P 15.00 • 20 PAGESwww.edgedavao.netVOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015

EDGE Serving a seamless society

DAVAO

THEEAGLE

FAMILYNonoy

Vince

Gov. Dolfo

ArthurSonia

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 20152 EDGEDAVAO

COVER STORY

THE year just ended marked the passing of former Rep. Manuel

“Nonoy” M. Garcia, 82, one of Davao’s well-loved politicians known for his “politics of per-formance” style of leadership. Garcia is a scion of the illus-trious family of pioneering professionals, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. He is the son of lawyer Leon Garcia Sr. who once served as appoint-ed mayor of the city, and grandson of Kapitan Tomas Monteverde, who was one of the first municipal presidents, the equivalent of present-day mayor. His brother, Leon Jr., was a member of the 1970 Constitutional Convention, while youngest son Vincent was congressman of the 2nd district for three terms. His daughter Mylene Garcia-Al-bano is on her second term as 2nd district congresswoman.

A brilliant lawyer and top debater, Nonoy shunned demagoguery. Instead of rab-ble-rousing and bad-mouth-ing political rivals, he would prefer to concentrate on crafting laws and bringing tangible improvements to his district, earlier classified as the city’s light, medium, and heavy industrial corridor, in-cluding transportation and utilities (TU) zones.

In fact, Nonoy is known for the efforts he had exert-ed for the establishment and construction of big ticket infrastructure projects such as the P5.4-billion Francisco Bangoy International Airport, the city’s two flyovers (Agdao and Dakudao), the first and only underpass along Car-los P. Garcia St. (a.k.a. Diver-sion Road) in Buhangin, the multi-million improvement of the Sasa international port, the Philippine Heart Center wing in the Southern Phil-ippines Medical Center, and the first Mindanao campus of the Philippine Science High School and the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP), among others.

Nonoy is particularly fa-mous for his lifetime advoca-cy and work for the interna-tional fight to save the endan-gered Philippine eagle from extinction. Initial impetus

The long campaign to save the endangered raptor, running for almost half a cen-tury now, got its initial impe-tus when Nonoy’s youngest brother, Arthur, then a busi-nessman in his late twenties, donated “Diola,” his one-year old eagle, to the campaign made famous internationally with the involvement of Cap-

By ANTONIO M. AJEROTHE EAGLE FAMILY

Capt. Charles A. Lindbergh

KIDS’ EDUCATION. Sonia Garcia’s daughter Marga, son Migo, nephews and nieces are given an educational tour of the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos.

Alberto “Bobby” Montemayor Dennis Salvador

Author with Pag-asa on the day he was transferred to the big cage

tain Charles Augustus Lind-bergh, the multi-awarded American aviator, author, in-ventor, explorer, and social ac-tivist who stunned the world by doing on May 20-21, 1927 a solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris, France, a distance of nearly 3,600 statute miles (5, 800 kilome-ters). It was then a formida-ble effort to promote airmail. Lindbergh was the first Time magazine “Man of the Year” at the age of 25, the youngest until now.

While studying the flora and fauna in the Philippines, Lindbergh became involved in efforts to protect the en-dangered Philippine eagle and the tamaraw, a rare dwarf buffalo in the island of Mind-oro.

Sometime in 1970, the young Art Garcia turned over Diola to Lindbergh, who in turn gave the younger raptor to the Bureau of Forest Devel-opment headed by Macario Bacena, a buddy of Alber-to “Bobby” Montemayor, a tri-media practitioner who happened to be the brother-in-law of Nonoy Garcia.

On July 4, 1971, a grate-ful General Lindbergh, from Darien, Connecticut, wrote a one-page letter to Arthur for his donation:Dear Mr. Garcia:

Having returned to the United States, I write to thank

you again for presenting me with your Monkey Eating Ea-gle when I was in your won-derful island of Mindanao. As you know, this eagle is a mem-ber of one of the world’s most seriously threatened species. By taking part in an attempt to return it to its native hab-itat, you are recognizing the responsibility of man to his environment and setting an example to all mankind.

It will be a long and diffi-cult task to save the Philippine Monkey Eating Eagle, but one well worth the effort. It

is highly encouraging to find men like yourself joining in this effort, and to see how it is increasingly supported by so many of your fellow citizens of Mindanao.

With deep appreciation and best wishes.

(signed) Charles A. Lind-bergh Diola’s role

Diola gave birth to Pag-asa and Pagkakaisa, the first two Philippine eagles bred in captivity. Diola died sud-denly from cardio-pulmo-nary failure with respiratory arrest leading to congested heart failure in 1993 at the age of 24. Then Environment and Natural Resources Sec-retary Angel Alcala and the country’s environmentalists mourned her passing, cog-nizant of the role that she played in the great battle to save the raptor, now renamed the Philippine eagle.

“Diola played a very im-portant role in the Philippine eagle conservation as she produced the first eagle ever bred in captivity,” said Dennis Salvador, long-time executive director of the Philippine Ea-gle Conservation Foundation, Inc. (PECF).

“Tito Nonoy’s family not only donated Diola to the (conservation) program, but also helped muster local support to keep the eagles in Davao when DENR wanted to

move all of them to Manila,” Salvador recalled.

“Tito Nonoy also helped steer the organization (Phil-ippine Eagle Conservation Foundation, Inc.) in its for-mative years as its treasurer, then chairman,” according to Salvador, who added that No-noy Garcia continued to serve as chairman emeritus until his death last year.Family involvement

Aside from Arthur, donor of Diola, there were other members of the Garcia clan who helped in the advocacy and works to save the eagle.

Bobby Montemayor, husband of Nonoy’ s sister Patricia, drummed up public awareness and support for the save-the-eagle campaign in his Mindanao Times col-umn and radio and television programs.

Davao del Norte Gover-nor Rodolfo del Rosario did his part in a big way as min-ister of the old Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). Del Rosario’s pro-Philippine eagle stand was further man-ifested when he was con-gressman for several terms.

During the Araw ng

Dabaw celebrations in 2002, Vincent, Nonoy’s youngest son, invited eight of his fellow congressmen to visit the city and got their commitment to help in the conservation ef-forts for the Philippine eagle.

Vince and his colleagues chose to support a compre-hensive conservation pro-gram project that included the production of a docu-mentary titled “Hope for the

Eagles,” the improvement of existing audio-visual facilities at the Eagle Center, the pro-vision of falconry materials, and the renovation of the bio-diversity exhibit room into Diola’s Forest.Vince and friends

“Diola’s Forest is an en-hanced children’s discovery room directed at providing interactive learning for young audiences,” states a report by Tatit Quiblat, former PECF communication officer. “The room is composed of six modules. The first and sec-ond modules feature display boards and three-dimension-al fiberglass figures of trees, lizards and vines to represent the forest, and touch-screen computers for the enjoyment and education of the children. The third and fourth modules provide information on Phil-ippine Eagles, with stuffed specimen of the eagle and various eagle artifacts such as eggs and feathers on display. The last modules provide visitors with more fiberglass representations of the forest ideal for ‘selfie’ and ‘groufie’ photo opportunities.”

Vince and his eight

colleagues pooled funds amounting to P750,000 for the project.Sonia remembers

Sonia Garcia, niece of No-noy, did a lot more creatively during her stint as regional director of the ubiquitous De-partment of Tourism.

Sonia, daughter of Ama-do, another brother of Nonoy involved in the save-the-ea-gle movement, would make sure that the Eagle Founda-tion (PECF) was included in the Eco-Tourism Council for Region 11. The DOT in-cluded the foundation in the tourism marketing program – bringing Diola to countless WOW exhibits in Manila at Intramuros. DOT brought the Philippine Eagle bird-watch-ing package to international roadshow in Europe, includ-ing the Philippine Eagle as must-see in the first Bird-watching in the Philippines, a book produced by DOT. Un-der former Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, the foundation was able to fund the new visi-tors center at Malagos.

Sonia had the fondest memories about her child-hood with the eagle Diola.

“I grew up at the big house of Lola Milagring (mother of Nonoy) with Di-ola inside a small kulungan (cage) under a mango tree in the backyard. Diola’s cage eventually encased the whole mango tree. Since the grand-kids always had lunch at the big house, we always took the time to peek in her cage as we passed by the back gate to Ilustre Street.”

She remembered an in-stance “when the uncles de-cided to put a bayawak (liz-ard) inside the cage to check Diola’s reaction.” No show, the raptor didn’t rise above her docile behavior, taking no interest in the reptile.

“It was a big day when Capt. Charles Lindbergh came to ask for Diola for a conservation project sta-tioned in Baracatan, “ she said. Sonia never got an opportunity to see Diola in Baracatan. But her father, Amado, would report about what the raptor was doing with human handler Goning when he came down from his

visit to his friend Dr. Ronald Kruppa, who was the Eagle Foundation executive direc-tor at the time.

Sonia got the chance to see Diola again “when all the cousins were brought to her new home at the Philippine Eagle Conservation Center Park in Malagos. From her lit-tle kulungan under the man-go tree she now had her own mini forest. It was truly a joy to see her finally fly.”Morning at the Eagle Park

When Sonia’s daughter Margarita turned 17 last April she made arrange-ments for her and her cousins to spend the morning at the park. They watched a video, after which they went to the museum and were able to see the stuffed Diola.

“I talked about our gener-ation’s time at the big house with Diola and the commit-ment of Lola, Tito Arthur, and the cousins’ family to the pro-gram,” she said.

The kids then planted trees and made their im-prints on the cement blocks. “Margarita had donated her birthday money to the park. We walked through the park with the guide explaining about endangered species and the conservation mission of the park, a vision of one day being able to introduce more Diolas into the wilds, the mountains of Kitanglad, Talomo, and Hamiguitan, repopulating the species so that these majestic eagles will finally be able to soar above free and secure that they will not be hunted for sport or food. The morning ended with snacks at the visitors center and slicing of cake with the Philippine eagle photo.” (Sonia had tak-en a picture of one of Diola’s descendants and brought it to Goldilock’s for imprinting on a mocha cake). “I hope that one day, Marga, Miguel, and their cousins will be able to bring their children to the park and retell these stories,” she said.

(Ms Garcia now works at Knowledge Channel, based in Manila, where Marga and Miguel study, Marga at the Ateneo de Manila and Miguel at BALFOUR. – Author.)

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015 3EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 20154 EDGEDAVAO

THE BIG NEWS

OPERATIVES of Talomo Police Station arrested a 39-year-old house

helper who allegedly abducted a 4-year-old boy in Catalunan Grande, Davao City.

The suspect, identified as Julita (full name withheld) who is from San Miguel, Zam-boanga del Sur, was the stay-in helper of the family of the boy she allegedly abducted.

She had been working for the family for only about a month.

Talomo police said the boy’s family’s driver went to the station to report that Julita

had left with the boy at around 9:30 a.m. on Friday without the consent of the boy’s parents.

The boy was declared missing after Julita failed to re-turn the child to his home. The police then immediately con-ducted an investigation.

Police traced the suspect’s location to Kabacan, North Cotabato. This was confirmed when Julita sent a text message to a another helper telling her not to tell the police that they were going to Zamboanga del Sur.

Around 11:30 p.m. on the same day, police conducted a

pre-operation briefing for the arrest of Julita.

The suspect was finally ar-rested at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday inside the COMPATSI terminal in Cotabato City while she sus-pect was about to leave with the boy for Pagadian City.

The boy was rescued and immediately brought to the Women’s and Children’s Desk for debriefing and immediate medical examination.

On Saturday, Mayor Rodri-go R. Duterte presented Julita to the media and said what she had done was “unforgivable.”

“Buti pa na makapatay ka

nang tao sa away kasi mapapa-tawad pa kita (It is better if you just killed someone in a fight because I can forgive you),” Duterte said.

Duterte told Julita that her case is non-bailable and could earn her a life term in prison.

In an interview, Julita said it was a certain Ryan who asked her to kidnap the boy.

She said Ryan had wanted to marry her but she refused for financial reasons.

