest of Mindan-ao,” he said.

Socoteco-2 serves this city, the whole of Sarangani and parts of South Cotabato.

Power interruptions

have hit the service area of Socoteco 2 intermittently since the start of the year due to insufficient supply.

Socoteco-2 used to get 110 MW from the National Power Corp. but the alloca-tion was reduced to nearly 55 MW due to generation deficiency, Crisanto Sotelo, the utility’s technical ser-vices department chief, said.

To bridge the deficit, Socoteco-2 has contracted electricity from Therma Ma-rine, Inc, a subsidiary of the Aboitiz Power Corp.

Under the PSA, Saran-gani energy proposed that power to be supplied to the cooperative will be directly connected to the utility’s transmission facilities.

Oscar Benedict Con-treras III, Alsons Power Business Unit manager for communications and stake-holder relations, said that drilling activities have com-menced in preparation for the actual construction of the coal-fired power plant in Barangay Kamanga.

South Korean firm Dae-lim Industrial Co. Ltd has

been awarded the contract to construct the power plant that is expected to go on stream in 2015.

“The drilling activity is part of the geo-technical engineering study being conducted under the super-vision of Daelim in order to determine the condition of the soil underneath where the plant is to be built,” Con-treras said.

Contreras said that the detailed design and engi-neering of the power station would run through the third quarter of 2012, leading to the actual erection and in-stallation works of the pow-er plant.

Sarangani energy had acquired an environmen-tal compliancecertificate in 2009 from the Department of environment and Natural Resources.

The project site sits near a world-class diving spot and is facing opposition from groups like the local Catholic Church and Green-peace on concerns over the environment and human health. [PNA]

ERC okays GenSan power co-op deal

THe public-private partnership (PPP) program of the na-

tional government and the water sector reform bills now pending in Con-gress are all roadmaps to privatization, employees of 10 water districts from different parts of Mind-anao said.

Senator edgardo An-gara has filed Senate Bill 2997, while Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles and Rep. Romeo Quinto have sponsored House Bill 5497 for this purpose, they added.

Rudy Aranjuez, presi-dent of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Davao City

Water District (Namadac-wad) said both measures are schemes of the Aqui-no administration to pass to the private sector the responsibility to provide basic social services such as water.

Alejo S. Roxas, assis-tant general manager for operations of the Zambo-

anga City Water District, said they have to improve their services to preempt the entry of private wa-ter distribution firms through the PPP scheme.

He admitted that they are serving only 52 out of the total 98 villages in Zamboanga City. (LoRiE ANN CAsCARo/MiNDANEws)

Gov’t eyeing privatization of Mindanao water utilities

THe Senate has di-rected an Indian na-tional and three lo-

cal contacts to show cause why they should not be cited in contempt for their contradictory statements regarding an alleged at-tempt to smuggle 420,000 sacks of rice at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Author-ity (SBMA) Freeport Zone.

On a motion of Sen-ate President Juan Ponce enrile, Senate committee on agriculture and food chairman Senator Francis ‘Kiko’ Pangilinan ordered Protik Guha, chief execu-tive of India-based rice im-porter Amira C. Foods In-ternational to show cause why he should not be cited in contempt.

The panel also directed Cesar Bulaon, vice presi-dent of consignee Metro eastern Trading Corp; vicente ‘Bong’ Cuevas III, president of CAMJ Con-struction Inc.; Stefani Sano, senior deputy administra-tor for business and invest-ments of SBMA; and, local buyer Purok Malakas Cesar Ramirez to submit in writ-ing their explanation.

”We’re asking these persons to submit in writ-ing to show cause docu-ments. Therefore, the mo-tion is approved,” Pang-ilinan said before suspend-ing the Senate inquiry into the nearly P500-million rice shipment now ware-housed inside SBMA Free-port Zone compound.

In a written statement, Guha said the 420,000 bags of Indian rice were not intended for the Philip-pine market but for Indo-

nesia.”This shipment was

part of a batch of six ves-sels that were bound for Indonesia, specifically for Perum Bulog, an Indone-sian state-owned company. Due, however, to unfore-seen circumstances, the (sixth) vessel could not be discharged in Indonesia due to expired import per-mit,” Guha said.

However, Bureau of Customs (BoC) commis-sioner Rufino Biazon pre-sented a document show-ing a memorandum of agreement between Metro eastern and Amira to sell 200,000 sacks of the In-dian rice to Dasmarinas in Cavite and Cabuyao in Laguna.

Biazon also denied ac-cusation of Guha that Ami-ra has not been given due process when the BOC de-cided to seize the 21,000 tons of Indian rice.

”The BOC denied Ami-ra accusation that they have not been given due process. It was baseless. The absence of admission of entry and import per-mit from the NFA (Nation-al Food Authority) was the basis to render that decision (seizure). Actu-ally, we conducted hearing and Amira was present,” Biazon told the panel.

Guha insisted that the goods were not intended for transshipment only and not to sell domestical-ly though he said: “Metro eastern continued to send interested buyers to me, even though at no time did I request him for such.” [PNA]

Senate threatens to hold Indian rice importer, 3 others in contempt

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012

SUPPOSe I steal my neighbor Jill’s flat-screen television and install it in my living room. Jill or one of her friends who knows about Jill’s miss-

ing television comes over to my house a few days later, notices the television and asks, “Hey, isn’t that Jill’s television?”

I immediately confess. “yes, it is,” I say. I’m re-ally sorry. It was a mistake.”

Jill or any interested observer or even the po-lice might ask, “What do you mean by ‘mistake’? Did you mistakenly break into her house and mis-takenly haul her huge flat-screen into your living room and set it up on the wall?”

Well, so far, most of the press seems content to let a colleague - Fareed Zakaria, who writes for Time and the Washington Post and has a Sunday CNN talk show - get off with exactly that explana-tion for stealing something. In this case, the theft was plagiarism.

As has been widely reported, it was discov-ered the week before last that Zakaria’s essay in that week’s edition of Time and on an accompany-ing blog post on CNN.com about gun control had a key, fact-filled paragraph that was almost iden-tical to a paragraph in an April issue of the New yorker by Harvard professor Jill Lepore. Two other important paragraphs, while not nearly as word-for-word, basically track what Lepore wrote. The three paragraphs - tracing the surprisingly long history of gun control laws in America - are by far the meatiest and seemingly most original parts of Zakaria’s 11-paragraph Time column.

After media reports - which started with a blog post by Newsbusters, a conservative media watch-dog organization -detailed the apparent copying of Lepore’s work, Zakaria issued the following state-ment on August 10:

“Media reporters have pointed out that para-graphs in my Time column this week bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore’s essay in the April 22nd issue of The New yorker. They are right. I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologize unre-servedly to her, to my editors at Time, and to my readers.”

Following that statement, Time and CNN said they were suspending Zakaria pending their own investigations; both statements said or im-plied that they were seeking to find out how Za-karia’s “mistake” happened and, more important, whether any of his other work might have con-tained similar lapses. The Washington Post, not-ing that his column was “on vacation” in August, said it, too, would investigate his prior work but that his column was expected to resume in Sep-tember.

Just six days later, Time and CNN announced that their investigations were over and Zakaria was being reinstated. Here’s what Time’s state-ment announcing that all is forgiven said:

“We have completed a thorough review of each of Fareed Zakaria’s columns for Time, and we are entirely satisfied that the language in question in his recent column was an uninten-tional error and an isolated incident for which he has apologized. We look forward to having Fa-reed’s thoughtful and important voice back in the magazine with his next column in the issue that comes out on September 7.”

Time, CNN and Zakaria owe their readers and viewers a lot more than that, and the rest of the press should be embarrassed if it lets those statements end the story.

What was the “unintentional error”? Other cases of plagiarism in the digital age have been explained by a writer cutting and pasting some-thing someone else has written into what he or she is writing and then forgetting to put it in quotes and attribute it. That excuse is dubious enough, but here - as well documented by At-lantic.com (which attributed its discovery to a reference in a National Review Online article) - Zakaria’s self-described “mistake” or “lapse” was doctored a bit with slight changes in language in the key paragraph and with more changes in the offending paragraphs that followed. These altera-tions strongly suggest that this was no accident, that he intentionally used Lepore’s work, and in-stead of attributing it thought he would cover his tracks by tinkering with some of her words.

