Davao City News Feed

Floyd Mayweather Jr. out as next foe for Manny Pacquiao

2011-12-23T11:24:00.002+08:00

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Manny Pacquiao should now train his sight on an opponent other than Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Much as the Filipino eight-division world champion wants to fight the unbeaten Mayweather soonest, the American justice system deprived him and the fight fans of the dream showdown until after the first half of 2012.

Lawyer Jeng Gacal, Sarangani Rep. Pacquiao’s chief of staff, told the Inquirer Thursday that Mayweather’s three-month jail sentence starting on Jan. 6 effectively quashed hopes of the megabuck bout happening in May— or even in June—as envisioned by the Filipino superstar’s promoter Bob Arum.

“Apparently, he [Mayweather] is out of the picture,” said Gacal. “Unless a suspension [of the three-month jail sentence] occurs, there’s no way for the fight to push through.”

Even that is wishful thinking as half of Mayweather’ six-month sentence has already been suspended by Las Vegas Judge Melissa Saragosa.

With Mayweather unavailable until early April, Pacquiao and Arum may have to look for other candidates, who, however, will bring in far less money to the fight than the flamboyant American, the former pound-for-pound king.

According to Gacal, if Mayweather fails to get another suspension of [the three more months of his sentence], the short list of possible Pacquiao foe will be made up of Juan Manuel Marquez, who is very keen on a fourth fight with the Filipino; Miguel Cotto, who is seeking revenge from a 12-round stoppage handed him by Pacquiao in 2009; and World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.

Against Marquez, whom he beat by majority decision last month, Pacquiao earned at least $25 million. That would pale in comparison, however, to a projected Pacquiao earnings of at least $50 million against Mayweather.

Before Mayweather’s guilty plea and eventual sentencing, Pacquiao had already agreed to a smaller share of the prize purse and to an Olympic-style drug-testing just to lure Mayweather back into the negotiating table.

The Mayweather camp can still appeal the decision, but the motion would only prolong the court proceedings and endanger the chances of the Pacquiao fight pushing through.

Davao City Treasurer’s Office says no increase in business tax in 2012

2011-12-23T11:11:00.000+08:00

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AN OFFICIAL of the City Treasurer's Office (CTO) assured Thursday the City Government's plan to increase the business tax will not take effect in 2012.

Teresita Reyes, chief of the CTO's Treasury Operations Revenue Unit, told Sun.Star Davao in an interview that the proposed hike on the tax rate is one of the measures that will be implemented by the City Government to cope with the possible effects of the slashed Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share of the city.

"Basta mao lang na ang sigurado sa karon, wala pay mahitabong increase sa tax rate sa 2012 (One thing is sure, presently, there will be no increase on the tax rate for 2012),” Reyes said.

Should the city's legislative department, through the recommendation of the City Hall, amend the existing Tax Code of Davao City, this will be the second instance that the business tax rate will be raised.

The first time the city increased the business tax was in 2005.

Among the 26 business classifications in the city, businesses under the retailer sector pays the highest tax rate at two percent for the first P400,000 of its income and one and a half percent for the excess.

Under the retailer section are supermarkets and groceries of big shopping malls in Davao City.

The first time that the city's IRA share was slashed for almost P160 million was in 2009 due to the global financial crisis. The second time was when the Supreme Court ruled with finality the cityhood status of 16 municipalities which decreased the city's IRA share by P360 million.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 23, 2011.

Buffer zone sought for power plant

2011-12-23T11:09:00.003+08:00

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DAVAO CITY -- Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio wants to require Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) to establish a buffer zone around the 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant it will build in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.

Ms. Duterte-Carpio said in a recent interview that the buffer zone would be among the mitigating measures the company must adopt to ensure that the impact of the planned P25-billion power plant on the environment and peoples’ health would be minimized.

The mayor made the call after the city council overrode her veto on the conversion of a portion of the 51-hectare project site from protective medium industrial zone category to protective heavy industrial zone in order to accommodate the plant.

She added the city council’s committee on environment is finalizing its computation on how large the buffer zone should be.

APC President and Chief Executive Officer Erramon I. Aboitiz said his company will ensure that the power plant, which will utilize new technology, will have minimal impact on the surrounding environment and communities.

“We would like to assure her (Ms. Duterte-Carpio) and the people of Davao City of our determination to, at all times, keep the development and operation of the plant at a level that measures up to stringent health, safety, and environmental protection standards that are expected of us,” he said in a recent statement.

He said the power plant would be “equipped with proven capabilities to safeguard the health of people and the environment.” -- C. Q. Francisco

‘Payong-payongs’ still ply national roads

2011-12-23T11:09:00.000+08:00

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DESPITE a stern warning, "payong-payong" drivers remain defiant to the order of Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte not to solicit passengers along national highways.

This defiance reportedly led to the death of a 15-year-old boy, after he fell from a motorcycle and ran over by a mini-truck in Lubogan, Toril, Davao City around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Police Officer 2 Jefferson F. Torno, investigator of the Toril police station, identified the victim as Christian Nico Varo Gerasmio of Purok 1 Lubogan, Toril, Davao City.

The motorcycle driver was identified as Noel Parrot Castro of Kasama Village in Toril, while the mini-truck driver was identified as Lemboy Babao Coma of Calinan. Police said the two are holders of Professional Drivers License (PDL).

Initial investigation showed the victim was onboard a Honda motorcycle with sidecar whose driver was soliciting other passengers when a color white Isuzu mini-truck bumped the rear portion of the motorcycle.

The victim was declared dead on arrival at the St. John Hospital.

The two drivers are detained at Toril police station.

Duterte earlier said motorcycles with sidecar (payong-payong) could only operate in barangay areas and not on national highways as they are road hazards.

The vice mayor also warned all public utility vehicle operators and drivers to follow the City Government's policies.

Duterte added that whoever will not follow the 30-40-kilometer-per-hour speed limit policy and not using the prescribed warning device of the Land Transportation Office will be arrested.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 23, 2011.

Good Samaritans pour in for 'Sendong' victims

2011-12-23T11:06:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Dec 22 (PIA) -- Local government units and various private organizations here in Region XI sent financial and other forms of donation to help the Tropical Storm Sendong victims in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City.

Starting Tuesday morning, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte sent P3 million assistance; P2 million of which was in the form of relief goods while the remaining P1 million was in cash as financial assistance to the victims.

That same day, Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario led the send off of four dump trucks filled with P1 million worth of relief goods. As chair of the Confederation of Local Chief Executives in Mindanao, he then asked all governors and mayors of all LGUS in the island to send donation to victims of Sendong.

Seeing the needs of the flash flood victims in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, the local government of Mati City, Davao Oriental through Mayor Michelle Rabat sent P200,000 cash assistance for both Cagayan and Iligan calamity victims.

Other initiatives from the private sector also surfaced after learning about the incident. Professional photographers in the city like Jojie Alcantara, Rene Lumawag, Rhonson Ng, Bob Mata, Paul Borromeo is organizing Shoot for Hope on December 30, a photography workshop aimed at raising funds for the victims of the typhoon Sendong.

Private establishment like the Mail and More has become a drop off point for bottled waters, clothes, noodles, biscuits, coffee, canned goods, medicines, blankets, mats, mosquito nets. Donations will be sent directly to DSWD 10, which will be airlifted by Air 21.

Other drop off points are LBC Express branch, Davao Peacebuilder Community located at the 2nd Flr. Coffee for Peace, McArthur Highway, Matina, Davao City (beside EastWest bank, across McDonalds), JCI Davao Region, Philippine Red Cross and ABS CBN Davao.

Smart subscribers all over the country may send help to those affected by typhoon Sendong. Smart Money users can instantly transfer funds through their mobile phones to the official Baha Fund account number 5577 5130 6822 1104. Donors may also deposit cash to the same Smart Money account number in any Banco De Oro branch nationwide or through Hapinoy and Cebuana Lhuillier outlets. Subscribers may donate to #Sendong victims via text. Just send RED to 4143. Valid donation amounts are 10, 25, 50, 100.”

Globe Subscribers may also send donation through GCASH by texting DONATE and send to 2882.
Also, the Cebu Pacific Airlines is offering free shipping of donations.
The Mindanao Development Authority shares this directory information to guide the public who want to send in their cash or kind donations through these institutions. (PIA/Mai Gevera-Macapagat)

Illegal billboards in Davao city increasing

2011-12-23T11:03:00.000+08:00

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SEVERAL giant billboards inspected by the City Building Office (CBO) are found to have violated the law regulating the installation of billboards in the country.

Jaime Adalin, CBO chief, told Sun.Star Davao that since they started the strict monitoring of giant billboards in the city, upon the order of Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte a few months ago, they already checked a total of 245 billboards across the city.

Of this number, 52 have been issued first notice of violation, 42 subjected for hearing, and three have been issued final notice of violation.

Among the common violations of billboard owners are their failure to secure valid permit, which is necessary before they could install the billboards.

"Hindi naman siya ganun ka alarming, dumami lang (The number is not that alarming, but it's increasing) after we had intensified our monitoring as ordered by the mayor," Adalin said.

Aside from this, Adalin also launched the program dubbed as "Operation Bantay-Balaod" in August wherein all his men are encouraged to report any illegal construction or billboards in the city.

He said giving incentives to CBO employees contributed a lot in monitoring erring people behind the illegal billboards.

Adalin said City Ordinance 092 regulates installation of billboards and other advertising materials in public places.

Under the Presidential Decree (PD) 1096, otherwise known as the National Building Code of the Philippines, particularly on rule 20 that regulates installation of signage, it is the task of the local government to monitor the strict compliance of the same law.

"New free-standing and roof mounted off-premise signs or signboard structures along national and provincial roads shall have a setback of five meters at the front and two meters at the sides and rear. The setback provision shall be measured from the front yard property line of the private property to the outermost edge of the billboard display frame," the additional rules and regulations of the PD 1096 read.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 23, 2011.

Davao Region unemployment rate hits 3-year low

2011-12-22T20:21:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY Dec. 22 (PIA) -- The unemployment rate in Davao Region has hit a 3-year low, according to figures from the Department of Labor and Employment.

According to DOLE-XI Regional Director Atty. Joffrey Suyao, the unemployment figure taken from January to July 2011 is pegged at 5.8 percent. This is lower compared to the 6.1 percent unemployment rate of 2010. The unemployment rate in 2009 registered at 5.9 percent.

The region has an employment rate of 94.2 percent as compared to national average of 92.9 percent.

“Although the growth is small, but this is something we can build upon,” Suyao said.

Suyao credits the current construction boom with the building of hotels and malls, the entry of more investments as current drivers for employment growth. He added that peace and order continues to be the main attraction of the region particularly in Davao City.

According to the National Statistics Coordination Board; the jobless rate in the country for 2011 (January to October year) hit at around 6.4 percent. This is the lowest jobless rate since 2007 when it unemployment rate registered 6.3 percent. The employment growth translated to 2.1 million jobs created from January to October of this year.

According to Press Secretary Edwin Lacierda, the jobs growth is a manifestation of government’s efforts to create conducive business and investment environment. (PIA/RG Alama)

MGB-XI worried over planned resolution on mining-free city

2011-12-22T20:09:00.000+08:00

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The regional office of Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) hopes to attend the committee hearings on the proposed resolution to declare the city as mining-free zone for the agency to explain its possible implications.

“We are very much worried on the proposed resolution … We are surprised on why they are planning to ban open-pit mining and underground mining,” Edilberto Arreza, regional director of MGB-XI, said yesterday in the weekly Club 888 forum at Marco Polo Davao Hotel.

He said at least five local mining firms have signified their intention to operate in the city pending their applications before the agency and endorsement from the local government unit.

He added the industry itself, if it is done responsibly, will not cause environmental problems and pollution. Risks will be mitigated if the firms follow the guidelines set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Last week, the city council okayed on first reading the proposed resolution prohibiting mining in the city. The measure was authored by Councilors Victorio U. Advincula Jr. and Paolo Z. Duterte. It was referred to the committee on environment and natural resources for appropriate action.

The proposal stated that open-pit mining and underground mining should be banned in the city except quarrying for landfill and sand gravel purposes to protect the city from the possible risks made by the industry

“The nature of mining processes creates a potential negative impact on the environment both during the operations and for years after the mine is closed,” the proposed measure cited. It added that the industry could result to soil erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity and contamination of soil.

Zamboanga Sibugay and South Cotabato have also passed a measure banning of open-pit mining in their respective areas.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has also called earlier the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and MGB to keep mining out in the city especially in Paquibato and Marilog except quarry operations since it is allowed by the city government.

“I have already declared that mining is out of the question as it will bring more problems than solutions and we can learn a lot just by a cursory examination of local government units with mining areas,” she said in her second State of the City Address on Sept. 20.

SPMC new building to open in March next year

2011-12-22T20:04:00.002+08:00

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The P25-million annex building of Southern Philippine Medical Center (SPMC) is targetted to be opened to patients by March next year.

SPMC chief Leopoldo Vega said yesterday in an interview that the facility can house 150 patients to prevent them from being placed in the alleys and gymnasium under the vicinity of the health facility. At present, 50 patients are seeking shelter in the gymnasium and 20 along the alleys.

“The annex is one way to address the problem,” he said.

He said the hospital is currently experiencing a shortage of rooms with the growing number of patients. This year, the center registered 1,300 individuals who are hospitalized in the facility with persons from outside Davao City.

The hospital is a 1,200 bed capacity.

But despite that the center has started improving its infrastructure, he admitted that they still lacked manpower. “We hope that the number of employees will be increased now with the passage of the General Appropriations Act,” he said.

The objective of the act is to fulfill the priorities of the administration in promoting social services, supporting economic growth and reducing poverty.

He said the center needs 3,500 workers against its current number of personnel with 1,725 nurses, doctors and support staff. The hospital has a ratio one nurse for every 30 patients and one doctor per 40 patients. Ideally, there should be one nurse for every 12 patients and one doctor per 10 to 15 patients.

Manila, Cebu, CDO are most dangerous places for journalists

2011-12-22T12:33:00.003+08:00

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MANILA, Philippines - Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro are among the world's most dangerous places to be a journalist, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Thursday.

The 3 cities are included in RSF's list of 10 most dangerous places for journalists for 2011.

The group said most of the murders and physical attacks on journalists in the Philippines take place in these 3 metropolitan areas. It said paramilitary groups and private militias responsible were classified as “Predators of Press Freedom” in 2011.

"The government that took office in July has still not come up with a satisfactory response, so these groups continue to enjoy a total impunity that is the result of corruption, links between certain politicians and organized crime, and an insufficiently independent judicial system," the RSF report said.

The organization said 2 Filipino journalists were killed this year: radio journalists Gerardo "Doc Gerry" Ortega of Palawan and Romeo Olea of Iriga City.

Other places listed as the most dangerous for journalists in the world are Mogadishu, Somalia; Cairo's Tahrir Square, Egypt; Misrata, Libya; Veracruz state, Mexico; Khudzar, Pakistan; Deraa, Homs and Damascus, Syria; Sanaa's Change Square, Yemen; Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and Manama, Bahrain.

The Committee to Protect Journalists earlier ranked the Philippines third on its 2011 Impunity Index, regarding it as one of the worst countries not only in terms of the number of journalists murdered regularly, but also by the ability of the government to solve the related crimes. Iraq is ranked first and Somalia, second.

The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign also listed the Philippines as the 5th most dangerous country for journalists.

via abs-cbnnews.com

Mayor Sara Duterte: Pasko Fiesta going well

2011-12-22T06:52:00.000+08:00

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FOR Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte, all activities and events lined up for this year's Pasko Fiesta celebration is going well.

Though still a few days before Christmas, Duterte said she is satisfied by the performance of the steering committees that handled, for the first time, the annual Pasko Fiesta.

The mayor also lauded all Dabawenyos and those who traveled all their way to the city just to celebrate and take part in the activities that the City Government had prepared.

"I would like to extend the gratitude to the Davao Chinatown Development Council (DCDC), Duaw Davao Festivals Foundation, and the Davao Tour Operators Association for partnering with the Davao City Government," Duterte said.

She said she takes pride in the events and activities that have been laid down by the organizers and the city that really showcased how cheerful and creative Dabawenyos are.

"I cannot compare it with last year because this is the first time these groups handle the events for Pasko Fiesta, and there were a few events last year," the Duterte added.

For this year's festival, the city allotted almost P3 million for prizes for various events.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 22, 2011.

Davao footballers plays for flood victims in DFAid II

2011-12-22T06:48:00.002+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Dec. 21 -- There is a reason to go back to the field on Christmas eve.
Football players will play a weekend more on Saturday, this time to raise funds for the flood victims of the devastating Sendong which recently hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City and claimed some 1,000 lives.

Dubbed DFAid II, the fun games will be staged at the Davao Crocodile Park football complex with four football fields playing simultaneous games. It will be the second DFAid football-for-a-cause after the first one last July 7 to help raise donations for the flood victims of Matina.
DFAid II is organized by the Davao Football Community and Bravetower Events Promotions in cooperation with Davao Football Association (DFA), Davao Crocodile Park, Mindanao Travel Channel, and ABS-CBN.

“Yes, we are going back to the football field on Christmas eve to help the flood victims. We celebrated our Christmas party on the same day the floods hit Cagayan de Oro and we felt we need to go back and play, not to celebrate but to help,” said Boboy Arrieta of the DFC after declaring that there will be football games this Saturday.

The DFC has already declared no games on Saturday after the completion of the three-leg DFC tournament and its Christmas party last Sunday.

Neil Bravo of sports firm Bravetower said he spoke to Davao Crocodile Park Football Academy coach Christian Ea who was in Cagayan de Oro with the Metro TMS club in the ongoing Philippine Futsal League Mindanao and was told of the situation in the calamity-hit city.

Bravo was told by Ea that there were even reports that there were some players and referees whose families perished in the floods.

“We hope that our football community will respond the way they did during the first DFAid. Maybe even more this time because of the gravity of the situation and the spirit of the Christmas season,” Bravo said.

He added that Davao Crocodile Park president Sonny Dizon expressed elation over the social responsibility shown by the sports community.

ABS-CBN Davao through DXAB head Andy Rara already responded to receive and deliver the donations to Cagayan de Oro.

DFAid II will be a fun games format with teams playing 7-a-side. All four fields will be used simultaneously. Registration will be P500 per team with all proceeds going to the flood donations. Players and even non-players are encouraged to bring foodstuff, clothing, and bottled water which are the immediate need of the flood victims.

DFAid I was among the first sports-driven project to help raise relief goods and donations to flood victims during the June 25 flashfloods in Davao.

Davao City executives hand P4M to ‘Sendong’ vicitms

2011-12-22T06:47:00.005+08:00

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Photo via Desdimona Aportadera

Photo via MindaNews

ILIGAN CITY -- The Dutertes of Davao City flew to the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro Wednesday to personally deliver P1 million cash to each of the two cities ravaged by Tropical Storm Sendong (international codename: Washi) Friday last week.

Sending cash has become the practice when the city sends donations to beleaguered cities and provinces because it allows the receiving agency to use the money immediately. This was first done when Typhoon Ondoy hit Luzon, and the city sent over its police chief to hand-carry P10 million in cash to the Philippine Red Cross.

Mayor Sara Duterte and Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte flew in two separate choppers and landed in Iligan City past 10 a.m. The two Dutertes then went to the Iligan City Hall to meet with Mayor Lawrence Cruz.

Inside Cruz's office, Mayor Duterte presented him one duffle bag containing P1 million in cash. This is aside from the three dump trucks -- full of groceries and bottled water that was transported from Davao City all the way to Iligan City.

Cruz expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Dabawenyos for their help. He said the donation will go a long way especially so that they a still conducting retrieval and clean-up operations.

He said as of Wednesday, they have recovered more than 300 bodies with more than 400 still missing and are believed to have died as well.

After visiting Iligan, the Dutertes then flew to Cagayan de Oro City to meet with Mayor Vicente Emano who is a longtime political friend of Vice Mayor Duterte.

There, the Davao City officials also presented another duffle bag containing P1 million in cash to Emano for the Cagayan de Oro City to use in alleviating the plight of thousands of residents affected by Tropical Storm Sendong.

On Tuesday afternoon, another three dump trucks full of groceries and bottled waters were also endorsed by Magno Adalin to the Cagayan de Oro City Government as part of Davao City's donation to the flood victims.

The convoy of relief goods has also become a practice of sorts, which was first started in 1991, when the City Government was among the first to respond to the Ormoc flood that killed more than 6,000 in just a few hours. That was the first time the city sent off a convoy of dump trucks to bring over foodstuff and clothing.

Vice Mayor Duterte said they have allotted a total of P4 million and not just P3 million for flood victims of Northern Mindanao, as a way of showing Dabawenyos' sympathy to the flood victims.

He said Dabawenyos know how difficult it is to be hit by a ravaging flashflood considering that Davao City was also hit by the same calamity early this year that resulted to the death of more than 30 people.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 22, 2011.

28 groups to join ‘Lamdag Parada’, happening tonight

2011-12-21T16:16:00.001+08:00

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Twenty-eight groups have already committed to participate Lamdag Parada, a Disney-inspired electrical float parade, by next week.

Orly Escarilla, spokesperson of Pasko Fiesta, said yesterday in the weekly I-Speak forum at the conference room at the city hall that they are still expecting more participants before the event on December 21.

“We hope to exceed the number of participants in the event last year,” he said.

He said six companies will participate in the large float category; six in small float category and 16 individuals to become as best Christmas character. The contest is open to any person, institution, commercial or business establishment.

The first prize for the best lighted theme float under large category is P150,000 while the winning participant in small category will get P50,000.

The first prize for the winning Christmas character can have P15,000.

The parade will start at R. Magsaysay Ave. to Rizal Park.

It was first conducted last year. Last year, there were at least 11 competing floats out of 37 participating contingents.

The winning contingent last year was the float of New City Commercial Center which featured a magical theme showcasing a castle with fairies, unicorn and blue Christmas lights. The firm was followed by the float of Davao Tourism Association.

The briefer of the activity stated that the “Lamdag Parada is the city’s version of the world-famous electric light parade and will again feature holiday lights on elaborate floats.” At present, the organizers have no record yet on how many contingents will participate this year.

The city with the Duaw-Davao Foundation, meanwhile, has also lined-up more activities for Pasko Fiesta this month. Among the activities include nine mornings and Pasko sa Litsonan ng Chinatown at Chavez Street that would start today.