She also said they had asked for a ransom of P100,000 because her child was sick.

MAYOR Rodrigo Duter-te yesterday asked the family of the warden

of the Compostela Valley Pro-vincial Rehabilitation Center to give him a month to negotiate with the NPA for his release.

“Pupunta pa ako sa bukid kasi patakbo-takbo yang mga NPA. May cell phone pero had-lok man pud madakpan (I will go to their camp because the NPAs are always on the move. They have cell phones but they are afraid of being traced),” he said.

“I hope to recover the war-den who was kidnapped by the NPA,” he added.

In an interview Thursday afternoon at The Marco Polo, Davao, Duterte said the NPA told provincial administrator

Virgilia S. Allones of Compos-tela Valley, who had initial ne-gotiation with the rebels, to ask him (Duterte) first before they proceed with the negotiation for the release of warden Jose Mervin Coquilla.

When asked by reporters if the NPA demanded the re-lease of political prisoners in exchange for Coquilla’s free-dom, Duterte said that is not possible.

“It is not a good bargain. I do not do something which is not allowed by law. If they will be released because the cases are bailable there would be no problem, but to do something extraordinary just because you want to use it as a bargain, that is something that I cannot fath-om,” he said.

In a separate interview, Allones told reporters that during their talk with Duterte, they came up with a plan for confidence building with the NPA because she believes the rebels have faith in the mayor.

She said they will follow what the mayor will tell them for the release of the captured jail warden.

Allones said the main de-mand of the NPA was the re-lease of a certain Commander Jinggoy.

“Sumala sa phayag ni mayor tabangan sa legal na paagi (According to the mayor, he will help in the release of Commander Jinggoy the legal way),” she said.

Lijobet Coquilla, wife of the jail warden, appealed once

again last Thursday to the group for his immediate re-lease because it is very difficult for their children to lose their father.

In a press conference, Li-jobet said it also saddened them that her husband is now accused of being a drug pro-tector.

Coquilla was taken from his carwash business near his house in barangay Sto. Niño in Panabo City at around 7:45 a.m. on December 23, just two days before Christmas.

It was reported that Li-jobeth was also snatched but was later freed by the abduc-tors

A few hours later the Co-quillas’ vehicle was found

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte urged Mindanaoans

to choose a presidential can-didate who will support the push for federalism.

“I would like to ask every-body to support only a presi-dential candidate who could promise us with sincerity that they would start building federal type of government for the Republic of the Phil-ippines,” Duterte said in an interview at The Marco Polo, Davao on Thursday.

Duterte said he will give his full support to the presi-dential aspirant who can re-ally push the paradigm shift from the current presidential unitary to a federalism form of

government.Duterte himself is a

staunch advocate of federal-ism and even hosted a sympo-sium among Mindanao lead-ers in December last year.

He said the Philippines should do away with the sys-tem because it only intends to marginalize the places in the countryside.

Duterte said the unitary type of government is “dicta-torial” and aims to control the nation especially on financial matters.

Duterte said Mindanao has been giving more reve-nues to the central govern-ment but only a few projects go to the island region.

THE heads of the differ-ent barangays in Davao City are requested to

submit their respective lists of non-member senior citizens to PhilHealth.

PhilHealth social insur-ance officer Clea Dublin told Edge Davao in an interview that there are still barangays in the city that have not submit-ted the lists of their 60-year-old and older constituents who need to be included in the lifetime program as mandated by the law.

“There were barangay se-nior citizen associations that already submitted this month

but there are still more. We are targeting to have the massive barangay registration by Feb-ruary in Davao City,’’ Dublin said.

Dublin said under the barangay level registration, senior citizens will no longer have to go to the PhilHealth office.

All senior citizens who will be covered by the universal PhilHealth membership will receive the same benefits from paying members, retirees, and pensioners, she added.

However, she clarified that the law has a provision that ex-

Helper kidnaps boyBy ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.

abf@edgedavao.net

Duterte in talks with NPA for jail warden’s release

Pick a president who’ll push federal system, says Duterte

PhilHealth wants a list of non-member senior citizens

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

FEDERAL PUSH. Mayor Leoncio Evasco of Maribojoc, Bohol stresses that there is an urgent need for paradigm shift of system of government from unitary to federalism because the current form of government tends to neglect areas far from the seat of power. Evasco was a resource speaker during Saturday’s Support Duterte for Federalism summit attended by barangay officials at the Davao Recreation Center. Lean Daval Jr.

FCHOOSE, 10

FPHILHEALTH, 10FDUTERTE, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015

FIFTY individuals have been included as sus-pects in the 2009 Am-

patuan massacre for their alleged participation in the planning and execution of what is considered the bloodiest political violence in recent history.

Forty-three complain-ants along with witnesses said the suspects were in-volved either in the plan-ning, execution, or covering up of the bloodbath.

Assisted by private prosecutor Nena Santos, the complainants and wit-nesses took their oaths before Maguindanao Pro-vincial Prosecutor Tocod Ronda at the provincial gov-ernor’s office conference room on Tuesday to signify the veracity of their addi-tional manifestation.

It is said to be “the final wave” of the prosecution’s undertaking in the massa-cre trial which Ronda will immediately relay to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima.

Among the 50 is Cotaba-

to City Administrator Atty. Cynthia Guiani Sayadi.

Sayadi was the solici-tor-general of the Auton-omous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) under Regional Governor Zaldy Ampatuan, when members of the Ampatuan allegedly perpetrated the massacre, which left 58 people dead, more than 30 of them jour-nalists.

Sayadidenied in a press briefing on Friday that she had a hand in the massacre.

She dared her accusers, especially the Muslims, to swear on the Qur’an before testifying against her.

The complaint sheet read: “In the course of the Ampatuan, Maguindanao massacre case, the witness-es presented in court have testified that several oth-er persons who were not charged were involved in the planning, execution, and cover-up of what is known as the worst election-relat-ed case in the Philippines.”

5NEWSEDGEDAVAO

THE Indian national who is the subject of com-plaints by Indian medi-

cal students at the Davao Med-ical School Foundation (DMSF) has denied the allegations against him and said there are people out to sabotage the existing partnership with the school regarding admissions to its medical program.

In an exclusive online in-terview with Edge Davao, Dr. Ashin Mohan said three Indian nationals, along with a few col-laborators, were behind a plot to cause a disturbance at the school so that the Indian stu-dents would be transferred to schools in Manila.

He said the three, whom he identified as Sateesh babu

Garikapati, Sreenivasa babu velagapudi, and Ariyamuthu Gunasekharan, want to trans-fer the students to the Perpet-ual Help College of Manila and Lyceum College.

“Sateesh is trying to do maximum damage,” Mohan said. “Nothing to worry, I’m still fine but worried for the college. Anyway I will not let them go through with their plan against the college. I will safeguard the college at any cost since it involves a lot of lives and the future of the stu-dents in this institution,” he added.

Mohan, who said he was the chief operating officer of DMEMS Co. Ltd. on a special working permit visa, also de-

nied claiming he had bribed Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte. “The city mayor is someone I respect the most in this coun-try,” he said.

On Wednesday last week, about 50 Indian students of DMSF met with city adminis-trator Melchor Quitain to air their complaints against Mo-han, which range from illegal operation of three dormitories, various threats, and illegal de-tention.

Quitain set up a meeting between the students and Mo-han on Thursday, but the latter failed to show up.

Mohan, who is not con-nected with DMSF, is the al-leged owner of the Davao Medical Education Manage-

ment Services (DMEMS). Mo-han allegedly operates three multi-story dormitories in Bankerohan, Bajada, and in Ja-cinto Street.

Mohan said all the accusa-tions being hurled against him are just “allegations.”

“If they tell that I bribed the mayor, every single child in this country knows how good the city’s respectful mayor is. That itself is an invalid state-ment,” he said.

Mohan also said he had al-ready spoken with Quitain and showed documentary proof refuting the allegations of the students.

“I explained to him well the situation and why they are

THE Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) should not be viewed as a perfect

law that will solve all problems besetting the proposed politi-cal entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the heads of the peace panels of both the gov-ernment and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said in a forum here Thursday.

Speaking during the media roundtable discussion on the BBL, Mohagher Iqbal, chair of the MLF peace panel cited that while the bill is a product of 17 years of negotiations, it is only one element that will help achieve lasting peace in Mindanao.

Iqbal stressed, for in-stance, that it requires good governance and leadership and good implementation of

the law to make groups like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and Abu Sayyaf irrel-evant.

Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the government peace panel said it would be unfair to pin all hopes on the BBL since there are other factors to con-sider, for example, how to deal with the splintered Moro Na-tional Liberation Front.

Ferrer added that while the process of legislating the BBL may appear slow it is much faster than the passage of the Reproductive Health Act and the Freedom of Informa-tion Bill, among others.

She commended both the House of Representatives and the Senate for having held sev-eral consultations on the BBL.

Iqbal, who also chairs the

POLICE on Wednesday filed charges before the City Prosecutor’s

Office against five suspect-ed illegal recruiters for violation of Republic Act 10364 otherwise known as the Expanded Anti-Traf-ficking in Persons Act of 2012.

City police director Se-nior Supt. Angelito Casi-miro said Friday they were doing follow-up operations to arrest one of the five sus-pects, who remain at large.

Casimiro did not name the suspects and the vic-tims except to say that the alleged illegal recruiters are all from this city while the victims are from Cagay-an de Oro City.

He said the youngest

among the victims is 21 years old and the oldest is 32 years old. They were re-cruited to work as bar girls.

He said the suspects were arrested last Monday by the city police’s Special Investigation Unit headed by Supt. Felixberto Marti-nez at Solis Drive, Barangay Sta. Maria.

He said the arrest came after the SIU received infor-mation about the presence of a group of people with unfamiliar faces in the area.

He added the suspects are detained at the Police Station 7 after signing a 15-day waiver to avail of their rights to preliminary in-vestigation as provided for in the Revised Penal Code. (MindaNews)

crc@edgedavao.net

By CHENEEN R. CAPON

50 more suspects chargedwith Ampatuan massacre

Indian landlord deniesaccusations of students‘Peace in Bangsamoro

needs good governance’

5 Zambo residents facehuman trafficking suit

SUPPORT. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte welcomes Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) commissioners led by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace panel and BTC chair Mohagher Iqbal during their courtesy

meeting with the mayor at The Marco Polo, Davao on Thursday night. Duterte reiterated his support for the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) during the meeting. Lean Daval Jr.

LAST FAREWELL. Supporters pay their last respects to the late former Davao City Councilor Jose Louie Villafuerte during a necrological service held at Sangguniang Panlungsod session hall on Friday. Villafuerte, who passed

away last January 3, will be laid to rest on Monday at Mt. Apo Gardens Me-morial Park. Lean Daval Jr.

F50 MORE, 10

FPEACE, 10 FINDIAN, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 20156 EDGEDAVAO

ECONOMY

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino on Friday stood firm on the

fare adjustment in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems, saying the decision may not be popu-lar but it is right.

“Pero ulitin ko ano iyong desisyon hindi naman popularidad,” the President said in a media interview following his attendance to the inspec-tion and inauguration of infrastructure projects in Romblon.

This even as militant, labor, and commuter groups have filed peti-tions before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to stop the implementation of the MRT and LRT fare in-crease.

President Aquino said the fare hikes are aimed at reducing the P12 billion in annual subsidies just for train operations by P2 billion. The subsidies are

sourced from taxes col-lected all over the country.

“Assume natin na all the 14 million daytime residents of Manila, ‘yung the NCR (National Capi-tal Region) Metro Manila, ginagamit ‘yang MRT at LRT and that’s a very big assumption. So there are 14 million people being benefited and 86 million helping pay the bill,” he said.

The Chief Executive added that the fare in-crease, along with the Sen-ate-approved subsidy, will be used for the improve-ment of services of the MRT and LRT systems.