Or at least that’s what I will think until some reporter sits down and asks Zakaria exactly those questions and gets a full and verifiable explana-tion of exactly what his “lapse” was - and then asks Time and CNN to explain exactly what their six-day “investigations” consisted of.

On Monday, the New york Times took what was at best a perfunctory stab at pinning Zakaria down in a story by Christine Haughney, head-lined, “A Media Personality, Suffering a Blow to His Image, Ponders a Lesson.” As with prior Times coverage , Haughney dwelled on the pressure Za-karia has put himself under as he juggles two col-umns, a Tv show, regular tweeting, writing books and doing paid speaking gigs. “Many writers now market themselves as separate brands, and their journalism works largely as a promotion for more lucrative endeavors like writing books and public speaking,” she explained. The “lesson” Za-karia says he had learned from the incident, she concluded, was: “There’s got to be some stripping down” of his frantic schedule.

8 VANTAGE POINTS EDGEDAVAO

(1st of two parts)

An open challenge to DPWH 11EDITORIAL

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

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SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

THe open declaration of President Aquino of his administration’s tread-ing the straight path (Matuwid na

Daan) in governance has been openly be-trayed by the men mandated to build good roads.

When the construction season began for the Department of Public Work and High-ways (DPWH) early this year, there had been a series of complaints over the fail-ure of the government agency to strictly impose upon private contractors all the re-quirements for road safety on repaired road sections. There had been reports of road ac-cidents, some resulting to death of motor-ists in these “highways of death.”

We had pointed this out earlier and ex-pected the DPWH would take positive action in the form of corrective measures. We even singled out the death of one fresh nursing graduate of the San Pedro College who was killed in Mati City last May 17 after hitting a metal plate earlier left on the road by the contracting firm.

The local government of Mati City im-mediately conducted an investigation on the incident and concluded that no warning devices had been installed along that sec-tion of the repaired road. The report on the finding was forwarded to the DPWH sec-

ond engineering division office in Mati City. But, lo and behold! the DPWH regional of-fice through a certain engineer Peter Riel B. Roque issued a certification on July 19, 2012 or two months after the fatal accident pur-porting to show that the contractor, Maver-ick Builders Inc., had complied with all the requirements of the project.

A drive along the repaired road section a few days ago revealed only a few blink-ing lights, three pairs to be exact, in a span of some two kilometers, except that of the three pairs of blinking lights, only one sin-gle light was flashing, albeit weakly like its batteries were about to conk out. The sig-nages along the road had seen better days with most of their reflectorized letters al-ready peeled off the board.

This is the real situation on the ground. We do not know how else could the DPWH or its engineers certify to its safety without being guilty of perjury and false statement. They cannot just sit in their offices all day without attending to the mounting com-plaints from the public.

We challenge DPWH 11 and its second engineering district office in Davao Oriental to drive to Mati City and discover for them-selves if the road in question is indeed safe for motorists, especially at night!

By Steven BrillCommentary

Fareed Zakaria’s ‘mistake’

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012 9VANTAGE POINTSEDGEDAVAO

By Priam nePomuceno

SPECIAL FEATURE

Modernizing PHL coastal defenses

Death, Hachiko and Jesse Robredo

A US-based think tank has suggested the Philippines should look into the possi-bility of improving its coastal defense

systems.This is in line with the country’s efforts to

protect its maritime claims, the Philadephia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) said.

It said this should be done in the mean-time that the country is waiting for deliveries of equipment that would improve the capa-bilities of its Air Force and Navy.

The think-tank raised the suggestion after noting Manila might not have enough funds to acquire potent weapons like the submarine which can deliver a devastating attack on in-truders with little or no loss to itself.

“An alternative strategy would be for it to take advantage of its geographic location to the Spratly Islands and meet (an intruder’s challenge) from an asymmetric angle,” the think tank said in its website.

“Rather than directly confront strengths in air and naval warfare, the Philippines could pose a challenge with a strategy built around new technologies for coastal defense that would have lower long-term procurement and maintenance costs,” it said.

These missiles include America’s RGM-84L Harpoon, RGM-109B Tomahawk, India’s BrahMos, and Russia’s P-800 yakhont.

Denmark, egypt, South Korea, and a small number of other countries have used RGM-84 anti-ship cruise missiles as part of their coast-al defenses.

vietnam recently ordered two batteries of P-800 missiles to protect its South China Sea claims.

FPRI stated four batteries of such anti-ship missiles mounted on wheeled or tracked vehicles and dispersed along Palawan’s long road network could satisfy the Philippines’ capability requirement to deliver the massed firepower necessary to penetrate any intrud-ing fleet’s shipboard defenses.

It added the weapon systems’ mobility would reduce the possibility that they could

suppress them with either air or ballistic mis-sile strikes.

FPRI said the Russian P-800 missile is part of the K-300P Bastion-P coastal defense sys-tem.

A single battery’s standard configura-tion consists of four launchers, each with two P-800 missiles, two command-and-control trucks, a combat alert vehicle, and four trans-porter loaders.

Designed for rapid deployment, the bat-tery can ready all eight missiles for launch in five minutes.

The American RGM-84L missile’s smaller size would allow each launcher to mount four missiles, as Denmark’s launchers were config-ured for its coastal defense batteries that op-erated from 1988–2003.

If organized like the K-300P system, each RGM-84L-equipped battery could launch 16 missiles in a single salvo, it said.

Although modern ships have improved air and surface search radars, their sensors have limited ability to peer ashore.

And while reconnaissance satellites may be able to find fixed installations and help tar-get land-attack missiles against them, mobile targets are far tougher to locate, as Coalition forces discovered during their hunt for Iraqi Scud-B mobile ballistic missiles in 1991.

With ample jungle cover and good emis-sions discipline, Philippine coastal defense batteries could remain hidden from intruding forces, it said.

To counter these batteries, the latter would have to send aircraft, helicopters, or unmanned aerial systems deep into Philip-pine airspace over Palawan to pinpoint them, placing them at risk from land-based Philip-pine air defenses.

FPRI added coastal defense batteries would require over-the-horizon detection and

tracking to provide targeting data for their missiles, and command-and-control coordi-nation to enable a synchronized salvo launch from multiple batteries.

It said: “Ideally, the Philippines could ac-quire e-2C airborne early warning aircraft to meet both requirements. Given the over 350 kilometer detection range of its AN/APS-145 airborne surveillance radar, an e-2C patrolling over Palawan and well-defended by land-based air defenses on the island could scout for in-truding ships anywhere in the Spratly Islands.

“But such an aircraft may prove too costly to acquire and maintain. And it would likely be based on Luzon where it would have better ac-cess to service infrastructure, but far from the Spratly Islands, lengthening its response time.”

The think-tank added a more flexible alter-native may be the MH-60R naval helicopter.

“Since the Philippine air force already has experience operating helicopters from the same S-70 family, it would not have to create a wholly new spares inventory or training pro-gram for aircrews, as an e-2C would require. In addition, the MH-60R’s AN/APS-147 air-borne surveillance radar has a detection range of probably over 300 kms —- extending deep into the contested waters around the Spratly Islands -— and a substantially lower power output than other maritime radars, making it more difficult to detect,” FPRI said.

Better still, four helicopters could be ac-quired at the cost of one e-2C.

With a fleet of six MH-60R helicopters, two could be forward deployed at Puerto Princesa, while the other four could remain at Sangley Point for repair or local duties.

Though the MH-60R platform may not have the full range of capabilities as the e-2C, they would not be tied to airfields and could be reinforced with the balance of the helicopter force should tensions escalate.

In the future, when unmanned aerial sys-tems become more reliable and less costly, they may also play a role in maintaining persistent surveillance over the South China Sea, FPRI said. [PNA]

WHeN Rizal was cap-tured, he

was on his way to Cuba in service of Spain. eventually, he was sentenced to death for rallying the Filipinos against Spanish abuse. Ninoy died in the hands of his compatriots, having decided to go home and fight the Marcosian conjugal dictatorship. Bonifacio was murdered by revolutionary troops, acting upon orders of his fellow revo-lutionary leader. When his nemesis soon be-trayed his country by selling its independence for several thousands of pesos, he then left the country and enjoyed Hong Kong’s sterile beauty. Jesse Robredo was killed in a plane crash off Masbate shores. He was in a hurry, wanting to go home in Naga City to attend the swimming awarding ceremony for his young-est daughter.