There would be also new year’s eve countdown party fun run by 12 midnight of December 31.

Davao City Councilors to discuss proposal to create disaster body next year

2011-12-21T16:14:00.002+08:00

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The city council will discuss the proposal to create the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office early next year.

Councilor Marissa P. Salvador-Abella, author of the proposal and chair of the committee on environment and natural resources, said it was recently approved for first reading. It was co-authored by Councilor Melchor Quitain.

Salvador-Abella said the creation of the office is pursuant to Republic Act 10121 or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act that mandates every local government unit to establish a City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office

The creation of the office should also be strengthened, she added.

Sec. 12 of the Act cites that there should be an office “which shall be responsible for setting the direction, development, implementation and coordination of disaster risk management programs within their territorial jurisdiction.”

With the creation of the office, Mario Verner S. Monsanto, chief operating officer of Central 911 and part of the body drafting the creation of the proposal, said earlier that it would be easier to get 70 percent of the calamity fund for pre-disaster activities as based on the law.

He said the unused budget from the calamity fund will not also fall under general fund on the annual budget. The city has currently a calamity fund of about P85 million.

“The office will operate and enforce the implementation of the law apart from having City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council which is the policy-making body on disaster risk reduction,” Monsanto said.

Salvador-Abella, meanwhile, pushed for the continued campaign for a healthy environment such as reduction of wastes, tree planting, saving water and energy.

“But this is a collective effort which rests not solely in the hands of the government but of the residents of this city who are all at risk to calamities. Hand in hand we must act and must act now before it is too late,” she said in her privilege speech yesterday in the special session.

Dureza: Mindanao typhoon-free?

2011-12-21T15:48:00.000+08:00

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THE last time I can recall Mindanao, specifically Davao, was hit by a typhoon was about 40 years or so ago.

Typhoon "Titang" circa late 1960's veered its course and slammed the coastal towns of Davao del Sur, including Davao City. I was a new reporter of the Mindanao Times then just fresh from college.

Mindanao is traditionally "outside the typhoon" belt. Although typhoons are born in the Pacific Ocean east of the island, they start their westerly course northwards and always miss us. In fact, Mindanao boasts of its comparative advantage in agriculture in that we are immune and free from typhoons. But not over this weekend.

Typhoon "Sendong" hit northern Mindanao and up this time, Cagayan de Oro, the hardest hit, is still reeling from the shock.

LUCKY. I called up our relatives in Cagayan de Oro City as I knew their house was built near the river. My uncle, the late Felimon Dureza, was a retired bus driver of the Jesuit's Xavier University and I was told that the university helped the family with a lot for a home in Barangay Carmen. The house just disappeared with the rushing waters.

Our lucky cousins saved themselves, 10 of them, including small children, by climbing a big mango tree that was just outside the window. The house was shattered and they clung for dear lives on the branches until they were rescued. I am sure countless horror stories will start filtering out when the smoke clears.

SAD CHRISTMAS. With the many dead and homeless, perhaps we can spare a little bit of our blessings this Christmas season for those suffering victims.

Deaths from Sendong nearing 1,000: NDRRMC

2011-12-21T15:47:00.002+08:00

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DEATHS FROM a storm that devastated Northern Mindanao at the weekend dramatically rose to nearly a thousand on Tuesday, according to an update from the state disaster agency, as recovery and relief efforts go on full swing with the declaration of a state of calamity in affected areas.
A 6 a.m. bulletin of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) tallied 957 deaths and 49 others missing in seven regions in Mindanao and the Visayas that were affected by tropical storm Sendong (international name: Washi), while damage to agriculture has reached nearly P2 million.

More than 280,000 individuals are being served in and out of evacuation centers, the report noted, out of over 380,000 affected persons in 13 provinces.

The number of casualties has approximated the combined deaths from tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana) and followed by typhoon Pepeng (Parma) that battered the main island of Luzon in late 2009, according to official data.

President Benigno S. C. Aquino III visited the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in Mindanao on Tuesday and declared a state of calamity in storm-affected areas, effectively mobilizing national resources to augment relief and rehabilitation efforts of local governments.

Sendong exited the country on Sunday after causing massive flooding in the port cities of Cagayan and Iligan early Saturday. The region is normally spared from storms, with the last severe weather condition recorded 12 years ago.

In a briefing in Cagayan de Oro aired over state-run dzRB, Mr. Aquino said the government will also assist other calamity areas.

“We will be assisting not only Cagayan but also Iligan, Negros Oriental and Iloilo,” he said.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail D. Valte explained that price control is automatically implemented in areas under a state of calamity. Victims are also entitled to interest-free loans from government financial institutions, while local government units are authorized to take loans here and abroad if needed.

The President has also directed agencies to utilize P1.17 billion in calamity funds for rehabilitation and rescue operations in the affected cities.

Mr. Aquino outlined priority reconstruction activities, namely, bridge repair (estimated at P90 million); rehabilitation and reconstruction of the water system (P54 million); and reconstruction of at least 500 houses in Iligan and an initial 1,000 houses in Cagayan.

He assured that the government can shoulder the cost, including an option to avail of supplemental funding from a loan facility of the World Bank in times of national calamity, while countries such as the United States and Japan have offered their assistance.

The government is also reviewing preventive measures and will be deploying automatic water level sensors in the 18 major river basins, with an initial 1,000 units worth P150 million earmarked for the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, the president said.

“We would like to assure you that we are going to fine-tune all of the systems in place so that now we can prevent this tragedy from ever happening,” said Mr. Aquino. “There is going to be a fact-finding… exactly where we can augment the systems that are in place so that there are no casualties of this magnitude ever again.”

In the long-term, the President is eyeing the relocation of persons from the danger zones, particularly the Isla de Oro and surrounding communities in Cagayan de Oro, and a doubling of reforestation efforts to create a natural barrier against flood.

“Our first priority is to relocate [residents] to areas that no longer pose a danger to them,” said the President. -- with reports from Noemi M. Gonzales

Davao City sends P3-M aid to ‘Sendong’ victims

2011-12-21T15:37:00.000+08:00

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SIX dump trucks containing P2 million worth of groceries were sent by the Davao City Government to the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Tuesday, along with four other vehicles to complete a ten-vehicle convoy. The remaining P1 million will be in cash.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte headed the send-off party composed of 44 men from the City Hall.

The Davao team, headed by Magno Adali, left around 6 a.m. and arrived in Cagayan de Oro past 3 p.m.

The team left three dump trucks of groceries in Cagayan de Oro and brought the other three to Iligan City.

Duterte said they initially included El Salvador City in the beneficiaries, but officials of the city requested Duterte to instead donate their share to Cagayan de Oro victims.

Davao Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to fly to Cagayan de Oro Wednesday or Thursday to personally deliver the P1-million cash that will be divided among the two most affected cities in Northern Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths in the Tropical Storm Sendong (international codename: Washi) that ravaged Mindanao Friday evening could surpass the 1,000 mark, making it the world's worst typhoon this year.

Based on the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, the death toll has reached 957 as of Tuesday. Injured people numbered to 1,582 and missing has remarkably decreased to 49.

Northern Mindanao has the most number of casualties with 905, of which Cagayan de Oro has 579, Iligan with 279, and Bukidnon with 47 deaths. Central Visayas Region has 39 deaths, Davao Region has five deaths, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has four deaths, Zamboanga Peninsula has three dead and Caraga Region has one dead.

In Bukidnon, three of the 47 reported deaths were said to be police responders doing disaster response operations.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 21, 2011.

Davao City Government needs 67 more employees

2011-12-20T20:38:00.000+08:00

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THE City Government of Davao still needs a total of 67 personnel to be assigned to various departments of the City Hall.

Based on the latest notice of vacant positions issued by Erwin Alparaque, acting chief of the City Hall Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) dated December 14, the vacant job postings range from job order positions to regular ones.

Of the 19 departments of the City Hall, the office of the City Administrator has the most number of vacant slots with 13 to be filled in, followed by the City Engineer's Office with 10 vacant positions.

Fourteen City Hall departments also requested for personnel augmentation, including the City Council, which requested eight more personnel.

The 76 vacant positions are almost 50 percent lower than what have been posted by HRMO last October wherein 110 vacant positions were up for occupancy.

The following are the remaining department at the City Hall with the number of vacancies posted: City Accountant's Office, 2; City Agriculturist Office, 5; City Assessor's Office, 2; City Civil Registrar, 4; City Environment and Natural Resources, 2; General Services Office, 5; City Health Office, 4; City Legal Office, 1; City Mayor's Office, 3; City Social Services and Development Office, 2; and City Treasurer's Office, 4.

The vacant positions include administrative personnel for various offices, animal keeper, cemetery caretaker, development officer, engineers, IT professionals, market inspectors, transportation regulations officer, agriculturists, aquaculturist, special agent, local assessment operations personnel, registration officers, building inspector, construction and maintenance general foreman, draftsman, machinist, welder, environmental management specialist, security officer, dental aide, rural health physician, sanitation inspector, statistician, lawyer, drivers, bookbinder, and day care workers, among others. (JOP)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 20, 2011.

Environment Group rules out people's initiative vs coal plant

2011-12-20T20:34:00.000+08:00

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AN ENVIRONMENT group ruled out Monday people's initiative as a means to repeal an ordinance that paves the way for the setting up of a coal-fired power plant in Davao City, saying it "can be subverted through vote buying."

Instead, Dr. Jean Lindo, convenor of No-to-Coal Davao, said they will push for the filing of the case before the court to declare the ordinance reclassifying a portion of the land in Barangay Binugao, where the 300-megawatt (MW) Therma South Energy Project of AboitizPower Corp. is set to be established.

She said even if it is explicitly provided for by the Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines, that the public can reject an enacted ordinance passed by the City Council by way of referendum with a vote reaching 10 percent of the total registered voter of the city, it is not among their options.

The City Council overruled the veto of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on the reclassification ordinance.

"We have ruled out referendum since people's initiative can be subverted through vote buying. We will go to court and we will continue to seek audience to other agencies," Lindo told Sun.Star Davao.

Lindo said they are also mulling to invoke the Writ of Kalikasan before the Supreme Court (SC), but said this will be their last resort aside from worldwide campaign against coal.

She said the emergence of several institutions discussing renewable energy for their operational needs is a good sign, thus she said they are readying for a strategic struggle against coal-fired plants.

"We challenge the local government units, and proponent of the coal-fired plant for an energy audit, health impact assessment, among others," she added. (JOP)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 20, 2011.

Davao Police donate relief goods for flood victims

2011-12-20T20:32:00.000+08:00

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THE Police Regional Office (PRO) in Davao donated Monday around 25 sacks and boxes of clothes and relief goods for the victims of flash floods brought by Tropical Storm Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities.

Senior Inspector Gretchin Cinco, PRO-Davao assistant spokesperson, said the goods were partial donations from their personnel and there will be another batch in the following days.

"The AFP/PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines/Philippine National Police) is supposed to have a gift giving for the patients of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), but since mas may nangangailangan pa, we decided that the budget for the gift giving will be donated to the victims of Sendong," Cinco said.

Cinco said the PRO is encouraging its personnel to extend their help and drop their donations for Sendong victims.

Cinco added there were also around 60 personnel from the Regional Public Safety Battalion-Davao deployed in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan to assist the relief and retrieval operations.

"We are doing this for our brothers and sisters especially now that Christmas is fast approaching. And we will continue this as part sa sinumpaan namin sa bayan - to serve and protect our country," Cinco said. (ICT)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 20, 2011.

Davao City Police still clueless on 'chop-chop' lady’s case

2011-12-20T20:30:00.000+08:00

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THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is still clueless on the case of a "chop-chop" lady found at New Carmen dumpsite, Tugbok District on Wednesday afternoon.

Superintendent Antonio Rivera, chief of the Davao City Police Office's Intelligence and Detection Management Branch (DCPO-IDMB), said the victim remains unidentified and no one has claimed her remains.

Rivera added that those indigents who came to their office last Thursday to claim the victim's cadaver were not her real relatives. “They just misidentified the victim.”

"It so happened that they were also looking for their missing cousin that time so they came to our office, but their cousin appeared the following day. Mao nga hantod karon wala pa ta'y lead sa kaso," Rivera said.

He told Sun.Star Davao that the police find difficulty in solving the case because of lack of information and witnesses to support their investigation.

"We encourage the witnesses to please help us. Our investigation is still ongoing, but we don't know where to start kay wala man jud mi kaila sa biktima (the victim is unidentified)," Rivera said, adding the victim was not an indigent.

Reports said garbage personnel were on the corner of Carnation and Pag-asa streets in Buhangin around 6:30 a.m. when two unidentified men carrying three white sacks requested them to prioritize their garbage.

When the scavengers opened the sacks, they saw human body parts. They first saw a woman's severed head and arms inside a carton box, while the other body parts were found in the three sacks.

Rivera said the two unidentified men were believed to be the suspects.

Collectors described one of them as 5’8” in height, in his late 50's, with gray hair, and wearing striped polo shirt, while the other one was 5'9" in height, in his late 40's, has fair complexion, with black hair, and wearing yellow shirt.

The City Environment and Natural Resources Office is also conducting investigation in Buhangin District, Davao City. (ICT)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 20, 2011.

Dangers of Jeepney in Davao City, Philippines

2011-12-20T20:14:00.002+08:00

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Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte agreed with the officials of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Traffic Group of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and public transport groups to tighten the noose against “usu-uso” jeepneys and “bora-bora” motorcycles.

Speaking in an emergency meeting at the Men Seng Hotel Wednesday evening, the vice mayor said the local government can no longer keep a blind eye on overspeeding leading to vehicular accidents which have claimed many lives.

Duterte said the 40-kilometer per hour speed must be observed at all times by all vehicles in the city.

He said “usu-uso” jeepneys and modified mufflers of motorcycles can only operate up to December 31.

Duterte said traffic enforcers will run after “usu-uso” jeepneys which make streets their public terminal.

“Otherwise, we will flag them down and confiscate the vehicles,” Duterte said.

He said reckless drivers must be disciplined by the LTO while the LTFRB will cancel their corresponding franchise.

Duterte advised operators of usu-uso and modified motorcycle mufflers to follow the prescribed standard for engine and mufflers, respectively before the year ends or they will be penalized.

He said even the muffler of his motorbike has been restored to the prescribed standard.

Duterte stressed that authorities will no longer allow poverty as excuse for violations.

“We have to save lives here. We cannot keep a blind eye in face of many violations putting people in jeopardy,” he said.

Davao City Council okays P3-M aid for flood victims in Northern Mindanao

2011-12-20T03:44:00.000+08:00

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THE Davao City Government will extend P3-million assistance to thousands of flood victims in Northern Mindanao areas affected by Tropical Storm Sendong.

In a special session Monday, the City Council passed an ordinance authorizing Mayor Sara Duterte to utilize a portion of the city's calamity fund for those adversely affected by the flashflood.

Of the P3-million assistance, P2 million will be used to purchase food, basic needs of the victims and various relief goods, while the remaining P1 million will be utilized as financial assistance to the victims.

In 2009, the city also donated P10 million to the victims of Typhoon "Ondoy". The donation was coursed through the Philippine National Red Cross.

Then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and members of the 15th City Council donated their one-month salary to Ondoy victims.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 20, 2011.

Davao City Drivers told: Follow rules or be arrested

2011-12-20T03:41:00.002+08:00

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DAVAO CITY Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte warned all public utility vehicle (PUV) operators to follow the City Government’s rules and discipline their drivers.

In his television program "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" on Sunday, Duterte said whoever will not follow the 30-40 kilometers per hour (kph) speed limit policy and not using the prescribed warning device of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will be arrested.

"Kinahanglan ilang pangaralan, disiplinahon, seminaron, kasab-an, or bunalan ba ron ning ilang mga drivers kay usahay kining mga abusado dili naman mutuo ug balaod (The operators must discipline their drivers because some of them do not follow rules). You are putting the lives of the people in danger)," Duterte said.

He said the PUV operators and drivers know from the start that over speeding in some areas in Davao City is not allowed because of narrow roads and the existence of houses and structures near the highway.

"Ako na silang gihangyo (I ask them a favor) but what happened? Wala jud ta nagkasinabot kay kamo mga operators and drivers sa mga sakyanan mura gani ug walay gobyerno sa siyudad sa Davao," Duterte said.

He said he was disgusted with the persistent complaints against abusive drivers.

An irate vice mayor then ordered the LTO, Davao City Police Office's Traffic Management Group (DCPO-TMG), Traffic Management Center (TMC), and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to do the necessary action to address the problem.

Duterte also appealed to the public to write down the vehicle's plate number and report to authorities abusive drivers plying the road.

"It is never wrong for anybody either the civilians to report the matter to authorities. And to the authorities, anyone could block the vehicle unya ingnon ninyo you are violating the law -- not necessary issuing a traffic citation ticket, kay only the deputized TMG and TMC can issue that," Duterte said.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 19, 2011.

HELP FOR TYPHOON SENDONG VICTIMS

2011-12-19T03:38:00.001+08:00

* SMART subscribers may donate to #Sendong victims via text. Send RED to 4143. Valid donation amounts 10, 25, 50, 100.

* GLOBE subscribers may donate to using GCASH. Just text DONATE(space)AMOUNT(space)MPIN(space)SLB and send to 2882.

YOU CAN ALSO DEPOSIT DONATIONS TO AIITAFI BANK:

Acct name: Association of IIT Alumni Foundation Inc.
Bank: Banco de Oro
Account #: 003120169026
Iligan Quezon Avenue Branch.

Scan copy of your deposit slip and send to Sir Darwin Manubag for accounting and we can acknowledge the donors.

You can also send donations through paypal. Follow this link from One Iligan Bloggers: http://bit.ly/unX71B

*If you're in Davao City, you can send relief goods at Philippine Red Cross Davao Office along Roxas Avenue, adjacent to Marco Polo Hotel Davao.

*In kind donations? Just drop it off at any LBC branch nationwide.

Thank you and God bless!

Davao City convenes special session for financial aid to victims in CDO, Iligan

2011-12-19T03:33:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 December) — Mayor Sara Duterte has called for a special session of the City Council tomorrow (Monday) to pass an ordinance authorizing the release of a portion of the city’s calamity fund for assistance to flood victims in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
Duterte told MindaNews she called for a special session at 10 a.m. on for the immediate release of the financial assistance.

“We are still waiting for the official tally of the Department of Social Welfare and Development before we can compute how much and/or what to give,” she said.

During the special session, the executive department will submit to the City Council the proposed amount for donation.

Davao City, which also suffered from a major flooding in late June still has P87.3 million in calamity funds, inclusive of the augmentation from the newly-approved supplemental budget.
This would be the second time in three months that the city government is extending financial assistance to calamity-stricken local government units.

The City Council on October 5 authorized the mayor to donate P7.4 million for the victims of typhoons Pedring and Quiel.

The financial aid can be utilized for relief operations and provision of emergency assistance to victims of flood such as provision of temporary shelter, distribution of relief goods and commodities, rehabilitation, reconstruction of public facilities and other infrastructure.

Sec. 5 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Local Government Code says the local government unit can “provide financial assistance to other local government units whose area or portion thereof had been declared under state of calamity by its Sanggunian.” (MindaNews)

Death toll from Philippine storm reaches 569; hundreds missing

2011-12-18T16:06:00.000+08:00

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Manila, Philippines (CNN) -- Devastation from a tropical storm that deluged the southern Philippines mounted on Sunday, with the death toll rising to 569.

Another 370 people are missing, the Philippine Red Cross said.

The stench of death permeated the air as aid workers scrambled to help survivors.
Many of the bodies were found in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, according to military officials and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Five people were killed in a landslide, but virtually all others died in flash flooding after Tropical Storm Washi, which is called Sendong locally.

The provinces of Compostela Valley and Zamboanga del Norte were also hit, said Benito Ramos, chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

More than 2,000 have been rescued, the country's military reported.

Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon will travel to the stricken region Monday to assess the damage, according to a statement from the organization.

Authorities have also started distributing food rations for some 10,000 families affected by the storm, while also handing out thousands of blankets and mosquito nets, the Red Cross said.
Flash flooding overnight Friday -- following 10 hours of rain -- fueled the devastation, compounded by overflowing rivers and tributaries. As much as 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain fell within 24 hours in some areas.

Ramos said despite government warning, some did not evacuate.

An estimated 100,000 people are displaced, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

At least 20,000 people were staying in 10 evacuation centers in Cagayan de Oro, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said Saturday.

Some 20,000 soldiers embarked on search-and-rescue operations, the military said.
Officials asked for volunteers to pack food to send to those displaced.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her condolences Saturday on behalf of the U.S. government and said the United States "stands ready to assist Philippine authorities as they respond to this tragedy." via CNN.COM

At least 436 dead after storm pummels Philippines

2011-12-18T07:54:00.000+08:00

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At least 436 people are dead after Tropical Storm Washi pummeled the Philippines, Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang said Saturday.

The vast majority of the bodies were found in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, according to military officials and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Five people were killed in a landslide, but all others died in flash flooding.

The provinces of Compostela Valley and Zamboanga del Norte were also hit, added Benito Ramos, chairman of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

About 400 people remain missing after the storm, which is called Sendong locally. More than 2,000 have been rescued, the country's military reported.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said officials are investigating reports that an entire village was swept away.

Authorities have also begun distributing food rations for some 10,000 families affected by the storm, while also handing out thousands of blankets and mosquito nets, the Red Cross reported Saturday.

Flash flooding overnight -- following 10 hours of rain -- fueled the devastation, compounded by overflowing rivers and tributaries. As much as 20 centimeters (8 inches) of rain fell within 24 hours in some areas.

Ramos said despite government warning, some did not evacuate.

An estimated 100,000 people are displaced, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

At least 20,000 people were staying in 10 evacuation centers in Cagayan de Oro, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said Saturday.

Some 20,000 soldiers embarked on search-and-rescue operations, the military said.
Officials asked for volunteers to pack food to send to those displaced.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her condolences on behalf of the U.S. government and said the United States "stands ready to assist Philippine authorities as they respond to this tragedy."

Sendong aftermath (Warning: Graphic Content) at http://bit.ly/thn9vU

Davao City has the 2nd largest growth of hotel occupancy in Asia for 2011

2011-12-18T06:58:00.000+08:00

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HotelClub released its year-end Hotel Index revealing the highest growth cities for Asian members in 2011.