“May kailangang mag-bayad. So talaga namang makatwiran naman ‘yung ‘ikaw ang nakikinabang baka naman pwedeng dagdagan mo ang bayad mo. Sa increase hindi pa rin mapupuno ‘yung P60 (subsidy) ha ng MRT, may subsidy pa ring kailangan,”

ENERGY firm Supreme Power Corporation is investing around P1

billion for the construction and development this year of an 11.9-megawatt (MW) bunker-fired power plant in nearby Koronadal City in South Cotabato.

Executives of Supreme Power and its partner Next Power Consortium Inc. led on Thursday the for-mal ground breaking of the power plant, which is planned to go on stream lat-er this year in partnership with the South Cotabato 1 Electric Cooperative (Soco-teco 1).

Lawyer Juanita Sy, Su-preme Power president, said they are targeting to complete the construction and start the operations of the plant, which will rise in a property owned by the electric cooperative in Mat-ulas, Barangay Paraiso in Koronadal City, within the next six months.

“We already completed

the necessary requirements set by the Department of Energy for the construction of the plant,” she said.

Based on the company’s agreement with Socoteco 1, the power plant, which will be powered by modular generator sets from South Korea, will be embedded into the systems of the elec-tric cooperative.

Socoteco 1, which lists a daily peak power demand of 36 MW, serves Koronadal City, eight municipalities in South Cotabato and Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat.

Santiago Tudio, Socote-co 1 general manager, said the company will operate the plant for 15 years and will directly serve the needs of its service or franchise area.

After 15 years, he said, Supreme Power will trans-fer the ownership of the plant to the cooperative at no cost.

Lawyer Vince Tecson, Next Power president and

chief executive officer, said the operations of the plant will bring about additional charges of 80-centavos per kilowatt-hour (kwh) to con-sumers of Socoteco 1.

But he said such rate will be subject to public con-sultations and the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“We already applied for the issuance of a provisional authority for the rates pend-ing the release of the ERC’s its final approval,” he said.

Tecson said their ap-plied rate of 80-centavos per kwh is justified based on the projected costs for the operations of the plant.

“We are not allowed by law to charge more than what is allowed. We are also assuming that the rate we are proposing is acceptable to the ERC,” he said.

Tecson said they decid-ed to start the construction of the plant ahead of the is-suance of the ERC’s approv-al for their applied rates to

show their sincerity in pur-suing the project.

As a new entrant in the power industry, he said they deemed it vital to build the power plant first and prove that they are capable of run-ning or operating a major project.

South Cotabato (2nd District) Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez, who graced the ground breaking rites, laud-ed Socoteco 1 for pursuing the project.

“Socoteco 1 acted ahead and did not wait for another power crisis to happen. We should commend them for that,” he said.

With the entry of the project, Hernandez said they expect the area’s pow-er situation to further sta-bilize and eventually usher in more growth in terms of trade and investments.

“This is a major endeav-or — about a billion worth. We need more people like you here in the province,” he added. (MindaNews)

DEPARTMENT of Ag-riculture (DA) Secre-tary Proceso J. Alcala

has ordered the temporary ban on the importation of livestock animals that may be susceptible to foot and mouth disease (FMD), their products and by-products, coming from Chungcheong-buk-Do, Korea; Jiangsu, Chi-na; and Caprivi, Namibia.

The temporary prohi-bition took effect through Memorandum Orders 98, 100 and 102, respectively, in December 2014 to pro-tect the health of the local livestock population, and consequently, food safety in the country.

The directive was made following reports from the Office of International des Epizooties (OIE) of out-break of FMD Virus of Se-rotype O affecting backyard

piggery farms in China and Korea, and FMD Virus Se-rotype SAT2 affecting cattle kraals in Caprivi, Namibia.

“We cannot afford to take chances. We are main-taining our reputation of being an FMD-free coun-try so we are very vigilant of every possible entry of FMD-infected animals or animal products in the Phil-ippines,” Alcala said.

He added that being FMD-free will be an advan-tage to the Philippines as the ASEAN Economic Com-munity (AEC) integrates and opens a free regional market this year.

Under the orders, the DA chief has also listed other specific emergency measures such as the im-mediate suspension of the processing, evaluation of

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino on Friday said the government is fur-

ther increasing spending on infrastructure across the country to P562.3 billion this year in a bid to significantly boost economic growth and job creation.

During his visit to Rom-blon province, Mr. Aquino said the country allotted P442.3 billion for various infrastruc-ture projects last year from just P175.4 billion in 2011.

“Panatag po ang loob nat-ing magbuhos ng pondo para sa imprastruktura dahil alam nating bukal ito ng paglago ng ekonomiya. Kapag mas maay-os ang kalsada, mas mabilis

ang takbo ng mga produkto at serbisyo patungo sa merkado; mas lalago ang negosyo, na siya namang lumilikha ng tra-baho, at nagbubukal ng mala-wakang kaunlaran,” he said.

The President said the government is considering the welfare of the majority of Filipinos in the implementa-tion of infrastructure projects.

“Estratehikong pagkilos ito ng gobyerno upang ihatid ang benepisyo sa mas nangan-gailangan, at mabigyan sila ng kakayahang makiambag sa kaunlaran. Mahalaga po dito ang maayos na ugnayan ng lo-kal at pambansang gobyerno,” he said.

The President par-

ticularly cited the Rom-blon-Sawang-Agpanabat provincial road, the Sibuyan Circumferential Road, por-tions of San Jose Circumfer-ential Road, road connecting Sta. Fe-Guinbirayan Pro-vincial Road and the Rom-blon-Cogon-Sablayan Road.

“Ang mga proyektong ating nabanggit ay bahagi la-mang ng malawakan nating estratehiya na paunlarin ang sektor ng imprastraktura,” he added.

President Aquino said his administration’s good governance has resulted in sustained economic growth and 21 positive credit rating actions the Philippines re-

ceived from different agencies around the world.

“Benepisyo nito: Tayo po’y nag-o-operate deficit pero na-kakahiram na tayo nang mas mura dahil nga ho tumaas ang ating credit rating at bumaba ang ating risko; mas naeeng-ganyo ang mga negosyanteng magpasok ng puhunan sa bansa, na nanganganak ng trabaho sa maraming Pilipi-no,” he said.

“Sa walang patid na paglago naman ng ating GDP (gross domestic product), nabibigyan tayo ng kakaya-hang maghatid ng agarang benepisyo sa ating mga kaba-bayan,” the President added. (PNA)

Aquino firm on MRT, LRT fare hike

Firm invests P1 billion in Koronadal power plant

Aquino

DA bans productssusceptible to FMD

Infra spending boosts Phl economy: AquinoFDA, 10

FAQUINO, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015 7THE ECONOMYEDGEDAVAO

EXPECT rollbacks amounting to more than one peso for

every liter of petroleum products by Monday, an independent gas company official said.

”Yes, we can expect a rollback, more than one peso again,” Eastern Petro-leum chief and executive officer (CEO) and Chair-man Fernando Martinez told PNA in a text message.

Martinez said both gasoline and diesel will have a price reduction by next week.

Phoenix Petroleum vice president for External Affairs Raymond Zorrilla has also confirmed the oil price reduction by Mon-day.

”Yes we can expect an-other rollback,” Zorrilla told PNA in a text message.

Based on the Depart-ment of Energy’s (DOE’s) latest oil price monitoring

in Metro Manila, diesel was being sold at a com-mon price of P 29.25 per liter at gas stations, while gasoline was offered at a common price of P 40.25 per liter. It was observed after the first rollback of 2015 on Jan 5.

DOE said diesel was being sold at a range of P 27.05 to P 30.40 per liter in the Metro Manila area.

For gasoline prices, the DOE monitor said it was playing between the amount of P 36.05 to P 42.20 per liter.

Also, the oil price chart indicated that 2014’s to-tal rollback for gasoline amounted to P 13.29, while diesel was reduced by P 15.03.

Meanwhile, the coun-try’s total petroleum de-mand for the first half of 2014 reached 58,737 mil-lion barrels, which was equivalent to 339.3 mil-

lion barrels of oil, accord-ing to DOE figures.

The first half of 2015 will likely top the previous half’s consumption de-mand due to the factor of low oil prices.

Further, for the first half of 2014, the DOE said oil imports have reached 33,040 million barrels, mainly contributed by in-creased gasoline importa-tions.

Last year’s downward trend in oil prices was mainly attributed to the spurt of shale oil in the in-ternational market, which forced the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to re-fuse cutting production to defend its former dom-inating market share. It holds huge supplies and has various clients around the globe.

Reuters reported on Thursday that OPEC

ministers and delegates blamed the shale oil pro-duction by non-OPEC pro-ducers (i.e. Russia, Mexico Kazakhstan, U.S.) for the oversupply of crude oil in the market.

The blame came as international crude oil prices fell to their lowest since 2009-- far from the previous USD 100-120 per barrel prices.

For February delivery, Xinhua reported West Tex-as Intermediate (WTI) oil was offered at USD 48.79 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Europe benchmark Brent Crude settled at USD 50.96 per barrel.

Previously, the Mid-dle East offered lower contract prices to Asia at a discount compared to Brent and WTI prices. Thus, Asia can expect low-er contract rates by next week. (PNA)

MONETARY officials see that some eco-nomic indicators

in the last quarter of 2014 continue point to positive growth momentum for the Philippine economy ahead.

The positive outlook was made even with the sustained deceleration of the domestic economy in the third quarter of the year due to government under-spending.

Based on the recently released highlights of the meeting of central bank’s policy-making Monetary Board (MB) last December, the Board noted the decel-eration of growth until the third quarter of the year.

This after growth, as measured by gross domes-tic product (GDP), slowed to 5.3 percent from quarter ago’s 6.4 percent and year-ago’s seven percent.

Growth in the first three quarters of last year reached 5.8 percent while full-year growth target is a range between 6.5-7.5 per-cent.

Despite the slower growth as of end-Septem-ber 2014, the domestic economy posted its 11th over five-percent quarterly growth, among the highest in Asia to date.

The MB said domestic output from July to Septem-ber 2014 was driven by the industry, particularly man-ufacturing, and services sectors.

Household consump-tion, fixed capital formation and net export also boosted growth.

These factors, the re-port noted, are indicators of the economy’s “resilience and underlying strength in private demand.”

”Other indicators con-tinued to point to positive growth momentum in the fourth quarter,” the report said.

This after business expectations for the last quarter of the year turned more positive compared to the survey done in the third quarter of last year.

Business confidence in the last quarter of 2014 posted its highest level since the first quarter of 2010 at 48.3 percent on back of high commodity de-mand during the Christmas season and the main rice harvest season.

This is higher than the 34.4 percent index in the previous quarter’s business expectations survey (BES).

Relatively, results of the

RIS sentiment among investors returned Friday, enabling the

peso to recover against the US dollar.

The local unit finished the year’s first trading week at 44.95, which is also the currency’s opening level for the day and is bet-ter than day-ago’s 45.06.

A trader said this is in line with the movement of other Asian currencies on back of positive econom-ic reports in the US such as the drop in the world’s largest economy’s trade

deficit last November.”Helping boost the sen-

timent further was the pos-itive surprise in exports,” the trader said.

Uncertainties on the path of global growth re-main but the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday reported that the country’s exports grew by 19.7 percent in November, a tad lower than the 19.8 percent expansion same period in 2013.

The trader said actual growth of Philippine ex-ports last November is un-

expected since worries on global growth continue to linger.

With the resumption of investors’ risk sentiment, the peso moved in close range Friday after it traded between 44.97 and 44.92 resulting to a 44.94 aver-age.

Volume of trade reached US$772.3 million, slightly higher than the US$609.4 million a day ago.

Next week, the cur-rency pair is seen to trade between 44.80 and 45.10. (PNA)

BY next week, taxi drivers are required to display their new

tamper-proof IDs on their vehicles, the Land Trans-portation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said on Friday.

LTFRB last Novem-ber said it would soon be issuing these new IDs to provide passengers with a quick way for them to identify the names of the drivers and, if necessary, report to the authorities in case they are refused service.

At the same time, it

will also be easier for the board to determine taxi drivers possibly involved in criminal activities.

