P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

The City Health Office (CHO) has recorded a total of three deaths

among Lumads from differ-ent parts of Mindanao who have been in Davao City for about three weeks now for the Christmas season.

CHO officer-in-charge

Dr. Samuel Cruz told report-ers in an interview that the first death of a Lumad was recorded in the Toril shelter area which houses a total of 1,057 Lumad families.

Cruz said the Lumad, whose name he did not dis-close, was from Sta, Cruz,

Davao del Sur and died of suspected acute pancreati-tis.

“Based on the report, the victim was seen well in the afternoon before the death. Some said that he was still sweeping in the afternoon, only to be discovered dead

while sleeping,” he said.The second and third

death cases were those from the shelter area in Shanghai, Matina Aplaya.

He said one died due to cerebrovascular accident or stroke while the other one

FDEATHS, 10

Report: 3 lumads died of illnesses while in city for ‘pamasko’ DEATHS IN THE CITY

SPORTS page 15

INSIDE EDGEDESPITE OUSTER, GINEBRA COACH STILL TRUSTS IN THE TRIANGLE

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

CHRISTMAS ‘LOOT.’ Excitement is written on the face of this young Lumad while she takes a peek into the “loot bag” she received during yesterday’s “Pinaskuhan sa Lumad” 2014 at Task Force Davao headquarters in Sta. Ana wharf. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 20142 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

Mayor gets Council nod to getbank loan for waste managementBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

4.6 earthquake hitsNorthern Mindanao

2015 Aquino journalism fellow is a Mindanawon

Int’l group to fund marine protected area network

THE Davao City Council approved the request of Mayor Rodrigo R.

Duterte to negotiate a loan with any government bank-ing institution to augment waste management pro-gram of the city.

In last Tuesday’s reg-ular session, the Council approved the resolution to enact an ordinance on the letter of Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte “requesting for leg-islative authority to nego-tiate with Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and any government banking insti-

tution that can offer a loan advantageous to the City Government of Davao and to sign the covering docu-ments pertinent to the loan.”

The resolution was ap-proved under suspended rules since Duterte issued a certificate of urgency on the matter.

Committee on finance, ways and means, and ap-propriation chair councilor Danilo C. Dayanghirang said the loan will be used for the upgrading of the solid waste management and collection system.

During the discussion, councilor Rene Elias Lopez asked Dayanghirang why there was a need for a reso-lution to authorize the may-or to negotiate for the loan.

Dayanghirang replied that the resolution would give personality to Duterte “taking consideration that the amount will be drawn from the P3 billion agree-ment” with LBP and other public and private financial institutions.

“By practice and tra-dition of the City Council, the mayor should be given

authority to negotiate. In due respect also to the City Council as a matter of in-ter-department courtesy,” Dayanghirang said.

He also said Duterte asked the City Council to authorize him for the P600 million loan that will aug-ment the “very important project” on the upgrading of the city’s solid waste man-agement.

Last month, Duterte said the city did not allocate funds for trash bins so he will ask the Land Bank for a loan for this appropriation.

He said he was still thinking of the proposal of the Solid Waste Manage-ment Office of the City En-vironment and Natural Re-sources Office (CENRO) for the inclusion of P600 mil-lion for the additional bins.

Duterte said he will buy 10 big garbage containers which are not easy for a man to carry and have them nailed to certain areas so they will not be easily re-moved.

He is also planning to hire trisikad drivers as gar-bage collectors in the ba-

rangays and will pay every driver who will collect the garbage of households in-side the barangays.

He said he is also plan-ning to buy huge garbage containers so that they can-not be easily removed from the collection area, adding that some of the small bins the city has today are al-ready inside houses.

Duterte said that he will no longer buy small bins be-cause first, they are easily stolen, and every time there is a flood they easily float and go to other areas.

AN earthquake with a magnitude of 4.6 on the Richter

scale shook the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and the provinces of Mis-amis Oriental and Lanao del Norte Wednesday af-ternoon.

The Philippine Insti-tute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) placed the epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred 2:36 p.m., in the town of Lugait in Misamis Oriental, which shares boundary with Iligan.

Edmundo Pacamalan Jr., Misamis Oriental pro-

vincial disaster manage-ment chief, said no dam-age was reported so far in the province, especially in the municipality of Lugait.

“The quake was felt strongly by residents of Lugait but no damages were reported,” Paca-malan said.

PHIVOLCS said the earthquake was tectonic in origin and had a depth of 18 kilometers.

Pacamalan said that as far as he could recall, this is the first time the prov-ince of Misamis Oriental and Lugait became an earthquake epicenter.

JOURNALIST and editor Amalia B. Cabusao has been chosen as the jour-

nalism fellow of the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowship for Professional Develop-ment, a program established by the United States Embas-sy.

US Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg said that Cabusao was selected for her “fine work in strengthening a free and responsible media in Mindanao through journal-ism training programs for budding journalists.”

An award ceremony in

her honor, with members of the Aquino family attending, has been scheduled at the embassy’s Charles Parsons Ballroom February next year.

Goldberg and a member of the Aquino family will co-present the journalism award.

Cabusao helms Mindan-ao Times in Davao City. She is also the training director of the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center (MNICC) who leads in organizing the annual Mind-anao Media Summit with the

AN international group will fund the establish-ment and management

of Marine Protected Area (MPA) network within Davao City for the conservation of biologically important spe-cies.

In a privilege speech in last Tuesday’s regular ses-sion, City Council commit-tee on agriculture and food chair Councilor Marissa Salvador-Abella said Germa-

ny-based development group Gesellschaftfur Internatio-nale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) submitted a research propos-al to her committee.

The proposed research titled “Strengthening Estab-lished Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network within Davao City and Conservation of Bio-logically Important Species” was approved by city offices such as City Agriculture’s Of-fice (CAO), City Environment

and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), City Planning and Development Office (CPDO), City Fisheries and Aquat-ic Resources Management Council (CFARMC), and the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP)– Obrero Campus.

Abella said GIZ will be allocating P1.268 million through the USEP extension office to facilitate the re-search and other activities

with coastal communities as beneficiaries from 2015 to 2016.

She said the city will not spend for this project be-cause the allocation of MPA ordinance of the city will serve as counterpart and the same is already available in the CAO.

Abella said the objective also of the project is to reduce illegal fishing activities by 10

ON GUARD. San Pedro Police Station head Senior Inspector Ronald Lao (center) supervises the security measures being undertaken during the second day of the Misa de Gallo at San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City to prevent untoward incidents such as riots between rival gangs that usually converge in the area. Lean Daval Jr.

F2015, 10

FINT’L, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 3NEWS

OFW from SierraLeone cleared of Ebola

DOJ files graft chargesvs Napolcom official

Phl transmits custody request of US Marine

Placer folk complain of‘different taste’ of water

EDGEDAVAO

DAVAO City is still free from Ebola, an official of Southern

Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) said.

SPMC chief of clinic Dr. Ricardo Audan yesterday confirmed that the Over-seas Filipino Worker (OFW) from Sierra Leone, West Af-rica who was quarantined at SPMC did not show any sign or symptom of the deadly disease.

“The patient, who un-derwent 21 days of quar-antine in our isolation unit, will be released by Friday,” he added.

The OFW arrived in Davao City last November. He is a safety engineer in a mining firm in Sierra Leone, one of the areas most affect-ed by the Ebola outbreak.

Audan said when the OFW was admitted in SPMC, he did not have fever and even had a copy of a clear-ance from the government of Sierra Leone that he was free from Ebola. But because of a verbal order coming from the Office of the President, the OFW was ordered quarantined.

Instead of being con-fined in a separate quar-antine area, the OFW was sent to the isolation unit of SPMC.

“Our isolation unit is originally for the purpose of admitting OFWs coming from Ebola-infected areas that have fever but it was used for another purpose because the BOQ (Bureau of Quarantine) didn’t have one when the patient arrived

last month, ” he said.The expected influx of

balikbayans this holiday season prompted BOQ to have its own quarantine unit.

Audan said the BOQ, De-partment of Health (DOH), and SPMC had an emergen-cy meeting last week to dis-cuss the influx of balikbay-ans in the next three weeks.

“The quarantine area is already ready and it will be bigger compared to our isolation unit that has only a capacity of isolating three suspected patients probably suffering from Ebola,” he said.

Audan said SPMC will only be used as ab isolation unit and not as quarantine unit anymore.

SPMC is the only hospi-

tal in Mindanao allowed to monitor and treat patients suspected of having Ebola. But different private hospi-tals in Davao City are also preparing their own isola-tion unit if an Ebola outbreak happens in the city.

The DOH ordered that OFWs coming home from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea be subjected to man-datory quarantine at the iso-lation unit of the SPMC.

As of December 13, World Health Organization (WHO) recorded that there are already 6,856 probable, confirmed, and suspected deaths from Ebola, including those from US and Mali.

Liberia has 3,290 deaths, Sierra Leone has 2, 033, Guinea has 1,518, and Nige-ria has eight.

THE Department of Jus-tice (DOJ) filed on Mon-day criminal charges

against a ranking govern-ment official who was arrest-ed in an entrapment opera-tion in Zamboanga City.

Charged for two counts of violation of Republic Act 3019 otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of direct bribery is Atty. Ma-capado Guro, National Police Commission (Napolcom) re-gional director for Region 9.

The DOJ filed the charges against Guro after the local police forwarded Monday three criminal complaints–violations of R.A. 3019, direct bribery and robbery with extortion–against him at the City Prosecutor’s Office.

Supt. Diomarie Albarico, Police Station 7 chief, said Tuesday the city prosecutor “omitted” the robbery with extortion case against Guro.

Guro was arrested in an

entrapment last Friday at a pension house in Barangay Sta. Maria, this city.

The entrapment was car-ried out after Guro alleged-ly demanded P10,000 from each of two Isabela City po-licemen who have pending cases at Napolcom.

In exchange, the two po-licemen were promised the administrative cases against them would be dropped.

Albarico said the respon-dent-official was released Monday as he managed to obtain “provisional liberty pending trial” after posting a total of P100,000 bail.

The bail covers P30,000 for each count of violation of R.A. 3019, and P20,000 for each count of direct bribery.

Albarico said Regional Trial Court Branch 13 Judge Eric Elumba has granted Guro’s “Extremely Urgent Petition to Post Bail pending preliminary investigation.” (MindaNews)

THE Philippine gov-ernment has formally asked US authorities

to turn over to Manila the custody of US Marine Private First Class Joseph Scott Pem-berton, who is facing charges for the alleged murder of a Filipino transgender woman in October.