Death is the great equalizer, an old adage explains. Death reduces anyone, mighty or low in life, to a mass of decaying organic mat-ter. Microorganisms do not make distinction between a body of a hero and that of a pauper. Only the coffin does. In cultures that tradi-tionally burn their dead, it is the length of the funeral march. Death is a mere transition to another life---a prelude to immortality. Well, we do not see any sane person killing himself now just to attain immortal life. Only fanatics do.

It is an odd topic, I must admit. A thirty-something like me is too young to talk about death. Let us leave that to the old and the dy-ing. They are in best position to elucidate on death. Remember, though, that death brings about rebirth---a new beginning. And that is what I am most interested in at the moment.

Hachiko is a tale of probably one of the most loyal dogs I have ever known. It is based on a true story of a dog of the same name in wartime Japan. There are two movie versions of this splendid story of an extremely faithful canine; the one starring Richard Gere is the more popular one. Pax Americana!

Hachiko regularly sent off his master at a train station. He would then fetch him every late afternoon. One day, his master, a Japa-nese professor, suffered from stroke or heart attack, I am not certain, and eventually died. Without fully understanding what happened to his master, Hachiko did what most human beings would never do---wait for a master who would never return for nine years! Ha-chiko died at the time when Japan was prepar-ing for a world war. His death emboldened a loyal people and was used by propagandists to rally the Japanese behind a demigod em-peror. Japan eventually lost the war and its emperor was stripped of his divinity but Ha-chiko’s memory lives on. A bronze statue put up at the same spot where he died is still a fa-vorite place for lovers to swear their loyalty.

Maybe, few know that the late Interior Sec-retary Jesse Robredo is the youngest mayor ever elected in Philippine history and, so far, the only Filipino mayor who was given the Magsay-say Award, Asia’s version of Nobel Peace Prize. And far fewer people know how simple and un-assuming he was. This is not eulogy, of course. It is best to leave it to his friends and publicists to extol the good things about the good man, devoted father and model leader. Jesse was so simple that he did not care so much about how he appeared in public. Once, a close elder called his attention and even scolded him for wearing an ordinary shirt while being inter-viewed on Tv. He used to bike alone around a once backward city; thanks to him, Naga is now a bustling first class city in the region. He took the bus when shuttling from Manila to Naga, even when he was already one of the top cabi-net officials. He visited his constituents, many times wearing only shorts, collarless shirt and slippers. He was a far cry from a lowly and am-bitious barangay kagawad who wears barong tagalong during sessions.

A hero’s death changed a nation forever. A dog’s demise continues to inspire people. A government worker’s journey into the world of immortals stirs a nation.

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 201210 SUBURBIA EDGEDAVAO

THe upcoming estab-lishment of a shelter for young offenders

in New Corella town, here, will boost the prominence of the province as a “heal-ing field.”

Governor Rodolfo P. del Rosario said the soon-to-be-constructed Bahay Pag-asa, a residential facil-ity for the rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law (CICL), will bolster Davao del Norte’s posi-tion as a safe haven for the transformation and reha-bilitation of delinquents.

The construction of the transition home for err-ing minors is set to start in September this year after the Department of Social Welfare and Devel-opment (DSWD) recently turned over P2.5 million for the project.

Del Rosario said the sanctuary is going to give essential care, protec-tion, and social services to juvenile delinquents un-til their values and social

functioning are mended.Besides physical, emo-

tional, and spiritual de-velopment, technical and vocational skills will be a part of their rehabilitation program, in order to am-ply prepare them for their integration back into the mainstream of society.

The governor stressed the facility offers a safer place for the CICLs, com-pared to putting them in jails alongside hardened criminal-prisoners.

He is confident the temporary shelter will dramatically reduce, if not eliminate the volume of unlawful acts committed by the youngsters.

The province shall op-erate the center, which will be built adjacent to the Luntiang Paraiso Regional Rehabilitation Center, a provincial government-run facility that has been accommodating drug de-pendents and alcoholics on a subsidized scheme for over a decade now.

DavNor offers haven for youth offenders

Gov. Rodolfo P. del Rosario receives the P2.5-million check from An Jikain, Team Leader of DSWD-XI’s Special Programs, for the construction of the Bahay Pag-asa in New Corella, Davao del Norte. Noel Baguio/DavNor PIO

TWeNTy-two former rebels (FRs) who have returned to the

folds of the law received on Tuesday (August 14) livelihood assistance from the Office of the Presiden-tial Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) through Sarangani’s comprehen-sive local integration pro-gram (CLIP) for its rebel returnees.

OPAPP area coordina-tor emmanuel Fable said the aid would provide FRs start-up capital to support them as they start a new life as he pointed out “ito (assistance) ay tiwala na binibigay namin sa kanila na pwede silang mag-bagong-buhay.”

The checks amounting P419,000 where each FR received from a range of at least P5,000 to P50,000 depending on the pro-

posal of FRs and the as-sessment of the provincial social welfare and devel-opment office.

This is the second batch of check awarding under CLIP, a new pro-gram under the Internal Peace and Security Plan-Bayanihan of the gov-ernment which enjoined more participation from the local government units to make the program more sustainable.

Same livelihood op-portunities and assistance were also provided to FRs last year but was funded under the Social Integra-tion Program of the Ar-royo administration which has been shelved.

Governor Migs Domin-guez reported that for the past 10 years, Sarangani already facilitated more than 300 surrenderees

topping other provinces in terms of the number of FRs.

“Dito mo makikita ang cooperation ng local gov-ernment at national es-pecially sa Armed Forces of the Philippines, 73rd Infantry Battalion at ang mga rebelde na gustong mag-surrender.”

He told FRs that there are countless reasons behind joining the rebel groups but he pointed out “wala’y barrio, wala’y barangay, wala’y probin-sya nga mulambo tungod sa giera. Naay balaod nga kinahanglanon ipatuman pero ang pagrebelde dili solusyon sa pag-arangka-da sa kumunidad.”

Lt. Col. Adolfo espuelas Jr. of the 73rd IB also told them it is in this interven-tion “makikita ang pag-mamahal, pag-aaruga and care sa mga nahisalaag. Magpasalamat kita sa mga

leaders nato that are re-ally ready to embrace you back to the mainstream society.”

“Obviously,” he said, “the program has been very effective in encourag-ing others to come down also dahil sa pagbibigay natin ng livelihood na naipapakita natin ang katotohanan at sincerity ng gobyerno para tumu-long para sa mga handang magbalik-loob.”

The FRs, which mostly came from the farthest barangays of Glan, were screened by the joint au-thentication and valida-tion committee composed by representatives from the Philippine Army, Phil-ippine National Police, the provincial government and from the civil society organization before they underwent the re-integra-tion process conducted by the PSWDO.

22 rebs get livelihood assist in Alabel town

BP CHECK. Terumo (Phils.) Corp., through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), distributes sphygmomanometer (blood pressure meter) to seven state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the Davao Region. The turn-over ceremony was led by DTI-Davao Regional Director Marizon S. Loreto (middle) last August 2 at the DTI-Davao Regional Office in Davao City. The recipient-schools are the University of

the Philippines-Mindanao Campus, University of Southeastern Philippines (Main and Mabini ComVal Campuses), Davao del Norte State College, Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology, Southern Philippines Agriculture, Business, Marine, and Aquatic School of Technology, and Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku. (DTI11/UP-Min)

A Communal Irriga-tion System (CIS) worth P3,932,718

at Upper Biangan village was turned over by the Silway-Buayan Regional Irrigation System/Saran-gani Province during a program last August 15.

The local irrigator’s association accepted the project for operation and maintenance from the Na-tional Irrigation Adminis-tration (NIA).

Irrigator’s association Pres. Juralde Deposo and Brgy. Captain Reumero Geonson received the project while Gov. Migs Dominguez, Board Mem-ber eleanor Saguiguit and

engr. Gina Lozano, acting chief of office of Silway-Buayan RIS/Sarangani Province, led the turnover ceremony to the recipient barangay.

The project is one of the newly-completed irri-gation projects of the NIA to rehabilitate, restore and construct various ir-rigation projects in the country.