The IDs will require the driver’s name and pic-ture and company name, while a barcode will bear the driver’s track record.

LTFRB said that this can be accessed via smart-phone.

The IDs will be out by January 15 and are re-quired to be displayed on January 16.

Drivers who do not comply will be penalized, LTFRB said. (PNA)

Monetary officialssee positive growth

Oil firms likely to enforceP1 rollback by Monday

Peso appreciates against US dollar

Taxi drivers required to displaytamper-proof IDs by Jan. 16

TAKE YOUR PICK. A young girl checks out cartoon character-shaped balloons sold at the San Pedro Cathedral compound in Davao City. Sunday is still a special day for families in Davao City even with the fast-paced life here. Lean Daval Jr.

FMONETARY, 10

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 20158 EDGEDAVAO

VANTAGE

No justification for murderEDITORIAL

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

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

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Columnists: CARLOS MUNDA • HENRYLITO TACIO • MA. TERESA L. UNGSON • EDCER C. ESCUDERO • AURELIO A. PEÑA • MARY ANN “ADI” C. QUISIDO • LEANDRO B. DAVAL SR., • NICASIO ANGELO AGUSTIN • VIDA MIA VALVERDE • Economic Analysts: ENRICO “GICO” G. DAYANGIRANG • JONALLIER M. PEREZ

LEANDRO S. DAVAL JR. Photography

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MEGHANN STA. INES NIKKI GOTIANSE-TAN

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RICHARD C. EBONAMarketing Supervisor

SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

AQUILES Z. ZONIOFUNNY PEARL GAJUNERA

CHA MONFORTE Correspondents

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Reporters

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PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTEthe national association of newspapers

THE murder of yet another journalist in the Phil-ippines has been overshadowed by the gruesome killing of 12 people inside the headquarters of

the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, but her death is no less important, especially since it brings to 171 the number of murdered journalists since democ-racy was restored to the country in 1986. Indeed, that the death of Abante reporter Nerlita Ledesma in Bataan on January 8 is virtually being ignored is testament to how callously the government – and the people in gen-eral – treat the snuffing of the life of a journalist. This has happened many times before, and there is a danger of it becoming the norm as more and more journalists are felled by the guns of murderers.

This is because with every journalist killed, the peo-ple are desensitized to the news and treat it as just an-other crime that is committed. Not that reporters are more important than any other person, but it is worth

noting that journalists are being killed merely for exer-cising the right to freedom of expression. And if report-ers themselves pay the ultimate price for a right we all should be enjoying, what does that say of freedom of speech in the Philippines? In other words, if journalists are not free to express themselves, then who is?

Each time a journalist is murdered, government is-sues the same old line that it will investigate the mat-ter and bring the guilty to justice. So far, however, only a precious few cases have been brought to court, and in those instances only the gunmen have been identi-fied while the masterminds have remained scot-free. To make matters worse, President Aquino has insinuated that the murdered journalists had somehow deserved what they got because they had abused their freedom of expression – as if such abuse is justification for murder. No one – no one – deserves to be killed for what he or she expresses.

AIR pollution is one of the most serious environmental concerns all over the country. In fact, a recent assessment re-

leased by the Washington, D.C.-based World Bank based says that in developing countries around the world – and that includes the Phil-ippines – some half to one million people die prematurely annually as a result of exposure to urban air pollution. The figure excludes the millions of cases of respiratory illness associ-ated with air pollution in large cities.

“The economic damage from urban air pollution (including its effects on structures, crops and vegetation and forests) is estimat-ed to amount to US$1 billion to US$4 billion annually in cities in Asia,” says the report entitled, “Urban Air Quality Management” (World Bank Technical Paper No. 508). “Air pollution also contributes to the accumulation of stratospheric greenhouse gases, with impli-cations for global climate change.”

But before probing deeper, let’s talk about air. Although we speak of the material we breathe simply as “air,” it is actually a mixture of substances. Clean, dry air is mostly (99 per-cent) nitrogen gs and oxygen gas. However, clean air contains several other substances that, although present in only small quanti-ties, are still very important.

“Scientists believe that 4.5-5 billion years ago, the earth’s atmosphere was similar to the mixture of gases released when volcanoes erupt -- primarily water vapor, carbon diox-ide, and nitrogen,” wrote Penelope ReVelle and Charles ReVelle, authors of The Environ-ment: Issues and Choices for Society.

“During the period when the earth was cooling and becoming more solid, heavy rains washed out most of the carbon dioxide. The oxygen now in the atmosphere came from a

completely dif-ferent source: green plants.”

The earli-est recorded incident of air pollution in the United States was on 1948 in Donora, Penn-sylvania. “A heavy smog settled down over the area surrounding the town” on Wednesday morning. The first death occurred on early Saturday morning. “More followed in quick succession during the day and by nightfall word of these deaths was racing through the town. By 11:30 that night, 17 persons were dead,” the report said.

Four years later, in December 1952, an air pollution episode gripped the city of London for five successive days. “More than 4,000 deaths occurred in that interval as a result of the pollutants that hung in the air,” the ReV-elles wrote in their book. “These deaths, at-tributed to the London fog, were in excess of those normally expected to occur during that time of the year.”

According the scientists, the primary air pollutants are lead, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and oxides of sulfur and nitrogen.

Motor emissions can contribute as much as 80-90 percent of atmospheric lead in cities where leaded gasoline is still used. Although the effect of lead on children’s IQ is probably the most significant impact of using leaded gasoline, there are other health effects. There

is qualitative evidence that lead may adverse-ly affect the reproductive process in men and women. The effect of lead on the cardio-vascular system has been studied extensive-ly. There appears to be a weak but positive association between lead in blood and blood pressure.

In low-income countries, the vehicle emissions problem tends to be dominated by emissions from old and poorly maintained heavy-duty vehicles that contribute to high ambient concentrations of the fine particulate matter. In Asia, the particulate problem is ex-acerbated b the widespread use of two-stroke-engine gasoline vehicles that use excessive amounts of poor-quality lubricant, which for these engines is blended directly into gasoline.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a product of in-complete combustion of fossil fuels. In most cities, gasoline-fueled vehicles account for the bulk of CO emissions. People with chron-ic heart disease may experience chest pains when CO levels are high. At very high levels, CO impairs vision, manual dexterity, and learning ability and can cause death.

Sulfur oxides, products of the combustion of sulfur-containing fossil fuels, contribute to acid rain, which is a regional air pollution problem. On the other hand, nitrogen oxides are formed during combustion as nitrogen in the air reacts at high temperatures with oxy-gen.

Ozone is responsible for photochemical smog and has been associated with transient effects on the human respiratory system. Of the documented health effects, the most sig-nificant is decreased pulmonary function in individuals taking light to heavy exercise.

Until recently, air pollution meant out-door air. Today, studies have found indoor

pollution to be a serious problem (after all, we spend 90 percent of our time indoor). Sick-building syndrome and building-related illness are examples of how indoor pollution affects our health.

Sick-building syndrome refers to a collec-tion of symptoms people get while in tightly closed buildings with poor ventilation due to inefficient heating, ventilation, and air-condi-tion systems. The symptoms reportedly are similar to a cold or flu, including dry or burn-ing sinuses and runny eyes and noses.

Two factors play a major role in the in-crease in indoor pollution in recent years: the increased use of chemicals and synthetic materials in the construction of buildings and the move toward energy efficiency by building tightly sealed buildings.

Substances such as formaldehyde are re-leased from building products into the air by the process of outgassing (a form of evapora-tion that occurs when unstable molecules are released into the air). Asbestos particles, along with numerous other harmful substances, are found in many building and furnishings.

Pesticides, heavy metals from road dust, naturally produced radon, and pathogenic microbes can accumulate indoors and thrive in heating, ventilation and air-condition sys-tems.

The biggest indoor air problem, howev-er, is smoke from cigarettes, including passive smoke breathed in by non-smokers. On the other hand, two billion people still depend on biomass fuels, such as firewood, crop wastes and dung for cooking and warmth. Burning biomass fuels create the world’s deadliest air pollution: every year, more than two million people die from breathing the cocktail of chemicals given off when they burn.

Poisoned airVOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015 VANTAGE POINTS 9EDGEDAVAO

Henrylito D. Taciohenrytacio@gmail.com

THINK ON THESE!

WE tend to think of governing as a task performed by people in power (public officials), that it only con-

cerns them while the rest (who are not offi-cials) are mere beneficiaries of government goods and services.

This prevailing thought distorts the cor-rect concept of politics and governance in a democracy, as if only the officials matter. It reduces a citizen into a passive factor in the community—as mere recipient of govern-ment favors, services, or goods.

Moreover, not only does it reinforce wrong habits and practices among bureau-crats, it perpetuates apathy and docility among constituents, either reinforcing their tolerance for bad governance or creating disgust and resentment when government fails—a consequence of the wrong belief that officials are the source or giver of all that government dishes out.

Equally insidious is how the attitude denigrates the role of a citizen as a dynamic partner of government—as in fact the source of its power and authority.

*****To characterize a citizen as a passive

beneficiary of government service, instead of as an active partner in governance, makes him out into a subject or ward of the govern-ment.

It is misguided thinking like this which causes much of society’s social, economic, and political problems. It drives officials to

view their constituents patronizingly, treat-ing them as objects of their kindness or generosity—then expect gratitude in return, gratefully keeping them in office.

As for the citizens, letting their officials get away with this attitude invites victimiza-tion, opening themselves to abuse by their putative public servants.

The harm done by such attitude cuts both ways. It encourages impertinent behav-ior in public service while belittling the role of citizens who are the real sovereign and source of government authority.

*****The persistence of such misguided atti-

tudes explains why we have such badly per-forming and corrupt governments on all lev-els. It weakens the government’s legitimacy; it cannot claim to have unqualified consent of the governed, the underlying principle be-hind its authority.

To let such wrong notions obtain fosters illegitimate exercise of power, encouraging officials to take liberties with their derived authority, rendering the role of citizens meaningless as it negates the participative and inclusive nature of democracy.

It’s important to point this out in view of the powerless condition of our citizens, an

untenable state that prevents our Republic from attaining stability and our democracy from thriving.

Let’s face it: what preoccupies most of us most of the time, although it may not be so obvious, is governing—our lives, our families, our professions, our livelihood, our community. It is so whether in the private or public sector but no one seems aware of it or bothers to acknowledge it.

*****Governing is what most people do all the

time but only public officials get glorified for doing it. Managing the arrangements of liv-ing—coping with activities and events that take place around us, confronting problems and deciding what to do, creating harmony—are governing tasks.

Our efforts to avert bad things from hap-pening to us or our family, while nurturing and promoting the good, are also part of managing or governing the circumstances of our lives.

Although we may not be aware that it’s what we’re doing—whether in our house-hold, neighborhood, community, or the larg-er society—governing greatly preoccupies us.

We are, as a management guru would say, multi-tasking. Especially in our increas-ingly complex environment, coping with the demands of each sphere of activity—person-al, social, economic, political, religious—we are ever engaged in multitasking; we manage our relationships, we arrange or rearrange

things, process ideas, and act or react accord-ing to our values, attitudes, or inclinations.

In other words, governing is something we do even without swearing an oath of office, even without getting paid for it, or whether we do so consciously, unconscious-ly, or unwittingly. It is why we can say that government is everybody’s business.

The elite in Philippine Society should keep this in mind so they will outgrow the habit of relegating local politics and gover-nance to undereducated and highly corrupt-ible sectors of their community. They should resist the tendency to focus on national poli-tics while keeping away from the local, espe-cially the barangay level.

It is not right that they are focused on Malacañang and Congress while no one is watching, let alone supervising, the Baran-gay Hall. At best, they might look in on the municipal/city hall or the capitol occasional-ly, but rarely if at all do they pay attention to their own community’s governance.