In a statement, Depart-ment of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the request, contained in a diplomatic note, was sent to the US Embassy in Manila on Tuesday night.

“We served the note verbale demanding custody last night, the same time we served the arrest warrant,” Jose said.

The Olongapo City Re-gional Trial Court ordered the arrest of Pemberton for

the alleged murder of Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude on Oct. 11. Pemberton is detained in a Philippine military facility in Camp Aguinaldo, but the US said they retain custody over him.

Witnesses saw Pember-ton enter a motel in Olonga-po City with Laude, who was later found dead, her head slumped on a toilet bowl. Investigators said Laude, who suffered severe bruises in her head and body, was drowned.

Jose said the Philippine government expects an of-ficial response from the US although its embassy has already declared in a state-ment that Pemberton will re-main under its supervision.

“We’re still waiting for it,” he said. (PNA)

RESIDENTS of Placer, Surigao del Norte have complained of a change

in the quality of their pota-ble water supply since late last month and some even claimed to have suffered di-arrhea, but local officials dis-missed the claim and main-tained that water in this town has remained safe for human consumption.

Nonetheless, Placer may-or Filemon Napuli Jr., said they were investigating the complaint and had sent water samples from different sourc-es to a laboratory in Davao City for testing.

Napuli said the find-

ings will be known after two weeks and made public.

“Every day we are dis-cussing it with the manager of the Placer Water District to find solutions to it,” he told reporters.

He said the water is still safe to drink despite the change in quality. He added that he and Andro Michael C. Bugas, the manager of the lo-cal water district, drank it and found no problems except for the changed taste.

The mayor dismissed claims many people suffered diarrhea from late Novem-ber to early December saying there was no such report from

the Municipal Health office.Dr. Chuckie O. Trugillo,

municipal health officer told MindaNews Tuesday a few people had suffered diarrhea but said he could not point to the town’s potable water sup-ply as the cause.

He said they have sent wa-ter samples to different labo-ratories.

At the Surigao del Norte Provincial Hospital in Bad-as, Placer, Dr. Cosnarie E. Seguis, chief of clinics said there were three patients from Placer town who suffered diarrhea. But she could not say what caused it.

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

FPLACER, 10

GONE FISHING. Fishermen start to sail out from the coastal community near Sta. Ana wharf towards Davao Gulf for a long day of fishing yes-terday. Lean Daval Jr.

NAP TIME. The chapel inside Magsaysay Park in Davao City is fast becoming a haven for people looking for a quiet area to take a rest, with many people sleeping on its concrete benches – defeating its purpose as a place where one can solemnly pray. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 20144

DavOr gov’t rolls out fire relief aidTHE provincial govern-

ment rolled out relief aid to the families that

have been affected by a huge fire that broke out Monday afternoon in Quezon Street, Poblacion in the City of Mati.As early as Monday night, the provincial government imme-diately responded by bringing

the affected families cooked meals and food packs. Each food pack contained six kilos of rice and six cans of sardines. The Philippine Red Cross also distributed sleeping kits to the victims.The distribution was followed by another wave of distribution yesterday as truckloads of blankets and

cookingware such as pots, la-dles, and other kitchen utensils were sent by the Department of Social Welfare and Devel-opment (DSWD). ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya also turned over sacks of used clothes to the Provincial Social Welfare Office.

The provincial govern-

ment also distributed an initial cash assistance of P10, 000 to each affected family.

Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon, during her visit to the victims at the evacuation center in Barangay Central Monday night, assured them that the provincial government will continue to work with the

city government of Mati to ensure that their lives will be rebuilt and all necessary assis-tance will be provided.

She said the provincial government is also working to help families settle on a per-manent relocation site.

According to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Office, 149 fam-ilies with more than 600 indi-viduals lost their homes. No fatalities were reported and all those who were injured were given immediate medical care.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. By Karen Lou Deloso/Photos by Eden Jhan Licayan

EDGEDAVAO

SUBURBIA

THE Department of Fi-nance (DOF) sounded the alert on iron and

steel importers that have dropped out of government’s radar and are potentially rip-ping off P1.991 billion in un-dervalued or misclassified tax-es and duties.

In its latest Tax Watch, the DOF said its Fiscal Intelligence Unit looked at the transactions of iron and steel importers un-der Chapters 72 and 73 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) from 2011 to 2013.

The DOF said its audit cov-erage found 20 iron and steel importers in the country with 25 percent of total import val-ue for iron and steel shipments from 2011 to 2013.

It found that five of the 20 importers are no longer in their declared business addresses. In fact, one of the addresses does not even exist (see infographic).

It also found that seven out of every 10 audited iron and steel import transactions “are possibly undervalued or mis-

84 Davao cats given healthcareHAPPY MEOWLIDAYS

By VIDA MIA VALVERDEclassified.”

“The potential tax/duty deficiencies from undervalu-ation or misclassification amount to P1.991 billion,” the DOF said.

It said that amount can fund almost 3 million chil-dren’s rotavirus vaccines, or 6,788 meters of concrete bridges, or 7,740 school teach-ers, or 2,035 classrooms.

The DOF urged the public to report any information on the iron and steel importers to www.perangbayan.com or by email at customs_piad@yahoo.com.ph. Edge Davao

The team behind Happy Meowlidays, headed by Doc Bayani (leftmost) Edge Davao columnist Vida Valverde with her cats to be spayed and neutered.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 5EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

THE Escandor Devel-opment Corporation (Esdevco) will formal-

ly inaugurate the Clubhouse at The Matina Enclaves or CAME today.

No less than Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will be the guest of honor in the inauguration of CAME along with Esdevco president and CEO Glenn Y. Escandor who will personally tour the city’s chief executive around the 900-square meter facility.

Escandor will be joined by the rest of the Escan-dor clan including brother Gerome, mother Violeta and wife Michelle. The Esdevco staff led by project manag-er Gerald Garces will usher in guests and clients to the

much awaited blessing and inauguration of CAME.

Last month, The Matina Enclaves also inaugurated its model house unit at The Courtyard.

Garces said CAME will be a multi-functional facility that will serve the needs of the residents of The Matina Enclaves. It boasts of such amenities as a mini gym. Kiddie playroom, function room, ballroom for 150 to 200 guests, lapping pool, kiddie pool and gazebos. The second floor, fitted with um-brella-tables, has a spacious balcony where people can hang out while enjoying the sea breeze coming from the nearby Davao Gulf.

The mixed used devel-

Esdevco inaugurates CAME todayopment is the first venture of Esdevco into real estate development. Despite its newbie status, it has more

than lived up to its promise of providing the finest living amenities within a communi-ty that is right in the heart of

Davao City.Esdevco is a sister com-

pany of known Escandor businesses The Royal Madaya

Hotel and Davao Security and Investigation Agency (Da-sia)—known industry lead-ers in Davao City. (NJB)

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014THE ECONOMY6 EDGEDAVAO

P2B in iron, steeltaxes missing: DOFTHE Department of Fi-

nance (DOF) sounded the alert on iron and

steel importers that have dropped out of government’s radar and are potentially ripping off P1.991 billion in undervalued or misclassified taxes and duties.

In its latest Tax Watch, the DOF said its Fiscal Intel-ligence Unit looked at the transactions of iron and steel

importers under Chapters 72 and 73 of the Tariff and Cus-toms Code of the Philippines (TCCP) from 2011 to 2013.

The DOF said its audit coverage found 20 iron and steel importers in the coun-try with 25 percent of total import value for iron and steel shipments from 2011 to 2013.

It found that five of the 20 importers are no longer

in their declared business addresses. In fact, one of the addresses does not even exist

It also found that seven out of every 10 audited iron and steel import transactions “are possibly undervalued or misclassified.”

“The potential tax/duty deficiencies from undervalu-ation or misclassification amount to P1.991 billion,” the DOF said.

It said that amount can fund almost 3 million chil-dren’s rotavirus vaccines, or 6,788 meters of concrete bridges, or 7,740 school teachers, or 2,035 class-rooms.

The DOF urged the public to report any information on the iron and steel importers to www.perangbayan.com or by email at customs_piad@yahoo.com.ph. Edge Davao

Values can build a better nationNEW KREM-TOP CAMPAIGN

CHANGE. Krem-Top assistant brand manager Nikki Tan talks to reporters during the launch of the “Change for the Better” campaign yesterday at The Marco Polo, Davao. Lean Daval Jr.

“THE Department of Fi-nance (DOF) has finished 2014 strong,” DOF Chief

Economist and Undersecre-tary Gil Beltran of the Policy Development and Manage-ment Services Group said at the conclusion of the DOF year-end performance review last December 15.

Delivering remarks on Fi-nance Secretary Cesar V. Puri-sima’s behalf, Beltran noted that achievements in the year 2014 is part of a “virtuous cycle” sprung by good gover-nance reforms at the start of this administration.

Citing the country’s strong macroeconomic funda-mentals, Beltran said the DOF has built a strong foundations enabling growth and reforms to further pick up in the near future.

“Inflation slowed to 3.7 percent in November. Inter-est rates net of inflation re-main one of the lowest in Asia despite QE tapering in the United States. The exchange rate is stable on account of strong BOP inflows and the fiscal position is at its stron-gest (almost in balance at -0.3 percent of GDP as of end-Oc-tober) with the NG revenue effort up by 1/2 percentage point (as of October) and the

public sector debt ratio at its lowest in 30 years (66.3 per-cent for Consolidated Public Sector, 52 percent for non-fi-nancial public sector and 38.1 percent for consolidated gen-eral public sector),” Beltran reported to all DOF employees in attendance at the review.

“We are still keeping a 6 percent average quarter-ly growth rate for the entire Aquino administration, and there is headroom to sustain an even higher growth rate in the next two years. The growth rate is also private sector-led, investment-led and broad-based, ensuring growth is sustainable,” Bel-tran added.

Beltran welcomed the positive response the Phil-ippines received with four credit upgrades, most re-cently by Moody’s on 11 De-cember 2014 and S&P on 8 May 2014 to a notch above investment grade, the highest rating ever given by both rat-ings agencies to the country. The Philippines also received upgrades from Japanese R&I and NICE Investors Service of Korea. The World Economic Forum has also recognized the Philippines as the most improved country since 2010

THE Board of Directors of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an

independent agency of the US government, at its quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., announced the country’s eligi-bility to develop a proposal for a new compact with MCC.

In selecting the Philip-pines, the MCC Board of Di-rectors highlighted the Phil-ippine government’s efforts towards good governance and improved policy performance in promoting inclusive eco-nomic growth as reflected in the recent performance of the country in the MCC Scorecard FY2015.