The CIS project at Up-per Biangan includes the construction of 290-me-ters lined main canal and 2,320-meters lined lateral canal. The construction started March 14, 2012 and was completed on August 14.

Sarangani village gets P4-M irrigation project

AT least 100 “perform-ing” barangays in South Cotabato received a fi-

nancial grant of P50,000 each from the provincial govern-ment on Wednesday as part of a local awards system pat-terned after the Department of Interior and Local Govern-ment’s (DILG) Seal of Good Housekeeping award.

South Cotabato Gov. Ar-thur Pingoy Jr. said they re-leased the incentives as a trib-ute to the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, who earlier in-troduced the awards system to promote effective, accountable and transparent governance among local governments in the country.

“I’m sure he’s happy that we’ve adopted his program and actually doing it right now,” the governor said.Robredo

Dubbed “Dungog Sang Ba-rangay,” the provincial govern-ment launched the program to recognize the outstanding or top-performing barangays within the province’s 10 towns and lone city. South Cotabato

has 199 barangays.Pingoy said a selection

committee created by the local government endorsed the 100 awardees based on their com-pliance with “internal house-keeping” regulations set by the DILG.

“The awards system mainly recognizes barangay officials and stakeholders who uphold the principles good governance and have performed well in terms of internal housekeeping, especially in the areas of good planning, sound fiscal manage-ment, transparency and ac-countability and valuing of per-formance monitoring,” he said.

The governor said the pro-gram complements with the provincial government’s policy that promotes and encourages excellence in barangay gover-nance, specifically in the areas of legislation, finance, resource administration, people’s partic-ipation and empowerment, de-livery of basic services, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection and preservation, among others. [PNA]

So.Cot pays tribute to Sec. Robredo through awards scheme for barangays

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2010. In a five year data, production had its peak in 2006 at 885 metric tons while the lowest is in 2008 at 832.22 metric tons.

Land area allocated to cacao remained constant to 1,288 hectares from 2007-2010. The price of cacao in 2006 was pegged t P58.94, while in 2010 it reached to P70.10/kg. yield per hect-are posted an average of .66 metric tons per hectare in the past 5 years.

Holganza said that most producers in the region are

affiliated with groups like Fair Trade and Rain For-est Alliance, proof that the manner of cacao produc-tion in the region is done in very humane and environ-mentally acceptable man-ner.

Kakao Konek is a con-ference and exhibit that will bring together the world’s industry experts, farmers, nursery operators, plant breeders, traders, manufacturers, and service suppliers on November 21 to 23 at the Apo view Hotel.

Invitations have also been sent out through the embassies of the US, Tur-key, Canada, China, UK, and Japan, among others.

“After the conference, we want people to realize that Davao is an alternative source of cacao, where we do things right,” Holganza said.

The conference will also showcase a culinary com-petition and a ‘sikwatehan sa baryo’ during which sup-pliers and buyers can trans-act business.

Philippine National Police (PNP), Maritime Industry Authority Regional Of-fice (MARINA RO-11), Na-tional Telecommunication Commission (NTC), envi-ronmental Management

Bureau (eMB) and Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB).

By virtue of Memoran-dum Circular No. 129 is-sued by the Office of the President, PICO was estab-

lished last April 16, 1991 and through Memorandum Order No. 01-97, it was in-stitutionalized within the Forest Management Service of the DeNR. PICO became inactive in 2008. [DENR 11]

munities take the drugs once a year until DOH could declare the commu-nity free of this disease,” the information material said.

For his part, Compos-tela valley Gov. Arturo T. Uy, who was requested to join the panel of guests, said that the secret of eliminating filariasis in his province is through full cooperation, collaboration

and partnership among multi-agencies – from the provincial, municipal and down to the barangay level.

“We, as government officials, are one to imple-ment programs like health. Unity plays a vital role here,” he told reporters during an ambush inter-view.

Uy said that with the assistance of the DOH to

combat the problem on filariasis, their meager re-sources are substantially augmented.

He said though they have still a lot of work to do to combat other diseases like malaria and dengue that are observed to be tak-ing its toll in the province.

“We are in a preventive side to address these prob-lems,” he said. (ASA) [ANtho-Ny s. ALLADA]

nature to ensure that the DILG is running and its service to the public is continuous,” Ochoa said.

Ochoa had already asked an inventory of all the pending matters for review and their status, particularly the reforms that Robredo began in several offices under the wings of the DILG.

Ochoa particularly mentioned the ongoing reforms which Robredo put in place in the Philip-pine National Police and the Bureau of Jail Man-agement and Penology, as well as his plans to re-locate informal settlers.

Initially, Ochoa said he has started putting together the signing and

approval system for ad-ministrative matters and logistics to prevent any interruption in the ser-vices.

He said employees should expect him to be visible in the agency in the coming days until the President appoints a permanent DILG chief. [PNA]

DePARTMeNT of Justice (DOJ) Sec-retary Leila M. De

Lima on Wednesday des-ignated Parole and Proba-tion Administration (PPA) Administrator Manuel G. Co as Officer-in-Charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Both the PPA and the BuCor are attached agen-cies of the DOJ.

In Department Or-der No. 678 issued on Wednesday, Co was desig-nated as OIC of the BuCor during the effectivity of the leave of absence taken by Director Gaudencio S. Pangilinan.

The OIC will oversee the day-to-day adminis-

tration and operations of the BuCor under the direction of the DOJ Sec-retary.

De Lima will continue to directly attend to the management of the Bucor with the assistance of Co.

Co’s designation will be in addition to his ex-isting duties and respon-sibilities as PPA Adminis-trator, but will not include the power to act on mat-ters involving policy de-termination, the approval of long-term contracts, the appointment or dis-missal of personnel, and other matters that go be-yond acts of mere super-vision or administration, or which by nature, are

essentially within the au-thority of the DOJ Secre-tary.

De Lima also modi-fied the partial detail of National Bureau of In-vestigation (NBI) Deputy Director Rafael Z. Ragos to the BuCor, directing the latter to report and render assistance to both the DOJ Secretary and the BuCor OIC.

The NBI is the Philip-pines’ premier investi-gating body and is also an attached agency of the DOJ.

The order took effect immediately and will re-main in force until fur-ther orders of the DOJ Secretary. [PNA]

Co named as BuCor OIC

CIvIL Aviation Au-thority of the Phil-ippines (CAAP) di-

rector general William Hotchkiss II announced Wednesday the ground-ing of all aircraft of Avia-tour Air pending results of the investigation of one of its planes that crashed in the sea of Masbate.

”A suspension order has been issued by CAAP grounding all aircraft used by Aviatour Air,” Hotchkiss said in a press release issued by the De-partment of Transporta-tion and Communication.

Interior Secretary Jes-se Robredo and Capt. Jes-sup Bahinting, the plane pilot and owner of Avia-

tour Air, and Nepalese co-pilot Khitiz Chand, were killed while Robredo’s aide-de-camp Police Sr. Insp. June Paolo Abrazado survived the accident.

DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas already ordered the CAAP to conduct a thorough investigation and get into the bottom of the plane crash.

The CAAP formed a team to serve as the Air-craft Accident Investiga-tion and Inquiry Board headed by Capt. Amado Soliman, an aviation in-dustry expert in flight safety for over four dec-ades, Capt. Ramon Flores, and Capt. elmer Pena.

Hotchkiss said the

CAAP was among the gov-ernment agencies that readily mobilized their unit last Sunday.

This immediately sent the CAAP Go Team head-ed by Capt. Soliman with Capt. Lorenzo Gumba and engr. Reyner Bucali-nao to Masbate after the plane crash to gather all information and facts that could shed light on the ac-cident.

Hotchkiss said CAAP will keep the plane wreck-age at Masbate airport under tight security.

This will be thorough-ly examined by the CAAP team to gather accurate data on the real cause of the tragedy. (PNA)

CAAP grounds Aviatour Air planes pending result of probe

THe Department of National Defense (DND) plans to

buy two Italian warships worth US$ 30 million (P6 billion) each to upgrade the Philippines’ defense capabilities.

Defense Secretary voltaire Gazmin, at the hearing of the House of Representatives’ appro-priations committee of its proposed P121.6-billion budget for next year, said the purchase of Italian warships or frigates were part of the DND’s mod-ernization plan.