[Manny is former UNESCO regional director for Asia-Pacific; secretary-gener-al, Southeast Asia Publishers Association; director, Development Academy of Philip-pines; member, Philippine Mission to the UN; vice chair, Local Government Acad-emy; member, Cory Government’s Peace Panel; awardee, PPI-UNICEF outstanding columnist. He is president/national conve-nor, Gising Barangay Movement Inc. val-dehuesa@gmail.com]

Government is everybody’s businessBY MANNY VALDEHUESA

THE WORM’S EYEVIEW

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 201510 NEWS EDGEDAVAO

He also said the current system is prone to corruption because only those in the na-tional government benefit from the taxes of the people.

“Lahat ng pera nandoon, lahat sa kanila na (All the money is there, it is all theirs), they plan what to do and what to spend, sometimes ending up in their pockets,” he said.

Duterte said that in the

current system, almost 75 percent of the revenue of a local government unit is giv-en to the central government, with only 25 percent left for its own needs.

He said a federal govern-ment would promote more development in the coun-tryside because each state will manage its own income. [ABF]

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cludes senior citizens who will be listed with this registration free from paying any monthly contribution.

‘’Their monthly contribu-tion will be taken from the sin tax from liquor drinks and cig-arette,’’ she said.

Dublin also said the head of senior citizen associations and local chief executives only need to present a copy of the identification card (ID) from the Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA) or birth certifi-cate that will prove their age as

well as an ID picture.She said it would be better

if associations and barangay officials can provide soft cop-ies of all requirements that will be used for easier encoding of membership data.

Dublin said PhilHealth sub-regional offices in the cit-ies of Tagum, Mati, and Digos will have separate schedules for the massive barangay reg-istration.

She said the barangay reg-istration could be a year-long activity for PhilHealth this year.

abandoned in Purok 2, Baran-gay Fatima, Paquibato District.

NPAComval-North Davao-South Agusan Sub-region Sub-regional Command spokesperson Aris Francisco said in a statement that Coquil-la was safe.

“We assure his family that he is being treated well by the NPA and the revolutionary mass base Francisco added in a statement.

“Coquilla was taken into custody by the NPA in order to subject him to an investigation to determine his individual culpability with respect to the complaints lodged against him before the People’s Democrat-ic Government by jail inmates and their families,” Francisco said.

Francisco said Coquilla is being investigated for com-plaints against him “which in-clude his willful negligence in the supervision of inmates and his direct and indirect, overt and covert participation of

drug trade and drug use inside the Comval jail.”

Coquilla has allegedly si-phoned off funds which are al-ready slashed by high officials of the jail, Francisco said.

“According to the com-plaints received by the NPA, Coquilla’s corruption has re-sulted in the inadequate med-ical and health care and food provision for inmates. To exer-cise absolute and fascist con-trol, Coquilla’s guards allegedly perpetrate physical abuse to their prisoners,” he added.

Francisco further claimed that Coquilla has “maintained double standards and discrim-inatory practices. He suppos-edly imposes strict and inhu-mane regulations for visiting families who are forced to talk to their loved ones while behind bars. But he allegedly turns a blind eye to inmates who were caught using illegal drugs, and to jail guards who were involved in ferreting drugs inside the prison cells.” [ABF]

It added, “To attain full justice, we, the heirs of the Ampatuan, Maguindan-ao massacre victims file the multiple murder case against the (mentioned) persons who participated in the gruesome commission of the crime,” the complain-ants said in their manifesta-tion.

But Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, whose wife and other fami-ly members died in the mas-sacre, expressed concern about the security of the re-maining witnesses, noting that many witnesses have been killed or threatened.

He cited the case of former Datu Salibo town mayor Akmad Ampatuan who survived an ambush a few weeks ago. Armed men also reportedly went to his house and that of his son in Shariff Aguak town to ha-rass them.

Akmad Ampatuan, along with two companions who are also witnesses, was also ambushed last Nov. 18. Denix Sakal, said to be a close aide of detained Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. was killed in the attack. Sukar-no “Butch” Saudagal was wounded.

“Akmad’s statement is the complete picture of all the previous statement of witnesses. There are new revelations that told the un-told versions during the car-nage and the background of accused Ampatuans,” Man-gudadatu said.

Akmad, a close relative and trusted man of Andal Ampatuan Sr., turned his back against his former boss after he decided to become a prosecution witness.

Mangudadatu is also concerned that some of the private armed groups, which harassed massacre witnesses such as Akmad Ampatuan, have allied with the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

But the BIFF denied the allegation saying they could not accept as members men like those involved in the massacre, unless they fully submit to or practice Islam in good faith.

Meanwhile, Cotabato City Administrator Atty. Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, one of the 50 new suspects, said the case against her is “po-litically motivated” because of her plan to run for Con-gress in 2016. (Ferdinandh B. Cabrera/MindaNews)

Bangsamoro Transition Com-mission (BTC), said they are hoping for a “resounding en-dorsement” of the BBL, citing their “trust in the collective wisdom to pass the BBL.”

“Let us not waste the op-portunity to establish peace in Mindanao,” he said as he appealed to media to push Congress to do its job. He add-ed that media, for sure, is inter-ested in stories other than war.

Both panels are expecting Congress to pass the BBL with-in the quarter to achieve the timetable of having the Bang-samoro government set up by 2016.

On unity in the Bangsam-oro, Ferrer said that would be the task of the regional govern-ment.

For his part, Iqbal said they “hope for the best” in reaching out to their constituents.

Ferrer said the feats achieved by the peace process in 2014 reflected the trust and confidence that was built, reciprocated and sustained through the years of negotia-tions.

“We want that trust and confidence should be stron-ger as we move along…and ensure that all the elements of the comprehensive agree-ment will be put in place,” she added, citing that such trust and confidence showed in the statements and actions of both panels in different aspects of the agreement.

Ferrer admitted however that based on the results of committee hearings conduct-ed by Congress there is a need to fine-tune the BBL to ensure that it would pass judicial scru-tiny.

She said both Houses of Congress have scheduled com-mittee hearings and meetings with governors in affected ar-eas within the month.

Among the issues raised in the roundtable discussion was the need to prolong the transition period. Lawyer Je-sus Dureza, president of the Philippine Press Institute and formed chair of the gov-ernment peace panel, said it should provide enough time for the MILF to “mature polit-ically”.

The MILF last month orga-nized the United Bangsamoro Justice Party in preparation for the first elections for the au-tonomous government.

DecommissioningFerrer noted that the MILF

decommissioning process has been hampered by the lack of

guidelines.Iqbal said the decommis-

sioning process would follow the Irish Republican Army model, that is, MILF weapons will not be surrendered but merely deposited to a third party. He added the pace of the process will depend on the progress of implementation of political reforms and other terms of the peace agreement.

Lawyer Benedicto Bacani of the Institute of Autonomy and Governance said the pro-cess of pushing political and legal reforms is slow and must be viewed within the larger picture.

He said it must be put alongside the goals of attaining respect for identity, addressing instability, and the Bangsam-oro’s right to self-determina-tion.

“We need to have faith and support the peace process and continue to push for reforms,” said Bacani, who is a member of the Panel of Independent Lawyers supporting the BTC.

Datu Al Abdulla Camlian, a BTC member and a military leader of the MILF, appealed for support to a good BBL that would prevent a resurgence of conflict.

Camlian said the MILF’s decision to enter into a peace agreement with government showed their interest to settle for autonomy not indepen-dence.

“We are not seeking inde-pendence. We remain citizens of the Philippines,” he added.

After the passage of the BBL it will be ratified in a pleb-iscite in the proposed Bang-samoro region. The outcome of the plebiscite will determine the geographical scope of the Bangsamoro.

After ratification of the BBL, the ARMM is deemed abolished and the BTC will be replaced by the Bangsamoro Transition Authority which will serve as the interim gov-ernment in the run-up to the first regional election in 2016.

The forum was organized by MindaNews in partnership with the Embassy of Canada, BTC, Conciliation Resources, European Union and Philip-pine Information Agency.

MindaNews held a similar activity in September 2014 at the Ateneo de Manila Universi-ty in Quezon City.

Another roundtable dis-cussion on the BBL with jour-nalists will take place in Cagay-an de Oro City next month. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)

doing this. Things are fine and he said the government has nothing to do with the rules and regulations of the college or dormitory,” he said.

One of the complaints of the students was that Mohan was charging them P10,000 in rent per month instead of P6,000 which they had agreed upon before they arrived in Davao City.

Mohan said the P10,000 being collected from the stu-dents covers the following:

buffet Indian food at three meals a day, accommodation, air conditioning, unlimited internet through wifi connec-tion, study rooms, electricity (unlimited), water (unlim-ited), fully furnished rooms, transportation buses, 24 hour a day security, CCTV, and main-tenance.

“All the other support ser-vices we offer for free like visa assistance, field trips, enroll-ment, medical assistance, etc,” he said.

application and issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Import Clearance to import the aforementioned commodities from said lo-cations; and stoppage and confiscation of all ship-ments of aforementioned commodities from said lo-cations.

The OIE is an inter-gov-ernmental organization

that, among others, has functions of informing gov-ernments of the occurrence of animal diseases and of ways to control these dis-eases, of coordinating stud-ies devoted to the surveil-lance and control of animal diseases and of harmoniz-ing regulations to facilitate trade in animals and animal products. (PNA)

monthly Purchasing Man-agers’ Index (PMI) survey showed sustained rise in domestic output last Oc-tober after a slowdown in the previous months as a result of the port conges-tion problem until the third quarter of the year.

”The sustained expan-

sion in bank lending also supports the view that un-derlying domestic demand remains strong,” the MB meeting highlights said.

The government is set to release the report on the fourth quarter 2014 and full-year growth this month. (PNA)

he said.President Aquino

further defended the ad-justment, noting that the light rail systems provide better services than the air-conditioned buses that are currently charging higher fares.

“So ang tanong: ‘Yung bus ba mas maayos sa

traffic kaysa ‘yung MRT at LRT?’ Siyempre mas maganda ‘yung serbisyo ng MRT kaysa doon sa air-conditioned bus. So nagbabayad ka ng mas mahal doon sa bus pero mas maganda ang ser-bisyo supposed to be ni-tong MRT mas tuluy-tu-loy,” he said. (PNA)

BLACK NAZARENE. Stalls selling religious items inside the San Pedro Cathe-dral compound in Davao City enjoy brisk sales of Black Nazarene miniature replicas in time for the patron’s feast on Friday. Millions of Filipino devotees

joined the 19-hour annual Black Nazarene translacion held in Manila which ended early morning of Saturday. Lean Daval Jr.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015 11

THE nightmare started on March 20, 1902. At 2:30 p.m., two peo-

ple were admitted at San Juan de Dios Hospital for treatment. The doctor who checked the patients was totally aghast by what he found.

Hospital physicians im-mediately notified the board of health. In just a matter of one hour, Dr. L.M. Maus, the health commissioner, ar-rived. He confirmed the di-agnosis: cholera.

Just like what cholera had done in other coun-tries, the disease was soon to wipe out thousands of Filipinos. In the first three days, thirty-seven were con-firmed. It ballooned to 102 ten days later – with an as-tounding death rate of nine-ty percent!

Realizing the enormity of the situation, the health board (mostly Americans) carried a government orde, which called for the burning of infected nipa huts – to the confusion of the natives. It also advocated cremation of bodies, outlawing of funer-als, and land quarantine. All these conflicted with Filipi-no customs of funeral visits and visiting of the sick.

Despite these measures, the cholera epidemic con-tinued to take its toll. Peo-ple were not aware on how to prevent the disease from spreading. The contaminat-ed water supply, rampant defecation in the rivers, and lack of hospitals contributed to the rapid spread of chol-era.

All in all, 200,222 lives – including 66,000 children – perished. Three percent of the population was dec-

imated in what was touted to be “the worst epidemic in Philippine health history.”

New generations would never know this had it not been for the Co Tec Tai Med-ical Museum on Taft Avenue in Pasay City, which show-cases the history of medical practice and health care in the Philippines.

Perhaps the first and only medical museum in the country, it has various collections of rare photo-graphs, health artefacts, memorabilia, mementos, medical books and instru-ments, and paintings.