The Philippines passed the eligibility requirements of MCC, including the Control of Corruption indicator.

The scorecard system is a mechanism developed by MCC to measure a country’s per-formance, as compared with countries of similar per capita income, in 20 third-party indi-cators divided into three broad categories: Economic Free-dom, Investing in People and Ruling Justly and contributing as basis for eligibility of a coun-try to access Compact grants from the US Government.

In the MCC Scorecard FY2015, the Philippines earned improved scores in Rule of Law (a jump from 42 percent to 54 percent) and Control of Corruption (a jump from 46 percent to 61 per-cent) under the Ruling Justly Category. This, coupled with consistent passing scores in in-

dicators in Economic Freedom and Investing in People (e.g. Fiscal Policy, Inflation, Regula-tory Quality, Natural Resource Protection, and Child Health), earned the Philippines eligi-bility for a new compact with MCC.

In a statement, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said the Philippines’ eligibility “adds to the virtuous cycle we began with good governance in our bid to promote inclusive, sustainable growth.”

“With Moody’s recent up-grade of the country’s credit rating to Baa2, we welcome how our development part-ners and the international community are positively re-sponding to our hard work by empowering even more re-forms to happen. Every recog-nition we earn from our part-ners is ammunition in the good fight we started last 2010.”

Scheduled to be completed in May 2016, the Philippines is currently in the latter stage of implementation of the first compact with MCC amounting to US$433.91 million worth of grants to support rehabilita-tion of the Samar Road of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Kalahi-CIDSS community-driven develop-ment projects of the Depart-ment of Social Welfare and Development, and revenue reform and anti-corruption efforts of the Department of Finance through the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Revenue Integrity Protection Service.

CHRISTMAS IN TUNA CAPITAL. The spirit of Christmas is in the air as Paskuhan sa Gensan opens with a grand fireworks display Friday, Decem-ber 12, at the Oval Plaza in General Santos City. Photo courtesy of Cocoy Sexcion for Gensan CPIO

DOF Reviews 2014:Phl in ‘virtuous cycle’

Phl eligible for 2nd compactgrant from US gov’t agency

AS the year draws to a close, Filipinos are being encouraged to look back

on their innate core values and determine to become better next year.

This is contained in Krem-Top coffee creamer’s newest campaign dubbed “Change for the Better.”

“For our campaign next year, we would like to harness innate Filipino values that can be used as a mechanism to communicate to the public how they can be better Filipi-nos and a better nation,” Krem-Top assistant brand manager Nikki Tan said during the cam-paign’s Davao launch at The Marco Polo, Davao yesterday.

Tan said the campaign started in 2012 with the call for everyone to commit and sustain personal values not just during the turn of the year but throughout the year and beyond.

“Over time, the campaign has grown from being individ-ualistic to being nationalistic

as the mission is not just on improving one’s self but the entire nation to rally towards becoming better Filipinos,” she said.

Tan said the campaign will be incorporated in the brand’s advertisements on television, radio, and newspapers nation-wide starting next year. Among

their endorsers are Richard Yap, Maja Salvador, and En-chong Dee.

According to sociologist Dr. Mina Ramirez, the five core values of Filipinos that Krem-Top wants to highlight in next year’s campaign are mapagpasalamat (grateful); matatag (resilient); masigasig

(perseverant); mapagmala-sakit (compassionate); and magalang (respectful).

Ramirez said despite hard-ships, Filipinos know how to enjoy life. This is evident in how Filipinos celebrate holi-days, feast, occasions, and re-unions.

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

FVALUES, 10

FDOF, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 7

“FOOD is more than sim-ple nutrition for Filipinos; they love to eat, whether

it’s a sit-down meal with fam-ily or friends or a quick snack. Sharing food is one of the great social pleasures for all classes, and not having food for your guests is considered a source of ‘hiya,’ so mountains of it are served at parties and fiestas.”

That is what Lindsay Ben-nett wrote in the Globetrotter Island Guide, “Philippines.”

Bennett considered Filipi-no food as “a melting pot” as it has “many differing cultural antecedents, with dishes and methods from Malaysia and Indonesia mixing with later Spanish, Chinese and Ameri-can touches.”

Recently, Cable News Net-work (CNN) came up with a list of 50 Filipino foods that define the Philippines. “Filipino food may not be as famous as that of its Thai and Vietnamese neigh-bors. But with more than 7,000 islands and a colorful history, this archipelago has some deli-cious dishes of its own,” wrote authors Maida Pineda and Candice Lopez-Quimpo.

The Philippines is re-nowned for its “adobo,” “sin-igang,” “kare-kare,” “bulalo,” “sisig,” and “halo-halo.” But some of the foods that made it to the list are what others call exotic foods. Ingredients may be distasteful to some but are delicious to the people who eat them.

In Pampanga, for instance, people cook mole crickets into a delicious appetizer called “kamaro.” The two CNN au-thors wrote: “If catching these bugs is tough, so is cooking them. Legs and wings must be removed, and then the body is boiled in vinegar and garlic. It’s then sautéed in oil, onion and chopped tomatoes until chocolate brown. These bite-size appetizers are crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside.”

Ever heard of “betute tu-gak”? The two authors shared this information: “The French may have turned frogs’ legs into a delicacy, but Filipinos take it to the next level. They get a frog, stuff it with minced pork and deep-fry it.”

“Kapampangans are actu-ally proud that their ‘betute’ is very unique to them,” wrote Al-exander Villafania in an article which appeared in the website of Food and Beverage. “This can be attributed to the fact that the frogs they use as main ingredient for this delicacy are rice field frogs, which eat small

EDGEDAVAO

CULTURE&ARTSExotic foods from the PhilippinesText and Photos By HENRYLITO D. TACIO

insects. These are actually larger than the normal frogs that are sold for food in most wet markets. However, small-er sized frogs are still good enough to make ‘betute.’”

To Westerners, “dinuguan at puto” may not look appe-tizing. But this black dish of pork and pig innards stewed in fresh pig blood seasoned with garlic, onion and oregano and eaten with a white “puto” (rice cake) or steamed rice is a com-forting dish for many Filipinos.

“Balut” has been the “shocking” topic of some tele-vision shows because of its taboo nature in some West-ern cultures. In two episodes of Survivor: Palau and two episodes of Survivor: China, separate challenges featured attempts to eat the boiled 17-day-old duck embryo. Sim-ilarly, Fear Factor frequently uses “balut” as a means of dis-gusting contestants. “Balut” is best eaten with rock salt or spicy vinegar; oftentimes, it is consumed with beer.

Named after the Filipino term which means “wrapped,” balut (a fertilized egg with a nearly-developed embryo in-side that is boiled and eaten in the shell) has been touted as an aphrodisiac as it boosts li-bido. Studies have shown balut contains 12.6 grams of protein, 181 calories and good sources of Vitamin B1 and B2, miner-als, niacin, beta carotene and other supplements.

Balut is common in street drinking sessions and just chatting with friends late nights. Generally, balut is sold mostly when the street lights are on by vendors in basket covered with thick foams and cloths to keep them warm.

You probably read “Dogeaters,” a novel written by Jessica Hagedorn and pub-lished in 1990. The title is a common derogatory term re-ferring to Filipino natives who supposedly eat dogs instead of pork or chicken.

Dog-eating is common in many homes in the Philip-pines. Here’s one experience from a foreigner: “In Batangas, I once ate a Philippine stew dish, caldereta, which is made of chevon (goat meat). It was delicious. However, one time I ate it, I was told this one was made from a dog. That was after I ate it. It tasted okay, like chevon really. I totally didn’t believe it was a dog; but I was convinced when driving through a back-street and saw a dead animal strung up by the neck, having the hide pulled off

it, from head to tail. I thought of it as goat but the head was still with its hide and it was defi-nitely a dog.”

If dog is not your taste, then you may try “ginataang daga.” It is not prepared from rats living in homes or in the cities. These are rats “harvest-ed” from rice fields in the prov-inces.

“I actually had an experi-ence catching these rats and I find in more enjoying than actually eating it,” one blogger wrote. “The best time to catch them is during rainy season because the rat holes are filled with water. Once they get out of their holes, we strike them with a bat or a stick. Cooking it is just like cooking a “ginata-ang manok.” However, it takes a longer time to cook it as you need to remove the skin, cut the heads and boil them sev-eral times to remove the smell. The taste is similar to chicken.”

Then, there’s the “tamilok,” which has become one of the tourism identities of places like Agusan del Norte, Bohol and most especially Palawan. If you’re still at loss what a “tamilok” is, it’s actually a wood worm which tastes like your familiar oyster. Although it looks like a worm, bigger than a twelve-inch ruler, it is actually a mollusk found inside rotting mangroves.

In her blog, Faith Salazar wrote: “Finding these wood worms among throngs of mangrove trees is not an easy feat. First, those scouting for

‘tamilok’ need to locate a dead mangrove. When they find one, they need to be careful when trudging muddy parts of the mangrove – it can get very sticky and slippery so their steps have to be calcu-lated. Plus, they have to evade sharp shells and tree branches. When they get to the prized rotting mangrove, they hack it open. They are lucky if they find a ‘tamilok’ inside.”

Jodelen O. Ortiz, who has eaten “tamilok” when he visit-ed Palawan, reports: “They are served raw after their insides are removed and cleaned. You may choose between vinegar or calamansi juice for perfect dips. If I were you, however, I will ask for native coconut vin-egar (the one from ‘tuba’) as ‘tamilok’ tastes better than the commercial vinegars.”

Those who have eaten “tamilok” say that it tastes bet-ter than oyster (“talaba”) and any other pulutan while some even answer that it could taste like cheese when served fresh. But one this is sure: drinking becomes more engaging with tamilok as “pulutan.”

If you happen to visit Davao City, try to go to Riv-erwalk Restaurant near the Crocodile Park and at Café el Gato at Palos Verdes. It serves any of the following crocodile dishes: braised crocodile paws, crunchy croc wings, crispy crocodile pata, braised croc-odile shank, drunken lechon crocodile, crocodile gumbo, crocodile sausages, fresh croc-

odile pasta, and crocodile ice cream, among many others.

“Personally, all these dish-es are really good,” says Chef Dino Dizon, who develops such dishes. “It really depends on the person’s mood; wheth-er something spicy for that day or something crunchy and meaty. For me, the fresh crocodile pasta always hits the spot. It goes well with any preferred pasta sauce. It is the creaminess of the pasta from the crocodile egg that pleases my palette. Finishing it off with a nice creamy crocodile ice cream completes it.”