The results look at the largest increases in hotel room night bookings for the first 11 months of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

This year Dongguan, China took top spot as the largest growth destination with the highest room night growth compared to 2010. Coming in at number two was Davao City, Philippines and rounding out the top 10 was Kenting, Taiwan.

Most of the top 10 destinations saw a decrease in average daily hotel rates, which is likely one of the reasons for their high rankings. Compared to 2010, Lombok had the highest daily rate increase of 19% followed by Penang with an 8% increase.

Interestingly, nine out of the top 10 destinations were in regional Asia with the only non-Asian city, Avignon, France, in eighth spot.

While big, capital cities like Hong Kong, Manila and Taipei remained popular, Asian travellers extended their usual reach by taking ferries, buses and trains to places not easily reached by planes including Dongguan, Davao City, Taoyuan and Kenting.

“Asia is a growth area for us and for the last two years we’ve been working on expanding across the region where we have doubled our hotel inventory, resulting in 62% of all our bookings coming from Asia Pacific,” said Jeremy Bellinghausen, President, HotelClub.

“There’s tremendous opportunity to increase this further as many Asian countries continue to experience economic growth. Contributing to this is the rise of low-cost airlines, which are making it cheaper and easier to travel outside of the major cities.”

“For accommodation, our Asian members are benefiting from the arrival of new brand-name hotels entering more remote destinations. In the past two months, we’ve added over 25 Ibis properties in China, including the Ibis Dongguan Dongcheng,” continued Bellinghausen.

“From next year, our marketing efforts will ramp up even more with increased flash sales for our members, targeted merchandising activities and integrated partner marketing campaigns.”

In Davao, influential men seen in child porn trade

2011-12-18T06:45:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY—Influential persons are behind a syndicate using children here to sell pornographic materials mainly through the Internet and this was the reason the illegal operation persists, a nongovernment organization (NGO) working for children’s welfare said.

Bernardo Mondragon, of the NGO Alert Davao, said the information came from three victims, who were recently rescued.

Mondragon would not identify who the influential persons were but said some of them are “people in authority.”

Based on the accounts of the victims, Mondragon said the sex syndicate would recruit children—preferably males aged 16 to 17—and use them in making pornographic films.

The filming is done in small houses along the Davao Gulf with the use of cameras, laptops and spotlights.

The rescued victims, he said, gave the exact location of the shanties where the pornographic films are being produced.

He said sometime in June this year, police raided a house in Sasa here, seized pornographic materials and arrested several suspects.

In August, police also raided an alleged cybersex den in Davao City and arrested alleged owners Mary Jane Bacani and Ivory Abregana.

Senior Supt. Pedro Cabatingan, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Davao, said some expatriates were helping in the operation of the cybersex den and the operation in general of the smut industry.

The pornographic films produced here using children were being sold in the United Kingdom and the United States, Mondragon said.

He said the victims had begged off from filing cases against those behind the illegal activity “for fear of their lives considering that some influential persons are behind the illegal trade.”

Mondragon said the reason children were lured into the illegal trade was the promise of large sums—up to P12,000 for 15 days.

Jeanette Ampog, executive director of Talikala, also an NGO working with children, said her group wasn’t laying all the blame on government since efforts were being made to protect children.

“But there is a need to strengthen the government’s programs,” she said. Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao

Davao’s 1st Storm Signal No. 2

2011-12-17T15:31:00.000+08:00

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THE first Misa de Gallo for 2011 was cold and wet as the first-ever storm signal number 2 was raised in three of Davao Region’s provinces.

The storm made landfall in a Pacific-side town that has not been known to be hit by typhoon -- Baganga in Davao Oriental.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Sendong’s eye hit Baganga around 2:30 p.m. instead of earlier reports indicating a landfall over Surigao del Sur.

The storm, as of 11 a.m. Friday, was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour (kph) and gustiness of up to 90 kph. It is moving west at 26 kph and is expected to be at 100 kilometers southwest of Dipolog City by Saturday morning.

Sendong is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility by Sunday evening.

Public storm signal number 2 was raised over Davao del Norte (including the Island Garden City of Samal), Davao Oriental, and Compostela Valley all in the Davao Region, along with Southern Leyte, Bohol, Southern Cebu, Southern Negros and Siquijor Island in the Visayas; and Surigao Del Norte, Siargao Island, Surigao Del Sur, Dinagat Province, Agusan ProvincesLanao Provinces, Misamis Provinces, Zamboanga Provinces, North Cotabato, Bukidnon, Camiguin, and Maguindanao in Mindanao.

Under signal number 1 is the remaining Davao Region province of Davao del Sur, along with Palawan and Cuyo Island in Luzon; Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Northern Leyte, Northern Cebu, Northern Negros, Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, Aklan and Guimaras Province in the Visayas; and Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Sarangani and Basilan in Mindanao.

The storm is expected to dump heavy rains of between 10 and 25 millimeters per hour within the 400-kilometer diameter.

Residents in low lying and mountainous areas under public storm warning signals are alerted against possible flashfloods and landslides. Likewise, those living in coastal areas are alerted against big waves or storm surges generated by Sendong.

Pagasa also alerted mining operators and small-scale miners against possible flashfloods and landslides and take necessary precautionary measures.

Fishing boats and other small sea crafts are also advised not to venture out into the sea.

Sendong, whose international codename is the Japanese term for eagle, will likewise enhance the northeast monsoon, making sea travel off limits over the seaboards of Luzon and Western Visayas.

Liza Mazo, chief of the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) in Davao Region, said that as far as she can recall, this is the first time that a province in Davao Region has been placed under storm signal number 2.

The OCD in Davao placed all cities, municipalities, and provinces in region under "red alert", which means all equipment necessary for immediate evacuation are already been positioned for all possibilities.

“Hopefully by this time, aware na ang mga community kay wala pa ta’y experience kung unsa ang maagian ug bagyo (We just hope that all communities are already aware on what to do even if we haven’t experienced a major storm yet),” Mazo said.

She said all local government units in Davao have already been alerted on what to do in times of storm surges.

Major river systems are also being closely monitored for the possibility of overflowing. Landslide-prone areas area also on alert.

In the region, the most landslide-prone areas are Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, both of which are under signal number 2.

As of noon Friday, however, the OCD said there has been no river overflow nor landslides reported.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 17, 2011.

'Sendong' death toll climbs to 143, scores missing in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan flashfloods

2011-12-17T15:12:00.001+08:00

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The death toll from tropical storm "Sendong" (Washi) rose to 143 on Saturday with more than 100 others missing after widespread flash floods in the southern Philippines, officials said.

The military said 95 bodies were recovered in Cagayan de Oro, a major port on Mindanao island, while the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 48 people were killed elsewhere on the island.

"As of now 95 people are dead in Cagayan de Oro," said regional military spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon.

He said an entire army division -- about 10,000 soldiers -- was involved in rescue efforts for the stricken city of half a million people, with three military helicopters aloft above the receding waters to look for survivors.

Civil defence director Benito Ramos, the head of the disaster council, said a second army division was deployed in Iligan, a nearby port which reported 40 deaths, and nearby areas.

He told reporters floodwaters rose with alarming speed late Friday as people slept.

Although residents had been warned of the approaching storm, some apparently dismissed the dangers of flash floods and landslides because -- unlike the rest of the archipelago -- most of Mindanao is rarely hit by storms.

"Complacency apparently set in," Ramos said.

Latest data from the Eastern Mindanao Command showed that 125 persons remained missing in Cagayan de Oro, where 23 villages were affected by the floods. The whole city is still without power, said Col. Leopoldo Galon, Eastmincom spokesman.

In Iligan City, the military's Western Mindanao Command confirmed that at least 40 persons were dead and at least 260 missing.

President Benigno Aquino III trushed to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City Saturday morning to convene the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

"President Aquino has directed secretaries Dinky Soliman and Jesse Robredo to render all the assistance needed," Valte said.

Gathering Strength

Tropical storm "Sendong" has gathered strength and is now threatening Palawan, Pagasa said.

In its 11 a.m. bulletin, Pagasa said Sendong was last tracked at 180 kilometers west of Dumaguete City with maximum winds of 75 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness up to 90 kph. Sendong is moving west northwest at 30 kph.

Storm signal number 2 is now hoisted over Palawan, Southern Negros and Zamboanga del Norte. Storm signal number 1 is raised over Cuyo island, Southern Cebu, Siquijor, Northern Negros, Zamboanga del Sur, and Misamis Occidental.

Sendong is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility by Sunday afternoon, PAGASA said.

Heavy rainfall will still be experienced in areas within the storm's 400 kilometer diameter.

Suffering Children

Westmincom spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said 11 villages in Iligan City were affected by the flashflood.

Cabangbang said a certain Mrs. Gommanggad of Sito Barinaot, Barangay Bayog said many children were suffering.

"She says many children are now crying, chilling with cold atop flooded houses ... they need help, rescue, food, clothing ...100 of them," Cabangbang said in a text message.

He added that the children were on the roofs of their houses since 2 a.m.

In Manila, Office of Civil Defense chief Benito Ramos would confirm only 25 persons dead but acknowledged that "hundreds" more remain missing.

Fifteen of the fatalities listed by the OCD were recorded in Iligan City, two more in Cagayan de Oro City. Five people were reported killed in Compostela Valley and three in Zamboanga del Norte.

Rescue operations are still ongoing and floodwaters have not subsided in these areas, Ramos said.

Recovered Bodies

But InterAksyon correspondent Cong Corrales said at least 14 bodies, more than half of them children, were confirmed to have been recovered in Cagayan de Oro alone early morning Saturday. Corrales, who had to rush his family to safety, reported that the recovered bodies were from Barangay Consolacion where he lives.

Unconfirmed radio reports quoted local officials as saying more than a hundred people may have died.

Corrales said the floods struck without warning around 2 a.m.

Correspondent Erwin Mascarinas, who had to flee to a hotel after floods washed away the house where he stayed, tried to cover the catastrophe but ended up having to help rescue persons stranded on rooftops

In a post on his Facebook wall, Mascarinas reported, “I was up all night covering the flood as it hit several of the barangays all over Cagayan de Oro City. Shot several rescue scenes and evacuation in Gusa. But I almost cried when I witness(ed) a dead 2-year old child who drowned in Zone 2 Gusa. Hitched in an army truck (that) responded to another call for help in Carmen, but as we passed by Consolacion we were shocked to find out most (of) it was already under water and a lot of people were crying out for help on the other side. I tried to shoot several shots but ending up helping pull ... the rope and the people out of the water together with the rescuers and volunteers. Blisters (are) all over my hand(s) after helping out in the rescue. But I later I realized my rented room was under water and I had nothing dry to wear (for) the last 6 hours except for the blanket of the hotel where I'm staying.”

“Communications and transportation are paralyzed, signals were abruptly disconnected and people are panicking to get to higher ground,” Macarinas said in a subsequent email.

And, despite what he had just gone through, Mascarinas subsequently posted again: “I will wear my wet outfit again this morning as I go back to the flooded areas ... I'm tired, sleepy & a bit traumatized by the pain and suffering that I witnessed but I need to document what is happening out there and hope that next time we would learn from all of this and be more prepared... “

Blackout, No Water

The whole city of Cagayan de Oro City is in total blackout. There is also no water in the affected barangays. Communications are down, most of the stores and establishments are closed. People are panicking tying to find food. Children who dared to swim in the river would find dead animals and dead people.

Rescuers were also hampered by the sudden emergency made worse by lack of coordination and equipment. At 9 in the evening Friday, rescue workers were concentrating in barangay Gusa, which is nearer the Macajalar Bay, but when news came at around midnight that other parts of Cagayan de Oro were also inundated, the government agencies supposedly coordinating with each other became confused. They were not communicating properly so that the number of missing increased. There was no immediate command center for the city, the police, the military, the rescue workers.

Because the flood came in the dead of night, not many noticed the rising waters, particularly on Isla de Oro, a sandbar of the Cagayan de Oro River that became a slum community. No less than 10,000 people from Isla de Oro were affected by the flood.

Two members of the police who were participating in the rescue went missing. More than 500 PNP personnel were standby to help control the situation of panic in the city. Despite all this, however, it seemed clear to many Cagayan de Oro residents that the city was not prepared for the disaster.

InterAksyon editor Carlos Conde, who contacted his family in Cagayan de Oro, quoted his brother as saying “the city's main tributary, the Cagayan de Oro River, became so swelled that it reached our house in Carmen Ilaya - and that house and that area was never flooded.”

“Based on my brother's description, the water must have risen so high that it also submerged the main bridge adjacent to the city hall,” Conde added. “This is the worst flooding in that city, based on his description. And both sides of the river, at least in the city proper, have thousands of households, much of it urban-poor families.”

Correspondent Chichi Conde managed to contact an aunt in Iligan. "She told me their house was the only one left standing in their neighborhood. All the neighboring houses had been washed away and that there were many dead," she said.

No House to Live in

Jeaneth Conde-Caballero, who is based in Vietnam, is scheduled to go home to Cagayan de Oro next week for the holidays.

“Going back to the Philippines without a house to live in because the flood washed it away, all three houses in the Caballero property,” she posted on her Facebook wall Friday morning.

She said that their family compound is beside the Cagayan de Oro River and although there had been instances of flooding in the past - the worst was in 2009, when water entered their houses – the scale of the devastation was nothing like this one because it completely destroyed their houses and washed away everything in them.

As early as 8 in the evening on Friday, her mother-in-law had feared that the strong and consistent rain might swell the river.

“They decided to move to higher ground, in a church not far from the compound. They rushed to the church’s rooftop because they now could see the water rising up,” Caballero told InterAksyon.com

Several of Caballero’s relatives also called up in the wee hours of the morning to report to her what was happening.

Still, Caballero said they had to go back to Cagayan de Oro as scheduled but this time not so much to enjoy the holidays but to help her family pick up the pieces.

"The old has gone (literally washed away), the new has come! (Thank you Lord)," Caballero’s husband Jinggoy said in his Facebook update. “I'm still looking forward to go home!” he added.

Complacent?

"Evacuation is still ongoing in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Both police and soldiers are on the area," Ramos said.

He said while Cagayan de Oro is known as a flashflood-prone area, residents there had become "complacent" since storms rarely pass through there.

Ramos said 25 millimeters (one inch) of rain had fallen over the past 24 hours, swelling rivers and swiftly inundating low-lying areas.

"Storms rarely hit this area and people probably became complacent even though they knew it was heading their way," he said.

Social Welfare Secretar Corazon Juliano Soliman gave assurances government assistance is in place for the flood victims.

Interviewed on radio, Soliman said each family whose home was damaged or lost can avail of P5,000 in shelter assistance.

In Cagayan de Oro, she said 10 evacuation centers able to accommodate 20,000 persons are ready.

Food packs are also available for the displaced families.

Six domestic flights of Cebu Pacific were canceled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction.

Agence France-Presse reported that landslides also occurred but did not specify in its latest bulletin where.

Heavily Silted

The Cagayan de Oro River is the city’s main tributary, cutting through the heart of the city. On its banks are urban poor communities, government buildings including City Hall, and the city’s main Catholic church, St. Augustine Cathedral.

Sandbars have formed in the middle of the heavily silted river and these, too, subsequently became slum areas.

The river empties into Macajalar Bay and much of its water is fed from the mountains of Bukidnon, which have been denuded by decades of logging, both commercial and illegal.

For years in the 1970s and 1980s, the main highway from Talakag, Bukidnon, was literally clogged with logging trucks headed for the docks of Macajalar Bay.

For years, communities along the highway had made a living stripping off the bark of these logs, chopping and drying this up beside the highway to be sold as firewood. The logging was so bad upstream residents said clear water rarely streamed through the river.

The Cagayan de Oro River swells every now and then. The last flooding in 2009 was serious enough to displace hundreds of people from their homes.

But the fact that communities continue to sprout along its banks underscores the realities – poverty, poor urban planning, to name two -- in a growing city like Cagayan de Oro.

The city is a melting pot of people from the various provinces that surround it, mainly because of its ports’ strategic location. There have been efforts to expand the city, to ease the congestion downtown -- the city’s traffic can be horrendous – but this has had little success.

Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan are in Mindanao, which is a largely agricultural area that is considered the country's breadbasket.

The Philippines is struck by about 20 major storms annually, with most hitting Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Southeast Asian archipelago.

Two typhoons, Nesat and Nalgae, hit the country within days of each other from late September, leaving more than 100 people dead, while tropical storm Banyan killed another eight people in October.

Anflocor to build P2.7-B container terminal in Davao

2011-12-17T15:08:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY—The Anflocor Group of Companies, which is owned by the Floirendo family, announced that it would build a P2.7-billion international container terminal in Panabo City in Davao del Norte.

Alexander Valoria, Anflocor president and chief executive officer, said the company had finalized a deal with Aboitiz Construction last week for the project, which will rise on what used to be the wharf of Tagum Development Corp., a banana firm also owned by Anflocor.

“We are bullish that this project will catalyze the economic development of the region by enhancing globe trade through the construction of the modern container port facility,” Valoria said in a statement emailed to the Inquirer on Thursday.

He said Anflocor planned to start operating the terminal by the first quarter of 2013 with construction scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2012.

“This project is seen to create faster turnaround time of vessels, orderly ingress and egress resulting in faster turnaround of delivery trucks, reliable plug-in facilities for reefer cargo, and the capacity to accommodate larger vessels due to its deep draft,” Valoria said.
Anflocor projects that the container terminal will generate investments and more job opportunities, he said.

Vice mayor mum on mayor's reaction

2011-12-15T23:54:00.002+08:00

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A FEW days after the city's legislative department superseded a veto issued by the city mayor against an ordinance reclassifying a parcel of land in Barangay Binugao, in Toril District, this city, the council seemed mum on Duterte's reaction.

City Council Floorleader Tomas Monteverde IV said the matter is a sensitive issue both for the executive and the legislative.

"We take no offense in what she said and we understand her feeling," Monteverde told Sun.Star Davao in a text message referring to the statement made by Mayor Sara Duterte, who said the council's action in overriding her veto was done in a hasty manner.

The same ordinance is the last legal impediment that AboitizPower Corp., the proponent of the 300-megawatt Therma South Energy Project, must go through in the city level.

To recall, last Tuesday, a day after the council overrode the mayor’s veto by a unanimous vote of 21, Duterte issued a statement that she felt disrespected, frustrated and sad for Davao City, adding that the council should have studied her veto for it has a powerful message.

"We respectfully disagreed with her and refuse to comment that might cause any further hurt and ill feelings," Monteverde said.

Councilor Paolo Duterte abstained from voting, while Councilor Karlo Bello did not vote being the council’s acting presiding officer.

The floorleader said disagreeing with their party leader and friend is never easy and pleasant for them.

Councilors Bernard Al-ag, Victorio Advincula, and Pilar Braga, who also casted their votes in favor for the Aboitiz's project, refused to comment.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 16, 2011.

Lumads not required to segregate wastes

2011-12-15T23:52:00.000+08:00

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The Davao City Government will be lenient in the waste segregation policy, which the city is strictly implementing, for visiting lumads but will be educating them on proper waste disposal.

Dolly Remojo, chief of the Environment Waste Management of the City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro), in a recent press briefing at the City Hall, said while the lumads are here for Christmas, the city will be very considerate towards them in terms of waste disposal regulation.

"Mapasaylo man gani nato ang atong mga visitors na mga langyaw, kana pa ba na tagadiri jud na sila diri (If we can be lenient to foreign visitors, why not the lumads who are locals)," Remojo said.

Remojo, however, said this will only apply to minor violations.

As of December 8, Cenro has already recorded a total of 1,587 violators of the mandatory "No segregation, no collection policy" implemented by the city since July 1.

More than a hundred of them have been facing charges before the court.

Even if the city will be more lenient towards lumads, the Cenro will still educate them on the proper waste disposal practices while they are in the city.

Maria Luisa T. Bermudo, City Social Services Development Office (CSSDO) chief, said as of December 8, data from the eight shelter area across the city, showed that 3,251 lumad families arrived two days after the city opened its door to all lumads from far-flung barangays of the city and neighboring provinces.

But Bermudo said there are lesser lumad visitors this year as compared to last year where CSSDO recorded more than 4,000 lumad families.

The city is set to cater to these the visiting tribes until December 26, a day after the Christmas day.

The City Government has prepared eight shelter areas, which are the multi-purpose gyms of Bankerohan, Matina Aplaya, Bunawan, Buhangin, Toril, Mintal, Tugbok, and Calinan.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 15, 2011.

DENR to survey Davao City area to determine boundaries

2011-12-15T23:50:00.002+08:00

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THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to start the survey in Davao City’s Third congressional district to draw the political boundary and jurisdiction in the area.

The DENR has recently approved the release of P7.4 million for the political boundary survey project.

DENR-Region 9 Technical Director Felix S. Alicer said the political boundary survey is part of the Cadastral Survey Project which Secretary Ramon Paje has committed to fast-track during the Aquino administration.

The survey project, to be undertaken by Geolane Land Consultants, is expected to be finished within 240 calendar days.

Alicer also said that a total of 178 control points or stations shall be set up under the project which shall serve as reference points for all surveys that will be conducted in the city and as political boundary monuments.

Of the total, 23 control points shall be installed in Baguio District, 56 in Calinan District, 19 in Marilog District, 42 in Toril District, and 38 in Tugbok District.

The project is seen to boost development in the Third District of Davao City with each of the barangay able to collect appropriate real property taxes from land owners.

The survey will also help address boundary conflicts among neighboring barangays.

There are 82 barangays in the Third District of Davao City.

Davao City bags judo overall title

2011-12-15T23:49:00.002+08:00

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THE Davao City judo team lived up to its billing by bagging the over-all championship crown after it harvested a total of seven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in the just-concluded Batang Pinoy Games national finals in Naga City.

James Velez and Sydney Rizza Mae Laganse, who were named most outstanding athletes of the judo competition at LCC Mall, led the city's gold hunt.

Velez ruled the boys -46 kilogram (kg.) while Laganse topped the girls -48 kg.

Christian Alibango (boys -55 kg.), Carl Dave Aseneta (boys -66 kg.), Neil Erickson Penera (boys -90 kg.), Stephanie Calamba (girls -48 kg.) and Sydney Tancontian (girls -57 kg.) also captured golds.