The proposed budget is P15 billion higher than this year’s capital outlay.

Gazmin said the budg-et increase would be used for big investments aimed at beefing up territorial defense.

Meanwhile, to ensure the safety of the Presi-dent and his Cabinet, the House minority bloc said it was in favor of purchas-ing new planes dedicated for their use.

House Minority Lead-er and Quezon Rep. Da-nilo Suarez, in a press conference, said the gov-ernment needed at least six new aircraft -- one re-gional jet, one jet for lo-cal travel, two propeller-driven aircraft (1 Queen Air and 1 King Air) and two helicopters.

Suarez said the new planes would cost about US$ 85 million (roughly P3.6 billion).

“We should not put a tag price in the secu-rity of our leaders. We are expressing our con-cern for the safety of the

President and his fam-ily because, as we are all aware, our country does not have a dedi-cated Presidential plane and he takes chartered flights for official travel,” he said.

Besides, Suarez said the new aircraft would also benefit political leaders after the term of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

The House minor-ity leader also asked the government to review all modes of public trans-portation following the death of Interior and Local Government Sec-retary Jesse Robredo, whose plane crashed off Masbate last Saturday afternoon on the way to Naga City from Cebu City. (PNA)

PHL plans to buy two Italian warships worth US$ 30M

MA L A C A N A N G said that the pas-sage of the sin

tax reform bill would not only provide the gov-ernment more funds to take care of the public’s health but will also level the playing field that could increase the in-come of the local tobacco farmers.

In a press briefing in Malacanang on Wednes-day, Presidential Spokes-person edwin Lacierda made it clear that the passage of this measure also provides safety nets for the farmers to ensure a better income for them.

“We regard the sin tax reform bill as a health is-sue. Like we said smok-ing contributes, costs the economy around 177 bil-lion pesos. Doon po mer-on tayong safety nets po para sa mga farmers and in fact, if you open it up, if you level the playing

field sa tobacco industry, the tobacco farmers will themselves profit from that kasi tataas ang pr-esyo ng cigarette prices,” Lacierda said.

He further said that the concerned govern-ment agencies, which include the Department of Finance led by Sec-retary Cesar Purisima, have discussed and ex-plained the proposed bill in the Lower House, add-ing that the same will be presented in the Senate.

“So magkakaroon ng mas malaking income po para sa ating mga tobac-co farmers. But, first and foremost, we regard this as a health issue and I hope the Senate will also recognize the cost to the economy. May safety nets po tayo sa mga tobacco farmers, and I think that was already explained in the House —25 percent will be part of the safety

net,” Lacierda noted.It will be recalled that

in the third State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno S. Aquino III, the Chief ex-ecutive explained that the government will be using the revenues from the sin tax reform bill for universal health care. Sin tax reform will be raising the taxes on cigarettes and liquor.

The sin tax reform bill is one of the Aquino administration’s prior-ity measures, which has been certified as urgent.

The Lower House has already approved the bill thereby setting a two-tier system for tobacco products and three-tier system for alcohol products, de-pending on the net re-tail price. However, the Senate has yet to pass its counterpart meas-ure. (PNA)

Malacanang says passage of sin tax reform bill will provide government more funds for health care

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VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 201214 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS

THe game of lawn ten-nis was invented in england around the

19th century and was intro-duced in the Philippines be-fore World War II. The core of Filipino racquet wield-ers was composed of ac-complished professionals foremost of them lawyers, doctors, engineers and ac-countants, businessmen and government officials nota-bly bureau directors, judges, clerks of court, fiscals and military officers.

Formidable tennis play-ers were Felicisimo “Mighty Mite” Ampon, Raymundo Deyro, Alfredo Cruz, Delfin Contreras Jr., Jose brothers and eddie Cruz. They were the best in Asia and Asia Pa-cific during their time.

“Mighty Mite” set his mark in the lawn tennis world by defeating great players from the United States, Australia and New Zealand, becoming the Pan American Pacific Champi-on. In europe, Mighty Mite came closest to a Wimbledon semi-final berth but his witty “soft diet” strokes were mer-cilessly outpowered. The ea-gle-winged eddie Cruz broke his back serving and volley-ing to the end precipitating a long tennis slump, until Felix Barrientos reclaimed Asia once again.

Among the ladies, Desid-eria Ampon dominated the topmost slot, while Filipino-American Cecile Martinez showed her flair for the game in the United States. Many young girls turned to tennis playing to win. Some found the game truly en-hancing physical fitness such as Aurora Pijuan who was crowned Miss International in 1970.

The courtsIn Davao City, twin ce-

ment courts of unique sur-face were constructed by the Japanese at the back of the City Hall along Ma-gallanes Street. They were to be long considered as the best cement courts ever built in the country play-able in only a few minutes after rain. About 27,000 Japanese nationals popu-lated the city before the war. Many of them planted abaca, crops, fruits and flowers, while some operated food, clothes and pharmaceutical stores. When news about the bombing of Pearl Harbor broke out, many Japanese in Davao were rounded up by the Philippine Constables and packed like sardines at the PTA stadium. They were freed shortly by the invading Japanese Army. Upon liberation, the cement court became the home of the Davao City Tennis Club which added a second court made of clay fine shell from the Davao Gulf.

Shortly thereafter, an-other club was formed --the

Capitol Tennis Club along San Pedro Street fronting the Cathedral. The court was carved out of the grounds of the Provincial Capitol Build-ing located in what is now the Sangguniang Panglunsod building. A third group or-ganized the PTA Tennis Club at the back of Palma Gil el-ementary School inside the PTA Stadium in what is now the People’s Park.

At the Davao City Tennis club, Dr. Leocadio Sexon, a dentist, ably presided as the “court general” of a platoon of jolly playing tennisters composed mainly of nearby residents and workplace ha-bitués. The roll of members included Dr. elias Dacudao; Apo view Hotel proprietor and Kidapawan rubber plan-tation tycoon Mariano Pa-mintuan Sr.; Davao Theater owner Mike Aquino; taxi operator Leopoldo Poblete; motorcycle cop Francisco L. Fernandez; business execu-tive Maurice Cowan; Pedro Abastillas; lawyers Santiago L. Fernandez, Mariano Mata, Bobby Sencio, Honesto Cabarroguis and Leo Del-ante; Architect Romy Soli-taria; Accountant vic yam-bao; Army Reserve Colonel Itoy Barlis; Honorary Con-sul Lito Iñigo; Brokenshire Hospital Doctors Dominador Cabrera; “Right Hand Drive” esperidion; Caltex officers Ching Rodriguez and Jess veloso; Larry Garcia; CFI Judges vicente Cusi, Anto-nio M. Matinez, Godardo Ja-cinto, and Mariano Tupas; Clerk of Court Manuel Mulet; Chemical engineer Calvin Camino; Pilot Captain Con-cepcion; spouses victor and Jean edades; DBP Manager Ramirez; Old man Sion and son Bong; Ruben Gatchalian; yolando “Macao” Salazar; PC Provincial Commander

vicente Luna; brothers Dodong and Apyong Alonte; PNO Auditors Nick Fernan-dez and Hector Dizon; Honor Hernandez; Dodong veloso; Dr. Alfredo Tan; Sgt. Floren-tino Babila; Borras; Waling Waling; Doming Manulat, sons boy, Donnay and daugh-ter Inday; brothers eddie and Rene Abastillas; brothers “Boy”, Jun, Renato and Leo Fernandez; Ador Mata; and Itoy Barlis’ sons.

Dr. Dacudao’s benevo-lence

elias Dacudao led his sons Ramon, Gus and Tony in playing in the Magallanes court despite a private family court at their Tugbok farm. Benevolent, Dr. elias contrib-uted to the well being of the court, the players and the ball boys. He brought in national players to play exhibition matches to the great delight of local tennis enthusiasts. His love for the game extend-ed his much sought benevo-lence nationwide. For this, the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (PHILTA) named its center court in his honor as the “elias Dacudao Court.”

ever determined to bring skills in tennis to the youth, he spent for each summer stay in Davao City of Felici-simo “Mighty Mite” Ampon, Raymundo Deyro, Alfredo Cruz and Delfin Contreras

Jr. to train the youth.The graduates led by Ro-

gelio “Boy” Fernandez orga-nized the Davao City Junior Laws Tennis Association. “Ben” valleramos, Jose “Joe” Racho, Santiago “Jun” Fer-nandez and Severo “ver” dela Cruz won singles and doubles championship trophies at the Interscholastic Meet and privately-sponsored tourna-ments.