To those who want to lose weight, crocodile meat might be the answer to your food cravings. “Compared to most other meats, crocodile meat is low in fat, low in calories and high in protein,” Dizon says. “In particular, it is low in saturated fat and high in monounsatu-rated fat. In addition, crocodile meats are sources of niacin and vitamin B12.”

Meanwhile, there are many types of foods sold in the street and here are cer-

tain favorites found in almost every place in the Philippines: “kwek-kwek” (made of quail eggs covered in orange dough and deep fried), “isaw” (chick-en intestine put on a stick and grilled), fish balls (minced fish rolled into balls), betamax (a cubed, curdled blood of a chicken), adidas (the marinat-ed grilled chicken’s feet), “atay” (marinated and barbequed liv-er of chicken), and helmet (the grilled head of a chicken).

Let’s cap this food trip with a drink – the civet coffee, which actually comes from the drop-pings of the nocturnal, cat-like animal called the palm civet. These carnivorous mammals do eat the red coffee cherries that contain the beans. The consumed coffee cherries pass through the civet whole after fermenting in the stomach and that’s what gives the coffee its exquisite taste and aroma.

The Philippines indeed serves up some of the world’s interesting and adventurous traditional cuisine – mouth-watering for some, stom-ach-churning for others.

Tamilok (taken from the net) Croco steak Chicken entrails

Balut

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 20148 EDGEDAVAO

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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 • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

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Big riskEDITORIAL

THE arrival of various indigenous peoples (IPs) in Davao City during the holidays is always met with fear for their own safe-ty. For one thing, the very reason they are here exposes them

to danger from traffic, the elements, and even from other people. Al-ready, according to the City Health Office, at least one young Lumad has been involved in a vehicular accident, and while the victim has survived, there is no assurance that a similar incident will not hap-pen again – perhaps with worse consequences. The Lumads also face daily exposure to sun and rain, and with the weather these days being so erratic, it is not difficult to imagine them succumbing to various illnesses as their bodies deal with extremes in temperature.

Indeed, the City Health Office (CHO) has already recorded three deaths among the IPs ever since they arrived in the city about three years ago. One died of cardiac arrest, another of stroke, and a third died of amoebiasis. The first two may not be due to their stay here since they may have had their conditions from way back, but the third – amoebisasis – was possibly contracted while moving around

in the city. Davao City may boast of having the cleanest water in the world, but contaminated water may still abound, and hapless indi-viduals may be exposed to them. The water was apparently not from the city-sponsored shelters, otherwise other people would have contracted amoebiasis, but the concern is still there that the Lumads could be exposed to a danger they know little about.

Whether the city government likes it or not, these three deaths fall squarely on its shoulders since it has welcomed the IPs in the city’s midst. There is no point in blaming it, of course, because the visitors will come whether it likes it or not, but the city government must strengthen its monitoring of the IPs to make sure their health and safety are maintained as they stay here. This presents a serious problem especially since their numbers are increasing each year; pretty soon the city’s resources will not be able to absorb this year-ly “visitation” unless a proper program is mounted to address their needs right where they live. Only by improving their situations will they be dissuaded from risking their lives in the big city.

VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

GIVE man a fish, so goes a saying, and he will eat fish for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will fish for his lifetime.

If we don’t watch out, this adage may soon become obsolete. Davao Gulf has been fished to the limit. Like the other vital re-sources such as forests, our fisheries are about to collapse -- a victim of the almost un-abated plunder of the commons.

As defined, the commons encompass-es unoccupied land and all waters which are considered a God-given set of resourc-es for man to consume as much as needed. As the Holy Bible puts it: “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground -- everything that has the breath of life in it -- I give every green plant for food” (Genesis 1:29-30).

But these resources appear to have been abused to the point of exhaustion. Take the case of the Davao Gulf, whose area of 308,000 hectares cuts into the island of Min-danao from Philippine Sea. The World Wild-life Fund considers the gulf as one of the most diverse marine ecosystems in the world. Di-verse coral reefs, different mangrove species, cetaceans and a host of invertebrates contrib-ute to the natural diversity of the gulf.

Davao Gulf is Southern Mindanao’s fish-ing ground. In fact, it is the 10th major fish-ing ground in the country. As such, “Davao Gulf is a critical resource supporting the economies of six coastal cities and 18 coastal municipalities,” says the Davao Gulf Manage-ment Council (DGMC), composed of all the local government units surrounding the gulf.

“There is what we call a maximum sus-tainable yield or MSY,” Director Fatma Idris

of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquat-ic Resources (BFAR), told the media who attended a press briefing at the Philippine I n f o r m a t i o n Agency. “Based on our research, Davao Gulf has already reached and exceeded the MSY and there was a decline in the catch of small pe-lagic fishes.”

Her statement confirmed a previous study undertaken by the World Fish Center. Since 2000, the volume and quality of the fish in the Davao Gulf have been in constant decline, according to the 10-year study enti-tled “Strengthening Governance and Sustain-ability of Small-scale Fisheries Management in the Philippines: An Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management Approach in Davao Region.”

A collaborative effort of the BFAR, local government units and the regional office of the Department of Science and Technology, the study looked at the volume and quality of the harvests of 10 commonly fished species in the gulf: matambaka, tamban, moro-moro, caraballas, bilong-bilong, lapu-lapu, danggit, molmol, talakitok, and maya-maya.

Except for maya-maya, the harvest num-bers for the species have been falling. At the current rate of decline, the caraballas, bi-long-bilong, molmol, and danggit may all dis-appear completely from Davao Gulf within a decade, the study said.

The matambaka, tamban and moro-mo-ro are more resilient, but even they may dis-appear within a generation, it added.

Overexploitation has been cited as one of the culprits why fish catch has been declining. Oceans, which are global common property resources, are open with few limitations to all takers. Vessels from wealthier countries dominate the ocean catch.

Although fish stocks are a renewable re-source, many of them are strained to the lim-it. “Over the years, they have suffered from a widespread notion that the seas are inex-haustible and economic pressures that have encouraged overexploitation,” deplored Roy Alimoane, director of Mindanao Baptist Ru-ral Life Center.

Marine experts claim that all fishing ac-tivities depend on a fragile resource base which, if mismanaged and overexploited, can easily collapse. “Overfishing is the primary cause of dwindling fish population,” notes Peter Weber in his book, Net Loss: Fish, Jobs and the Marine Environment.

In order “to conserve marine resources and to secure the spawning period of pelagic fishes” in the Davao Gulf, the BFAR regional office declared a 3-month fishing ban (from June 27 to August 31) in the gulf.

Some experts believe that fishing ban was one possible solution to the problem. “Given the decline of fishery resources, there has to be a closed season in Davao Gulf,” Councilor Leonardo Avila III pointed out.

The fishing ban is a laudable endeavor. But there are other things that must also be considered if we want Davao Gulf to be teemed with fish again. For one, we must protect the remaining mangroves in the area.

Mangroves are very important to marine life. They serve as sanctuaries and feeding grounds for fish that nibble on detritus (fall-

en and decaying leaves) trapped in the veg-etation, and on the bark and leaves of living trees.

A study done by the Department of En-vironment and Natural Resources found out that mangrove forests are home to 68 spe-cies of fish (bangus, mullet, kitan, to name a few), 54 species of crustaceans (shrimps, prawns, and crabs), and 56 species of gas-tropods.

The coral reefs must also be restored to their former glory. Because of their struc-ture, they serve as shelter to fishes and shell fishes. In fact, a single reef can support as many as 3,000 species of marine life.

As fishing grounds, they are thought to be 10 to 100 times as productive per unit area as the open sea.

Found along the coast and supporting the mangroves are seagrasses. With 16 spe-cies, the Philippines has the second highest number of seagrasses in the world. Only Western Australia, with 17, has more spe-cies.

Various marine creatures live in sea-grass beds because of the amount of nutri-ents available. Five times as many fish live in seagrass beds than over sea bottoms made up of mud, shells, or sand. Shrimps, sea cu-cumbers, sea urchins, crabs, scallops, mus-sels, and snails live in the seagrass beds.

Again, if we have to make Davao Gulf teemed with fishery resources; we need to protect our coastal ecosystem from further destruction. We have to plant more man-groves in areas where they can be grown. We have to stop blast fishing and coral gath-ering in order for the marine creatures to have home. We have to pay attention to our neglected seagrasses.

We have to act fast -- before Davao Gulf is completely fished out!

THE ratification of the 1935 Constitu-tion on May 14, 1935 formalized the establishment of the Commonwealth

government on November 15 of the same year. In between, the first national elections were held on September 17, where Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña won as presi-dent and vice-president, respectively.

Not too long ago, during the 1934 Con-stitutional Convention, Atty. Pantaleon Pe-layo Sr., dubbed by then acting Davao Con-sul Toyoji Kaneko of Japan as “arrogant and eccentric,” lam-basted the Japanese for us-ing dummies in controlling 90 percent of the lands in Davao. On in-terpellation, Pelayo, a former Zamboanga lawyer, told the assem-bly in crisp terms that Japanese interests in Mindanao were influencing the people, especially those in the bureaucracy, and the political leaders of Davao, saying: “To the lawyers the Japanese are the best clients; to the doc-tors, they are the best patients; to the public officials, they are the best friends, especially when Christmas time comes.”

The Japanese overtures that come out before the ratification were sharp and pointed. During a round-table discussion in

Davao with Agriculture Secretary Eulogio Rodriguez, Kaneko, repeat-ing published articles based on official reports, alleged that 2,000 Japanese were killed by out-laws in Davao presumably as a consequence of agrarian dispute. But the Philippine Con-stabu-lary records, as of April 1935, showed only 54 Japanese by natives, not by outlaws, 27 of these in the past 13 years.

Japanese efforts to get a favorable sup-

port for the land problem did not soften even after the new charter was ratified. On September 14, three days before the nation-wide polls, it was re-ported that the Japa-nese in Davao, despite resentment towards the government action for can-celling the 98 leases on the illegal Japanese landhold-ings covering 9,000 hectares, continued to hold meetings with top-rank officials. They even managed to convince Rodriguez “to suspend ejections until the matter if made the subject of consideration at the request of Consul-General K. Uchiyama.” On Nov. 15, 1935, the Commonwealth government was established and ten days later the National Assembly, the country’s new legislature, of-ficially met.