Sydney's younger brother, Chino, settled for silver in boys -42 kg., while Cassandra Labasano was also second best in girls -40 kg. The other two silver winners were Alexis Belen (-52 kg.) and Jemarie Benito (-57 kg.).

Charisse Divine Aseneta salvaged the girls -48 kg. bronze in the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)-organized meet for 15 years old and below athletes.

The judo team, coached by Paolo Tancontian and Jay Aseneta, was the Davao's winning contingent as the athletics team contributed a silver courtesy of boys 2,000m walk entry Wilson Jay Cadaa and the two-member chess team also copped a silver from Austin Jacob Literatus.

Rowelyn Joy Acedo finished fourth in girls chess event, while Kim Therese Jarabelo and Klowie Garcia clinched a bronze in girls doubles badminton.

Coach Tancontian, on his Facebook wall, thanked Mayor Inday Sara Duterte and the Sports Development Division for backing up their stints in the prestigious nationwide sportsfest.

"Dibdiban ang praktis sa mga bata. Ungta mag No. 1 gihapon ta sa sunod nga Batang Pinoy (The athletes put their hearts during training. We just hope we will top again next year)," coach Tancontian added.

SDD-CMO officer-in-charge Pochollo Elegino, in a text message, said: "We were unfortunate in swimming since other teams were stronger but all our athletes and coaches did their very best."

Two batches of the city delegation were set to arrive Wednesday.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 15, 2011.

Davao City workers to receive bonuses before Christmas

2011-12-15T23:47:00.001+08:00

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DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte assured all City Hall employees, regular and contractual, that they will receive their bonuses before Christmas Day.

In Tuesday's press briefing at her office, Duterte said more than half of the over 10,000 City Hall employees had already claimed their performance enhancement incentives (PEI) amounting to P15,000 for regular employees and P10,000 for job order workers.

She reiterated that the PEI will be handed to the employee personally and not to loan sharks who took their ATM cards as collateral for the employees' loans.

"Basta naingnan na nako ang city admin na dili sa ATM ihulog ang PEI para personal na makuha sa mga empleyado (I already instructed the city administrator not to deposit the PEI through employees' ATM account so that they can personally claim it)," Duterte said.

Erwin Alparaque, assistant city administrator, in an interview, told Sun.Star Davao that before December 20, bonuses, including the 13th month of all employees of the City Hall, which include the regular, contractual, barangay nutrition scholars (BNS), barangay health workers (BHW), Special Civilian Armed Auxilliary (Scaa), auxiliary teachers, and Task Force Davao (TFD), will be released.

Alparaque added that based on the latest data from Human Resource Management Office, the City Hall has a total of 2,387 plantilla workers and 8,943 job order employees.

Yolanda Tablizo, chief of the City Budget Office, told Sun.Star Davao that regular employees and auxiliary teachers will receive a bonus of P15,000; Scaa, TFD, and job order workers will get P10,000; while BHW and BNS will receive P13,000 each.

The budget for the annual Christmas bonus for all City Hall employees is sourced from the P360-million Supplemental Budget II that was approved by the City Council in earlier this year.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 15, 2011.

Davao City mayor ‘frustrated, sad’ councilors overruled her on coal plant

2011-12-15T23:46:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 December) — Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio expressed disappointment over the decision of the city council to override her veto of an ordinance reclassifying a parcel of land in Barangay Binugao, Toril District from protected medium industrial zone to protected heavy industrial zone, to allow Aboitiz Power Corp. to construct a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant.

“I am frustrated, I’m sad…They should have heeded the veto because it is a powerful message that the city mayor is against their measure,” Duterte-Carpio told reporters on Tuesday.
On Monday, 21 of the 22 councilors present voted yes to override the veto. The council has 26 members but the others were absent.

Only Councilor Paolo Duterte, an ex-officio member being the chair of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC), abstained from the voting.

Upon issuing her veto order, the mayor said that she also told the councilors to review all materials related to the coal technology.

“But apparently, on the day itself that I issued the veto, the same day also that the reports came out that they will override the veto. Let history judge them na lang,” she added.
Duterte-Carpio said she believes that the council hastily decided to override the veto order, saying “they did not take time to study it again.”

The mayor’s stand against the Aboitiz project runs counter to that of her father, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Last week, the elder Duterte told reporters that the veto had not killed the project yet, adding the mayor will be left with no choice but to implement the project [if the council overturned her veto].

He had always been consistent in pushing for the implementation of the project.
“I have visited the coal-fired plant in Villanueva (Misamis Oriental), but I still have to see someone who died of cancer,” he stressed.

In her veto message, the mayor said: “As a mayor of our city, I should be at the forefront of effecting the observance of the right of our people to health and balanced ecology, and the correlative duty of the people, which I suppose rests largely upon the government, to refrain from impairing the environment.”

On November, 23 members of the City Council voted in favor of the ordinance reclassifying the 26-hectare of land in Barangay Binugao in Toril District.

The decision came after the body passed a resolution endorsing the proposed coal-fired power plant in the middle of this year.

While Duterte-Carpio acknowledged that the councilors were just exercising their right in a democracy, she said she will consult with the city’s legal counsel to explore other options to block the project.

The mayor added she issued the veto to allow the councilors to carefully review everything regarding the coal-fired power plant.

The outcome of the session on Monday drew flak from groups opposed to the project.
Some 200 protesters had already gathered in front of the City Council building while the session was going on. They called the 21 councilors “mga traidor sa katawhan” (traitors of the people).
In her previous media interviews, Duterte-Carpio has been urging “to explore other alternative sources of energy instead of coal.”

Opposition groups echoed the mayor’s suggestion. (Keith Bacongco/MindaNews)

Davao City Vice Mayor Rody Duterte scolds drivers in Pequeño accident

2011-12-15T09:59:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte scored Monday evening the two drivers who were involved in a fatal vehicular accident along the Davao-Bukidnon Highway in Catalunan Pequeño.

"Dili na ni pwede masikmura sa katilingban ning mga style ninyo, mangamatay mga tao tungod ninyo kung pirmi mo mag-ingon nga aksidente (Your repeated claims that what happened is an accident is no longer acceptable. People are getting killed because of drivers like you),” Duterte said.

Ruben Saliot, a driver of the dump truck had engine trouble and left his vehicle right on the road with just a garbage bin as early warning device.

Geronimo Vistal Ceballos Jr., a passenger van driver, crashed onto the parked dump truck around 7:10 p.m. Monday, killing four of his passengers including a four-year-old girl, and injuring 18 others.

"Nagbutang-butang ka ug butang nga delikado sa kinabuhi (You placed a thing that was a road hazard)," Duterte castigated the truck driver.
He also chided Geronimo Vistal Ceballos Jr., driver of the L-300 van, for over-speeding.

The vice mayor pointed out that Ceballos should no longer be driving since he has an eye defect.

"Ngano kakuha man kag lisensya nga duha man nimo ka mata di kakita? Kinsa man naghatag sa imo ug lisensya? (Who aproved your license when you can hardly see?)" he asked. Ceballos has a cataract.

Duterte urged the Land Transportation Office to immediately file a case before the City Prosecution Office.

He said there is no need to investigate the incident since the death of the four passengers was already a clear manifestation that there was probable cause to charge the two drivers.

"Dili na aksidente, ang aksidente kanang naay truck nahulog gikan sa langit (That is not an accident, an accident is when a truck falls down from the sky)," he said.

As of this posting, it was learned that no case has been filed against the two drivers.

Four people were killed including a 4-year-old girl, while 18 others were injured after a passenger L-300 van crashed onto a parked dump truck at around 7:10 p.m. Monday.

Three of the four fatalities were killed on the spot. They were Jonathan Montilla Palma, 43, of Phase 6 Decahomes Subdivision, Mintal; Jonalyn Yolin, of legal age from Urban Phase 4, Tacunan; and Nathalie Kaze Nena Longyapon, 4, of Decahomes, Mintal.

Initial investigation conducted by the Talomo police showed that Ceballos, driver of the L-300 van, did not see the Mitsubishi Fuso dump truck that was parked right on the highway.

The early warning device used to warn motorists of the parked truck was but a garbage bin of the city.

The injured were brought to Davao Doctor's Hospital and Southern Philippine Medical Center.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 15, 2011.

Resolution making Davao City mining-free filed

2011-12-15T09:55:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 December) — On the same day that it effectively gave the green light for the controversial coal-fired power plant project of Aboitiz Power Corp., the city council made the initial step toward declaring Davao as a mining-free city.

During the regular session on Monday, Councilors Victorio U. Advincula Jr. and Paolo Z. Duterte proposed a resolution prohibiting open-pit and underground mining in the city. It was immediately referred to the committee on environment and natural resources.

The proposal, however, exempted quarrying for landfill and sand gravel purposes.

“The nature of mining processes creates a potential negative impact on the environment both during the operations and for years after the mine is closed,” the proposed measure cited. It added that mining could result in soil erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of soil.

Declaring Davao as a mining-free city is also needed to prevent loss of lives, it added.
In April this year, 14 persons died in a landslide at a small-scale mining area in Panganason-B, Barangay Kingking, Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

“To date, none of the mining companies that operate in the country have (also) owned up to the responsibility and effectively rehabilitated the devastated environment,” the proposed resolution further said.

Two provinces in Mindanao, South Cotabato and Zamboanga del Norte, have passed ordinances that ban open-pit mining.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio had also called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and MGB to keep mining out of the city especially in Paquibato and Marilog except quarry operations allowed by the city government.

“I have already declared that mining is out of the question as it will bring more problems than solutions, and we can learn a lot just by a cursory examination of local government units with mining areas,” she said in her second State of the City Address. (MindaNews)

Cinematheque construction set next year in Davao City

2011-12-15T09:46:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 December) – Cinematheque, a 150-seater movie facility of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), is set to be built by next year beside the city’s Pasalubong Center near People’s Park along Palma Gil Street.

“It will finally push through,” Maria Lourdes G. Monteverde, president of Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., said on Tuesday in the weekly Club 888 press forum at Marco Polo Davao Hotel.

She said the recent approval of the city council of the ordinance granting the mayor the authority to sign a deed of usufruct with the FDCP would pave the way for the establishment of the facility in the 173-square meter lot near the Pasalubong Center.

The ordinance was approved under suspended rules on Monday during the regular session of the city council.

The draft of the memorandum of agreement said the city government “shall put into effect the transfer of the property upon the signing of the deed of usufruct to FDCP and pay for all taxes and fees, if any, at its own expense.”

The would-be location of Cinematheque has an existing building, which the FDCP will renovate for the facility that would offer free movies to the public.

The Cinematheque would house both a film archive and a small cinema. It will also serve as a venue for independent filmmakers.

“FDCP shall ensure that the building and its premises shall be well taken care of and maintained properly and shall bear all expenses for the operations, maintenance, sanitation and other related expenses,” the draft MOA said.

Peter Philip Lat, coordinator of the Davao City Film Festival under FDCP, said earlier that it would be the second Cinematheque in the country.

The facility is scheduled to open in time for or prior to the first Davao City Film Festival in May next year.

The first Cinematheque was recently built in Baguio City with 25 seats. It is part of the council’s Sineng Pambansa program with the objective to “bring Filipino films to Filipinos” in its effort to revive and raise the standards of the motion picture industry in the country.
The FDCP also planned to put up Cinematheque facilities in Marawi City and Iloilo City. (MindaNews)

Org: Child porn films being made in Davao City

2011-12-14T22:00:00.000+08:00

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A NON-GOVERNMENT organization working to protect the rights of physically and sexually abused children in Davao City said they have been receiving reports that underground pornographic movie-making activities using children is thriving in the city.

The report is coming from the children themselves.

From what they have gathered, Bernardo Mondragon of the Child Alert said, most of these movies are taken in shanties and small houses in coastal areas of Davao City.

According to Mondragon, most of these children are males made to perform sex acts with fellow males.

“Naa pa gani mga spotlights sa mga lugar, ug gina-butangan pud sila ug oil para gwapo kayo sila tan-awon (The filmmakers use spotlights and put oil on the boys’ bodies to make these look good on camera),” Mondragon said in describing the illicit filmmaking activities.

Adding to the concern is that the children say someone “big” is behind this operation.

“Basta ana lang ang mga bata na dagkong tao ang naga palakad ana ug posible na mga authorities (The children just told me that there are influential people behind the illegal activity and it’s possible that there are authorities among them),” he said.

The children that they are attending to, who have been recruited as porn stars, suffer from low self-esteem, Mondragon said.

“We are afraid na wala na silay respeto sa ilang mga sarili kay mag-lisud mi sa intervention (There is lack of self-respect and intervention measures become difficult to perform),” Mondragon said.

Meanwhile, Jeanette Ampog, executive director of Talikala, a group engaged in the protection of trafficked women and children, said their call to stop unfair treatment extends even to boys who are victims of sex trade.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 14, 2011.

Davao City council overrides mayor’s veto on controversial coal-fired plant

2011-12-14T21:38:00.003+08:00

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DAVAO CITY—As expected, the City Council on Monday voted to override the veto order of Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio denying the establishment of a controversial coal-fired plant in Barangay Binugao, Toril District in this city.

The ordinance upheld by the council reclassified parcels of land in Barangay Binugao from protected medium industrial zone to protected heavy industrial zone. The barangay is the site of a proposed 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant, the subject of much controversy with vocal support and opposition to it.

Duterte-Carpio expressed sadness and frustration over the council decision.

Last week, her father Rodrdigo Duterte told the media that the veto has not yet killed the project, adding that the City Council will decide and will leave the mayor no choice but to implement the project.

On Monday, 21 of the 22 councilors present voted to override the veto.

Only Councilor Paolo Duterte, her brother and an ex-officio member and chairman of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC), abstained from the voting.

Their father has been consistently telling the media that he has been consistent in pushing for the implementation of the project. “I have visited the coal-fired plant in Villanueva [Misamis Oriental], but I still have to see someone die of cancer.”

In her veto message, the mayor said: “As a mayor of our city, I should be at the forefront of effecting the observance of the right of our people to health and balanced ecology, and the correlative duty of the people, which I suppose rests largely upon the government, to refrain from impairing the environment.”

The outcome of the Monday’s session drew flak from groups opposed to the project.

While the session was going on, 200 protesters gathered in front of the City Council building to protest the establishment of the coal-fired power plant.

On Monday groups opposed to the project circulated text messages and e-mail urging people to tie green ribbons or wear green in support to the veto order of the mayor.

Franchie Buhayan, secretary-general of Bayan Southern Mindanao Region, led the protesters in a noise barrage in front of the City Council building.

Buhayan accused the councilors of being more loyal to the Aboitiz Power Corp. than to their constituents.

“They refused to listen to the people, particularly those living in the project site,” she said.

Buhayan claimed that they are indignant about the “power play” being displayed by the vice mayor on the issue, adding that they are not surprised when the elder Duterte said that the “the veto is not the end.”

Majority Floor Leader Councilor Tomas Monteverde III read the veto order of Mayor Duterte before the council. Bello granted the three-minute recess upon the request of Monteverde.

The councilors gathered and apparently agreed who will speak first before the body.

After the break, Duterte told the council that he will not participate in the voting.

Councilor Melchor Quitain spoke before the council, acknowledging that there are alternative sources of energy, which are less harmful such as solar, wind and hydro power.

He explained though that “to say there are alternative sources of energy is not the same as saying that they are available. To say that they are available is not the same as they available now. And to say that they are available now is not the same as saying that they are doable and workable here in Davao City.”

In her previous media interviews, the mayor has been saying “to explore other alternative sources of energy instead of the coal.”

Opposition groups also echoed the mayor’s suggestion to explore alternative sources of energy.

While Quitain was speaking, five protesters silently walked inside the session hall with placards in protest against proposed the coal-fired power plant project.

The council’s sergeant-at-arms tried to put the placards down but Bello signaled him to allow the protesters with their silent protests.

After Quitain’s speech, the presiding called the voting whether to override the veto of the mayor or not. All of the councilors present voted to override the veto of Mayor Duterte.

They were Nilo Abellera, Victorio Advincula Jr., Bernard Al-ag, Al Ryan Alejandre, Dante Apostol, Conrado Baluran, Joanne Bonguyan, Louie John Bonguyan, Pilar Braga, Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, April Marie Dayap, Jimmy Dureza, Melchor Quitain, Edgar Ibuyan, Emmanuel Galicia Sr., Rene Elias Lopez, Tomas Monteverde, Jashera Gonzales, Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, Jose Louie Villafuerte and Rachel Zozobrado.

After the voting, the protesters marched out of the session hall shouting: “Mga traydor sa katawhan [Traitors to the people]!”

Tom Villarin, convener of Dabawenyo Ayaw sa Coal (DAC), claimed that scientific studies over decades have proven the negative impact of coal-fired plant to people and the environment.

“We don’t need dead bodies before we say coal is unsafe,” Villarin said in a statement furnished to the media.

No sale, explosion of firecrackers in Davao City –PNP

2011-12-14T21:38:00.000+08:00

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By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

Police authorities said they observed that there was no sale and explosions of pyrotechnic wares in Davao City in the first two weeks of December this year.

Supt. Antonio Rivera, chief of the Investigation and Detection Management Section of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), said no firecracker related incidents have been reported to any of the police precincts in the city recently unlike last year and in the previous years.

He said the residents have eventually realized the importance of the firecracker ban in the city.

“The people now understand the significance of the firecracker ban,” Rivera said.

He said security forces would check even the access of firecrackers to other areas passing Davao City.

Chief Supt. Jose Jorge Corpuz, deputy director for administration of the Police Regional Office (PRO 11), said the police would look closely on undocumented firecrackers which are due for seizure.

He said firecrackers with corresponding permits and not intended for Davao City would be allowed access.

“We will allow them to pass if there’s a permit and not intended for Davao City. They undergo strict scrutiny at the checkpoints,” Corpuz said.

He maintained that the firecracker ban will be strictly implemented in Davao City.

Corpuz said that in other parts of the region where firecrackers were allowed, barangay chairs must designate firecracker zones.

Polluted Bankerohan River still shows promise of life

2011-12-14T21:36:00.002+08:00

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DAVAO CITY—The heavily polluted Bankerohan River, the end portion of the Davao River draining into the Davao Gulf, still shows signs of promise to sustain aquatic life.

A water sampling taken at the river about one kilometer upstream from the river delta indicated that salt from the Davao Gulf water has been dissolved and that the pH level was still within the range for an ideal freshwater, said Evelyn Tan, coordinator of the Chemistry program and the Chemistry Analytical Research Laboratory of the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).

Tan said samples taken at the back of the Grand Men Seng, where two ferry services operate, indicated  salinity of 5.71 grams per kilogram of water and a pH of 8.03.

Although the samples were taken for analysis by participants of 10 high schools attending the Davao City area of the global chemistry experiment on water, organizers ensured the probity of the samples by assigning two experts to collect the samples.

Tan said that Dr. Lourdes Simpol, chairman of the ADDU Natural Science and Mathematics Division, and Dr. Perla Funa, director of the Regional Science Training Center, collected.

“There is a protocol on how to get water samples. Time element was a factor we have to consider since the activity was scheduled in the morning [of Nov. 17, 2011]. It would take much time to collect water samples and transporting them back to the Fr. Martinez sports complex [at the ADDU high-school campus],” she said. “The salinity we got showed much of the salt dissolved in water, considering the area of sampling station, while the pH is still within the limit of an ideal freshwater.”

She said that salinity and pH would help determine the quality of water taken from Davao River.  Salinity is a measure of the concentration of salt in water usually measured in parts per thousand (ppt).  Based on Groundwater Foundation (GF) 2008 and United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) measurement, freshwater has a low concentration of less than 0.5 parts per thousand dissolved salts.

The pH scale is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of water. A pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and more than 7 is basic.  Tan said that most freshwater streams have a natural pH in the range of 6 to 8. 

“The acidification of freshwater in an area is dependent on the pollutants present in the environment. Most aquatic systems are greatly affected when the pH falls below 6 and especially 5. When the pH of freshwater becomes highly alkaline [e.g., 9.6], the effects on fish may include death,” she added.

The sample was taken as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) study of the proper functioning condition of freshwater bodies undertaken here on November 17 this year at Ateneo Matina Sports Complex.  

The activity was part of the global chemistry experiment to observe the International Year of Chemistry. In Davao City 50 students and 11 science teacher-coaches participated in several experiments. The participants came from Panabo and Tagum in Davao del Norte, Mati in Davao Oriental, Digos in Davao del Sur and the town of Nabunturan in Compostela Valley and Santa Cruz in Davao del Sur.

The samples were also sent to the Unesco headquarters.

Bankerohan River is the longest and most historic river in Davao City, which was then the traditional waterway among trading tribes before the Spanish colonizers came 400 years ago.

3 killed, 18 hurt in van-truck collision in Davao

2011-12-14T21:34:00.000+08:00

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Three passengers were killed while 18 others were injured after a van crashed into a parked garbage truck in Davao City Monday night.

A Mitsubishi L300 van, driven by Geronimo Seballos, rammed a parked garbage truck along a highway in Barangay Catalunan Pequeño in the city’s Talomo district.

The van's passengers Jonalyn Yuling, Jonathan Palma and 4-year-old Nathalie Longpayon were instantly killed in the crash. Eighteen of their companions were rushed to Southern Philippines Medical Center after sustaining injuries.

The victims were bound for the city’s Tugbok district.

Seballos blamed the garbage truck’s lack of an early warning device for the collision. However, it was not determined whether the truck driver was repairing the vehicle when the collision occurred.

The truck driver, who was not identified, was already missing when the police arrived at the scene. Hours later, the unsupervised truck also went missing.

Authorities have yet to determine the firm that owns the truck. The firm is facing obstruction of justice charges for removing the truck from the site of crash without permission.

An operation was also launched to catch the truck driver. – report from May May Benedicto, radio dzMM

via abs-cbnnews.com

Davao City council overrules mayor’s veto of ordinance favoring Aboitiz coal plant

2011-12-14T21:33:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 December) — Twenty-one councilors voted on Monday to override Mayor Sara Duterte’s veto of an ordinance reclassifying a parcel of land in Barangay Binugao, Toril District from protected medium industrial zone to protected heavy industrial zone, to allow Aboitiz Power Corp. to construct a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant.

While the session was going on, some 200 protesters had already gathered in front of the City Council building to protest against the establishment of the coal-fired power plant.