Atenean “Boy” Fernandez founded the Utopia Law Fra-ternity at Ateneo de Manila and the Tau Mu Law Frater-nity at the Ateneo de Davao, earned a Master of Laws de-gree from the University of Sto. Tomas and became an international law practitio-ner and lucrative captain of industry exporting 100% sili-con metal.

Mindanao Collegian

“Ben” valleramos who fathered his brothers “Jun” and “Ling Ling” is one of the many ben-eficiaries of a college degree by the grace of tennister ve-ronica “Inday” Dalisay Tirol.

Atenean “Joe” Racho be-came a certified public ac-countant and engaged in a lucrative career overseas in Hong Kong and the United States.

Mindanao Collegian “Jun” Fernandez became an engi-neer and established the San-shell Construction and Devel-opment Corporation build-ing a coconut oil processing plant, a soap and shampoo processing plant, numerous commercial buildings and thousands of low-cost hous-ing units.

Mindanao Collegian “ver” dela Cruz became corporate president of eMCOR and the Philippine Jaycee Senate.

Ballboy Manuel “Ling Ling” valleramos copped and held on to the much coveted No. 1 tennis player of the Philippines title for many years. elder brother “Jun” be-came an international trainor overseas who settled in Hong Kong.

Their fellow home court national player, Rene Abas-tillas, turned internationalist as well as playing in U.S. and europe and trained foreign players in the Arab countries.

Closely following their footsteps were “Boy” and “In-day” Manulat who played in local, regional and national tournaments.

At the Capitol Tennis club, the brothers Bing and Hose Pila became legendary but chose to play only in their home court except for Danny “Gigi” Pila who became a No. 1 ranked player in the Philip-pines in the early 80’s.

The exemplary effort of elias Dacudao kept many

fam-ilies to play together in the same court and inspired the younger breed to develop ex-traordinary skills playing the angles, acquire mental tough-ness to excel and lead as well as in their chosen fields of en-deavor and live longer, hap-pier lives. The sports drew out-of-school kids away from the streets, mischief, drugs, crime and violence.

Tennis courts “demol-ished”

The government’s use of public land once devoted to tennis, however, disbanded the major clubs with no re-location site and playing field.

The site on which the Davao City Tennis Club once stood is now occupied by a public elementary school, the land having been titled in the name of the Republic of the Philippines for the benefit of the Department of education in 1952. The land on which the Capitol Tennis Club once grounded are reconveyed to the city and is now the Sang-gunian building. The land on which the PTA Tennis Club once dwelt is now the Peo-ple’s Park.

The role of judges in tennis growthMembers of the bench

contributed largely to the propagation of lawn tennis among the youth in Davao with their exemplary conduct and human relations in court.

The late CFI Judge An-tonio M. Martinez retired as Supreme Court Associate Jus-tice. Two others ended their judicial career as Court of Appeals Justice. The late Fis-cal Pedro Gabaton presided at the Capitol Tennis Club as Perennial President. The late Judge “Inting the Dragon” and then proceeded to preside at 8:30 a.m. at his Judicial Court and played in all three courts

on Saturdays and Sundays.Today, many retired pro-

fessionals, government of-ficials, military officers, bank managers, big businessmen, captains of industry and balikbayans still play at over 80 years old.

The great painter victor edades played his last dou-bles match at 90 years old. His American wife, the gram-mar guro who wrote a col-umn in the pre-Martial Law Manila Times called “How’s your english,” played tennis in her 80s.

Practically all those ap-pointed as director of the Bureau of Lands and PC/INP Regional Commanders have played at the Magallanes Court.

In those days, there were no street scavengers, drug pushers, gang wars nor apa-thy for the youth who were kept at home doing daily chores and studying and af-ter school playing a sporting game or two.

even the weather was finest with no storms and floods ,only drizzle in late af-ternoons watering the earth’s fruits and flowers and ( even grass) to grow, bloom and bear fruit.

No other man knows the great value of lawn tennis in the threatened human en-vironment than the late Dr. elias Dacudao who knew that playing the angles develop extraordinary skill and play-ing to win in both singles and doubles team play and ac-quires mental toughness not only in the game but in living a longer, happier life in their old age.

Lawn Tennis in Davao City produced in the Judicial Bench one supreme Court and two Court of Appeals Justices, numerous members of the bar who excelled and led as judges, fiscals and law practitioners of consequence, top medical practitioners, highly-skilled engineers, crack-shot military regional commanders and officers, and captains of industry, as well top-rated national play-ers and internationalists out of the ball boys, age group champions and club cham-pions out of the sons and daughters of members, “Ge-nerics” who are no longer classified as Class “A”, “B”, or “C” but who still play at the old age of 70, 80 and 90 and an ever growing population of good humored men and women physically, mentally and spiritually fit.

In his lifetime, Dr. elias Dacudao was the grand patron of lawn tennis and chess that both developed healthy bodies and minds for countless schooled and out-of-school youth who grew much wiser and older than the rest in their time. And he exemplified best.

Salamat gid Senior Dacu-dao, Don elias!

Davao sports history

Dr. Elias Dacudao: Patron of lawn tennisBy Roger Fernandez

Dr. Dacudao

Red Mango, the world’s pioneer non-fat frozen yogurt, is now in davao and their dabawenyo fans just can’t get enough of the store’s refreshingly tangy frozen yogurt with fresh and exciting toppings that can be enjoyed any time of the day. Free of un-healthy additives like high-fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients, Red Mango’s all-natural frozen yogurt is a treat that I would gladly sink my spoon into.

With so many different toppings to choose from, I literally had a hard time picking the flavor profiles and combinations to want in my bowl of frozen yo-gurt. I finally settled on Red Mango’s blueberry swirl yogurt topped with adzuki beans, kiwi, and

blueberry. The yogurt was tart but not too sour, with a rich creamy taste accented by the different toppings. I also loved the candied lemon topping in my sec-ond serving of yogurt, that went nicely with the mochi, peaches, kiwi, and sliced almonds. This was dessert heaven. also on my “to taste” list would be their addictively delicious waffles which are crisp on the outside while warm and soft on the in-side. green tea lovers will definitely love Red Mango’s green Tea Waffles which are paired with delicious cream and adzuki beans. of course the all-natural

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012

EDGEDAVAOFOOD

Red Mango opens at Gaisano Mall’s Peak

frozen yogurt is just one part of the experience. Red Mango’s first store in Mindanao is stylish, with modern contemporary interiors that are comfort-able and relaxing. Visit Red Mango at the

Peak area of gaisano Mall of davao now and have a taste. Follow me on Twitter @kennethkingong for foodie finds, travel buzz, and happenings in and around Durianburg.

INdulge!

TOm Cruise and Ka-tie Holmes’ five-year marriage is officially over. The couple’s divorce case was closed on monday af-ter a New York judge signed off on the final judgment, according to court records obtained by e! News. That was fast! The news comes just a month-and-a-half after the 33-year-old Holmes shocked the world by fil-ing for divorce from her 50-year-old Top Gun hubby and seeking sole custody of their six-year-old daughter, suri. The twosome formerly known as TomKat entered negotiations almost im-mediately and worked out a settlement in a matter of days, the details of which

remained confidential. A source close to Cruise tells e! News today that the actor is pleased that he is moving on from the divorce. “Tom is very happy and relieved that he is moving forward,” says the source, who’s familiar with the terms of the deal. “His pri-ority is being a good father and this settlement will make sure that continues.” Cruise and Holmes be-gan dating in April 2005 and a month later the mis-sion: impossible star pro-claimed his love for the actress with his infamous Oprah Winfrey couch-jumping appearance. The pair tied the knot in Nov. 2006 in a lavish ceremony in italy.