One of the things that captivated me during the re-cent visit was the two paint-ings by Thomas Daquioag. One was titled “Barrio Doc-tors,” where physicians are depicted helping the needy barrio folks. The other one is “Panata Ko… Bayan Ko,” a reminder of their oath: to save lives.

Touring around the museum is like walking through times – starting from the Spanish era (when three great epidemics hit the country: cholera, small-pox and beri-beri) to pres-ent time (the photograph of Health Secretary Enrique Ona interviewed by broad-caster Joe Taruc at the DZRH radio station).

There are lots and lots of historic photographs. Each photo is arranged according to the time it was taken: ep-idemic years (1891-1909), American health initiatives (1910-1919), training Fili-pino leaders in research and public health (1920-1929), passing the torch (1930-1939), the war years (1940-1949), golden age (1950-

‘Secrets’ of our medical pastText and Photos by HENRYLITO D. TACIO

EDGEDAVAO

CULTURE&ARTS

1959), medical progress (1960-1969), and Martial law years (1970-1979).

The year 1980-1989 was considered the prima-ry health care years, 1990-1999 as burden from infec-tious and lifestyle diseases, and 2000 to the present time as health in the New Millennium.

The museum also has complete photographs of health secretaries – starting from Dr. Jose Fabella (1941-1945) down to Dr. Enrique T. Ona (2010-present). Among the most popular health heads were Dr. Fran-cisco Q. Duque, Dr. Jesus C. Azurin, Dr. Alfredo (who re-

ceived a Ramon Magsaysay Award), Dr. Juan M. Flavier, and Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit. So far, only two women became health secretaries: Dr. Car-mencita N. Reodica (1996-1998) and Dr. Esperanza I. Cabral (2010).

The medical museum is named in honor of Mr. Ong Yong – better known as Co Tec Tai in the Chinese com-munity. He was born in Jin-jiang, China but came to the Philippines in 1922. He had been very active in charity works and was president of several civic organizations. He died in 2009 after a lin-gering illness.

“My father gallantly

fought alongside the guer-rillas in World War II,” said daughter Julie Ong-Alonzo. “When the war was over, he did small businesses until he built his fortune in later years. He then thought of sharing what he had to the Filipino people to show his gratitude to the Philippines which he considered his second home.”

The Co Tec Tai Medical Museum is the brainchild of her brother, Dr. Willie T. Ong. A cardiologist at Ma-nila Doctors Hospital and Makati Medical Center, Wil-lie graduated from De La Salle University College of Medicine in 1992 and com-

pleted his training in Adult Cardi-ology at the U.P.-Philip-pine Gener-al Hospital in 1999.

During his early years in m e d i c a l school, Wil-lie was in search of role mod-el Filipino doctors that could serve as his inspi-ration. But he couldn’t find any. So, after grad-uating from school, he and his wife, Dr. Anna Liza R. Ong, went to the Unit-ed States and studied History of Medicine at the Univer-sity of Wis-consin.

“ F o r m o n t h s , we toiled through the icy winter of Madison, col lecting

anything and everything related to Philippine med-icine,” Willie recalled. The couple also went to Wash-ington, D.C., Maryland, Bos-ton, and Wisconsin to gath-er “any scrap Filipino health workers had left behind.”

Almost daily, the two doctors searched various libraries and American gov-ernment agencies until fi-nally they brought home 19 boxes of pictures, journals and books about “secret of our past.” Willie admitted, “Many of these historical sources were destroyed in the Philippines by the bombs of World War II.”

The couple also traveled to other countries in quest for other information. In Spain, they went to Bibliote-ca Nacional in Madrid, Uni-versidad Complutense de Madrid, Ministerio De Sani-dad y Consumo, and Museo Nacional de Antropologia. In Japan, they went to Tokyo and visited the National Diet Library.

“Though this medical museum, all the good works and noble projects of our countrymen in the health sector can be safely stored and remembered,” said Willie, who writes a health column for a national daily and has two weekly televi-sion shows. “And as we look at the pictures and listen to their stories, it is our fer-vent hope to continue to tell and retell their stories for the younger generations to learn from.”

It took the Ongs nine years to collect all what are now being displayed at the museum. First opened to the public in 2006, it is locat-ed at the fourth floor of the Sonlie Building, 2652 Taft Avenue Pasay City (between Edsa Rotunda and Libertad Street). It is open from Mon-days to Saturdays from 9 am to 5 am. Visitors are wel-come to visit in large groups. Students in high schools and colleges, especially those in-terested in health sciences, are welcome to tour the mu-seum. Admission is free.

Dr Willie T. Ong

Doctors to the barrio painting

More old medical instruments

Famous men and women of Philippine medicine in paint-ing

Old medical instruments

Old photos

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 201512 EDGEDAVAO

ICT HUB

GLOBE Telecom is bring-ing back its Free Face-book starting January

13, and is throwing in free Viber for good measure.

In a statement, Globe Chief Operating Advisor Peter Bith-os said the telco is reviving its popular promo as its way of thank its customers “for a wonderful 2014.”

“We don’t want to let 2015 to start without a bang... or without thanking our custom-ers for a wonderful 2014. So, starting January 13, 2015 – and for an entire month – our world-renowned Free Face-book is back,” Bithos said in a statement.

This time, however, Globe is spicing up the promo by offering Free Viber for all cus-tomers in the month leading up to Valentine’s Day.

“And always with Globe, we make it easy for you – n purchase required, no promo required, no daily registration required, and available to all

Globe customers (mobile and Tattoo)... plus, it comes with all our love and affection,” Bithos said.

“For years now, Globe has been the leader in mobile in-ternet, 4G and countless digital experiences from Free Face-book to Spotify, and our latest partnership with the NBA,” he said.

“At Globe, we like surpris-ing you by giving something special from time to time. We like being the brand that intro-duces you to new experiences, especially at little or no cost. Thanks to you, our customers, our passion for digital expe-riences and your digital life makes Globe the fastest grow-ing telco in the Philippines today. And increasingly, our approach is being adopted by others in the Philippines and across the world. We are hum-bled by all the local and global companies who have decided to follow in our footsteps,” he added.

WIRELESS ser-vices leader Smart Commu-

nications, Inc. (Smart) has announced that its Free Internet promo for all Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular subscribers is now available until Febru-ary 5, 2015.

Through the Smart Free Internet promo, all 69 million Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular subscribers all over the country can use their da-ta-enabled cellphones to access the Internet with-out data charges, for up to 30MB daily.

“The positive re-sponse to the Smart Free Internet promo – a real game-changer in the in-dustry in that it intro-duced mobile Internet to more people than ever before – gave us a very strong indication of Fili-pinos’ propensity for mo-bile data use,” according to Charles A. Lim, head of wireless consumer busi-ness at Smart Communi-cations and Sun Cellular.

“This is why we are very pleased to extend it and continue providing our subscribers -- many of whom already have the mobile devices capable of accessing the internet but have yet to use them to go online – the opportunity to try out and experience the Internet. This way, Smart can truly push ‘Internet for all’ and spread the ben-efits of the Internet in the fastest and most effective way possible,” Lim added.

Alongside the ex-tension, Smart also an-nounced that its network

is ready for the expected surge in mobile data traffic in 2015, as the increasing affordability of data-hun-gry smartphones encour-aged more Filipinos to snap up devices in the last few weeks of 2014.

Over a fourth of Smart and Sun Cellular’s com-bined over 69 million subscribers are already using smartphones, help-ing drive a robust 112% increase in mobile data traffic within the network, equivalent to 27,000 tera-bytes worth of data ex-changed from January to September 2014, com-pared with just 13,000 terabytes of data for the same period last year.

“We can only expect these volumes to increase exponentially in the months ahead,” Lim add-ed.

Through the Smart Free Internet promo, all 69 million Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular subscrib-ers just need to register by texting FREE to 9999, to start using their data-en-abled cellphones to access the Internet without data charges, for up to 30MB daily. It is available across all network platforms – from 2G to 3G to 4G speeds in the country.

Smart continues to have the largest mobile network in the country to-day, with a total of 24,938 cellular/broadband base stations, including 9,946 active 4G/HSPA+/Long-Term Evolution (LTE) base stations, supported by more than 90,000 kilome-ters of fiber-optic cables around the country.

OLX and AyosDito, two of the biggest online mar-ketplaces in the Philip-

pines, have merged into a sin-gle platform “to create a better online classifieds platform that possesses a larger abun-dance of items for sale and a larger base of potential buyers, all under a single brand.”

In an announcement post-ed on OLX.ph website, OLX said it did not buy AyosDito but merged with it “to create a better online classifieds plat-form that possesses a larger

abundance of items for sale and a larger base of poten-tial buyers, all under a single brand.”

The merger was an-nounced last November 13 and was officially closed last Thursday, January 8.

In a FAQ (frequently asked questions) on its website, OLX.ph said the two sites merged “to make it faster and easi-er for Filipinos to turn their items into cash and find the best price for the item they are looking for.

It also said the two sites have one common goal: “To help Filipinos improve their lives through facilitating win-win exchanges.”

“Merging the two strong platforms can only lead to shared expertise and knowl-edge to effectively educate the market about online clas-sifieds and most importantly, increase the number of suc-cessful transactions for you (users),” it said.

OLX also allayed fears of advertisers of AyosDito, say-

ing starting January 22, all us-ers will now be redirected to www.olx.ph.

“Your AyosDito ads will not get reposted automatically on OLX. Instead, we’ll be send-ing you an e-mail of all your active ads so you can select which ads you would want to get reposted by OLX on their website,” it added.

The ads, however “will remain as they are. Same goes for all other seller informa-tion you saved in your OLX account.”

Globe brings back Free FB with Viber

AyosDito joins OLX to create one marketplace Smart Free Internetextended to February 5

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015

EDGEDAVAOINdulge! FOOD

Comfort food at Chef Robby Goco’s

Munchtown DinerMANILA-BASED celebrity chef Robby Goco, who has been at the front and center of the country’s ever dynamic food scene, has brought his breakthrough – Munch-town Diner –the first ever branch in Visayas and Mindanao, to Davao City.

The man behind the success of several res-taurants such as Cyma, Green Pastures and Char-lie’s Grind and Grill has changed the way we view comfort food – making it more mouthwatering, richer and tastier Munch-town-style. Munchtown Diner, which has gained a fol-lowing in Manila for its famous sliders, is now open at the 1st Level of The Fountain Court, SM La-nang Premier. It is a joint venture by local restaura-teur Carlo Lorenzana and entrepreneur Marga Nor-grales in collaboration with Chef Robby.

Get a taste of the must-try dishes Chef Robby has curated for Munchtown Diner. Choose from a wide range of bestsellers made from the freshest ingredients – the Black Angus burgers, Burrito, Taco dog, freshly baked pizzas, original Greek gyro, and Canadian pou-tine fries. Finish your meal with a cup of Oreo Overload Milkshake and other irresistible dessert options. Check out Munchtown Diner now at SM Lanang Premier. For more infor-mation, contact (082) 285-1541 or visit Munchtown Diner’s Facebook account.

Celebrity Chef Robby Goco at Munchtown Diner.Feast on Chicken BBQ Pizza made from homemade dough and the yummiest ingredients.

Munchtown’s Sliders – 100% Black Angus Burgers – are perfect afternoon snacks while their Oreo Overload Milkshake will freshen you up on hot days.