Despite the setback, the Japanese were still persistent in getting the government support to their side. On April 10, 1936, President Quezon flew to Davao and met with the stakeholders. He was able to get the Japanese to “pledge amity and coop-eration,” assuring them that their land-hold-ings would be respected until the leas-es had expired. But the Japanese proposed that their leas-es be extended for another

25 years based on the so called Philippine Japanese “partnership.” Three days later, the President reserved several thousands of hectares of land in Davao for homesteaders and announced that Davao Penal Colony would become “the nucleus of devel-opment in the region.” Calling the presidential visit as a ‘happy inspiration,” Uchiyama issued a statement in Manila on April 15, saying:

“It seems to me the Davao question is mostly a psychological one. I say this be-cause once those annoying factors of dis-trust and suspicion are removed there will be no problem to speak of, since there is no fundamental economic conflict involved that cannot be smoothed out. Past ex-peri-ence shows that the cooperation of the Filipinos ad the Japanese has contributed to the eco-nomic development of Davao. I cannot see any reason why they should ot be able to continue this cooperation pro-vided it is based on mutual confidence and goodwill.”

Two days later, the leaders of the Na-tional Assembly urged that the Council of State, with the presence of the Cabinet, be convened to discuss the Davao issue.

Fished out

Tightening the noose

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!

BY THE ARCHIVIST

FAST BACKWARD

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EDGEDAVAO

died due to amoebiasis after three days of confinement in the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC).

“Based on the test result, we found out that the pa-tient did not acquire amoeba from the water supplied to the shelter area. We suspect that the patient was already suffering from amoebiasis before getting to the city,” he added.

He also said it was im-possible for the patient to have acquired amoeba from the shelter area because he was the only patient who suffered from amoebiasis based on the CHO’s monitor-ing.

“We are doing our best to prevent infectious diseas-es and other communicable diseases from spreading shelter areas because it will defeat the purpose why they are here and it will be bad to the name of the city govern-ment, ” Cruz said.

The CHO received a re-port of a young Lumad be-ing involved in a vehicular accident near the Buhangin shelter area which houses 1,000 families. Cruz said the patient sustained broken limbs but the injuries were not severe.

Meanwhile, the CHO has also recorded four infant deliveries in the different

shelters in the city since the Lumads arrived about three weeks ago.

“They’re all safe because we have round-the-clock midwives assigned in each shelter area,” he said.

After delivery, the moth-ers and their children were immediately referred to SPMC.

The CHO gives free check-ups, vaccination, and health lectures to the Lumads.

The eight shelters are located in Buhangin with about 1,000 Lumads; Shang-hai, Matina Aplaya (950); Toril (1,057); Calinan (2,226); Tugbok (1,363);

Mintal (1,200); Barangay 5-A (1,685); and Bunanwan (2,015).

City Social Services and Development Office (CSS-DO) head Malou Bermudo told reporters that the num-ber of Lumad carolers went up to 12,031 families, higher than the 11,126 recorded just last week.

However, Bermudo said the number may decrease because some of the Lumads are already going back to their homes.

She said that about 30 Lumad families went home probably because of their conditions on their shelter areas. CRC

Mindanao Media Forum.Her passion for Mindan-

ao—the environment, wom-en and children, and culture and the arts—is reflected in her newspaper’s fair and substantial media coverage. Cabusao is also actively en-gaged in promoting Mind-anao through her work as an editorial consultant for a lifestyle magazine.

The US Embassy’s Public Affairs Section established

the Ninoy Aquino Fellowship for Professional Develop-ment in 1988 to commemo-rate Senator Ninoy’s accom-plishments in journalism and public service.

In 2009, the fellowship was renamed the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowship for Professional Development to honor President Cory’s con-tributions to strengthening Philippine democratic insti-tutions.

percent through enforcement of local fisheries code of the city. It also seeks to increase the awareness level of the community by 10 percent in the management of estab-lished MPA network through social marketing approach, and to identify supplemental livelihood opportunities for community directly involved and appropriate mecha-nisms.

“Our city is very fortunate to have been chosen as a re-cipient of the project,” Abella said.

She said the city has three MPAs under the exist-ing ordinance, namely the Bunawan-Lasang MPA with 415 hectares, Agdao Centro with 21 hectares, and Matina Aplaya with 37 hectares.

Abella said there are oth-er MPAs not covered by the ordinance such as Barangay Hizon with 2.5 hectares, Ba-rangay Lapu-Lapu with 6.6 hectares, Barangay Dumoy with 3 hectares, Barangay

Bago Aplaya with 3 hectares and Barangay Lizada with 5 hectares.

“I wish that the city will grab this opportunity for the proper management of MPAs. I believe more support from GIZ will be coming once the first project will be success-ful,” she said.

The primary work of GIZ is to support foreign develop-ment countries focusing on the environement and infra-structure including activities such as waste, energy and water management, natural resource, transport and mo-bility, implementing interna-tional environmental policy.

The group is also in-volved in climate change related capacity building, ag-riculture, fisheries that also includes coastal zone man-agement, land management, market-oriented farming and food, policy advice on agricul-ture and rural development and securing livelihoods in marginal rural areas. [ABF]

She said most of the pa-tients who suffered diarrhea came from the towns of Claver, Gigaquit, Bacuag and Mainit.

Jerry Raro, Municipal Health Sanitary Inspector said that early this month they conducted water sampling at their sources of potable water in Barangays Anislagan and Cagaasan.

He said the source in An-islagan was found negative but the source in Caga-asan was found to have coliform, according to the bacteriology water result at Caraga Region-al Hospital in Surigao City.

But Raro stressed that wa-ter from these sources would undergo treatment before it reaches the consumers.

Rotche S. Lucino, a resi-dent of Barangay Poblacion said she would not drink wa-ter supplied by the local water utility saying the taste was un-desirable.

“Bahog patay nga ilaga ug lad-ang,” (It smells like there is rotten rat, the taste is bad) she said.

Niel D. Duhaylungsod, also a resident of Barangay Amoslog said the water now tasted different, adding he didn’t want to drink it after news of people getting sick al-legedly because of it reached him.

Anxious residents are now getting their drinking water from purified water sta-tions in the town.

But others who couldn’t afford to buy purified water prefer to filtrate and boil the

water from their faucets. One of them was Jun Platil of Po-blacion, who said he would sterilize his water “to make sure”.

Residents could not tell why the quality of their pota-ble water has changed, a fact admitted by the Placer Water District which services 2,600 households.

In a statement dated Dec. 12, the water utility said the change was noted in the sup-ply coming from the Cagaasan spring in Macalaya-Boyongan.

“Until now the manage-ment has no information on the changes of water quality. The management since No-vember 18 until today is cur-rently taking samples almost every day to bring safe water to water consumers,” it said.

It also said that based on the water analysis there was neither bacteria nor heavy metals on the water.

“The Physical-Chemical Testing results showed that there is a change in total dis-solved solids and chlorides which cause the chance in taste,” it said.

Based on the Philippine National Standard Drinking Water, this result is safe for human consumption.

“Dili kini sama sa toxic or poisonous, dili sama sa heavy metals sama sa mercu-ry, lead, arsenic, cyanide, etc. nga makamatay,” the state-ment further said. “We asked everyone to remain calm and not be panic.” (Roel N. Catoto/MindaNews)

“Filipinos are cheerful and naturally sociable. We love to connect to people. We are a happy race. We wear smiles on our faces even in depressing situations. This is because we always look at the bright side of life, ” she said.

The 78-year-old sociolo-gist also said it is natural that Filipinos are resilient.

“We continue to stand up, be firm, and fight because we have love ones and life’s aspi-rations to be strong for,” she

added.Aside from the first two,

she also said that Filipinos are innately perseverant. She said that when Filipinos dream of something, they do every-thing possible to get it.

“An example would be a Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who endure being away from home to give their families a good life-abun-dance and relief from hard-ships, ” she said.

The love for family ex-

tended to friends, neighbors and other people makes Fili-pinos naturally compassion-ate or mapagmalasakit.

“This enables us to help other people without asking anything in return. Our ma-pagmalasakit trait makes it easy for us to champion the Bayanihan spirit –to unite and help each other during calam-ities and celebrate together during special occasions,” she said.

These core values, which

she derived from decades of practice as a phonological so-ciologist, makes Filipinos dif-ferent and stand out from the rest of the world.

“Filipinos may be hard pressed at times, but in gen-eral, we are rich. We are rich in natural resources; we are rich in our people. If we can just get to know more our-selves clearly and use our values to our advantage, we will become a better nation, ” Ramirez said. CRC

with a 7-slot gain in its 2014 international competitiveness rankings.

“Our ever improving eco-nomic trajectory is a turn-around story for the books. History will remember the Philippines as having prov-en that good governance is indeed good economics. Our reforms have resulted in con-crete gains that resonate with the Filipino people: increased fiscal space have enabled us to double our education and triple our health budgets. We stand ready to achieve even more in the next years as the Philippines is already in a vir-tuous cycle,’ Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said.

The Philippines also re-ceived Finance Asia’s Region’s Best Borrower Award for its innovative execution of an accelerated 1-day switch ten-

der offer last January 2014, its first transaction as an invest-ment grade sovereign.

The country was likewise cited by the Economist Intel-ligence Unit for a financial in-clusion policy framework that is among the best three in the world, the best in Asia, and as an acknowledged leader in microinsurance regulation. The GIZ also cited the Philip-pines as the Asian emerging country with the highest mi-croinsurance outreach as the country recorded 27 million persons covered. The Philip-pine model is now being used by GIZ in its technical assis-tance program for neighbor-ing Asian countries.

The DOF also received ac-claim for its excellent hosting of the World Economic Forum on East Asia which showcased the country’s emergence as an

economic tiger. On the home front, Beltran noted that the DOF also earned accredita-tion from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for its ap-pointments which no longer need to undergo CSC approval before they take effect. With this accreditation, the CSC expressed its trust on the per-sonnel screening capabilities of the DOF.

Beltran called on DOF employees to look forward by saying, “With these im-provements and citations, the challenge is there for us to outperform ourselves. In 2015, we will work harder to push the revenue effort fur-ther up by at least 1/2 per-centage point of GDP, reduce the NG debt ratio by at least a percentage point and further expand fiscal space for infra-structure and social services.

We will also host the APEC finance ministers’ meeting to showcase our development experience, focusing on more inclusive growth.”

“Seeing the fruits of our labor appear in a virtuous cycle only makes one thing clear: we will roll our sleeves up and hunker down to in-stitutionalize reforms in the tail-end of this administra-tion. Next year, we hope to pass a comprehensive and equitable tax reform package that improves tax adminis-tration and revises the tax structure to drive growth and equity for all Filipinos. As we approach the finish line, we will power through with our priorities to modernize the Bureau of Customs, and rationalize fiscal incentives, among other legislative ini-tiatives,” Beltran added.

CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT GIVING. Indigenous people (IP) from the hinterlands of Davao City receive plastic bags full of rice and other food items from Task Force Davao personnel during the “Pinaskuhan sa Lumad,” an annual gift-giving activity, at the Task Force Davao headquarters in Sta. Ana wharf. Two thousand plastic bags of rice from different private companies were distributed to the Lumads yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 11

A girl who died with her dreams on Bus 2640“HAPPINESS is a positive

cash flow” and “nothing is impossible,” said two of the

stickers placed by 17-year-old Marielle Achacoso, a first year accountancy student in her dream board – a project for one of their subjects in her first semester in Central Mindanao University in Musuan, Mara-mag, Bukidnon.

Another sticker said “push yourself because no one else is going to do it for you,” and yet another said “if it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.”

She wanted to become a lawyer, she wanted to achieve a lot, and she was also the sib-lings’ achiever, Lechelle Ach-acoso, a sixth year veterinary medicine student of CMU said of her sister.

“She wanted to do it be-cause she wanted to pay back our parents’ sacrifices. Our parents came from poor fami-lies, she wanted us to be out of poverty,” she added.

On December 9, Marielle took RTMI deluxe bus 2640 to go home in Malaybalay. She did not make it.

Marielle was one of the five CMU students who died with five other persons when an im-provised bomb went off inside the bus on Dec. 9, just outside the university’s main gate. For-ty-two others were wounded in the incident, which hap-pened a month after another RTMI bus was bombed about a kilometer away from CMU injuring four people.

Lechelle said she remem-bers her sister, on her first year as an accountancy student at CMU, as a sweet and jolly per-son, who made a lot of friends.

On that fateful afternoon,

they were not really able to talk much. Her sister’s last class on Tuesday was called off. Since Marielle was unable to go home over the week-end for some classes, she felt homesick and decided to go home.

Lechelle said she heard about the explosion but thought that her sister must have already left earlier.

When Marielle had not yet reached home around 8p.m, Lechelle started to worry. Her name was not in the list of patients brought to the CMU infirmary and eventually sent to a hospital in Valencia City. It was only around 10p.m. that the family confirmed that she was gone.

On the sixth day of her wake, the family recalled Mari-elle’s achievements. Next to her white casket is a soil painting of her by Waway Saway, an art-ist and musician from the Ta-laandig tribe. Saway randomly picked her as a subject during a soil painting workshop when she was still a fourth year stu-dent of Bukidnon National High School. The school kept the painting in a display room but a teacher turned it over to the family when they heard about what happened.

Almost everyone in BNHS remembers Marielle as a cam-pus journalist. Earlier this year, she won first prize in the edi-torial writing contest in the Regional Schools Press Confer-ence and represented North-ern Mindanao in the national competition in Subic Bay, Zam-bales in April 2014.

Lechelle remembered that her sister always wanted to be a broadcaster and dreamt of becoming a television anchor

EDGEDAVAO

BIGGER PICTURE

MARIELLE ACHACOSO:

person.“Maybe she wanted to be-

come a journalist as a sideline to becoming a lawyer,” she added.

Marielle attended “Intro to Broadcasting” workshop of the 2nd Malaybalay Summer Youth Journalism Training Workshops in 2013, which was a project of Bukidnon News.Net in cooperation with MindaNews and the BSU Eth-no-cultural Museum.

‘Seeking justice’The family is preparing for

Marielle’s burial on Decem-ber 20, including printing of t-shirts with the words “Justice for Marielle” on the back side.

But the family doubts that the police got the right suspect. Ricardo Achacoso, Marielle’s father, said they are hoping that Macmod Manib-pil, allegedly a member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom

Fighters, “is for real.”“We are not 100-percent

convinced that the suspect identified is really the culprit,” he added.

He said there are doubts especially that police is pressed to identify a suspect to show they are doing some-thing. Manibpil is an escapee who is also a suspect in the 2006 bombing in Kabacan, North Cotabato. Mr. Achacoso admitted, however, that “we cannot underestimate them because that’s their job.”

“But they should have real-ly taken the first bombing (Nov. 6) more seriously,” he said.

The family also lamented the lapses in security mea-sures by both the bus company and the authorities even after the Nov. 6 bombing incident in Barangay Dologon, Maramag.

“It could have been the warning but they did not take action,” Mr. Achacoso said.

They can’t just inspect passengers in the terminal be-cause the bus company picks up passengers (in between bus terminals), he added.

He said the bus compa-ny should hire a third person for every bus – a bus marshal or security guard – to ensure the safety of the passengers. “Their income relies so much on how safe their passengers are. They are a big company, they should be able to afford security personnel.”

“They should check all pas-sengers embarking any of their buses, even if it takes longer. They (passengers) would not mind as long as it is safe,” said Mrs. Achacoso, who earlier begged off to be interviewed.

She also expressed dismay over the insensitive posting of some Facebook netizens of videos that portray the help-lessness and gory appearances of the victims before hospital

personnel attended to them.“The clips are so gross. It

is unmindful of the feelings (of the families and the dignity of the victims themselves).”

On December 15, Mari-elle’s sisters discovered a letter to Jesus in her room showing her reflective and prayerful side.

In her undated letter she acknowledged “God loves me and he wants me to be stron-ger.”

“I really was convinced that I could really do so much better next time. I have made plans. Super good plans that I really hope will come true,” she added.

Her list goes: “start study-ing and reviewing, study hard-er, aim high, save money, and see the world.”

Unfortunately, she bade goodbye to this world without seeing her dreams fulfilled. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)

MOURNING. Students of Central Mindanao University in Musuan, Maramag, Bukidnon light candles for the victims of the bus bombing on December 9 that killed 10 people and wounded 42 others. The blast occurred near the campus main gate. MindaNews photo courtesy of Iyrene Dalipe

CRIME SCENE. A crowd gathers around the bombed Rural Transit bus where 10 people died and 42 others were injured. MindaNews

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 201412 CLASSIFIED

Call: 224-0733 • Tionko St., Davao City

Billiard Supplies

Phone Nos. Cell Nos.

EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014

EDGEDAVAOFOOD

INdulge!

HONESTLY, nothing is more difficult than settling for that specific gastronomical treat for everyone to enjoy on this festive day. Don’t

fret! Here are some of the easiest sweet treats to whip without the hustle of kitchen nightmares. More so, these treats double as party favors too!

easy Christmas food ideas for the busy you

6 Let’s go gourmet and have an Antipasto Christ-mas Tree. Cut some sharp cheddar cheese, grapes, herbs and green stalks and you’re all set. You can also add some cold cuts as or-naments for your delecta-ble tree. This delicious tree would look good in an old used up wooden chopping board. Reindeer cupcakes will always be a hit during the yuletide season. It’s as easy as graham cakes in batch-es. Prepare the crust, chill and wait for the filling. In a bowl, combine soften cream cheese and choco-late ganache. Pour over chilled crusts and deco-rate! All you need is your imagination and some sweet treats and you’re all set. Festive Salad with a Star is a healthy alternative to a season of food, fried and sweets. Combine greens, fruits and vegetables that are colorful. Make them appear like Christmas or-naments in a tree. Lastly, add a star – you can use

I adore how these little snowed up meringue christmas trees light up a night of fun and laughter.

Design your own reindeers and eat them all night long with family and friends.

This delicious gourmet antipasta christmas tree is a conversation piece and gastronomical treat in one.

Cut them up brownies and decorate. THE ROYAL CHEF A4

THE POOL DECK of the Park Inn by Radisson Davao was an island of relaxation and chill-out bliss last December 6 as Manic Nightnings Produc-tions held its first Poolside Session. Just fresh from their record-breaking EDM festival, Carte Blance, the Manic Nightnings’ Poolside Session, to-gether with The Brew-ery, was a more sedate event that started at three in the afternoon to take advantage of Park Inn by Radisson Davao’s fabulous pool and even more fabulous sunset views.

Lounging by the pool and sipping on RBG Bar & Grill’s fabulous moji-tos was made even more fabulous thanks to the groovy tracks spun by

Manic Nightnings’ in-house DJs Wacky, Torch, and DJ Tien Batu who made sure everyone was having a good time. As the evening pro-

gressed, guests found it hard to resist taking a cooling dip in the pool, chit-chat, and just relax in Davao’s newfound oasis.

By Kenneth Irving OngPhotos by Manic Nightnings Productions

GRAND REGAL HOTEL DAVAO decks the halls this Decem-ber with seasonal specials on the menu. Holiday-themed creation of Chef Gare Abellar showcases the festive gusta-tory delights all-month long. The all-meat holiday treat, the Chicken Pork in Quadro Sauce- consists of grilled pork loin and chicken in four differ-ent sauces; gravy, lemon butter, tartar & sweet chilli. A must-try is the awe-some Cuajo S h r i m p s - deep fried s t u f f e d s h r i m p s in red-hot sauce. Pizza lovers surely will find the Triple Jack Pizza oh-so d e l i c i o u s l y m o u t h - w a -tering with its thick-crust in a com-bination of caramelized jackfruit, salted egg & Spanish sardines in rich mozzarella melt. The Mushroom Trip Pasta comes in three-kinds of mushroom mix; button, shitake & straw. For the not-so cold December air, the Meaty Regal Soup lets you

enjoy the tasty meatballs in a hot bowl of soup. When food abound from parties every-where, a well-ness buff may have an op-

tion to stay fit with the December Green Salad, made of ro-maine lettuce leaf mixed with sweet chilled chicken breast, a combination that never goes wrong with your diet. And of course, the season brings the best of the holiday cre-ations, so don’t miss the lip-s m a c k i n g Chr is tmas Log Cake. The Decem-ber Specials of Grand Regal Hotel dishes up the ultimate food-lovers holiday wish list. For inquiries, you may call 082-2350888 or browse over GrandRegalHotelDavao in Facebook. Visit www.grandreg-alhotels.com

A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT

Grand Regal Hotel‘s holiday food specials

Poolside chill at Park Inn Davao

EVENT

Happy holidays, fashion fans! Get these stylish Christmas shopping bags designed by fashion maestros Francis Libiran, Randy Ortiz, and Cary Santiago when you donate just P5 for a good cause! This promo runs until December 31, 2014. Please visit the Main Concierge at the Ground Floor of the Abreeza Mall for more information.