A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012EDGEDAVAO

LOOK OuT ryan Lochte, you’ve got some royal competi-tion. The Olympic hottie and potential Bachelor was partying in Las Ve-gas monday night when he ended up agreeing to an impromptu race with Prince Harry! Lochte, who’s been in sin City since Thursday celebrating his 28th birth-day, ended up crossing paths with the Prince of Wales at the Wynn Hotel’s Xs nightclub and, after a few drinks, the latter chal-lenged him to a friendly meet—at 2 in the morn-ing! “it was really fun swim-ming against Prince Harry. He’s a great guy, and it was an huge honor to meet him!” the gold med-alist said in a statement to e! News about the face off, which took place in the pool of Xs’ encore Beach Club. “i was surprised that he challenged me actu-ally. i didn’t know if he had any skills in the pool, but i definitely wasn’t going to take it easy on him!” Given Lochte’s logged more hours in the water, you can probably guess who won, but ryan was

very gracious to his High-ness—the New York Daily News shared a video of the showdown. “He was a great com-petitor but in the end it was Team usA all the way to the wall!” added Lochte. “Next time i’m in the uK it’d be fun to challenge him to something on his own turf ! maybe moto-cross? i heard he’s pretty good but i’m a competitor so…Prince Harry when-ever you’re ready!” An eyewitness who watched the encounter from start to finish tells e! News how it all went down.

“Harry was at a table with his friends. He was having a laugh and really enjoying himself,” said the witness. “i think they had been drinking a bit all day. Harry was popping in and out of the pool—he was wearing jeans and no top—he would get in, float around on one of the inflatables.” As for Lochte, the by-stander said ryan was topless on the dance floor, surrounded by a bevy of beauties. Afterward, he and his entourage no-ticed Prince Harry and went up and introduced themselves and both par-

ties got on—um—swim-mingly. “Then someone thought it would be a good idea for the boys to race one another,” added the witness. “Their friends cleared a path in the pool of the scantily clad girls who were hanging around and ryan, Harry and a couple of their friends competed in around three 10-meter races. someone would say, ‘ready, set, go,’ and then they would be off.” Per the eyewitness ac-count, the duo did the breast stroke and front crawl, but weren’t taking themselves all that seri-ously. “After three races, ryan seemed to win as he got out of the pool and jumped up and down with jubilation and then Harry got out and ryan hugged him. i am not quite sure where the finish line was—there didn’t seem to be one, [but] i think it was a girl in a bikini.” sounds about right for these gents. Harry left the pool area first with bodyguards in tow about 4 a.m. and ryan departed about a half-hour later.

Ryan Lochte vs. Prince Harry Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes officially divorced

eNTerTAiNmeNT

SINdulge! A3VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012 EDGEDAVAO

Present during Sarah G. show at the activity center of Abreeza Mall are (from left to right) Javier D. Hernandez, assistant vice president - Commercial Business Group of Ayala Land, Inc., Bal Dominguez of Marco Polo Davao, Rowena M. Tomeldan,

vice president and head for operations - Commercial Business Group of Ayala Land, Inc., Cora G. Dizon, vice president - Busi-ness Development, Ayala Land, Inc. and Jinky Aguinaldo, ex-ecutive assistant - Office of the President of Ayala Land, Inc.

Nicolai and Julianne pose for a photo with Sarah Geronimo during the latter’s show at Abreeza Mall.

The opening number was superb and grand as it brought excitement to the people waiting for the Pop-star Princess. The perform-ers were in their full gear in celebration of the Kaday-awan festival as they per-formed the cultural dance. They mobbed the stage and there were even perform-ers on the second and third levels of the mall.

As I went to the Abree-za Mall, the traffic was so heavy, and I had realized how Sarah is truly a Pop-star as she drove many fans to come for that event. There were also special guests that were present which include the Assistant VP of Commercial Business Group of AyalaLand Mr. Ja-vier D. Hernandez and also

the Floirendo family.When Sarah finally

stepped on the stage, the fans cheered out until the end of her performance. Her voice is so amazingly and she danced gracefully. It was like a concert for free for the Dabawenyos and I am so happy I was one of those who experienced the show.

Her mall tour is also a promotion of her album entitled One Heart which is available in all music stores nationwide. The first 200 fans who bought the album of Sarah were also given the chance of to meet and greet Sarah personally one by one and have an album signing by the star after the show.

arah GBy Vicky Berdina M. de GuzmanPhotos by Lean Daval, Jr.

atLive!

THe unbeatable mall tour had just blown away Dabawenyos

during Sarah G’s mini concert at the Abreeza Mall last August 17.

A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012EDGEDAVAO

sm CiTY General santos in-troduces new fashion trends, from clothing to accessories to footwear, to the people of sOCKsArGeN area and the rest of southern mindan-ao.  sm Gensan features fresh and hip ensembles fit for the youthful and the daring. Carrying different brands such as Airwalk, Dexter, Champion, and American eagle by Payless with bud-get-friendly price tags, the popular u.s. retailer, Pay-less shoesource, makes sole searching for the perfect pair much more exciting. Together with Dickies, Oxygen, Forme, Penshoppe, and Jag at the Ground level, is G by Guess that carries casual apparel and accesso-ries featuring only the hot-test and trendiest styles for young men and women. Affordable yet fresh and stylish, Arrow, can spruce up your wardrobe for work and play. Create styles that reflect your personality and bring yourself into the spotlight. Visit Arrow store at the sec-ond Level of the mall. Known as the “fashion for less” apparel store, surplus shop carries a wide selection of international branded ex-port excess merchandise and ready-to wear fashions which has greatly contributed to its popularity as a shopping ha-ven for young patrons. Fashion watchers will love Collezione, one of the pio-neering local brands in the garment industry which took the fashion world by storm with well-made well styled clothes is also now open. Local brands like south shore, Camisa, Juego, Hot issue and Ziya, round up sm City General santo’s fashion line-up.  Hurry! Take shopping to the next level at sm City Gen-eral santos from 10am to 9pm and get the latest trends in fashion apparel from all these exciting shops.  Watch out  for more apparel stores coming your way and for updates on  newly opened shops, Like sm City General santos (Official) on Face-book.

SM City GenSan introduces latest fashion trends

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2012 SPORTS 15EDGEDAVAO

TAIPeI -- It took a while for Gary David, a many-time national player as

an amateur, to return to the international stage since turn-ing pro.

Once he did, it didn’t take him long to make his mark.

The hot-shooting PBA star came off the bench to score 13 points against Korean side Anyang KGC on Tuesday, in-cluding the two biggest bas-kets of the game as Smart-Gilas Pilipinas pulled off an 82-79 victory to stay unbeaten in the 34th Jones Cup at the Tai-pei Physical education College gym.

David, a Southeast Asian Games gold medallist as an amateur but a first-timer in the national team as a pro, combined with Sol Mercado and Gab Norwood to lead Gilas back from a 12-point deficit

Gilas turns back Koreans 82-79

in the second half then simply took over in the stretch run.

David first gave the Phil-ippines a 79-77 lead with a running jumper in tight traffic with one minute, five seconds left, a shot which the Koreans answered with a layup from Jung Hyun Lee.

No shot was bigger, how-ever, than the contested stop-and-pop jumper ‘el Granada’ scored that broke the game’s final deadlock and gave Gilas the lead for good, 81-79.

TIMEOUT. Smart Gilas coach Chot Reyes maps out plan for the Philippines in the game against Korea.

BARANGAy Ginebra San Miguel will continue to feature

at least two Most valuable Player awardees on its team for the 38th season, as coach Siot Tanquing-cen confirmed the return of point guard Jayjay Hel-terbrand to team up with Mark Caguioa.

But the future of an-other Ginebra MvP, eric Menk, still remains un-certain.

“Jayjay will be back, but eric remains doubt-

ful, although may plano naman kami na isama siya sa line up,” Tanquingcen told InterAKTv in a tele-phone interview.

“It depends on his con-dition. Last time, he was in the line up, but we just used him gradually. Ayaw naman naming na biglain siya kasi matagal siyang nawala.”

According to Tanqu-ingcen, Menk is still in the United States and he hopes the veteran slotman will be ready for the com-

ing season.If he does return, the

veteran center will have to battle it out in a crowded frontcourt that will fea-ture rookie forwards Chris ellis and Keith Jensen.

But Tanquingcen said even the two blue-chip first rounders will have to earn their stripes.

“everyone should pass the training. They have to fight for their spots. No one is already guaranteed of a spot in the team,” said the coach.