GRAND REGAL HO-TEL DAVAO held a post-Christmas celebration last last January 7, 2015 in a special affair for the children of its employees. This was the first time em-ployees’ children are given privilege to enjoy as the stars of the occasion, and their parents could only take the sidelines of the spotlight. It was indeed a grand time for kids, as they get to do just what kids normally do; danc-ing, jumping, screaming, giggling and rounding up the stage grabbing micro-phones. The proud par-ents can only get amused watching these hordes of toddlers and pre-teens mixed together doing their antics, after all, it’s their party. All the kids gamely par-ticipated in the different contests, and one game tested the parent-child bonding when kids acted-out their favorite cartoon characters for their par-ents to guess. It was a test if parents were aware what their kids were spending time with in the boobtube. A singing Santa Claus ser-enaded the kids with his awesome rendition of “ It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and handed lootbags filled with good-ies. The powerhouse guest performer, was no less, Lloyd Edisonne J. Monte-bon, the current toast of Filipinos who have etched a mark in the perform-ing arts and conquered the title- WCOPA 2014 Junior Grand Champion Performer of the World. The  World Champion-ships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) is the first and only international competition held annu-

ally in Hollywood to find the best aspiring perform-ing artists in acting, sing-ing, dancing, modelling, instrumentalists, and va-riety categories. Referred to as the “Olympics of the Performing Arts”, con-testants from over 70,000 applicants in 47 countries are screened, qualified and selected under spe-cific guidelines founded by  Griff O’Neil  in 1996,

which culminates in an annual televised final awards show, in Holly-wood. Lloyd belted out “Titanium”, “I Believe” (Fantasia) and “Let It Go” (Frozen) to the delight of the kids and parents who sang with him these fa-vourite ditties. Lloyd, is the son of Housekeeping Supervisor Ernesto Mon-tebon, who himself is a performer in the hotel’s

employee gatherings. General Manager Ilde V. Bontia Jr., in behalf of the management said his yuletide message to the children as he also ex-pressed his gratitude to all parents and other employ-ees, including all Depart-ment Heads for the won-derful time spent together in celebrating a meaning-ful post-Christmas cel-ebration.

SM ACCESSORIES takes 2015 in a desert storm with the pre-summer collection of 2015. See Anne Curtis, Xian Lim, Georgina Wilson, Enrique Gil, Julia Barretto, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla venture into the wild with pieces that merge style and function. Animal prints and bold chains from WWW dominate the ladies’ line, combined with soft tones of pearls and fur. Indulge in multipurpose scarves that can be used in various ways—from hat and bag accents to turbans to a stylish sarong. Find your pair with eyewear in all shapes, colors and sizes for you to take around all year long. Layer bangles and necklaces and transform any outfit in an instant. Combined materials such as leather and tweed from MSense take over the men’s line, from stackable arm swag to utilitarian backpacks and messenger bags for everyday use. The hues of army green, brown and black both camouflage yet make you stand out, perfect for easy mixing and matching. Start the year right with all the right pieces you need in that wardrobe, and conquer your best year yet with SM Accessories. All items are available in SM Stores nationwide.

AS A STAUNCH supporter of the Philippine government’s drive to institutionalize transparency in its transactions, Globe Telecom hosted the recent #KabantayNgBayan: Procurement Hack. It gath-ered top developers, “data gurus” and designers in a competition to ideate potential applications or “apps” to help Filipinos under-stand and monitor the government’s procurement process, match government needs with prospective bidders and assemble a his-tory or track record or previous bidders. Held at its corporate showroom at the Valero Telepark in Makati City, the “Hackathon” was the result of the collaborative efforts of Globe, the Procurement Service and Philippine Government Elec-tronic Procurement System (PS-PhilGEPS) as well as Open Data Philippines to harness the potential of information and communi-cations technology or ICT in promoting government transparency, and increasing public awareness of the procurement process by way of a “hack” marathon-competition where participants can cre-ate apps inside 24 hours to solve a particular challenge. Developers, programmers, designers, researchers and informa-tion technology experts in groups of three to four converged for the “Hackathon” to create web-based and mobile apps intended to facilitate efficiency in bidding and open up the procurement process to the public. They were provided with ultra-fast data con-nections as well as a conducive work environment to assist them in creating innovative apps from government data. “Globe is one with the Philippine government in its quest to pro-mote transparency and accountability to its citizens. By way of our collaboration and participation to the PS-PhilGEPS ‘hackathon,’ we are encouraging opportunities for our best ICT talents to take part and in this endeavor,” said Globe Vice President for IT-Enabled Ser-vices Group Rey Lugtu. “As with our previous ‘hackathons,’ the Procurement Hack aims to promote civic participation in national affairs. By bringing to-gether different sectors, the hackathon provided a platform for collaboration among various groups—government, the private sector, civil society, and international partners. It is also in line with the Aquino administration’s commitment to tuwid na daan and to reforms in public expenditure,” said Presidential Spokesperson Sec. Edwin Lacierda, in a statement. Globe executives led by Head of Device and Customization for myBusiness John Bibal and Head of Products, Service and Delivery for IT Enabled Services Group Michael Sy shared their IT expertise as members of the panel who rated the app submissions. Globe Labs, the developer community of Globe Telecom, also provided a technical workshop for the application program interfaces’ SMS, voice, charging and location based-services. Out of 22 teams which produced web-based and mobile apps, the Gold Prize went to Team PewPew’s MetroLitrato, a crowd-sourcing mobile app which helps track the progress of govern-ment infrastructure projects by collecting photos from citizens and displaying them in a timeline. Team SillyWalk’s Market Snitch, a market research tool aiming to help facilitate the creation of ac-curate budget estimates based on current market prices was good for the Silver Prize. Rounding up the winners with the Bronze Prize was Rod Coronel’s Transparent Procurement which feature proj-ects open for bidding via Facebook, Twitter, and email. All three groups took home cash prizes as well as other gadgets and periph-erals. In addition, they will closely work with PS-PhilGEPS to further improve their developed apps.

A2 INdulge! VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015EDGEDAVAOUP AND ABOUT EVENT

SM Accessories launchespre-summer collection

Globe lends support toPS-PhilGEPS Hackathon

Grand Regal Hotel celebrates Christmas

with children

2014 World Champion Lloyd Montebon with General Manager Ilde V. Bontia Jr. and kids of Grand Regal employees.

Santa Claus singing for the kids before giving their lootbags.

Grand Regal Officers: James Salvador (Exec. Asst-Admin), Princess Martin (Exec. Secretary), Joel H. Sazon (Exec Asst- Operations), Laarni Jalinao

2014 World Champion (WCOPA) Lloyd Edisonne J.Montebon, special guest performer joined onstage by his young fans.

THE GMA New Year Countdown Special at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA), Seaside Boule-vard was indeed a bright and beautiful scene. With over 100,000 people plus numerous performances of artists, the Kapuso net-work ended the year with a bang. The brightest and hot-test Kapuso stars united for their show-stop-ping performances that sent thrills to everyone. The event was hosted by the Master Showman German “Kuya Germs” Moreno, Kapuso stars Christian Bautista, Jenny-lyn Mercado, Jaya, Alden Richards, and Lovi Poe . Chef Boy Logro opened the countdown with what he does best: provide the most deli-cious media noche reci-pes, which he prepared in real time. The crowd was defi-nitely given an outstand-ing musical treat as Asia’s Romantic Balladeer Christian Bautista and Asia’s Pop Sweetheart Ju-lie Anne San Jose showed off their powerful vocals. Kapuso Premier ac-tress Lovi Poe showed off her singing prowess as she performed Roy-als and How Do We Do together with Glaiza De

Castro, Aicelle Santos, Bet ng Bayan grand final-ist Veronica Atienza, and Jaya. Another performance that really shook the stage and fired up the night was Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2014 Best Actress Jennylyn Mercado’s rendition of Girl On Fire. The Kapuso actress is set to capture the hearts of viewers in the upcoming primetime drama series Second Chances with Camille Prats, Rafael Rosell, and Raymart Santiago. Fearless Diva Jonalyn Viray gave an explosive

song number while Ka-puso artists Katrina Halili, Rocco Nacino, Andrea Torres, Rodjun Cruz, Ste-ven Silva, Winwyn Mar-quez, Diva Montelaba and Mark Herras grooved to the beat of various dance hits. The countdown was indeed a colorful event as GMA also highlighted some of the festivals in the country through a costume parade led by Kris Bernal, Mike Tan, Benjamin Alves, Joyce Ching, Frencheska Farr, Pancho Magno, Ervic Vi-jandre, Aryan Bautista and Max Collins.

The adorable teen love teams, Ruru Madrid-Gabbi Garcia, and Miguel Tanfelix-Bianca Umali also added more fun and excitement to the show. Kapuso youngest love-team Miguel and Bianca started to bring good vibes this 2015 with the primetime series Once Upon A Kiss. Despite the rain, Soul Diva Jaya and comedian Betong Sumaya made the crowd laugh with their musical comedy stint. Serenading the au-dience were voices from Maricris Garcia, Rita De Guzman, and Ultimate

Tagged as Cinema One’s NUME-RO UNO choice artist for January 2015, top billed Kapamilya leading man Piolo Pascual will be spicing up TV screens as his best perfor-mances in high-grossing movies will be featured all month long in Cinema One. Pascual, known for his diverse acting roles in Philippine cinema, has starred in blockbuster films that have left a mark in history. Some of his must-see films that will be shown this January in the country’s number one cable chan-nel are “Milan” the 2004 romantic drama which earned Pascual his FAMAS Award for Best Actor on January 14 (Thursday, 5PM), the Erik Matti action-packed crime film “On The Job” which was one of the 21 films selected under the Directors’ Fortnight category in the prestigious 2013 Cannes Film Festival on January 23 (Friday, 10PM), and the 2014 blockbuster romantic comedy film “Starting

Over Again” opposite Toni Gon-zaga on January 30 (Friday, 10PM). As the male icon of Cinema One, Pascual is a household name in the country, scoring more than 20 films since 1993 and has worked as a film producer as well aside from his TV and modelling stints.

Catch the best performances of Piolo Pascual this January only on the number one Cable Chan-nel which celebrated its 20th year, Cinema One! For more information, visit Cin-ema One’s official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Cinema1ch-annel).

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015 EDGEDAVAO INdulge! A3

PG 13

PG 13 / *R 13

PG 1312:00 | 2:00 | 4:00 | 6:00 | 8:00 | 10:00 LFS

R-16

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM:

SECRET OF THE TOMB

Ben Stiller, Robin Williams

PG 13 1:00 | 4:00 | 7:00 | 10:00 LFS

SEVENTH SON

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

THE AMAZING PRAYBEYT BENJAMIN / * LOVE ROSIE

Vice Ganda, Richard Yap /

* Lily Collins, Sam Claflin

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

Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE

OF THE FIVE ARMIESMartin Freeman,Ian Mckellen,

Richard Armitage

January 8, 2015

ENTERTAINMENT

Over 100,000 people joined GMA New Year Countdown at SM MOA

Piolo Pascual is numero uno on Cinema One for 2015

Bet sa Kantahan of Bet ng Bayan Hannah Precil-las together with Kierulf Raboy, Renz Robosa and Veronica Atienza. Aside from the over-whelming attendance, GMA New Year Count-down became even more special as it fea-tured simultaneous cel-ebrations at Kapuso Sta-tions in Cebu and Davao. Master Showman German “Kuya Germs” Moreno led the top of the hour portion with all the stars and representa-tives of the show’s spon-sors—Tanduay, Tanduay

Ice, and Alaska Krem Top. As they waited for the first hour of the year, the sky started to get painted with glitters of color. The fireworks display did not only celebrate the New Year, but it also brought an overwhelm-ing excitement to the crowd. 2015 was warmly welcomed, and GMA’s spectacle induced a handsome amount of joy to everyone who wit-nessed it at the MOA Sea-side Boulevard, as well as to those who enjoyed it at the comfort of their homes.

A4 INdulge!EVENT

Smart Prepaid joined Davaoeños in cele-brating the colorful Torotot Festival, Davao City’s creative and harmeless way of welcom-ing the New Year – sans firecrackers, which have been banned in the area since 2002.