Twenty-two councilors attended the session but Councilor Paolo Duterte, an ex-officio member being the chair of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), abstained from the voting.

After Majority Floor Leader Tomas Monteverde III read the veto order of the mayor before the council, presiding officer Councilor Karlo Bello granted his request for a three-minute recess during which the lawmakers agreed who would speak first.

After the break, Duterte told the council he would not participate in the voting.

Addressing his colleagues, Councilor Melchor Quitain acknowledged that there are alternative sources of energy which are less harmful such as solar, wind and hydro power.

He, however, added: “To say there are alternative sources of energy is not the same as saying that they are available. And to say that they are available is not the same as saying they are available now. And to say that they are available now is not the same as saying that they are doable and workable here in Davao City.”

In her previous media interviews, the mayor has been urging “to explore other alternative sources of energy instead of the coal.”

Opposition groups echoed the mayor’s suggestion to explore alternative sources of energy.

While Quitain was speaking, five protesters silently walked inside the session hall with placards showing their opposition to the coal-fired power plant project.

The council’s sergeant-at-arms tried to put the placards down but Bello signaled at him to allow the protesters to go on with their silent protest.

After Quitain’s speech, Bello called for a vote on whether or not to override the veto of the mayor. Except for Duterte’s abstention, the motion to overrule the veto got a unanimous vote.

They were: Nilo Abellera, Victorio Advincula Jr., Bernard Al-ag, Al Ryan Alejandre, Dante Apostol, Conrado Baluran, Joanne Bonguyan, Louie John Bonguyan, Pilar Braga, Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, April Marie Dayap, Jimmy Dureza, Melchor Quitain, Edgar Ibuyan, Emmanuel Galicia Sr., Rene Elias Lopez, Tomas Monteverde III, Jashera Gonzales, Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, Jose Louie Villafuerte, and Rachel Zozobrado.

Councilor Jimmy Dureza then asked the presiding the officer if they could move to adopt the explanation of Quitain so that they would not have to explain their affirmative vote one by one.

The council moved to adopt Quitain’s explanation.

After the voting, the protesters marched out of the session hall while shouting “mga traidor sa katawhan” (traitors of the people).

Franchie Buhayan, secretary general of Bayan Southern Mindanao Region, led the protesters in a noise barrage in front of the City Council building.

Buhayan accused the councilors as traitors and of allegedly being more loyal to the Aboitiz Power Corporation than to their constituents.

“They refused to listen to the people, particularly those living in the project site,” she screamed.

Tom Villarin, convenor of Dabawenyo Ayaw sa Coal (DAC) claimed that scientific studies over decades have proven the negative impact of coal-fired power plants.

“We don’t need dead bodies before we say coal is unsafe,” Villarin said in a statement sent to media.

In her veto message, the mayor said: “As a mayor of our city, I should be at the forefront of effecting the observance of the right of our people to health and balanced ecology, and the correlative duty of the people, which I suppose rests largely upon the government, to refrain from impairing the environment.” (Keith Bacongco/MindaNews)

via mindanews.com

Miriam Santiago Elected as Judge in International Criminal Court (ICC)

2011-12-14T21:23:00.000+08:00

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Our very own Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has been unanimously elected as one of the 6 judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to the Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, December 13.

Miriam Santiago won the highly powerful seat in the elections held last Monday, December 12, in New York City. She was reportedly the first to be elected out of 18 candidates vying for six seats on the ICC, garnering 79 nods out of 104 valid votes.
The stint makes Santiago the first woman from an Asian developing state to join as a judge in the Netherlands-based international court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern.

DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario considers Santiago’s election a “day of pride” for the country.

“We are pleased that the international community has listened to us. Indeed, it is a new day for the Philippines, a day of pride for our country and a day of honor, knowing that this is a tremendous responsibility and mandate placed upon our compatriot,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Santiago shared via an interview that she would resign as senator before she take her oath in March next year.

“I’ll have to resign [as senator]. Isn’t that good news for my enemies? I would have to live in The Hague. I will look like a European and speak like a European and I will be as snooty as a European when I come back,” she said.

Chemical used to make bombs confiscated

2011-12-12T20:02:00.000+08:00

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MEMBERS of the Task Force Davao confiscated chemicals that are used in making a bomb at the Davao City Overland Transport Terminal Saturday morning.

The chemicals was found in the possession of one Ronald Duga Puno, 44, company driver of Crismond Enterprise and resident of 264, Leon Garcia Street, Agdao, who was on his way to General Santos City around 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Seized from Puno were six bottles of nitric acid in 2.5 liters. Along with this was a bottle of Ajax Silver Nitrate, all placed inside a box.

Puno was barred from leaving by members of the Task Force Davao. Members of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team and Davao City Police Office were called on the scene.

It was learned that the chemicals were set to be transported to Alliance Select Food in General Santos City from Crismond Enterprises located at Door 2, Afable Building, Ponce street, Barangay 28-C, Davao City.

The chemicals are now in the custody of the Talomo Police Station. (Blue Cordero)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 12, 2011.

Human Rights march demands socio-economic reforms

2011-12-12T20:00:00.002+08:00

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A BIG mob of marchers were gathered Saturday to celebrate the International Human Rights Day and demand protection of these rights from government, which they accuse of being the top violator.

Bishop Modesto Villasanta, convener of the Exodus for Justice and Peace (EJP), said for several months this year social injustice and violence has become the norm. There is not enough food for the poor, the youth are out of school, farmers have no land to till, and workers are exploited.

Villasanta said such injustice and violence should be broken, thus they urged the National Government for the resumption of the peace negotiations without preconditions especially the next agenda would be the Comprehensive Agreement on the Socio Economic Reforms (Caser).

“It is ironic that the (Benigno) Aquino government talks about peace, but the moment he turns his back, he wages war. He talks about matuwid na daan, but he refuses to give land to the farmers and sacrifice his interests for the poor majority”? Villasanta said.

Villasanta said Aquino should think of these over-and-over again before he would jump into conclusions, adding that what should be achieve here is genuine peace and social justice, as everybody is entitle for human rights, socio-economic rights, civil rights, and political rights.

Various group from Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto-Souther Mindanao Region (SELDA-SMR), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), and Karapatan, among others, including urban poor, teachers, students, peasants, and workers, dramatized the fundamental rights of people across sectors, age, social class, and the state's impunity against those who fight for their rights at Freedom Park.

The widows and orphans who were victims of extra-judicial killings in the country poured their grievances out on the long denied and deprived justice over the deaths of their loved ones, while others demanded the general, omnibus and unconditional amnesty for all political prisoners, to end contractualization, layoffs, and very low wages amidst inhumane working conditions, and to stop harassments, among other demands.

Evening Saturday, activists and members of progressive organizations of the 1980s gathered for a reunion of sorts at the Taboan at Matina Town Square, also to celebrate the human rights day. (ICT)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 12, 2011.

More houses razed by fire in Davao City

2011-12-12T19:59:00.000+08:00

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MORE than 500 families were rendered homeless in a fire at Riverside along the Magallanes stretch of Davao River Saturday.

Based on the initial reports of the Sta. Ana Police Station, the fire started around 4:45 a.m. Saturday from the boarding house of one Romeo Suzara and quickly spread towards other structures including the MAP Rhazel Marketing, a car accessories shop.

Allan Cardillo, radio operator of the Bureau of Fire Station (BFP), said initial reports of their investigator, revealed that the boarding houses were made of light materials, while the MAP Rhazel Marketing contains combustible materials that caused the fire to spread faster.

"For the meantime, we cannot give a concrete number of residents or houses affected by the fire yet because our fire investigators are still conducting ocular investigations on the matter," Cardillo said.

Cardillo said there were no casualties reported.

The fire was placed under control at around 6:15 a.m. Saturday. (ICT)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 12, 2011.

Vice mayor hands off on ‘rebels’ Xmas in city’

2011-12-12T19:57:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte said Sunday he could no longer bargain with the military and police for members of the New People Army (NPA) to celebrate Christmas here as he is not the mayor to decide on the matter.

Duterte said the NPA could still come down and celebrate their Christmas in the city, but he cannot give them an assurance of their security.

"It's up to them. I am not the mayor anymore, murag I cannot bargain effectively with the military and police with this matter because I don't have the power to tell such, even if I am an acting mayor," Duterte said.

Duterte added though the mayor (Sara Z. Duterte) is her daughter, his jurisdiction is under her command. Thus, it is the mayor who is the only one authorized to bargain with authorities so NPA men can celebrate their Christmas here.

"I really cannot promise. Even if I'm, an acting mayor, it would still be difficult. I don't know. It's up with the mayor if she will invite the NPAs here," Duterte said. (ICT)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 12, 2011.

Davao City’s food ration now only for lumads’ dinner

2011-12-12T19:54:00.002+08:00

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VICE Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte reminded Sunday lumad visitors that the City Government is not running a feeding program during Christmas season and is just exerting all efforts to make their stay comfortable.

This is in response to complaints on lack of food as the City Government now only prepares for one meal – dinner – comprising of two cups of rice, one viand, and one tetrapack of juice, unlike in the previous years when the city provided three full meals.

In his television program Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, Duterte said though the City Government could provide them temporary shelter and food to eat during the Christmas celebration, there are some adjustments in the budget that the lumads should understand.

"All programs here are intended for them. Tanan, hilabi na kining mga kaigsuonan nato na munaog diri gikan sa bukid (Especially for our brothers who would go down from their mountain homes for the holidays). But we cannot forever run a feeding program. Wala nako na sila insultuha (I am not insulting them), what I am trying to say here is that there has to be a limitation)," Duterte said.

While he does not know the real reason why the food ration was cut, he is sure that the city has other priorities that need funds as well.

Preparing dinner for the visiting lumads is also practical since that is the time when they all gather in their temporary shelters.

"They usually go back to the gyms at night. Gikan man pud na sila sa gawas magtuyok sa kadalanan (They walk around during the day)," Duterte said, adding that he appreciates efforts of some groups who also give something for the lumads. (ICT)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 12, 2011.

Vice Mayor Rody Duterte warned Trisikad, Tricycle drivers anew: stay off national highways

2011-12-12T19:53:00.001+08:00

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DAVAO City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte reiterated his stand that motorcycles with sidecar (payong-payong) could only operate in barangay areas and not on national highways.

In his television program Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa on Sunday, Duterte said all payong-payong or tricycles are prohibited to operate on national highways as they could cause road accidents.

"Sa mga gagmay na dalan lang jud na sila. We cannot allow them as other forms of transportation in main highways (They are only allowed in small roads)," Duterte said in response to the idea of creating a route for "payong-payong" in national highways.

Duterte said only the National Government, which set the standards, has the authority to decide if these tricycles can operate on the national highways.

"Dili ta kabuot ana. You should consider slowing down on the road because of the goods and the person of the city. The reason why there's a speed limit because it is intended to move goods and people in highway human butangan na nuon nato ug payon-payong or sikad? Taud-taud siguro nay disgrasya. (There is a speed limit and they could cause accidents)," Duterte said.

Duterte warned tricycles drivers not to operate on highways or else their motorcycles will be confiscated, thus the lost of their source of income.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 12, 2011.

Mindanao’s first: Business and industrial park going up in Buhangin district

2011-12-12T09:14:00.000+08:00

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by Lorie Ann A. Cascaro

The construction of the First Mindanao Business and Industrial Park (FMBIP), located in Mandug, Buhangin District, Davao City, is already half way through and will soon be in full occupancy. A project of the Pioneer Ventures, Inc., a subsidiary of the Lapanday Group, the project is registered as an agro-industrial and information technology economic zone with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) following its approval and endorsement by the 15th city council last June 8.

The FMBIP consists of 19.89 hectares at an estimated development cost of PhP400 million, according to sales and marketing supervisor, Jezza A. Ancheta. Some 5,000 jobs are expected to be generated after full development of the area.

Prospective locators are consumer food products, animal feeds and nutrition, agricultural commodities, and warehousing and distribution companies. Ancheta a number of companies have shown interest in locating to the park.

Teolulo Pasawa, director of the Department of Trade and Industry-Davao City field office, said, “With the city now declared number one among Philippine cities in ICT related investments, the IT Park will attract even more investments.” Councilor Pilar C. Braga expressed the same opinion, adding that it will “spark economic synergy, business growth and more employment opportunities.”

Industrial lots available in the agro-industrial complex range from 875 square meters to 4,145 square meters. Facilities like continuous power supply will be provided, along with water supply from deep-well sources through a centralized water system, as well as telecommunication facilities, and a centralized sewerage treatment plant.

The commercial center will comprise of banks, cafeterias, restaurants, courier services, clinics and convenience stores.

City to adopt study on Davao’s vulnerability to climate change

2011-12-11T10:45:00.000+08:00

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The city will integrate the results and recommendations of the recent World Wide Fund-Philippines survey Philippines in updating the urban area’s zoning and infrastructure systems in the next 10 years.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said yesterday in her speech as read by Roberto P. Alabado III, officer-in-charge of the City Planning and Development Office, that the results would play a role in revising the comprehensive land use plan (CLUP), zoning ordinance and comprehensive development plan.

“The city government recognizes that the pursuit of development and environmental preservation must go hand in hand, therefore our adaptation to climate change is vital as we continue to position Davao City as one of the top travel destinations in the country,” she said.

Her speech was read during the launch of the survey results yesterday at the Marco Polo Davao Hotel.

The study entitled “Business Risk Assessment and the Management of Climate Change Impacts,” which began in August last year on selected four cities, stated that the city was the least vulnerable to climate change with a score of 5.68%.

The remaining three urban areas such as Baguio City, Ilo-Ilo City and Cebu City scored higher on being vulnerable to climate change. Baguio City emerged as the most area vulnerable to climate change.

The four cities were selected based on the occurrence of floods, storms, drought and other extreme climate events in 1990 to 2010. The urban areas have also a lot of BPI branches that range 16 to 18 branches.

The WWF-Philippines observed that Davao City has still more room for sustainable and integrated area development amid its population with 1.5 million. The urban area does not also experience any typhoons, the group added.

The group, however, stated in the study that while the urban area could be typhoon-free, it will still likely have to deal with climate impacts such as sea level rise, increased sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification.

The WWF-Philippines recommended that the city should come up with climate smart zoning and efficient land or sea access infrastructure to prepare on mitigating the impacts of climate change. The shipping fleet and port facilities should also be upgraded.

Alabado told the reporters that the recommendations will be included in CLUP that served as a basis in updating the 1996 Zoning Ordinance. The revised plan is targetted to be presented to the mayor and division heads by next week, he added.

“We have to also brace on immigrating households to the city,” he said, adding that they needed to upgrade all the programs and projects to be prepared for immigration. The city has currently 1.5 million population.

Rody: Davao city needs coal plant, Aboitiz exec gives reaction

2011-12-11T10:44:00.000+08:00

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Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte maintained that the city needs a coal -fired power plant despite the order of Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio junking the ordinance reclassifying parcels of land in Barangay Binugao, Toril, Davao City for the proposed facility.

Speaking to reporters following the blessing of a new shelter for recuperating cancer patients in Margarita Village, Bajada, he said that the city council will discuss the merits of the veto and decide on the next move whether to adopt or override it.

“I have to be consistent. It is a matter of principle. I maintain that it is good and it will help Mindanao and we will need it one of these days because of the critical power needs. I will not change my stand,” Duterte said.

In a statement sent to the TIMES, Erramon I. Aboitiz, chief executive officer of Aboitiz Power Corporation, said the company is still evaluating its options.

“We have the track record to show that in carrying out our responsibilities in developing and operating these power plants, we have always adhered to high standards of professionalism and integrity and resolutely advanced the well-being of our community and the environment,” he said.

Duterte said he still have to study the veto of the mayor by looking through the references and the scientific findings cited by the mayor.

“We need to account the number of persons there who are either sick, died of cancer or sterile attributed to the coal-fired power plant operation. Has its operation affected the environment, with the many trees planted around the facility. Give us the facts, do not give us statements?” he pointed out.

Duterte said the best way to gather data on the impact of coal-fired power plants to public health is from the areas where coal fired power plants operate.

He explained that overriding the mayor’s veto on the issue will end the story.

Duterte said that while the mayor may be the titular head, the city council is also powerful since it represents the people.

“Whatever vote is done there is a representation of the vote of the people. This is democracy, we follow the majority,” he pointed out.

Duterte-Carpio has vetoed an ordinance reclassifying parcels of land in Barangay Binugao, Toril, Davao City for the proposed 300 Megawatt coal-fired power plant project from protected medium industrial zone to protected heavy industrial zone citing it as prejudicial to public welfare.

City Ordinance N0. 0200-11. Series of 2011 was passed on third and final reading by the city councilon November 15, 2011.

In a letter sent to Margarito dela Cruz, secretary of the Sangguniang Panlungsod, she said that even with the imminent energy shortage besetting the city in the future, setting up and operating a coal-fired power plant as an option is detrimental to the environment and public health.

“I am not willing to compromise the people’s right to health, clean air and water and water and environmental sustainability,” Duterte-Carpio said.

She also stressed that coal burning adds up to global warming due to the massive carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere as cited by various studies.

She said that due to the environmental hazards pose by coal-fired power plants, introducing it to Davao City is a step backward.

Duterte-Carpio asserted that her stand is anchored on Sec. 16, Art. II of the 1987 Constitution, which mandates that the state shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rthyhm and harmony of nature which unites with the management and maintenace of ecological balance within their respective territorial jurisdiction, subjet to the provision of law and national policies.

“As mayor, I should be at the forefront of effecting the observance of the right our people to health and balanced ecology and the correlative duty to the people, which I suppose, rests largely upon the government to refrain from impairing the environment,” she said.

Health won’t be compromised

Aboitiz in his statement said the company believes that the health of people and the environment will not be compromised by the project while it will ensure the long-term security of its power supply on account of an acute power shortage in Mindanao.

Aboitiz Power offered to commit a sizable investment to build the 300 MW circulating fluidized-bed coal-fired power plant in Davao because this will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology capable of meeting stringent health and environmental standards.

“This is the most suitable facility for Davao City as it can answer both the city’s need for a power source that is equipped with proven capabilities to safeguard the health of people and the environment and a dependable power source to fuel its progress and that of its citizenry,” he said.

Aboitiz further explained: “In fact, because of the relatively lower cost of generating power from a coal-fired plant, this will provide Davao City with relatively lower generation rates. This should strengthen Davao City’s position as the most competitive city in Mindanao.”

He said the Aboitiz group of companies have been doing business in Mindanao for more than 50 years.

“We consider Davao City not only as an ideal place to do business but also as our home and we will not do anything to harm our beloved city, its people or the environment,” the executive said.

Pasko Fiesta dangles higher prize for float parade contest

2011-12-11T10:42:00.000+08:00

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Organizers of Pasko Fiesta increased the top prize for the winning float by P50,000 in the Lamdag Parada, a Disney-inspired electrical float parade, on Dec. 21.

Orly Escarilla, spokesperson of Pasko Fiesta, said on Thursday during the weekly I-Speak Forum at the conference room in city hall that they have also created two categories such as for large and small floats.

Last year’s prize for the winning float on large category was P100,000. The winner of the small float category, meanwhile, will receive P50,000. Also last year, there were at least 11 competing floats out of 37 participating contingents. There were no categories the previous year.

“Hopefully, there would be more competing floats during the conduct of Lamdag Parada,” he said.

The winning contingent ion 2011 was the float of New City Commercial Center which featured a magical theme showcasing a castle with fairies, unicorn and blue Christmas lights. The firm was followed by the float of Davao Tourism Association.

The briefer of the activity stated that the “Lamdag Parada is the city’s version of the world-famous electric light parade and will again feature holiday lights on elaborate floats.” At present, the organizers have no record yet on how many contingents will participate this year.

There would be also a contest for the best cosplayer with a prize of P15,000.

Reasons why PH is poor, according to the IMF

2011-12-11T10:39:00.002+08:00

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by Roderick T. dela Cruz

WEAK government spending and political uncertainty are just some of the reasons why the Philippines has been outperformed by most of its Asian neighbors, a study sponsored by the International Monetary Fund showed.

The 25-page working paper, The Determinants of Economic Growth in the Philippines: A New Look, compared the Philippines to 23 emerging markets for the period 1965–2008 to analyze the factors behind per-capita GDP growth in the Philippines.

A previous study noted that in the 1950s, the Philippines had the second highest per capita GDP in Asia. Today, its Southeast Asian neighbors Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam are described as high performing economies that are targetting first world statuses, while the Philippines was operating on a low-growth trajectory.

“The Philippines’ mediocre performance in a number of indicators—particularly relative to its Asian couterparts—illuminates some of the existing pieces of the Philippine growth puzzle,” Willa Boots Tolo, author of the report and now a bank officer at the Philippines’ Bangko Sentral, said.

Among the factors blamed for the country’s weak economic performance were weak agricultural productivity, high government debt, low public, private, and foreign investment, weak research and development spending, low spending on education, lackluster tourism sector, relatively high income inequality, high corruption, strong population growth, more episodes of financial crisis, and political uncertainty.

It suggested that the Philippines lacked a sustained period of relatively strong economic reforms.

Tolo said that, in order to catch up with its East Asian counterparts, the Philippines would need to maintain macroeconomic stability, expand its fiscal space, and redirect public spending to agriculture, infrastructure, and research and development.

“Expansion of the fiscal space and thus scaling up spending on public investment requires raising tax revenue through both administrative and selective tax policy measures. This would include strengthening tax administration, reform in excise taxes, rationalization of fiscal incentives, and addressing exemptions in value-added taxation,” she said.

The study said better irrigation, access to fertilizers, farm-to-market roads, and storage facilities could support development in the agricultural sector.

The government’s focus on public-private partnerships for traditional and non-traditional infrastructure investments would also maximize the returns to development, while srengthening the focus of education on the sciences in all levels would encourage future researchers and scientists who would be instrumental in nation building.

Davao City least vulnerable to biz risks, environment changes – study

2011-12-11T10:38:00.002+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Philippines (PIA) — Davao City turned out to be the least vulnerable city to business risks and environmental changes compared to other major cities like Cebu, Baguio, and Iloilo.

In a study initiated by the World Wide Fund (WWF-Philippines) in partnership with the Bank of Philippine Islands Foundation, Davao was found to have the least level of vulnerability compared to other cities. This despite the findings that sea level rise, increased sea surface temperatures, ocean acidification, and inter-annual variability of rainfall have a high possibility of happening here.