WITH millions of Filipinos from all walks of life eagerly anticipating what is unde-niably the country’s most historic event in 2015, TV5 shares the joy and excite-ment of the entire nation in welcoming Pope Francis beginning with this week’s launch of www.DearPope-Francis.ph – the Kapatid Network’s comprehensive and innovative website that allows even more Filipinos to take part in the upcom-ing Papal visit. First and foremost, through this website’s unique set-up, as early as now, TV5 presents Filipi-nos with the opportunity to send and proclaim their love for the Pope through personal greetings and welcome messages even before he sets foot in Ma-nila next month. An equally remarkable feature is the ‘Prayer Wall’, where neti-zens’ personal intentions and petitions for the Pope will be displayed and gen-erated via inspirational

postcards on the website. In addition, a section where users can also personally share stories of mercy and compassion will be incor-porated to further highlight the Pope’s legacy. Internet-savvy individu-als can also be part of this one-of-a-kind movement in preparation for the Pa-

pal visit by simply posting their messages and prayers on their respective social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) while using the campaign’s official hashtag, #DearPope-Francis. The website will also include an aggregate function that automatically tracks, collates and displays

all social media posts and responses that mention #DearPopeFrancis. On top of all of these, us-ers will have access to in-depth news articles, insight-ful editorial content, and exclusive photos and foot-age on anything and every-thing about Pope Francis — from interesting factoids to

INdulge! A3ENTERTAINMENT

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 EDGEDAVAO

Let’s Fiesta wins Anak TV Seal AwardsGMA Regional TV’s lo-cally produced travel and culture program Let’s Fiesta was awarded the Anak TV Seal in a cer-emony held on Decem-ber 5 at the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Build-ing in Quezon City. Hosted by comedian John Feir, the weekly pro-gram proved itself worthy of the jury’s nod with its child-friendly narrative that takes its viewers around the country with pit stops in several historical places, most scenic spots, and ex-citing destinations. Various Kapuso stars shared the adventure with Feir in the Sunday travel-ogue that also features the country’s colorful festivals, introduces its delicious na-tive delicacies as well as the

preserved practices unique to each region. Reaching audience na-tionwide, Let’s Fiesta airs over nine GMA regional stations in Ilocos, Bicol, Dagupan, Cebu, Iloilo, Ba-colod, Davao, GenSan, and Cagayan de Oro. Let’s Fiesta completes this year’s roster of winners from the Network includ-ing Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, Wish Ko Lang, AHA!, I Bilib, Kap’s Amazing Sto-ries, Kusina Master, Pinoy MD, Tropang Potchi, Pepito Manaloto, Picture! Picture!, Sarap Diva, and Del Monte Kitchenomics. GMA News TV’s Ang Pinaka, Born to be Wild, Good News, I Juan-der, Idol sa Kusina, and Taste Buddies were also recognized as Anak TV Seal recipients.

Kapuso personalities Dingdong Dantes, Marian Rivera, and Eat Bulaga host Vic Sotto, in turn, were list-ed in the Anak TV Roster of Makabata Stars. Undergoing levels of rig-

orous screening process, the Anak TV Seal is a na-tional award bestowed by stakeholders representing multiple sectors on Philip-pine TV programs deemed to be child-sensitive.

his itinerary, among many others. The website will also provide free livestream-ing features that will allow viewers to closely follow the Pope as he leads several ac-tivities all over the country. With the launch of www.DearPopeFrancis.ph, TV5 stands at the forefront of bringing Filipinos closer

to Pope Francis by letting them openly express their love and warm welcome to the Holy Father. This and the network’s exten-sive coverage of the papal visit will definitely make this historic event more memo-rable and meaningful for all Kapatids here and around the world.

TV5 kicks off papal visit drivewith #DearPopeFrancis

Teen Queen Kathryn Bernardo’s self-titled album scores a gold record award after having more than 7,500 units sold on the first day of its commercial release. The gold record award was given in “ASAP 19” December 14, where Kathryn was joined by her love team partner and fellow Star Music recording star, Teen King Daniel Padilla in thanking their fans for the unwavering support. The album features easy-listening, feel-good tracks including the revival of Sharon Cuneta’s “Mr. DJ,” Cris Villongco’s “Crush ng Bayan,” and Heart Evangelista’s “Love Has Come My Way.” Among the original tracks are “Na Sa ‘Yo Din Pala,” “Ikaw Na Nga Yata, “K Tnx Bye,” “Temporary Deja Vu,” and album’s carrier single “You Don’t Know Me,” which was composed by singer-songwriter Marion Aunor. All eight tracks have minus one versions in the album. Part of the bonus tracklist are Teen Queen’s version of “Pagdating ng Panahon” and the popular KathNiel duet performances of “Got to Believe In Magic” and “PINASmile” (ABS-CBN 2014 Summer Station ID). Kathryn’s self-titled debut album is still available at record bars nationwide for only P199. Digital tracks can also be downloaded via online music stores such as iTunes and Mymusicstore.com.ph.

R 13

PG13

PG 131:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIESIan Mckellen, Martin Freeman,

Richard Armitage

PG 13

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE

OF THE FIVE ARMIES 3DIan Mckellen, Martin Freeman,

Richard Armitage

12:25 | 2:20 | 4:15 | 6:10 | 8:05 | 10:00 LFS

Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O'Hare

12:30 | 3:30 | 6:30 | 09:30 LFS

THE PYRAMID

EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton

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

A4 INdulge!BEAUTY

A year ago, newcomer Happy Skin dared Filipinas to be happier. It was a bold move, unheard of even. But with their skin-caring makeup, Fili-

pinas today find themselves prettier and hap-

pier—all with happi-er skin. Since its launch in Oc-tober of last year, Happy Skin, the country’s break-through brand of makeup that cares for the skin, has since developed a loyal fol-lowing of makeup fans, beauty aficionados, and even newbies. They’ve grown to love and trust the brand, keeping its best-sellers as staples and eager-ly awaiting its new product launches and offerings. “We get so much love be-cause it’s unbelievably easy to look beautiful and be happier with Happy Skin,” explains co-founder of the brand Rissa Mananquil-Trillo of Happy Skin’s rise to fame. Selling happiness is easy. After all, everyone wants to be happy. But, actually offering products that get

easily snapped up from the shelves, now that was the bigger challenge. But, Happy Skin must be doing something right. For such a baby beauty brand to doggedly and confidently hold a growing place in the beauty market, Happy Skin must be selling the right kind of happiness. At the core of their rising business and inside each tube, powder, or makeup pencil lies a clear passion that remains unperturbed: They want better skin-lov-ing makeup products that deliver as promised. They want to create products so good that they make you appreciate, relish, and even create more happy moments in your life. “Each product is cre-ated to ensure that it sat-isfies all the wants you’ve been looking for in that particular makeup prod-

Happy Skin marks a year of happier skin with new must-haves

uct,” says Jacqe Yuengtian-Gutierrez, co-founder of Happy Skin. “For every product that we launch, we sit down and list the pros and cons of the existing competitive products in the market. Then, we come up with all of the things we wish they could have add-ed to that product to make it spectacular (i.e. simple how-to’s, eyeliners that really doesn’t budge even

with oiliest skin, contour that’s barely noticeable, eyeshadow that doesn’t crumble and leave loose specks under your eye),” she adds. Rissa sums it up: “Fili-pinas like Happy Skin because we fulfill not just their beauty wishes but equally address all their frustrations with makeup. It’s women’s complaints that inspire our products.”

PUCKER UP with a power product that gives you double-duty beauty! Happy Skin Shut Up & Kiss Me Lip & Cheek Mousse is a lightweight product that can be worn both as a blush AND as a lippie! Achieve soft matte perfection in three velvety hues: Warm and Toasty (nude), Swept Off My Feet (pink), and My Guilty Pleasure (red).

THE HAPPY SKIN EYE NEED A MIRACLE CORRECTOR is corrective make-up that provides ultimate covering power, neutralizes bluish undertones, and makes imperfections disappear! Its salmon hue corrects and covers all types of skin discolorations: fatigue under the eyes, scars, age spots, freckles, varicose & spider veins, bruises, tattoos and birthmarks.

SPEAK WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELASH and seduce with eyes that smoulder! The Happy Skin All Eyes On Hue E y e s h a d o w Palette includes four must-have hues that give you the best make-up mileage.

This healhty festive salad treat makes christmas all the more exciting and memorable.

Hotdog socks will look great and perfect in any dining table.

a toasted bread or cheese even. All you need is a star molder and you’re all set. Hotdog socks is a fun way to get the kids to help you inside the kitchen. Transform their favorite hotdogs into cute Christ-mas socks on a stick and have a fun time creating them. All you need is a pack of your favorite hot-dogs (you can use cock-tails), mayonnaise and some chopped chives and red bell peppers. Oh and don’t forget the lollipop sticks. Brownies are a year-round staple. What you might not know is that brownies can be made into a delicious Christmas tree too. Cut them up in triangles, decorate with some icing tubes and stick a peppermint underneath and boom! You can have them as desserts after a full hearty meal or as a Christ-mas give-away treat. Meringues are minia-tures snowed Christmas trees in disguise. Sprin-kle some edible glitters or sweetened desiccated coconuts all over and ev-eryone will sure to have a sweet time munching them. Cut up a fruity star and your tree is complete. You can also have them party favors or Christmas gifts. Make #TheRoyalChef your Thursday habit! Follow and tag me on instagram (herroyalheir-ess) for your delicious pics and food finds!

THE ROYAL CHEF A1

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 13EDGEDAVAO

COMMUNITY SENSE

TWO hundred more high school students of Inawayan National

High School will have a bet-ter learning environment with their new one-story, two-classroom classroom building.

Together with Aboitiz Foundation and the Depart-ment of Education (DepEd), Therma South turned over the new school building to more than 900 excit-ed students and faculty of Inawayan National High School last December 5.

Therma South is cur-rently on its final stages of constructing a 300MW thermal power plant in the boundary of Davao City and Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.

To be completed early next year, Therma South will be providing a long-term solution to the Mind-anao power crisis.

Once fully commis-sioned, it would become the largest baseload coal-fed power plant in Mind-

anao. In fulfillment of the

environmental conditions set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Therma South is building a fully-enclosed dome to secure and contain its coal supply.

Bobby Orig, Aboitiz-Power first vice president for Mindanao affairs, said that close to 20 electric co-operatives and distribution utilities across Mindanao will buy power from Ther-ma South.

Half of Mindanao’s pow-er supply comes from the hydropower power plants operated by the state-owned National Power Corp., which have become vulnerable to low water supply during summer months or long dry spells.

Besides Therma South, the Alcantara-led Saran-gani Energy Corp. is also constructing a 200-MW coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani.