Smart Prepaid welcomes 2015 with Davao’s Torotot Festival 

Although without the literal bang of firecrack-ers and fireworks, Davao City’s Torotot Festival was definitely not any less loud and fun, especially with Smart Prepaid’s ‘Live All Out’ brand of epic celebra-tion. Davaoeños kicked off the festivities with a pa-rade of creative Torotot-inspired costumes that liv-ened up the streets around People’s Park leading to Roxas Boulevard.  On the other hand, a Torotot featuring an intricate du-rian wood carving bested other stunning entries in the search for the most creative piece, showcasing the undeniable artistry of Davaoeños.  Loyal and new Smart subscribers at the festival enjoyed the Torotot Festi-val like no other as they got the chance to win exciting raffle prizes at the Torotot

Festival countdown show as well as Smart Prepaid activity booths.  The New Year count-down program started in the afternoon with a grand hiphop dance battle among Davao City’s ba-rangays. In the end, Sta. Ana Move Struck earned the top prize with their jaw-dropping moves. Hours before the much awaited countdown, the iconic Pinoy band “Color it Red” and renowned vo-calist Luke Mejares dished out popular Pinoy songs that got the crowd singing along.  But the cheers and shrieks of the crowd were the loudest when Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte addressed the crowd and thanked everyone, includ-ing Smart, for supporting the city’s advocacy in cre-ating a safe, peaceful New Year celebration. 

With so much enthusi-asm,  thousands simulta-neously blew their colorful torotots at  the final mo-ments  of 2014, embracing the New Year with opti-mism and hope. Throughout the cel-

ebration, everyone enjoyed snapping, posting and sharing the most awesome moments with family and friends here and abroad on the strength of Smart’s network, and its 30 MB worth of free mobile Inter-

net to all subscribers. As a fitting welcome to the New Year, Department of Tourism (DOT) Asst. Sec for Region 11 Arturo Bongcato unveiled its new campaign, “Visit the Phil-ippines 2015.”  Bongcato

highlighted Davao City’s important role in this news campaign as it continues to draw a growing number of local and foreign tour-ists every year for its natu-ral wonders, rich culture and joyful festivals.

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015EDGEDAVAO

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015 13EDGEDAVAORepublic of the PhilippinesREGIONAL TRIAL COURT

11TH Judicial RegionBranch 12Davao City

IN THE MATTER OF PETITION FOR RECOGNITION OF THE FOREIGN DIVORCE BETWEEN HISAKI FURUKUWA AND LEA MARIE PARBA PILLO

SP.PROC.NO.:13,371-14

LEA MARIE PARBA PILLO Petitioner,

x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -x

ORDER

This is a verified petition for Recognition of the Foreign Divorce between Hisaki Furukuwa and Lea Marie Parba Pillo, assisted by counsel, praying that upon due notice and hearing, judgment be rendered judicially confirming and recognizing the Divorce obtained in Japan involving Petitioner Lea Marie Parba Pillo and Hisaki Furukuwa.

Finding the verified petition to be sufficient in form and substance, set the hearing of this petition on Febru-ary 17, 2015 at 8:30 a.m.

WHEREFORE, Petitioner is hereby directed to cause the publication of this Order at her expense, in a newspa-per of general circulation in the City and three (3) provinc-es of Davao, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks.

Petitioner is further directed to furnish the Office of the Solicitor General a copy of this petition.

Likewise, let a copy of this Order be furnished the Lo-cal Civil Registrar, Davao City

Any person interested or who seeks to oppose the in-stant petition may appear to state why the petition may appear to state why the petition should not be granted.

SO ORDERED.

Davao City, Philippines, December 9, 2014.

(Sgd) PELAGIO S. PAGUICAN JUDGE

(1/12,19,26)

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 201514 CLASSIFIED

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VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 2015

Pacman vs Khan in England?15SPORTSEDGEDAVAOSports

IS Man-ny Pac-q u i a o

consider-ing fight-ing Amir Khan if the Floyd May-weather Jr.

fight doesn’t push through?

Michael Koncz, who will be accom-

panying the Fili-pino champion

to visit Prince

Harry of Wales this month, said that they might bring up the topic of fighting in England when they meet the British royal.

“I am not sure what we will talk about but certainly I will question them about holding a box-ing event there and what concessions we can get,” he said in Ronnie Nathan-ielsz’ report in Boxing Scene.

Of course, the most appropiate opponent for

Pacquiao in the United Kingdom would be Brit-ain’s boxing superstar Amir Khan.

Khan has recently been harping about fight-ing Pacquiao if the latter doesn’t get Mayweather.

Khan has also been lobbying for a fight against Mayweather, but the American boxer doesn’t seem to be interested.

Pacquiao’s camp is cur-rently in negotiations with the Mayweather side. Kon-

cz said they have sent a count-er-of fer to May-w e a t h -er’s camp.

T h e eight-divi-sion cham-pion is still wait-ing for Mayweath-er’s response.

“Nothing [so far],” he said in an inter-view.

Panabo City’s Barangay Una boxers proudly display their medals they won during a dominating 2014 Batang Pinoy National Finals campaign held in Bacolod City. The boxing team is led by executive director Edwin Pardillo.

THIS ride is to save one’s life.

Davao Mumho Rid-ers will stage a fun ride for a cause on January 25 dubbed as Ride for Baby Chiko.

This charity ride was hatched to raise funds for the medical expenses of one-year old Baby Chiko Gumban who needs a liver transplant after being diagnosed of biliary atresia shortly after his birth.

The baby’s parents, Choko and Carol Gumban, who are also bike enthusiasts, have called on the support of the biking community to help defray the expenses of their son’s medical expenses which could fetch up to P4 million.

Davao Mumho Riders

president Ferdie James Nerv-ida is organizing the event which is open to all bike en-thusiasts. Registration fee is pegged at P150 and those in-terested may register at Ridea Bike Shop at the 5th level of Gaisano Mall Davao. Registra-tion includes a helmet sticker and raffle stub. All proceeds will go to the Gumban family for their son’s medication.

Jumpoff time for the bike-fest is set at 6 a.m. at Magsay-say Park. A special award will be given to the biggest delega-tion.

Interested bikers and do-nors may also visit the official Facebook page of the event fb.com/rideforbabychiko and fb.com/helpbabychiko.

THE PBA Philippine Cup title series between San Miguel and Alaska

has not only turned into a highly-physical encounter, it just became bloody.

San Miguel’s Arwind San-tos and Alaska’s Calvin Abue-va, two Cabalen competitors, went at it in Game Two.

Santos, a former PBA MVP, suffered a cut on his

forehead after Abueva ap-peared to have landed an elbow on the Beermen for-ward after taking a shot. The players exchanged words in the fallout, but it was Abue-va who clearly got out of his rhythm from their grueling encounter.

Santos is not taking the incident personally and con-sidered it all part of the sport.

“Part ng laro yan. Parang kailan lang naalala ko noong naglalaro ako sa Pampan-ga. Ang sabi ko nga sa mga teammates ko, sa Pampanga, pustahan, hindi lang ulo du-mudugo,” Santos told a small group of sportswriters.

“Pati paa, ilong, o ano pa. Pero tuloy lang ang laro.”

Santos also issued some ominous words to describe

a series that has not only be-come extremely physical but visibly emotional as well.

“Nag-uumpisa pa lang ang laban.”

Abueva refused an inter-view after the game, although he felt that the game spoke for itself.

“Napanood niyo naman yung laban, di ba?” he said on his way out of the arena.

THE San Antonio Spurs have learned to play with poised desperation

when Tim Duncan, Tony Park-er and Manu Ginobili are all sitting out.

The Phoenix Suns are still learning to keep their poise, period.

Danny Green had 20 points and San Antonio fought through the second half with-out their Big Three, rallying to beat the Suns 100-95 on Fri-day night.

The seventh-place Spurs moved a game ahead of the eighth-place Suns in the West-ern Conference.

The Spurs scored a sea-son-high 41 points in the fi-nal quarter after blowing a 14-point lead.

‘’It’s tough after playing so well in the first half,’’ Duncan said. ‘’And then we give it up in that third quarter and you get the feeling, ‘Here we go again.’ We’ve had some really tough ones, some really close ones, where one or two possessions changes the entire game. Good to grab this one tonight and trying to get our ship back on the right path.’’

The loss was as much

about the Suns’ collapse as the Spurs’ rally.

Phoenix, which entered the game shooting 37 percent on 3-pointers, was 7 for 26 from long range.

Coupled with a pair of late technical fouls, the loss aggravated Suns coach Jeff Hornacek.

‘’You saw the times that we drove it in there, you get a shorter shot or you get fouled,’’ Hornaceck said. ‘’But they want to live by the jumper or die by the jumper, I guess. These guys think they can make every shot, but if you don’t, you lose.’’

While the Suns were struggling, the Spurs took flight in the fourth quarter thanks to Parker’s backups.

Patty Mills had 15 points, including two 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes, and Cory Joseph scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help San Antonio snap Phoenix’s four-game winning streak.

P.J. Tucker and Eric Bled-soe had 19 points each and Goran Dragic added 17 points for the Suns. They have lost five straight in San Antonio.

Panabo boxing team dominates in Bacolod PANABO City’s Barangay

Una Boxing Team re-mains the country’s jug-

gernaut in amateur boxing as it dominates the 2014 Batang Pi-noy National Finals held in Ba-colod City, Negros Occidental.

The multi-titled team jointly funded by ANFLOCOR Top Honcho Tonyboy Floiren-do and Davao del Norte solon Antonio F. Lagdameo, Jr. hauled down 3 golds and 3 bronzes to capture the most medals in the said tourney.

Leading the charge for the team is Bantamweight (52.1-54 kg) dynamo Jhun Rick Carcedo who trounced Manny Pacquiao-funded Labangan, General Santos City’s John Marlan Genova via unanimous decision to bag a gold medal. Carcedo earlier defeated Clark Justine Abilar of Hulo, Rizal in the semi-finals to qualify.

In Pinweight (46.1-48 kg) category, John Benedic Cada-vido clobbered Mandaluyong City’s Dominique Casanares to deliver another gold for the team. He outclassed Jeremy Gonza of Sorsogon Province in the penultimate round of the competition.

Paperweight (42.1-44 kg) campaigner Danny Antonio overwhelmed another Laban-gan, Gensan athlete in Rey-mark Alicaba to complete Ba-rangay Una’s Gold Medal haul.

Bronze medals were cour-tesy of Jerald Cantero (L.Mos-quito wt.), Jake Sone Saludar (Paper wt.), and Joesh Pelipas Niez (Flyweight) to complete the medal tally of the Panabo-an’s.

City Mayor Jose L. Silvosa and Panabo City Schools Div. Superintendent Dr. Ma. Ines C. Asuncion also lend their sup-

port for the team’s participa-tion.

Edwin Pardillo, Brgy.Una Exec. Director spearheaded the team along with Technical Consultant Celestino Reva-monte, Gym Manager Edgar Encabo and Nat’l Referee/Judge Gregorio Revamonte.

Head Coach Ricarte Man-cao heads the corner for the Barangay Una standouts along with Trainor/Coaches Rey Mancao, Leogene Siodina and Jonas Jerusalem.

Among competing teams, those who prominently gar-nered medals (gold-silver-bronze) include Cebu (2-0-1), Escalante, Negros Occ. (2-0-0), Mandaue City (2-1-0), Gen.San (2-2-2), Labangan, Gensan (2-2-2), Cebu City (2-0-1), Saran-gani Province (1-0-1), Paran-aque City (1-0-0), and Cagayan de Oro City (0-4-0).

Truly, the Barangay Una pugs showed grit and guts against the country’s best am-ateur standouts. They have once again showed that with full support and backing from its patrons, Davao del Norte kids could excel in the sport.

The Barangay Una Box-ing Program deeply carved its niche in the sport since its foundation more than a de-cade ago by then Congressman Tonyboy Floirendo as part of his Anti-Drug Abuse Cam-paign.

Up to this day, the pro-gram still enrolls around 70 children all provided with free education up to college and year-round training with board and lodging, perhaps, the only athletic program in any sport in the country to do so that is privately-funded and non-profit-oriented.

Spurs rally withoutBig 3 to outshine Suns

Ride for Baby Chikoset January 25By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO

San Miguel’s Santos shrugs off Game 2 cut

VOL. 7 ISSUE 211 • SUNDAY - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 - 12, 201516 EDGEDAVAO