WWF's Lory Tan explained that the study result should guide city leaders and the private sector to "do things the right way."

"We are presenting this study for the local governments to be guided in their plans and for the private sector to consider these realities for their investments," he said.

The study ran for a year and made use of statistics, research, and stakeholders forum.

It also revealed that Davao will have to solve its in-migration as it emerged as a site of refuge for an increasing number of migrants.

Statistics showed that the city logged more than 692,000 new inhabitants over 20 years. This is the highest number of inhabitants recorded in the four cities covered by the study.

Davao also registered the highest population growth rate at 2.88 percent.

Tan explained that as the city accommodates more migrants who realize that Davao is indeed the "promised land," it also faces challenges for sustainable development especially in sustaining essential utilities like water and power.

“High population growth and in-migration underscores the need for strategic development decisions that must be made now," the study said.

The study recommended the setting up of a multi-stakeholder formula for continuity to sustain and re-engineer the city’s agricultural strengths and avoid disorganized congestion.

In agriculture — which was identified as the second development driver for the city — an equitable but productive formulas need to be developed along with agricultural production and land use to counter the growing Davao population, the study said.

City Planning Officer Roberto Alabado welcomed the study result as a helpful tool for the local government. He said City Mayor Sara Duterte instructed him to make use of the existing study data for the city's Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

Davao, he said, is privileged to be provided with this information especially that the LGU is in the process of fixing and polishing land use policies.

"We will surely integrate these results to our comprehensive plan. We will also be talking to investors if they happen to own a property identified as high risk by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. For those with existing infrastructure in those high risk areas, they will have to comply with our requirements,” he said.

Duterte withdraws as communist rebels’ consultant

2011-12-11T10:37:00.002+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City is withdrawing as a consultant to the communist National Democratic Front in peace talks with the government.
Duterte said Thursday that his withdrawal was prompted by a letter from Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, reprimanding him for agreeing to be an NDF resource person and directing him to refrain from doing so.

“They told me to refrain then I will refrain,” Duterte said.

But Duterte said he did not see any problem in being an NDF resource person.
“My being a resource person is for the NDF to have an automatic referral. But since they are stopping me, then I am going to refrain,” he said.

In September, Luis Jalandoni asked Duterte to become part of the NDF panel as a resource person.
Former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, who was present during the Jalandoni-Duterte meeting, said the vice mayor’s efforts to establish peace in Davaom by reaching out to both the military and the communist movement, was the main consideration.

Jalandoni described Duterte as having “rich political experience that could help in the pursuit of peace.”

“Every negotiation needs someone who is politically savvy, and this is where Vice Mayor Duterte would come in. Thus his contribution would be very valuable,” Ocampo said.

While the elder Duterte appears to be acceptable to the NDF, his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, continues to come under fire from the NDF.

The NDF’s criticisms were prompted by Sara’s recent call for the surrender of New People’s Army leaders and members.

“Her idea of peace, calling for the Red Fighters to surrender and then talk, is like putting a gun on the head, neutralize people while talking; and relegating to the backseat the occasion to listen and understand why people are poor and bear arms against an oppressive state,” Rubi del Mundo, NDF spokesperson in Southern Mindanao, said in an e-mail to reporters on December 5.

“This is devoid of any statesmanship supposedly expected from an elected official whose government is talking peace with the NDF,” Del Mundo added, accusing Sara Duterte of endorsing the 69th Infantry Batallion’s “overbearing presence against the masses in [Davao’s] Paquibato,” Del Mundo said.

Each bean they grow for a cup of Nescafe

2011-12-11T10:36:00.002+08:00

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DAVAO CITY—After growing world-class coffee beans and selling them at premium prices to the nearest buying station of Nestle, Jacinta Arabejo, 78, ends up buying Classic Nescafe in container cups for breakfast.

She says it’s easier for her that way. Roasting her coffee beans and carrying them to the next town of Barobo in Surigao del Sur where there is grinding machine is already too much work for her.

“I’d rather buy them ready-made and let them do most of the work,” she says, referring to Nestle, the company where she sells her coffee.

Arabejo came from the coffee-growing town of Tagbina, Surigao del Sur, where she keeps a three-hectare coffee farm in Barangay Kahayagan since she and her husband arrived from Bohol in the 70s. She remembers the old days then when they used to sell their coffee beans in the neighboring town of Barobo, where Chinese merchants buy them at P4 per ganta (roughly one and a half kilo).
When Nestle Philippines finally opened its buying station in San Francisco town in Agusan del Sur in the 1990s, she started selling her coffee beans to Nestle, which buys them at prevailing world market prices, usually much higher than the prices local middlemen offer.

San Francisco is a good 75 kilometers from where Arabejo grows her coffee in Tagbina.

Rey Bongato, head of Nestle’s purchasing department, says Nestle started opening buying stations among major coffee-growing areas in the country to reach out to farmers, bringing them the “benefits of good pricing, good quality and technical expertise” in coffee growing and handling.
Nestle set up its first buying station in Tagum, Davao del Norte in 1986, servicing the Davao coffee farmers two years after the opening of its factory in Cagayan de Oro City producing the coffee brand Nescafe. The factory, which produces Nescafe at peak capacity of 19,000 tons a year, still relies 75 per cent of its coffee bean requirements on imports from Vietnam and Indonesia, a trend that Nestle executives want to reverse in 2020.

The number of buying stations ballooned in 1994, when the company opened 14 buying stations across the country from Bicol to Mindanao. Now, there are only eight buying centers in the Philippines, which includes those in Tuguegarao, Nueva Viscaya, Silang Cavite, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, General Santos and San Francisco, where Arabejo sells her coffee beans.

Bongato says Nestle prices in the Philippines follow world market prices; and that, price information has always been open to farmers, with the company initiating text brigades to keep them updated.

In October this year, for instance, when world prices of coffee hovered between P100 to P110 a kilo, Arabejo was just harvesting her coffee in Kahayagan. When hired farmworkers hauled her three sacks of coffee beans and unloaded them in the Nestle buying station in San Francisco, Arabejo was able to sell at a premium price of P109 a kilo. She made roughly P7,000 in that sale alone, which allowed her to buy rice, food and school supplies for her grandchildren.

David Findlay, Nestle Philippines executive vice president and technical director, says the Nestle satellite buying station will continue to connect farmers to world coffee pricing.
Nestle Philippines top executives thanked coffee growers for producing the quality of coffee beans that made Nescafe beloved to millions of consumers worldwide.

“Each Robusta bean in your farm is a testament of your dedication to your crop to where we are grateful,” says Christopher Sterne, Nestle executive vice president and business executive for coffee.

“If not for your support, we won’t have the coffee we have every morning,” says Findlay.
Sterne adds the proof of consumers’ gratitude is reflected on the growing number of Nescafe consumers.

“Our avid Nescafe drinkers may not be able to personally tell you how much they value your contribution in their everyday life,” he says. “We thank you for it.”

But while the company embarks on capacity upgrading of existing coffee factories, Nestle still relies as much as 75 per cent of its coffee bean requirements from imports from Indonesia and Vietnam.

Edith de Leon, Nestle senior vice president, says the company plans to reverse this trend in 2020, to allow Filipino coffee farmers share in the P5 billion coffee market.

Nestle, which corners 80 per cent of the country’s 650,000 metric tons domestic demand for coffee beans every year, has inked a partnership with the government to encourage investments in coffee farming and improve farmers’ access to coffee technology.

Findlay said that coffee growers’ access to technology, particularly on the high yielding coffee varieties of Robusta, will help boost coffee production so that the country would rely less on coffee imports in the coming years.

He says the company would focus its resources and expertise on the development of its Nescafe brand, with a dedicated team of agronomist to give their assistance to farmers.
Another coffee grower and trader in Butuan City, Lito Mahubay started with a four-hectare coffee farm he bought in 1983, found a very big difference between the Nestle prices and the usual buying price by other traders.

His four-hectare coffee farm used to yield 300 cans of green coffee beans per hectare, which he used to sell to a trader who also sells them to Nestle. Years later, when he started direct selling himself, he realized that the price difference between Nestle and the traders in Butuan can reach as high as P9 a kilo. In 2003, he started growing Falcata in between rows of his coffee trees, which earned him an additional P300,000 proceeds when he harvested the fast-growing timber trees after five years.

He says his coffee farm was so profitable he was able to buy a Forward truck and a Delica van in 2010.

Nestle, however, buys only top quality coffee beans, so, there are times when coffee farmers fail to meet the quality demanded of their goods.

Agronomist Art Baria, head of Nestle’s agriculture services, however, says those failing the Nestle standard tests are getting smaller as more farmers learn the technology how to produce top quality coffee beans, their bean quality improving through the years.

Arabejo and Mahubay were among other Mindanao coffee growers who joined the Nestle’s Nov. 29 celebration this year, to mark the opening of Nestle’s first satellite buying station in Magdum, Tagum City 25 years ago.

What used to be just a buying station in Tagum is now an integrated experiment station and demonstration farm which Nestle formally launched in 1994. The 11-hectare integrated farm features a germ-plasm facility, a mother plant garden, where one can source coffee cuttings; a nursery, a trial site for different clones or selections of coffee plants, and a training center, where Nestle agronomists hold free training to farmers on coffee growing and coffee handling.

Since Nestle is not in the business of selling seedlings, the facility is the company’s way of providing coffee farmers access to quality seeds at cost and other technology that will help them improve production, Baria says.

“We want to help them get the best seedling and the best technical assistance, that’s why we put up our buying stations, and commit to always pay farmers at world market prices,” says Sterne.
“We owe you this success, that’s why, we give you this support,” Sterne tells the coffee farmers.

Sara Duterte hailed for helping urban poor

2011-12-11T10:33:00.003+08:00

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MANILA, Philippines – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte received an award from the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) during the celebration of its 25th anniversary at the Urban Poor Solidarity Week in Malacañang on Friday.

The award recognizes individuals from various sectors who are known to help informal settlers.

Duterte was applauded by the audience when she received the award from President Benigno Aquino III.

Urban poor leaders were also given the Natatanging Paglingkod Award for their projects that aim to improve livelihood of informal settlers.

Duterte stirred controversy last July after media caught her on camera repeatedly punching the sheriff of the Davao Regional Trial Court Abe Andres during a demolition.

Duterte had asked for a 2-hour extension of the deadline to demolish shanties but demolition teams pushed through with their operation. -- Report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News

Rody Duterte heeds DILG, quits NDF post

2011-12-11T10:33:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY—Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte announced he had quit as resource person for the National Democratic Front (NDF) in peace talks with the government on orders by the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Duterte said on Thursday that he quit as NDF resource person after receiving a letter from Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, reprimanding him for accepting appointment in the NDF, a communist-led underground movement engaged in on and off talks with the government.
The vice mayor said Robredo had prohibited him from accepting the position from the NDF.
“They told me to refrain, then I will refrain,” Duterte said.

But Duterte said he did not see any problem in his acceptance of the NDF invitation for him to be the group’s resource person.

“My being a resource person is for the NDF to have an automatic referral. But since they are stopping me, then I am going to refrain,” he said.

In September, Luis Jalandoni asked Duterte to become part of the NDF panel as a resource person.
Former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, who was present during the Jalandoni-Duterte meeting, said the vice mayor’s effort to reach out to both the military and the communist movement was the main reason for the NDF invitation for Duterte to be part of the rebel negotiating panel.

Jalandoni described Duterte as having “rich political experience that could help in the pursuit of peace.”

“Every negotiation needs someone who is politically savvy and this is where Vice Mayor Duterte would come in. His contribution would be very valuable,” Ocampo said.

The NDF and government panels in the talks have failed to reach an agreement during a meeting backed by Norway, which acts as intermediary in efforts to bring a peaceful end to the world’s longest-running Maoist rebellion.

Just as the talks floundered, clashes between rebels and government forces continued and rebel attacks escalated against military targets and the mining industry in Mindanao.
In one of their boldest attacks, the rebels raided a mining compound in Surigao del Sur and burned sets of heavy equipment used for mining.

The rebels declared they were supporting the war on mining following that raid.
The government continues to cling to hopes that a peace agreement with the rebels can be finalized at least during the term of President Aquino.

While the military continued to seize rebel leaders and charge them with common crimes, guerrillas continued attacks against mainly government targets. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao

More than 3,000 lumads in the Davao city for Christmas

2011-12-10T18:45:00.000+08:00

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THE City's Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) has recorded a total of 3,678 lumads from hinterland barangays of Davao City who are here at the city to celebrate the Yuletide season in downtown Davao.

Maria Luisa T. Bermudo, CSSDO chief, in an interview at her office said as of Thursday, data from the eight shelter area across the city showed that 3,251 lumad families arrived two days after the city opened its door to all lumads from isolated barangays of the city and neighboring provinces.

"While naa na sila dinha, dapat maatiman nato na sila kung unsaon nato pag atiman ang atong mga bisita (they are here, we should treat them the way we treat our own visitors)," Bermudo said.

The city is set to cater to these the visiting tribes until December 26, a day after the Christmas day.

The following are the eight shelter areas with the respective families catered: Bankerohan Gym -- 840; Matina Aplaya Gym -- 500; Bunawan Gym -- 286; Buhangin Gym -- 496; Toril Gym -- 366; Mintal Gym -- 0; Tugbok Gym -- 263; Calinan Gym -- 500.

In terms of common problems in these shelter areas like the proliferation of common illness, Bermudo said this is just common adaptation illnesses especially when these lumads are not used to the kind of life in downtown Davao.

Bermudo said the city is not explicitly inviting lumads to go to downtown area during Christmas season, as this is not their usual customs.

But she was quick to add that the city will be as hospitable as possible and will provide all their basic needs for the whole duration of their stay here.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

City to put up off-site biz renewal booth at mall

2011-12-10T18:41:00.000+08:00

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TO EASE the long queue of people who renew their respective business permit with the Business Bureau, city officials are set to put up a satellite registration site in the first week of January 2012 to cater to busy clients.

Lawyer Tristan Dwight P. Domingo, Business Bureau chief, in Thursday's I-Speak forum at the City Hall, said in order to hasten the transaction of those who wish to renew their business permits, they are planning to hold an off-site renewal counter the NCCC-Mall in Matina, this city on January 2-20.

He said only those who will renew their business permits without any problem with other agencies of the government or documentary deficiencies.

"We called on business owners to take advantage of this off-site counter," Domingo said.

Domingo said they will make use of technological advances to have an online with the City Treasure's Office (CTO) at the ground floor of the City Council.

Based on consolidated date from the Business Bureau itself and from the Davao City Investment and Promotions Office, Domingo said, adding that the city has recorded at least 30,000 registered businesses across the city and bulk of which are small-medium enterprises.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

Public warned vs ‘Cenro men’ who ask donations

2011-12-10T18:40:00.002+08:00

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THEY say Christmas is a season of giving hence, many people especially criminals take advantage of this time of the year.

An official of the City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro) warned on Thursday the public of a group of men pretending to be Cenro employees roaming around the city asking for Christmas donations using the agency's name.

This after Cenro's office received several reports from residents specifically from Mahogany Security Agency of unscrupulous men asking for Christmas donations from residents.

Dolly B. Rebojo, chief of the Cenro's Environment and Waste Management Division, in Thursday's I-Speak forum at the City Hall, said eight men, claiming to be Cenro's garbage collectors, have been roaming around asking for Christmas donations.

She denied these men are from her agency, adding that no government employee is allowed to ask for Christmas donations.

Rebojo identified the men based on the letter that the group handed to homeowners as Fridie Magasa, Majid Hadjula, Eddie Gomera, Romy Fernandez, Solomon Akalal, Jun Alzatc, Fermaan Sali, Jose Sakira. These eight men were divided in two groups -- day and night shifts.

"In the view Christmas season, any gift gesture of love extent to the hardworking garbage collector will bring the spirit of Christmas. Thank you very much and many, more blessing be showered upon you," the letter said.

While Rebojo vehemently denied that this group belongs to them, she, however, said she cannot discount the possibility that these men are former employees of Cenro or worst, are their existing men using different names.

The same letter, which is obviously grammatically erroneous, was signed by a certain Franciso Escabarte, allegedly Cenro operating engineer.

"Ayaw jud na niyu tuohi kay dili jud na sila gikan sa amoa ug wala mi mga tao na naga panglimos (Residents should not trust these men because these are not from us and we do not have men doing such activities)," Rebojo said.

Rebojo said Cenro chief lawyer Joseph Felizarta has been consistent in issuing memorandum warning the public not to give donations in any forms to these kind of modus operandi which is rampant during the Yuletide seasons.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

Davao Region’s crime volume decreased by 21.1%

2011-12-10T18:37:00.001+08:00

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THE Police Regional Office-Davao Region (PRO-11) reported a 21.1 percent decrease in crime volume from January to November 2011.

Chief Superintendent Jose Jorge Corpuz, PRO-11 deputy regional director for administration, said the crime volume during the first 11 months of 2011 is pegged at 14,944 that is down by 3,996 compared to the 18,940 crime volume recorded during the same period in 2010.

Plan your Sinulog week ahead and find out what's in store for Sinulog 2012.

For Davao City, the index crime (crime against person and property) that includes murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, and theft reached 5,017 cases, while non-index crime is pegged at 2,193 this year.

This reflects a decrease compared to the same period last year wherein index crimes posted 6,874 incidents while non-index crimes totaled to 2,315.

In Davao del, Sur the Provincial Police Office reported that index crimes reached 1,439 cases, while non-index crime is pegged at 649 this year. The volume increased compared to the same period last year as index crime reached to 1,822. Non-index crimes of 836 however went down.

In Compostela Valley, index crime reached 840 cases, while non-index crime totaled to 256 this year. A decrease was noted compared to the same period last year with index crimes at 1,039 and non-index crimes at 311.

Meanwhile, in Davao Oriental, index crimes totaled to 1,955 cases while non-index crime reached 1,027 this year. The figure decreased compared to the same period last year with index crimes totaling to 2,168 and non-index crimes at 1,955.

Corpuz said among the crime incidents, robbery and theft, murder, and violation of special laws, such as anti-illegal drugs and anti-smoking, topped the list of crimes committed in the region.

He said this year's figures only showed the efficiency and accuracy of the crime report under their Integrated Transformation Program and their efforts on security measures by enforcing Police Integrated Patrol System.

Corpuz added that the decrease of crime volume is possible especially if the public will coordinate with them through their Text Hotline dubbed as "Isumbong sa Pulis" 091770PULIS (0917707854) for any eventuality.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

Davao Vice mayor Rody Duterte ordered to refrain from being rebel consultant

2011-12-10T18:33:00.001+08:00

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DEPARTMENT of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo reportedly ordered Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to refrain from being a consultant of the left-wing National Democratic Front (NDF) in the peace process, citing his being a public official as reason.

Duterte said Thursday he just received the memo from Robredo that morning. The vice mayor said the secretary cited his being a government official as the reason why he is being asked to refrain from becoming a consultant of the NDF in the peace process.

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Duterte said he will abide by the DILG memorandum being under the authority of the said government agency. The vice mayor, however, expressed his non-conformity on the reason cited.

"Alam mo kasi, ang pinag-usapan namin noon nyan is yung participation ng regional and local level. The NDF asked if pwede ba kami sa peace talks kung saan part of the talks ay i-devolve na lang sa local level. Sabi ng NDF if I can be a representative of the local government sector. Kaya I said yes. Eh pero sabi ni Robredo na refrain eh, so bitawan ko na lang," Duterte explained.

Vice Mayor Duterte said he will soon be informing the NDF about the DILG memorandum.

Duterte accepted the consultant post offered by NDF peace panel chair Luis Jalandoni in a dinner meeting last August in Davao City. The vice mayor assured the government though that he will never betray the government; and that his being an NDF consultant is for the greater good of achieving a peace accord between the government and the communist rebel group.

“I do not share secrets of the military and the police. My sitting there as a resource person does not have anything to do with military information, it will neither add to nor subtract from their strength, because I’ll only be there to contribute to the peace process,” Duterte earlier said.

Duterte also said his service as a resource person for the NDF would not prevent him from giving his advice should this be sought by the government.

He said giving advice to the government and to the rebel panel would not run in conflict with his interest as a public servant because he would focus only on how the peace process or the absence of it would impact on the local government.

“One thing I can assure you, I am a government employee, sworn under the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. I will never, never give advice that will destroy my country. All that I have to give is toward the resolution of peace,” he said.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

Military, Police support mayor's call for peace

2011-12-10T18:32:00.002+08:00

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THE police and the military supported the call for peace of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte to the New People's Army (NPA) rebels operating in the city.

At the same time, authorities criticized the rebel group for its negative reaction on the peace offering of Duterte, saying that the NPA's action just showed that they are really not for a peaceful solution to the insurgency problem.

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In Thursday's AFP-PNP Press Corps forum, Task Force Davao (TFD) chief Colonel Rey Leonardo Guerrero said Duterte's offer for Ka Parago and Ka Oda to lay down their arms is a welcome call.

"It's a call for peace on the part of the mayor and we should not put any other political color or meaning to the call of the mayor. It's her way of trying to reach out to her constituents," Guerrero said.

Bad light

Chief Superintendent Jose Jorge Corpuz of the Police Regional Office (PRO) in Davao City, on the other hand, said the NPA's negative reaction placed the rebel group in a bad light when it comes to public perception.

"Napuruhan ang NPA, psy-ops lang yan eh. Lumabas yung kulay nila, they are not after peace after all. Ayaw nila ng peace. Here comes a chief executive calling for them to talk peace, tapos ang dating sa kanila iba. There's something wrong with them. Na psy-war sila. Bagsak sila dun," Corpuz said.

Colonel Leopoldo Galon, spokesman of the Eastern Mindanao Command, meanwhile, said the NPA Southern Mindanao Command is understandable considering that Ka Parago or Leonardo Pitao is the main source of funding by the rebel group in the region.

He said if ever Parago heeds Duterte's call and surrenders, then the rebel group will lose a huge chunk of its funding source.

"Itong si Pitao kasi sya yung milking cow ng CPP-NPA-NDF dito sa Region 11 (Davao Region). Kaya kailangang protektahan nila yan si Pitao. Dahil kung sakaling bababa nga naman yang si Pitao, paano na sila (NPA)? Wala nang red area, puro white area na lang. Kaya we expect for them to criticize the mayor's call for peace," Galon said.