A better future for students

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 201414 EDGEDAVAOSports

A New Zealand basket-ball website is report-ing that former Gilas

and current Talk ‘N Text con-sultant Tab Baldwin is set to take the head coaching job for Gilas Pilipinas.

“With Basketball New Zealand undergoing an in-depth search to find their next national team coach in the new year, NZhoops can reveal that Baldwin has committed to a full-time role with the Philippines national side, with the American-born

coach set to be unveiled as their head coach in the com-ing days,” said the report published in the website NZHoops.

Like the Philippines, New Zealand is also looking for a new head coach for their na-tional basketball team, which means that they had interest Baldwin, who coached their side from 2001 to 2006.

“Formerly head coach of the Malaysia, Lebanon and Jordan national teams, Bald-win’s well-travelled creden-

tials are second-to-none, with it being previously reported that he had been recommend by a Filipino search panel as a favourite for the role,” the report continued. “Baldwin’s most recent consultancy gig with the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters of the Philippine Bas-ketball Association is said to have helped to boost his al-ready impressive case.”

The Gilas gig means that Baldwin would have to leave the Hawke’s Bay Hawks, a team he led to the New

Zealand Basketball league last year. He won his fourth Coach of the Year title last year and he remains the most victorious coach in the league’s history.

After former Gilas head coach Chot Reyes vacated the position, Baldwin was already one of the favorites alongside Talk ‘N Text Jong Uichico. However, Baldwin has no full time responsibil-ities as a head coach, which was considered a require-ment for the job.

DAVAO City golfers who are pushing Mayor Rody Duter-

te to run for President have banded together to raise funds among themselves for a national awareness campaign on his accom-plishments in governance, especially in the campaign against crime and corrup-tion.

Friends of Rody Dute-rte (FORD) interim chair-man lawyer Eliseo Bragan-za and the interim board members Councilor Jimmy Dureza, Alberto Pogoy and businessman Lucrecio Ar-izola announced that the two-day fun golf tourna-ment has already gained the support of retired Fis-cal Antonio VA Tan, Col.

Sammy Afdal, Mike Ayala, lawyer Tonying Llamas and businessman and barangay chairman Loreto Nicolas.

About 200 golfers are expected to join the 2-day tournament called “Torneo Para sa Pagbabago” to be held at the Davao City Golf Club in Matina, Davao City.

This will be the first of a series of fund-raising sports activities which we will sponsor and the pro-ceeds will be used in a na-tionwide awareness cam-paign for Mayor Duterte.

“Our people will go all over the country in a mas-sive information campaign about what Mayor Duter-te has done in Davao City which could be replicated all over the country once

he becomes President,” Braganza said.

Greater public aware-ness is expected to gen-erate a stronger national clamor for Duterte to ac-cept the call for him to run for President.

Duterte has so far re-jected endorsements and calls for him to consider the Presidency, a position which is expected to change when people from all over the country will call on him to lead the Philippines.

Golfers who would like to join the Fun Golf are requested to coordinate with the Davao City Golf Club office through phone numbers 082-299-0711 and look for Jen, Edith or Junjun.

RORY McIlroy has been chosen as the European Tour play-

er of the year, capping a season in which he won two majors, the Ryder Cup, and topped the money lists in Europe and the United States.

McIlroy, the world No. 1, won his maiden British Open title by two strokes over Rickie Fowler and Ser-gio Garcia at Royal Liver-pool in July, and less than a month later earned a second U.S. PGA Championship at Valhalla, finishing a shot clear of Phil Mickelson.

Between McIlroy’s third and fourth major wins, the Northern Irishman won the World Golf Championship event at Firestone for the first time, again with a two-shot victory over Garcia.

Overall, he took four big titles over three months, starting in May at the tour’s flagship event at Went-worth, where he edged Shane Lowry by a shot on a course where he missed the halfway cut the previous two years.

That victory came days after cancelling a wedding and relationship with tennis

player Caroline Wozniacki.At the Ryder Cup at Gle-

neagles in September, McIl-roy won three points as Eu-rope successfully defended the title.

“If I had won any one of those four titles it would have been a good year, but to win all four, to win The Race to Dubai, and to be part of another fantastic European victory in the Ry-der Cup, means it is a great one,” McIlroy said.

“The European Tour has always been good to me, so it is always special to be rec-ognized in this way.”

McIlroy named Euro Player of the Year

GOLFING COP. (Top) Davao City police director Vicente Danao in action during the Matina Golf Classic over the weekend. Below, EJ Casintahan (third from left) receives his trophy from Atty. Romeo Bata, Frank Buno, chairman Antonio Tan, Atty. Larry Pasquil, and councilor Jimmy Dureza. Boy Lim

Davao City golfers form FORD

Talk 'N Text consultant Tab Baldwin talks to coach Jong Uichico during the Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on 16 December 2014. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

Report says Baldwin is setto be named new Gilas coach

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 15SPORTSEDGEDAVAO

THE Talk ‘N Text Tro-pang Texters set up a mouth-watering semi-

finals series against the San Miguel Beermen in the 2014 PBA Philippine Cup after de-feating the Barangay Ginebra 83-67 Tuesday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Jayson Castro had one of his finest games in the confer-ence as he dropped 23 points while adding four assists and a rebound to lead the Texters to victory. Ranidel De Oca-mpo played brilliantly on of-fense with 17 points.

With their conference on the line, Talk ‘N Text shackled Ginebra in the fourth quarter, allowing only nine points for the Kings.

Ginebra was only down by five points at 71-66 with 5:40 remaining in the game but the Texters held them down to a single point the rest of the way. Japeth Aguilar scored the game’s final point for Ginebra at the 4:14 mark of the fourth.

Baskets from Matt Gan-uelas-Rosser and Harvey Carey put the game away for good for the Tropang Texters.

La Tenorio led Ginebra with 15 points while Joseph Yeo added 10. They were the only two Kings in double-dig-its. Ginebra Twin towers Greg Slaughter and Aguilar strug-gled from the field going 6 of 22.

Head coach Jong Uichico moves on to the semifinals in his first conference with the Texters by beating a team he used to coach. He will anoth-er familiar foe in the semifi-nals as he also coached the Beermen before. The series between the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters and the San Miguel Beermen will start on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

At the half, the score was deadlocked at 40. Talk ‘N Text tried to shake off the Kings in the first quarter but a late spurt by Ginebra sparked by Mark Caguioa’s six second quarter points even the count after the first 24 minutes.

Castro led all scorers at

the half with 13 while De Oc-ampo and Ganuelas-Rosser added eight each. For Gine-bra, Joseph Yeo had seven first half points while Billy Mamaril and Caguioa had six each.

Talk ‘N Text tried to pull away again in the third quar-ter. From a 52-52 deadlock, the Texters unleashed a 12-2 run to erect their biggest lead at 64-54 with two minutes remaining in the penultimate quarter.

The Kings were able to trim the lead back down to seven at 65-58 heading into the final period.

Kevin Alas started the fourth with two floaters for Talk ‘N Text to stretch their lead to nine points at 69-60 but the Kings finally got their running game going as they switched to a three-guard lineup and got two straight baskets from Tenorio.

Talk ‘N Text stretched their lead to 11 points after a big three-point play from Ganuelas-Rosser with 2:56 left in the game.

Castro sliced up Ginebra’s defense en route to 23 points. Although he only had four as-sists, his drives to the basket put the Kings’ defense off bal-ance leading to easy baskets for his teammates.

Ganuelas-Rosser played a tremendous all-around game for the Texters with 13 points, four rebounds, four blocks, and three steals. De Ocampo added 17 points to their cause while Kevin Alas scored key baskets in the fourth quarter.

After Aguilar cut the Texters’ lead down to eight points, Ganuelas-Rosser scored an and-one play on the other end to erect a dou-ble-digit advantage for TNT at 78-67. The Kings did not help themselves by commit-ting crucial turnovers in the end-game.

Stat of the Game: Ginebra dominated the boards 58-47 but this advantage could not overcome their 29% shoot-ing from the field. TNT on the other hand shot a decent 42%.

BARANGAY Ginebra coach Jeff Cariaso is still only in his second

conference on the job and he knows that when it comes to learning the triangle offense and all its complications, all he can expect from his team at this point is baby steps.

The Kings have shown a tendency to go away from the system at times, and while Cariaso is under-standing of his players’ hes-itations, he still believes the triangle could still result in something special for the team.

“That’s human nature,” Cariaso told a small group of sportswriters. “When you’re not fully understanding it,

it’s hard to trust it. We veer off from it. If you’re not com-fortable with it, what hap-pens is you veer off and do something else. I just got to impose and make them un-derstand it that if we did run it, good things happen.”

He added that his own expectations of the team re-mains very high despite the quarterfinal defeat to Talk ‘N Text on Tuesday, although there are things Ginebra will need to figure out.

“The only expectations I’m worried about is think-ing what is about ours. This team I think is catching on something special. We’re not just there yet. How do we do it? We just have to move on

and learn from it. What else can you do? As disappoint-ing as it is, as heartbreak-ing as it is, you just have to continue working harder and understand the philos-ophy we’re trying to impose. Hopefully, the results will be different,” he added.

He said that patience will be a key ingredient for this team, especially with a system as sophisticated as the triangle, which will take continuous work to master long after they began imple-menting it.

“I was telling them, I played for Coach Tim (Cone) for about 10 years and even in my last year, I was making mistakes. I

was still forgetting things. It’s never gonna be perfect,” said Cariaso.

But Cariaso doesn’t want to make the learning process as an excuse, but instead, he would find ways how to fast track the team’s understanding of the heavi-ly-structured system.

“At this point, not giving any excuses, but what I’ve envisioned and what I want-ed them to play is not there yet. I have to look in what we’re doing and I need them to get there a little fast,” he added.

Cariaso also named shot selection as something the team needs to work on af-ter taking a good number of

shots unchar-acteristic for their team on Tuesday.

“ O u r q u a l i t y of shots tonight w a s n ’ t very

good. We shot a lot of treys to-night. That’s not normally us,” he said.

Talk N’ Text end Ginebra’s hopes of a finals berthGOODBYE, GINEBRA

Trust the triangle: CariasoDAREDEVIL. Jayson Castro of Talk N Text drives through tight Ginebra San Miguel defense in their PBA Philippine Cup do-or-die quarterfinals match.. Nuki Sabio

STICK TO THE SYSTEM. Ginebra coach Jeffrey

Cariaso is sticking it out with the Traingle Offense despite early

exit. Nuki Sabio

VOL. 7 ISSUE 198 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 201416 EDGEDAVAO