The Ginebra frontline also includes Dylan Aba-bou, Allein Maliksi, Willy Wilson, Rudy Hatfied, Rico Maierhofer, enrico villan-ueva, Billy Mamaril, and Kerby Raymundo apart from Menk.

Before the draft, Tan-quingcen said that there were redundancies in the Ginebra roster. One forward, KG Canaleta, is scheduled to be traded to the Air 21 express pend-ing the finalization of deal details.

Helterbrand returns, Menk uncertain

THe Philippine na-tional men’s football team will be battling

Bahrain as part of its prep-arations for the upcoming 2012 ASeAN Football Fed-eration Suzuki Cup.

The Azkals will play against Bahrain in a friendly match on October 12 in its capital Manama, according to the latest fix-

tures on the team’s official website.

The Bahrainis are no stranger to Filipinos, who fell to a 3-1 defeat against the Middle east side’s Un-der-23 squad in July 2011.

But the Azkals will first face Southeast Asian rivals Cambodia on Sep-tember 5, Singapore on September 7 and Laos on

September 10 before par-ticipating in the Paulino Alcantara Cup, which is slated from September 25 to 29 in Bacolod City and will feature Guam, Macau and Chinese Taipei.

The Filipinos are com-ing off their training tour in the United States this August, where they fell to USL Premier Develop-

ment League side Chica-go Inferno, 3-1, and saw their match against the US virgin Islands cancelled due to misunderstanding among organizers.

The Azkals are using the matches to prepare for the 2012 Suzuki Cup in No-vember, where they look to surpass their historic semi-final run two years ago.

Azkals to face Bahrain in Suzuki buildup

NeW yORK (AP) -- Maria Sharapova is going into the can-

dy business.The four-time Grand

Slam title winner launched her Sugarpova brand of 12

types of sweets on Mon-day.

At this year’s French Open, which Sharapova won, she called Sugarpova ‘’the most exciting proj-ect that I’ve ever done ...

because it’s my own busi-ness, my own investment, my own money.’’

Sharapova is ranked third heading into the U.S. Open, which starts next week.

Sugarpova, anyone?

TOPex Robinson shocked the NCAA basketball world

Tuesday after resigning from his post at the helm of the San Sebastian Stags.

“I felt that at second place and still very much in contention for the championship, this is a good time for me to re-sign,” said Robinson, a San Sebastian alumnus who helped the Stags win sev-eral titles as a player in the 1990s.

He said that he will concentrate on his duties as a member of the Alaska Aces coaching staff under Luigi Trillo.

“As much as possible, kung puwedeng mag-full time with Alaska, kailan-gang gawin, that’s what Coach Luigi and our boss Fred Uytengsu told us,”

said Robinson. “I see this as a good opportunity to learn more. We have a good bunch of coaches now with the acquisi-tion of Coach Louie Alas, Coach Leo Austria and Alex Compton. That’s an opportunity that’s hard to pass up.”

At Alaska, Robinson will continue to get the opportunity to coach his San Sebastian star player, Calvin Abueva, who was selected by the Aces with the No. 2 overall pick in last Sunday’s draft.

The former PBA guard took over the reins of San Sebastian last season and piloted the Stags to a second-place finish in the NCAA tournament. He also led the team to the Philip-pine Collegiate Champions League title.

THe WTA is counting on Donald Trump, Aretha Franklin, Su-

san Sarandon and other ce-lebrities to draw new fans to tennis.

The women’s profes-sional tour launched a print and broadcast marketing campaign Tuesday that fea-tures various famous faces in a bid to boost the sport.

More than a dozen ce-lebrities agreed to appear for free in spots, including real estate mogul and real-ity Tv host Trump - a regu-lar visitor to the main sta-dium during the U.S. Open tournament - Grammy-win-ning singer Franklin, Oscar-winning actress Sarandon and two-time golf major champion Rory McIlroy.

‘’All of those celebrities like the sport, so we’re us-ing like-minded people to try to build a brand,’’ WTA

Chairman and CeO Stacey Allaster said in a telephone interview. ‘’We’re trying to continue to engage with fans and increase our fan base, and I’m thrilled the celebrities have donated their time to be part of it.’’

Top players such as 14-time Grand Slam singles title winner Ser-ena Williams, four-time major champions Maria Sharapova and Kim Cli-jsters, and currently top-ranked victoria Azarenka also are part of the ‘’Strong is Beautiful’’ campaign.

That slogan was first used in the WTA’s global marketing efforts last year, with players at the fore-front of the ads.

Now the tour wants to broaden its reach.

‘’In today’s congested marketing space, we’re try-ing to cut through that with

an inspirational and cre-ative campaign. The use of celebrities with our own celebrities is very much being done, in fact, to draw upon the celebrities’ fan base and introduce their fans to the world of wom-en’s professional tennis,’’ Allaster said. ‘’If someone is a fan of one of those celebs, the ultimate goal would be to try to engage with those fans and have them watch and follow WTA tennis and ultimately become a fan.’’

In one 15-second ad, Trump appears alone on-screen and says: ‘’’Strong’ is knowing that as much as it takes to get to the top, it takes twice as much to stay there, knowing that leg-ends are made one shot at a time. That’s what cham-pions are all about. ‘Strong’ is women’s tennis.’’

Women’s tennis steps up pitch

Topex leaves Baste

VOL.5 ISSUE 123 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 201216 EDGEDAVAOSPORTS

PAL pilots and cabin attendants exchanged their uniforms for triathlete suits to represent the flag carrier during the recent Ironman Triathlon held in Cebu. The two PAL teams – a maiden appearance for the airline at the annual triathlon – gave respectable finishes in the corporate category that had 22 teams. The PAL triathletes are, lower photo from left: International Flight Steward Christian Casalla, International Flight Steward George Carag, Capt. Ramon Jose Baling-hasay, Second Officer Katherina Pijuan, Capt. Michael Ugalino and First Officer Raymund Pabalan.

exPeCT another head-to-head clash among the rivals of the local

running scene in Sunday’s Timex Run-Davao.

The field has reached over 800 with just four days

before this much-anticipated footrace but the numbers will have to be just 1 or 2 for back-to-back Kadayawan race winner Brian Lupo and erstwhile Davao’s top long distance runner Anthony

Nerza.All eyes will be on Lupo

who completed a rare Kaday-wan double after winning the two races in two weeks during the Kadayawan Fes-tival. But Nerza will surely

have redemption in his mind as he tries to recover lost ground.

Kenneth Sai of vantage Sports said there are already over 800 runners or more than half of the expected

Another battle royale seen in Timex RunBy Neil Bravo

1,500 runners expected to be at the starting line on Roxas Avenue for the event handled by Runrio and spon-sored by Timex Watches.

Registration will con-tinue at the Timex shops at SM City Davao and Abreeza Mall. There will also be on-line registration via www.runrio.com. Registration is pegged at P400 for 5K, P500 for 10K and P600 for 16K categories.

Registered runners will receive a race kit of singlet, race bib with timing tag and they can avail of 20 percent discount on select Timex watches valid until Septem-ber 30, 2012.

Bannering the array of celebrity runners taking part in the race this Sunday are the members of Team Pangilinan made up of cou-ples Anthony and Maricel and siblings ella, Hannah, Donny, Benj and Solana and renowned running Coach Rio dela Cruz.

Team Pangilinan joined the Cebu leg over the week-end along with Dela Cruz in a race that was supported by Cebu City Sports Com-mission.

The Timex Run-Davao Leg is also supported by Powerade Ion, viva Mineral Water, Black Beauty, United Neon and Grand Regal Hotel.

TWO Philippine Air-lines teams made it to the top ten finish

of the corporate category in the recent 4th Cobra en-ergy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippine Triathlon.

The PAL squads re-corded the remarkable result for first-time com-petitors in the high-level international event.

PAL Team A bagged sixth place in the 22-team field with a respect-able time of 5 hours, 54 minutes and 25 seconds, well behind the 4:20:02

turned in by corporate division champion First endurance-CPK Tri Team but still impressive for a rookie squad.

PAL Team B was less than seven minutes be-hind Team A in eighth spot, with a time of 6:01:09, also a highly no-table finish for a side with no prior triathlon experi-ence.

Both PAL teams were composed of employees from the flag carrier’s flight deck and cabin crews.

PAL bets shine