In a released statement Sunday, the NPA branded the Duterte’s call as "stupid", adding that power seems to have gone to the head of the mayor.

"Power has gone to the head of Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao City who recently issued a stupid call for Ka Parago and Ka Oda of the New People's Army to lay down their arms and surrender to the reactionary government. Ridiculously still heady with her international "punching" stature, Sara Duterte has spewed a blatant disinformation and psy-war campaign to defend the 69th Infantry Battalion-10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in connection with an NPA ambush, November 29, in Paradise Embac, Paquibato District, Davao City," said Merardo Arce, Command spokesman Rigoberto F. Sanchez.

"Injudicious and revealing her reactionary character, Sara Duterte apparently wants what the military and the past regimes from the time of Marcos up to now have failed to do, for Ka Parago to abandon armed struggle and the revolutionary movement," added the rebel spokesman.

In her reaction, Duterte said she already expected such a negative reaction from the NPA on her offer of reconciliation.

"My offer of peace and to sit down and talk is far from reactionary, it is in fact conciliatory. I knew they would say no, I just wanted to show the people their rabid and vile reaction to a call for peace. So who is stupid now?" Duterte said.

Duterte earlier said she is "willing to sit down and talk with those who are interested to put down their arms."

The mayor also condemned the land mine explosion that happened after an encounter between government troops and rebels, killing three soldiers and three rebels in Paquibato last week.

Duterte specifically challenged the rebels, under the leadership of Commanders Oda and Parago, to put down their arms and talk about peace and development instead of war.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

Gabriela: Reproductive Health Law is 2 decades overdue

2011-12-10T18:32:00.000+08:00

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A CIVIL society group is calling on the members of the House of Representative to begin voting for the approval of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill 4424.

"This has long been overdue. For two decades now, it is still being fought upon," said Lyda Canson, chair emeritus of Gabriela.

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She added that the bill is not about population control but is for women’s health.

Gabriela member Dr. Jean Lindo said the continued absence of an RH Law is a structural violence against women.

She added that RH bill, though similar to Magna Carta of Women, it delves deeper on the issues of sexual health of women and children.

“Sensitive issues are being disregarded like menopausal health and the development of sexuality or age and sex education are meaninglessly construed by the anti-RH people,” Lindo said.

Gabriela is intent on pushing for the approval of the RH Bill and strongly believes that a healthy family must have parents who are open to choosing a mode of contraception.

“Kailangan ng isang masaganang pamilya ang pumili kung kelan sila magkakaroon ng pamilya o bigyan ng kalayaan ang babaeng to choose when she prefers to get pregnant,” Canson said.

When asked if the bill has a chance of being passed before the year ends, Canson said: “Sisingilin natin si PNoy. Priority bill niya ito dapat lang na ma-aprubahan at maisabatas na ito kasi ito ang isa sa mga ipinangako niya na matuwid na landas patungo sa pagbabago.”

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 10, 2011.

Torch parade marks Human Rights Day

2011-12-10T18:31:00.000+08:00

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A TORCH parade from Roxas Avenue to Rizal Park Friday, demanding respect and protection of human rights, preceded the International Human Rights Day today, Saturday.

December 10 is remembered globally as the International Human Rights Day. This marks the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an international document which sets the minimum standards for the observance, protection, promotion and fulfillment of human rights and human dignity.

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When the General Assembly adopted the Declaration, with 48 states in favor and eight abstentions, it was proclaimed as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations," towards which individuals and societies should "strive by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance."

The Ateneo Public Interest and Legal Advocacy Center (Apila) led the activity together with various human rights organizations in the city.

"On the 63rd Anniversary of human rights, Apila will join the rest of the civil society organizations in Davao City in celebrating its birthday. The torch parade is inspired by the theme "Lighting the Way to Freedom," said Lawyer Romeo T. Cabarde Jr., the director of Apila.

Davao Region registered 64 cases of human rights violations for the first year since the President Benigno Aquino III assumed office in June of 2010, according to Karapatan.

In the recently concluded 4th Mindanao Human Rights Summit, Bishop Felixberto Calang said the human rights situation under the "matuwid na daan" is getting worse citing that 400 of the 1,200 victims of extrajudicial killings are Mindanawons and are up to now unresolved.

"We continue to call for vigilance. We also continue to assert that the protection and recognition of human rights is the primary obligation of the state, it being the duty-bearer. We believe that we should aim for zero violation because one human rights violation is too much. Through the torch parade, we are hoping that we will begin to see more clearly the way to freedom, collectively," said Hope Fernandez of Amnesty International Davao, one of the activity conveners.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 10, 2011.

Davao City gets bulk of Mindanao’s IT-BPO scholarship fund

2011-12-10T18:27:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY — Davao City gets the bulk of the scholarship subsidies for Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) allocated for Mindanao through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Lizabel Holganza, president of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Davao, said the Office of the President through TESDA has granted P400 million to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) for the Industry-Based Training for Work Scholarship Program (I-TWSP).

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Holganza said of the P400 million, P89 million was allocated for the countryside in which Mindanao gets a share of P39 million. Of this, Davao City gets the biggest share of P20 million.
She said the huge allocation for Davao City could be due to the larger number of talents and their high absorptive capacity.

TESDA will be giving away over 2,000 scholarship vouchers for Davao City under the I-TWSP program. The career lines will cover contact/call center training, software development, animation and medical transcription. It is targeting to deploy about 2,500 IT-BPO workers to meet the growing demand of both voice and non-voice employers, she said.

Belinda L. Torres, president of creative communication and design school of JoBS Academy with will handle the applications for scholarships in Animation and Software Development.

On the other hand, the Contract Center (CC) training will be handled by select technical-vocational institutions with accredited contact center programs that are under the ICT-Davao umbrella, one of which is Philippine College of Technology (PCT) while MTC Academy will handle the applications for the Medical Transcription training.

Torres and ICT-Davao executive vice president Bert Barriga said that by focusing on training and development in the IT-BPO, there is a possibility Davao City might become number one.
Davao City as a much empowered city anchored on the use of information technology, they added. (PNA)
DCT/LAM/JGQ/ldp

422 families lose homes in Davao City

2011-12-10T18:24:00.000+08:00

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A TOTAL of 422 families lost their homes just days before Christmas as fire fanned by strong wind razed through the congested settlement at Davao Riverside in Barangay 1-A.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, the City Social Services and Development Office (CSSD) already listed 123 homeowners, 141 renters, 22 boarders, and 236 home-sharers.

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Residents tried their best to douse the fire by forming a long line from the river to where the fire was blazing, armed only with pails that were passed from one person to the other.

Fire Officer 3 Ramil Gillado said the fire started at around 9:35 a.m. in the house of one Lou Ledesma and Rogelio Denos.

Firemen have difficulty to get in the fire scene because of the very narrow alleys in the area.

The cause of the fire is still being determined, and fire investigators are still in the process of estimating the damage.

However, according to some affected residents, the fire started from a lit stove that was left unattended, while others said it caused by an electric iron.

Most families failed to save much, as many of them were already at work when the fire started.

The basketball court behind the Grand Men Seng Hotel has been utilized as the temporary shelter for the victims.

Relief goods were immediately delivered and distributed by the City Government led by Malou Bermudo, while Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte was there to commiserate with the affected families. (With report from Alan Abais/ABS-CBN)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 10, 2011.

Davao exec sees conflict with daughter over coal power plant

2011-12-09T09:07:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY – The father and daughter tandem of Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Mayor Sara Duterte is heading for a collision over an ordinance allowing a coal-fired power plant operation in the city.

Vice Mayor Duterte vowed to stand firm on his decision to allow the AboitizPower Corporation’s 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant to operate in Binugao, Toril, Davao City, despite his daughter’s veto on the ordinance passed by the City Council.

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The older Duterte said his decision would not necessarily be the same with the rest of the members of the City Council.

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The City Council passed an ordinance allowing the conversion of land in Toril, Davao City, from agriculture to industrial to permit the construction of the power plant.

But Mayor Duterte on Wednesday vetoed the ordinance, citing dangers of the coal energy technology as well as the Constitution as basis of her decision.

The vetoed ordinance will be transmitted to the City Council, which will review, amend and study it.

“If the council members want to override, they can override. If they will override the veto, then that's the end of it. Aboitiz can now continue,” said Vice Mayor Duterte.

“I have taken my stand, it is good for Mindanao, it's good for Davao City, it will amount to cheaper energy rates," he added.

He also dared his daughter to show the studies she cited. “Ilang tao dyan sa vicinity ng coal-fired power plants ang nagkacancer at namatay. Ako naman, di ako papasok if it's really deleterious (How many people within the vicinity of coal-fired power plants have had cancers? How many died?)"

The vice mayor also said he might call for a caucus. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 09, 2011.

Editorial: Inday’s veto

2011-12-09T09:06:00.001+08:00

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WE EXPECT loud howls from those who fear the backlash of not welcoming coal-fired power in the city. Power shortage! A disincentive to investors! A return to backwardness!

But studies from all over would show there is no such thing as clean coal. Yes, there will be clean exhaust from coal-fired plant, but that does not make the environmental cost any less threatening, especially for the future generation.

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Our opposition from the start has never been for us alone. It has been for the future, and thus we applaud Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte when she expressed apprehension on the environmental and health implications of such power plant.

“I am not willing to compromise the people’s right to health, clean air and water, and environmental sustainability,” we quote her veto message as we applaud. "My stand as hereto manifested is not without basis. It is legally hinged on and would give substance to Section 16 Article II of the 1987 Constitution mandating that 'the state shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature' which unites with Section 15 of the same law, which states that 'the state shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them."

May we just point it out to those who refuse to see, our country is but a dot in the whole world and we have just enough space and barely enough resources for the 94,349,600 all over the Philippines. We have a little bit more in Davao City, but not for long. Being 87th fastest growing city in terms of population, worldwide, these resources will easily be used up. Do we even have enough water for these people?

Before we even think of the luxuries that power bring, let us remind ourselves that our most precious resource is our water. We have been assured that no water will be drilled, but as it is, the people are already consuming more than what the city’s aquifers can provide. Sooner than later, we will have to tap our surface water sources and factor in how much it will cost to do so. The farther away the source is, the more expensive it will become. Will our people be able to cope with such expense? They have to, but they will have to suffer for it. How much they will have to suffer, we will only know in the future when there is no longer enough for all. As it is, the water we have been boasting about is not even enjoyed by the people of Lasang and only drops of it are enjoyed by the people of Buhangin. This is but a whisper of warning that water is not inexhaustible.

And then there are the emissions. Yes, the emissions may not be black, but that doesn’t make them less lethal. Add coal ash to that, where will these be kept?

But before we are branded as anti-development as the pro-coal will, let us point to everyone that the investments that are coming in, the construction boom, the bustling economy is just partly about power. Cebu is having a lot of problems with their power and yet they are so up there in terms of investments and business activities. There are other factors that are bringing in the investors, let us not sell ourselves and our city too cheaply as to claim that power generation is all we can offer.

Let this veto not pit the pros against cons. Instead, let this be a challenge for all to look at everything that we have been gifted with and work out ways how we can nurture these gifts and hand these down to the succeeding generations by pushing and investing in technologies that bode well not just for the environment but for the over-all health of the people for generations to come.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 08, 2011.

Motorcycle-riding robbers in Davao City increasing

2011-12-09T09:01:00.000+08:00

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THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) is monitoring another group of men suspected to be behind the robbery and theft incidents in Talomo, Davao City.

This developed after another man was robbed by unidentified men riding in tandem on a motorcycle at Lower Rapnaga in Bago Aplaya around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

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Romy Sayaw Paghunasan, 38, salesman of RC Bottlers Incorporated, a resident of Calinan, was robbed after he had received some payment from the attendant at Luigi Store. The suspects armed with undetermined firearm came from behind and held him up.

The suspects took his collection worth P8,000 in different denominations, My Phone cellular phone, and other personal belongings.

Senior Police Officer 4 Jeffrey Bangcas, DCPO case tracker, in an interview, said this is the fifth time that the suspects on board a motorcycle appeared in the same area.

"This is another group. We believe that these men are not related to the suspects recently arrested in Buhangin," Bangcas said, adding that there are several group of robbers in Davao City.

Bangcas said based on the cartographic sketch of the Talomo Police Station, the driver was described as 5'5 in height, medium-built, of dark complexion, and short straight hair, while the passenger was described as 5'3 in height, medium-built, of dark complexion, and curly hair.

"This is really a trend during Christmas season. On the part of the police, we are already doing our job. So I encouraged the people here to intensify their awareness, and coordinate with us in case you will encounter crime incidents," Bangcas said.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 08, 2011.

Davao mayor vetoes council approval of coal-fired power plant

2011-12-09T08:59:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY -- Mayor Sara Z. Duterte vetoed the reclassification of the parcel of land in a village here where AboitizPower Corporation’s 300-megawatt coal-fired plant is set to be established.

"My objection is based on the dangers of the coal energy technology, citing the general welfare clause and the constitution as basis," Duterte said.

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The vetoed ordinance reclassifying parcels of land in Barangay Binugao, Toril district, Davao City, for the proposed Therma South Energy Project is the first ordinance passed by the city’s legislative body that was rejected by the executive.

Duterte, on her veto message, based her rejection on Section 55 of Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines, on the ground that the establishment of Aboitiz's proposed coal-fired plant is "prejudicial to public welfare."

"I am particularly alarmed by the recent studies, which I hereby share with you," she said in her veto message to the City Council.

Environmental groups hailed Duterte’s action but are not optimistic because the City Council can still override her veto.

The City Council can override the veto by an absolute two-thirds vote. There are 26 councilors, and those who will vote for an override must reach 18.

Duterte has since opposed the idea of establishing a coal-fired power plant in the city, citing its long-term negative and harmful effects to the environment.

But majority of the councilors believe the plant will bring economic benefits to the city and will suffice the current energy crisis in Mindanao. They also believe in its reliability in terms of environmental compliance.

While admitting that power shortage is a problem in the city, Duterte said there are still vast options that energy investors can resort to aside from coal-fired plant.

Since the City Council reclassified the land where the coal-fired power plant is to be built, environmental groups like No to Coal Davao have been clamoring for a veto.

Aboitiz first vice president for Mindanao affairs Manuel Orig said he will study the issue and will release an official statement after which.

Councilor Pilar Braga, chair of the City Council committee on energy, transportation and communication, said he will include in the council’s agenda for next week the vetoed ordinance.

Braga is one of the proponents of the proposed coal-fired plant.

Section 54 of the Republic Act 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines, states the local chief executive or the mayor can veto or reject an ordinance if she deems it necessary.

"If the local chief executive concerned approves the same, he shall affix his signature on each and every page thereof; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the same with his objections to the sanggunian (council), which may proceed to reconsider the same. The sanggunian concerned may override the veto of the local chief executive by two-thirds vote of all its members, thereby making the ordinance or resolution effective for all legal intents and purposes," Section 54 of the RA 7160 read.

“We absolutely commend the mayor’s move. We consider this as the people’s victory, but we have to guard this uncomfortable victory. There might be ways to overturn this. When this happens, we will continue to rally behind the good mayor…,” said Dr. Jean Lindo, convenor of No to Coal Davao.

“Another battle has been won. We should strengthen ourselves to be able to win the war. May the mayor continue to consider the future generations in her future decisions,” Betty Cabazares of Kinaiyahan Foundation Inc. said. (With Carmelle Marie Harrow of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 08, 2011.

Closure order vs Emars resort stays

2011-12-08T00:20:00.001+08:00

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AN OFFICIAL of the Davao City Business Bureau said Wednesday the closure order against the controversial Emars Wavepool Hotels Restaurant and Resort will only be lifted once the latter complies with all the requirements set by law.

Lawyer Tristan Dwight P. Domingo, Business Bureau chief, told Sun.Star Davao that as of Wednesday, the closure order against Emars has been strictly implemented.

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Among the requirements that Emars need to comply with before it can resume its operations include permit from the Philippine Reclamation Authority PRA) and clearance for its reclamation activity in the resort, Building and Business Permit from the city, and zoning clearances, among others.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, in Monday's press briefing at her office, has ordered Domingo to firmly impose the closure order after receiving reports that Emars has been continuously operating even with the existing closure order.

On that same day, Domingo's men were sent to inspect Emars and found out that the resort is indeed operating.

He said there were some clients who just checked in at said hotel-resort that day.

"Obviously, they chose to defy the order so we are now forced to undertake drastic measures to physically close the establishment," Domingo told Sun.Star Davao Wednesday.

Domingo said they already told Emars not to accept bookings, reservations and other forms of transaction while the closure order is in effect and until they can comply with all the requirements.

"For the record, Emars and or its representative have known about these requirements as early as the year 2008 or early 2009," Domingo said.

The Business Bureau chief said Emars or its owners are very much aware of the documents required by law since the first time they were issued a closure order in 2010.

"Under the said circumstances, it is very clear that they have been given more than enough time to comply with everything that is needed prior to the operating their establishment," he said.

Meanwhile, Emar's owner, Mercidita D. Lim, in her letter to the city mayor, said despite years of operation without a valid business permit, they are still "religiously paying what is due to the city in a form of taxes."

"We are also paying revenues to the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue). The local government also benefits from us," Lim said.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 08, 2011.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte blocks AboitizPower Corp's coal project

2011-12-08T00:18:00.000+08:00

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The vetoed ordinance reclassifying parcels of land in Barangay Binugao, Toril district, Davao City, for the proposed Therma South Energy Project is the first ordinance passed by the city’s legislative body that was rejected by the executive.

Duterte, on her veto message, based her rejection on Section 55 of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines, on the ground that the establishment of Aboitiz's proposed coal-fired plant is "prejudicial to public welfare."

"I am particularly alarmed by the recent studies, which I hereby share with you," she said in her veto message to the City Council.

Environmental groups hailed Duterte’s action but are not optimistic because the City Council can still override her veto.

The City Council can override the veto by an absolute two-thirds vote. There are 26 councilors, and those who will vote for an override must reach 18.

Duterte has since opposed the idea of establishing a coal-fired power plant in the city, citing its long-term negative and harmful effects to the environment.

But majority of the councilors believe the plant will bring economic benefits to the city and will suffice the current energy crisis in Mindanao. They also believe in its reliability in terms of environmental compliance.

While admitting that power shortage is a problem in the city, Duterte said there are still vast options that energy investors can resort to aside from coal-fired plant.

Since the City Council reclassified the land where the coal-fired power plant is to be built, environmental groups like No to Coal Davao have been clamoring for a veto.

Aboitiz first vice president for Mindanao affairs Manuel Orig said he will study the issue and will release an official statement after which.
Councilor Pilar Braga, chair of the City Council committee on energy, transportation and communication, said he will include in the council’s agenda for next week the vetoed ordinance.

Braga is one of the proponents of the proposed coal-fired plant.

Section 54 of the Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines, states the local chief executive or the mayor can veto or reject an ordinance if she deems it necessary.

"If the local chief executive concerned approves the same, he shall affix his signature on each and every page thereof; otherwise, he shall veto it and return the same with his objections to the sanggunian (council), which may proceed to reconsider the same. The sanggunian concerned may override the veto of the local chief executive by two-thirds vote of all its members, thereby making the ordinance or resolution effective for all legal intents and purposes." Section 54 of the RA 7160 read.

“We absolutely commend the mayor’s move. We consider this as the people’s victory, but we have to guard this uncomfortable victory. There might be ways to overturn this. When this happens, we will continue to rally behind the good mayor…,” said Dr. Jean Lindo, convenor of No to Coal Davao.

“Another battle has been won. We should strengthen ourselves to be able to win the war. May the mayor continue to consider the future generations in her future decisions,” Betty Cabazares of Kinaiyahan Foundation Inc. said. (With Carmelle Marie Harrow of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 08, 2011.

Anarchy and anemia in Davao City streets

2011-12-07T19:40:00.000+08:00

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Anarchy is a general state of disorder and confusion brought about by the absence of law and order.

There is anarchy in the streets of Davao City . Even Vice Mayor Rody Duterte has made that statement every time he was confronted with senseless accidents in the streets.

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In a city that prides itself with its relentless campaign against crime, the admission by the mayor of a state of disorder and confusion in the city streets is a statement of a very real and pestering problem.

There is anarchy in the streets, we all know that. If the disorder and confusion have persisted after different attempts at different solutions – including lassoing traffic with nylon ropes – it is because these attempts have largely been anemic.

You cannot discipline undisciplined drivers with half-hearted attempts and with half a will. You cannot make maniacal motorists follow traffic laws with inconsistent and haphazard implementation.

Consider, dear reader.

At so wide a highway as J. P. Laurel from Lasang in the north and Toril in the south to the city proper and back, traffic is congested in most intersections especially during peak traffic hours simply because jeepney and taxicab drivers clog the junctions to pick up passengers in the middle of the street.

These drivers know the law; they know that what they are doing is a violation of both traffic sanity and safety but they simply do not care. Traffic enforcers often do not care either.

This column has advocated for almost a decade for the construction of bays along either side of the highway where jeepneys can drop or pick up passengers, but even the bays will not help if jeepneys use the bays as mini-terminals and still pick up or drop passengers anywhere they please.

There are bays along Quezon Boulevard but nobody uses them, except as parking places for private vehicles. There are bays in front of Victoria Plaza , Gaisano Mall and NCCC Mall, but traffic spills over to opposite lanes because the road is blocked by jeepneys three abreast during peak traffic hours and nobody seems to care.

It is frustrating to get caught in a jam, to inch along and to find out later that the bottleneck was caused by a vehicle that has conked out or blown a tire and left by the driver in the middle of the road. That is the height of insensitivity. Why leave a vehicle in the middle of the road? Why not push it to the roadside or up the pavement as a basic courtesy to other motorists who use the road?

That insensitivity and inconsiderateness happens in the city streets and many times the conked out vehicles are dilapidated motorized boxes that have no business running on the road.

There is anarchy in the main thoroughfares of the city and the confusion and disorder is largely caused by maniacal multicabs that have seemed to mushroom overnight from nobody knows where.

Many multicab drivers are a species apart. One wonders where they learned to drive.

It is very hazardous just to be near them – beside, in front, or behind. They slither along the street, cut across your path like snails in a hurry, snaking from one lane to the other, unmindful of other vehicles.

They stop in front of you to pick up or drop a passenger, and as you maneuver to avoid hitting them, they speed on to cut you off, weaving right and left, right and left like nobody’s business.

But in the streets of Davao , taxicabs and jeepneys act in the same manner. It is as if the streets were an obstacle course where the most hardheaded and the most discourteous win.

Willful obstruction of traffic flow, loading and unloading anywhere and at any time, leaving conked out vehicles in the middle of the road, blocking junctions, refusing to give way at intersections, parking at no-parking places, using the streets as terminals, weaving from lane to lane, speeding in crowded streets – these are among the signs of anarchy in the streets that Vice Mayor Duterte was talking about.

But there are more such acts of anarchy.

Tricycles are not supposed to use main thoroughfares and highways, but they do – in R, Castillo, Quimpo Boulevard , Agdao, Quezon Boulevard , Buhangin Diversion, the Ulas highway to Calinan, and in the highway to the north and the south of the city, from Lasang to Panabo and from Toril to Santa Cruz . Many accidents have happened because of these tricycles plying the high-speed highway.

Trisikads and trisibots are not supposed to be on the streets at all. They are not mechanically fit to transport passengers. They have not been authorized to ferry passengers, hence their operations are illegal. They have remained in the streets out of humane consideration, a consideration that many times they have abused.

Most trisikad drivers are minors. Many trisikads have ventured into streets where they are not supposed to be. Many accidents have happened that have cost lives or limbs of trisikad passengers.

The dangers trisikads pose to their passengers, to motorists and the general public have far outweighed the humanitarian considerations that have tolerated their existence.

The most dangerous feature of anarchy in the streets is the habal-habal. A motorcycle is designed to carry two persons at most, but a habal-habal is a public conveyance born out of sheer disregard for safety. It is a motorcycle that loads at most eight passengers and plies, on two wheels, the roughest roads of the city.

Mayor Duterte once described the habal-bahal thus: The habal-habal is a constant potential collision between concrete and metal on one hand and soft flesh and bones on the other. The accidents that have happened because of the habal-habal defy an accurate count.

“Vehicles that are not road-worthy, or those without basic safety features like headlights and signal lights will not be allowed on the streets of the city,” the Mayor said in 2004.

That was seven years ago, and there is still anarchy in the city streets.

There is anarchy because there is anemia in the enforcement of the law.

Editorial: Psyching ourselves for growth

2011-12-07T19:38:00.001+08:00

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THREE more companies are investing on hotels in the next two years, the Department of Tourism here said. The three are the Ayala, Radison, and Red Planet/Air Asia. This just confirms what Dabawenyos have been noticing through the past few years: the city is growing, very fast.

As friends have been bandying about, just leave Davao for a few weeks and a new building will be glaring down at you. These are words spoken in jest but are based on truth. Just look at how SM City Davao has grown, and see the bustle at the SM North, when it was just like yesterday when the city was all abuzz because Ayala was planning on building a mall.

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Before we know it, growth will be overtaking our highest expectations, let us not let this happen.

Instead, let us, as a people, psyche ourselves up for the pace of development our city has ridden on and be ready for whatever growth entails. This means, having the programs for urban and social development, infrastructure projects for wider roads and other facilities, a comprehensive land use program that not only focuses on property development but on healthy ecosystems as well, and even social safety nets for the lower income groups. We should already be able to anticipate which resources will run out fast and which resources should we ensure sustainability of. What need will be foremost and which ones should we invest in first.

We know too well what massive urbanization brings: chaos, traffic congestion, informal settlers, crimes, and all other social problems. We should be ready for this, not just psychologically but in terms of programs and projects because the longer we let problems fester, the more difficult they are to solve.

And let’s not forget that along with boom and a very healthy investment climate are people, in the thousands, all looking for better opportunities, among them, the very poor. The same very poor people who litter our streets and sleep at Osmeña Park and every nook and crannies on our sidewalks. Let us expect more of them and let us have something for them that will take them out of those streets before they increase in numbers similar to that in Metro Manila.

The city may say it does not have enough resources for these, but we say we have always had people who are willing to give; among the things the city can do is tap into these willing givers through some well-coordinated program and churn out something that will highlight how Dabawenyos care for their own.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 07, 2011.

First Muslim-owned hotel opens in Davao City

2011-12-07T19:35:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Dec. 4 (PNA) – The first Muslim-owned hotel in Mindanao opened Thursday, December 1 along J.P. Laurel Avenue, Bajada, this city.

Samira Ali Gutoc, member of the board of directors of the bank said the setting up of El Bajada Hotel in Davao City is a symbol of strong ties among the sectors in this city with its major partner, the Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank.

Gutoc said the hotel is also offering Halal food in its restaurant.

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She acknowledged the sincerity of the city in responding to Muslim investors like this first major Muslim-owned hotel in the island.

Gutoc said a lot of Muslim investors from countries like the Middle East often look for hotels that also offer Halal food and this hotel could be the answer.

“And this might initiate entry of investors from other Muslim countries,” she said.

“In Manila, there are Muslim lodging houses and inns but this I think is the first major investment of this kind,” she said.

Gutoc also said “it also step up the plate of Muslim businessmen as professionals and could be a challenge to others”.

El Bajada Hotel is owned by Esmael W. Ebrahim of Ebgum Enterprises. The hotel has a total of 70 rooms.

Ebrahim who is a businessman from Cotabato City, in an earlier report, said he decided to invest in the hotel business after he was convinced by friends that the industry is booming.

Ebrahim whose business is more on agricultural produce said “operating a hotel is not my line of business but because I believe the industry is growing, I decided to accept the challenge”.

Grace Joy Sevilla-Nasser, branch head in Davao of the bank said although Amanah Bank is already under the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), they were still given the go signal to follow conventional banking with El Bajada Hotel account.

“What we followed here is the Islamic banking or the conventional banking where we do not talk of interest but profit and other operating cost and system,” she said. (PNA)
LAP/LOR/Digna D. Banzon/ldp

Consistency in condom use among sex workers in Davao City urged

2011-12-07T19:34:00.001+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Dec. 6 -- Consistency in the use of condoms among sex workers to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV-AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is one of the advocacies of the Davao City Reproductive Health and Wellness Center.

Dr. Jordana Ramiterre of the RHWC said that although condoms are widely used during sexual contact between paying partners, these are not however used when the sex workers are in contact with their intimate partners like husbands or boyfriends.

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Ramiterre said the use of condoms is advocated particularly to persons prone to having multiple sex partners and it must be used consistently whether the partner is a paid customer or an intimate one.

Also another problem is that condom advocacy is getting lukewarm support from males. According to Ramiterre they are trying of ways to repackage the advocacy.

According to data, there are four to five new cases of HIV-AIDS every month from screenings conducted by the RHWC.

In 2010 there were about 71 cases of HIV-AIDS in 2011 from January to September the number of new AIDS cases has breached the 2010 figures. The figures could go higher as this only purports to persons who volunteered to check with the RHWC.

The free HIV-AIDS screening is being shunned by many in the community as they are afraid of being discriminated. The HIV-AIDS screening at the local government’s RHWC is confidential and comes up with free counseling.

Meanwhile the counseling sessions of HIV-AIDS screening has uncovered the high rate of MSM or Male-to-Male sexual encounters as among the prevalent forms of HIV-AIDS sexual transmission.

For this year alone there have been 31 cases of HIV-AIDS which are transmitted by MSM. (PIA/RG Alama)

Japan to continue support in Mindanao peace process

2011-12-07T19:33:00.002+08:00

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JAPANESE Ambassador Toshinao Urabe said Japan will continue to support the Philippines, particularly in its efforts in achieving peace in Mindanao.

After the earthquake and tsunami disaster of March 11 in Japan, Urabe said, "Despite the tremendous challenges Japan is facing, the Government of Japan will support the Philippines, in particular the Mindanao peace process."

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Japan is a member of the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and the International Contact Group (ICG), and has been supporting the peace talks for over a decade.

During a reception in Davao City last week, Urabe also bared his government's appreciation for the support and spontaneous outpour of help and goodwill from the global community, the Philippines in particular, after the great disasters of March 11.

According to Urabe, Japan is now settling down rapidly and will turn its current hardship into a blessing.

The ambassador was in Davao City on December 1 to host the 78th birthday celebration of the Emperor of Japan at the Marco Polo. It was Urabe’s second time in the city where he said he feels "very much at home."

Acting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who was the representative of the city to the event, said what made Dabawenyo's relationship with the Japanese so "significant and special" was that more than seven decades ago, it was in Davao City where many Japanese lived, worked, married and raised their families.

"It was here that many of them died and made history," Duterte added.

Duterte is hopeful that the strong relationship, mutual friendship and respect with Japan and its people will continue and remain alive for always. (PR)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 07, 2011.

Manhunt is ongoing against 'acetylene' robbers in Davao City

2011-12-07T19:33:00.000+08:00

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AUTHORITIES launched on Tuesday a manhunt operation against a group of men suspected as behind robbery incidents in Davao City, following the arrest of two suspects in a foiled robbery inside a pawnshop in Buhangin last November 29.

Chief Inspector Alfredo Baluran, head of the Buhangin Police Station, went to the Davao City Police Office's Intelligence and Detection Management Branch (DCPO-IDMB) to submit two cartographic sketches of the suspects who remain at large.

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Baluran said one of the suspects in the sketch is the one who managed to escape when his two other companions were arrested as they fled from the pawnshop.

Arrested were Lumna Mohammad Dimalaang, 31, resident of No. 23-C Mini Forest in Boulevard, and Ryan Narciso Suico, 34, resident of Zone 4, St. Jude in Buhangin, along Diversion Road in Buhangin around 10 p.m. of November 29.

Baluran said several witnesses in Buhangin confirmed that around five men were spotted in the same area before the incident.

A witness said two men served as lookout of the three suspects who entered the pawnshop through a tunnel they made from a drainage pipe hundreds of meters away.

"However, there were only two carto-sketch kasi yung ibang suspects di gaanong na mukhaan," Baluran said.

"We also arrested two robbery suspects before... I think that was in year 1999, and according to them, binayaran talaga sila for this kind of job. Most of their connections are not from Davao," he added.

Baluran said based on the report of the suspects who were also members of “Acetylene Gang,” their group are well-trained. Most of the members came from Mountain Province in Luzon.

"This is true. It can be noticed. Everything has been planned. Dahil walang ordinaryong magnanakaw ang may kakayahan na dumaan sa tunnel. We’ve traced the tunnel and honestly, it’s difficult to breathe in there… 300 meters away," Baluran said.

On the other hand, Baluran added that they are also tracking down four other suspects who barged into the house of a businesswoman and carted away her safety vault containing P10 million worth of valuable items on November 27.

The victim was identified as Rogelmina Tandico, 57, a resident of Paramount Street, Robinsons Subdivision in Buhangin, Davao City, whose house was ransacked around 2:45 a.m.

"We are now closely monitoring these suspects, all of them. We already filed charges against them, and hopefully mahuli na natin sila as soon as possible," Baluran said.

Meanwhile, Baluran said they have already distributed several pictures of the notorious suspects in all Davao City Police Stations, pawnshops, and other establishments.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 07, 2011.

Davao City to tighten belt throughout Mayor Sara Duterte's term

2011-12-07T19:31:00.001+08:00

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THE city cannot sustain its operations with the P360-million cut in its internal revenue allotment (IRA) thus it will have to cut back on unnecessary expenses throughout the remaining period of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s term.

Duterte, during her weekly press briefing at her office Monday morning, said the reduced IRA will take effect next year.

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"Mas gipili nato na mag tipid kaysa mananggal ug mga empleyado (We chose belt-tightening than laying off of employees)," Duterte said.

Apart from belt-tightening measures, Duterte earlier announced that the city is thinking of increasing business taxes, as well as improve several city-owned enterprises, including the city's slaughter house in Ma-a, in order to generate more revenues.

Whatever amendments there will be on the tax code, however, will still have to be worked out by the City Council.

Next year, the city's proposed annual budget of P4.3 billion is P306 million less than this year's.

In the city’s statement of income and expenses for January to September this year, it showed that total spending reached P2.2 billion, P3 million less than it spent in the same period last year.

Total spending was P2,214,192,619.75 as compared to last year's P2,554,178,920.04.

Of this year's gross income of P3,583,257,621.08, P646,894,037.85 was spent for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

The MOOE was further broken down as P441,402,680.25 for the salaries and wages of regular employees of the City Hall; P221,475,433.84 for other compensation; P62,749,203.52 for personnel benefits contribution; and P21,266,720.24 for other personnel benefits.

Salaries and wages for regular employees was down P20 million to just P377,316,443.20.

A total of P11,063,346.13 has been spent by the city for communication expenses compared to last year's P12,217,960.69.

In terms of repair and maintenance expenditure, the city has spent a total of P46,327,353.72 compared to last year's P110,089,537.73.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 07, 2011.

Davao exports reach $1B

2011-12-07T19:23:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO Region posted a remarkable growth in exports in the first three quarters of 2011 with a total of $1 billion, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Davao Region announced Tuesday.

DTI Davao del Sur provincial director Engr. Edwin Banquerigo said the current figure already matched the $1 billion total exports recorded in 2010. In 2009, Davao Region's export performance was pegged at $902.7 million.

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"We have a good performance this year compared to that of 2010 as we still have three months to go," Bangquerigo told Sun.Star Davao.

Banquerigo announced this as he discussed the proposed Davao Region Export Action Plan for 2011-2013 during the regional seminar on the implementation of the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2011-2013 at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.

Banquerigo said the information was based on the Bureau of Customs-Port of Davao record from January to September.

Banana remained the top export earner at $584 million, followed by rubber ($89.4 million), desiccated coconut ($71 million) and pineapple ($57.5 million).

Coconut oil also performed well as it posted $91.5 million in export earnings for the first nine months of 2011. In 2010, coconut oil made only $22.8 million.

Meanwhile, Banquerigo, who outlined the Davao Region plans and programs during the forum in lieu of DTI regional director Marizon S. Loreto, said they are eyeing mango, coco xyclose and microwavable banana as among the top potential export winners next year.

For the coco xylose alone, Bangquerigo said the region is eyeing to export 12,000 metric tons by next year.

The Davao Region action plan was presented after Export Development Council deputy executive director Emmarita Z. Mijares discussed the PEDP during the forum attended by representatives of the different government agencies and exporters.

Loreto said the seminar was jointly conducted by DTI and the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion to enlighten exporters of the plans and policies of government in marketing their products abroad.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 07, 2011.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte: Emars Wavepool must be closed

2011-12-06T20:56:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte ordered Monday the strict implementation of the closure order against the controversial Emars Wavepool Hotel Restaurant and Resorts as soon as possible.

Duterte, speaking at her weekly press briefing in her office Monday, said she will immediately order lawyer Tristan Dwight P. Domingo to implement the closure order.

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"Dili lagi pwede basig temporary lang kung wala pa ang endorsement (I already told them that they cannot operate even temporarily without the endorsement)," Duterte said.

Duterte was referring to the endorsement coming from the City Council on the area that the resort has been seeking to reclassify.

Based on an earlier report from the city's Business Bureau, the last time that Emars got a valid permit for operation from the city was in 2008.

Hence, from 2009 to 2011, Emars was not able to renew its business permit.

Efforts to get the statement of Domingo proved futile, as the latter failed to reply to this writer's text messages as of this writing.

Mercedita D. Lim of Emars, in her letter addressed to the city mayor last month, sought a City Council resolution of no objection for its reclamation project at Times Beach in Matina Aplaya.

Lim's request was in relation to the possible cease and desist order that might be possibly issued by the Philippine Reclamation Authority against reclamation in the area and the issuance of permit pending at the city's Business Bureau.

Lim said despite their years of operation without a valid business permit, they are still "religiously paying what is due to the city in form of taxes."

"We are also paying revenues to the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue). The local government also benefits from us," she said. (Jereco O. Paloma)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 06, 2011.

Davao City ready to host exodus of lumads

2011-12-06T20:54:00.001+08:00

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STARTING today, Tuesday, the City Government of Davao is ready to welcome and cater to thousands of lumads from hinterland barangays of the city and its neighboring provinces in what has already become an annual exodus for the holiday season.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte in Monday's press briefing said it is all systems go for the city's celebration of this year's Pasko Fiesta.

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She said she already instructed some offices of the City Government, including the City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) and City Engineer's Office (CEO), among others, to do the necessary preparations for the festival.

"Naka-ready naman ang tanan na kinahanglanon nila sa pag-stay nila diri (All the things that they will be needing are all ready)," Duterte said.

Liwayway Caligdong, assistant chief of CSSDO, said the city will do its best to attend to all lumads who are coming over just to make their stay comfortable.

"We are not inviting them to come down," Caligdong said, adding that the city is ready to welcome them and will provide for their shelter and other basic needs if they decide to spend Christmas in the city.

She said the city will also provide transportation to ferry them back to their respective barangays on December 26, a day after Christmas Day.

With this, the City Government has already prepared at least nine temporary shelters, among them the multipurpose gyms in Mintal, Tugbok, Toril, Matina Aplaya, Buhangin, and Bankerohan. (Jereco O. Paloma)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 06, 2011.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte pushes for P2,000 health care allowance for Teachers

2011-12-06T20:53:00.000+08:00

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A TEACHERS' organization in Davao City accepted Mayor Sara Duterte's offer of P2,000 annual allowance for medical assistance instead of the P500 monthly allowance.

The P2,000 medical assistance will be distributed to all public teachers, including the contractual, Department of Education employees and kindergarten teachers.

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The amount is P500 more than last year's P1,500 medical assistance from the city.

The monthly allowance is contained in City Ordinance 132-01, which grants a P500 monthly allowance to public elementary and secondary school teachers, and non-teaching personnel, subject to guidelines and requirements.

The law approved by the City Council in 2001 has never been implemented.

Lala Baredo, Kahugpungan sa mga Magtutudlo ug Kawani sa Edukasyon sa Mindanao (Kamkem) and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) treasurer, in a phone interview, said the dialogue they had with Duterte was satisfactory only because the city mayor welcomed their concerns.

But they were dismayed when told they cannot be given the monthly allowance.

Duterte said she is not against the giving of P500 monthly allowance to teachers, but that will cost the city P51 million in one year alone, an amount the city does not have to spare.

"Sa karon, dili jud makaya sa city na mag-gasto ug ana ka dako para sa allowance lang (The city cannot afford to spend such amount just for teachers' allowances)," Duterte said.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 06, 2011.

Mayor Sara Duterte: New People's Army rebels' reaction rabid, vile

2011-12-06T20:50:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte described Monday as "rabid and vile" the rebels' reaction over her appeal to lay down their arms and to talk about peace and development in the city.

The New People's Army (NPA), in a statement, called Duterte's appeal as "stupidity and reveals her reactionary character."

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The statement was issued by Rigoberto F. Sanchez, spokesperson for Merardo Arce Command of NPA's Southern Mindanao Regional Operations Command.

Duterte appeared to have not moved by the rebels' statement, saying it is "a clear manifestation that the group is not interested to talk about peace and development instead of war."

"I already knew that they would say no; I only represent Davao City and it was my call for peace," Duterte told reporters during her weekly press briefing at the City Hall Monday.

"So who is stupid now?" Duterte asked, who pointed out she only wants peace to reign in the city and to end hostilities between the government and the rebels that had existed for several decades now.

But Duterte was quick to add "my door is still open for those who are willing to sit down and talk about peace."

In a statement, Sanchez claimed "power has gone to the head" of the city mayor when she recently issued a "stupid call for Ka Parago and Ka Oda of the (NPA) to lay down their arms and surrender to the reactionary government."

"Sara Duterte has made a sweeping call not even made by her father, longtime Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has not dared to disparage Ka Parago and the NPA in such a way in the former mayor's more than two decades at the helm of the reactionary Davao City politics," Sanchez said.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 06, 2011.

3 more hotels to rise in Davao City

2011-12-06T20:44:00.000+08:00

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THREE big companies engaged in hotel business and property development will erect a hotel each in Davao City in the next two years, Department of Tourism (DOT)-Davao Region director Arturo Boncato Jr. announced Friday.

Boncato said the Radisons, Ayalas and the Red Planet Hotels, a franchise of Air Asia, will be bring some of its major projects by building hotels in various parts of the city.

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The new hotels for development include Kukun Hotel of Ayala, Park by the Radison, and Tune Hotel by the Red Planet and Air Asia.

Among the three, Kukun is the biggest with 180 rooms. Park consists of 200 rooms and Tune Hotel has 150.

Boncato, however, said the room capacity of each hotel is still subject for possible changes since the project proposal of each hotel is still tentative.

Boncato said presently, the city has a almost 5,000 rooms comprising all types of accommodations such as hotels, inns, villas, and motels, among others.

"These hotels are really a big help not only to the city's tourism, but also to the entire region's tourism industry," Boncato told reporters during the Christmas party hosted by DOT to tourism stakeholders at the Marco Polo Hotel last Friday.

Boncato said Kukun Hotel is a boutique Hotel, while Park is business-type hotel. Tune Hotel is a budget hotel.

Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC) officer-in-charge Jason Magnaye, meanwhile, said it's all systems go for the establishment of the 150-room Tune Hotel in Davao City after representatives of the company met recently with local government officials.

Magnaye said his discussion with the representatives and the firm's engineer and architect drew positive results.

Construction of the Tune Hotel along J.P. Laurel Avenue is expected to commence next year, with February 2013 as the target date of completion. (With CRAM)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 06, 2011.

NPA slams Davao City mayor over surrender call

2011-12-06T20:42:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The communist New People’s Army (NPA) called as stupid Mayor Sara Duterte’s appeal to local rebel leaders Kumander Parago and Ka Oda to surrender following the November 29 landmine explosion that killed three soldiers in Sitio Guinobatan, Paradise Embac in Paquibato district.

Rigoberto Sanchez, spokesperson of the NPA’s Merardo Arce Command, said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer that the mayor’s call only showed “her reactionary character,” and her being “unacquainted” with the NPA as a “revolutionary group” in the country’s “ongoing civil war.”

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The NPA even compared the mayor with her father, the elder and former mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who “never disparaged Ka Parago and the NPA in his two decades as mayor.”

“Sara Duterte has made a sweeping call not even made by her father, long-time Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte,” said the statement.

Duterte appealed to Parago and Oda to surrender following the death of three soldiers in a landmine explosion. She also told a local reporter she would be willing to sit down “with those who will lay down their arms.”

But Duterte said her “offer of peace and to sit down and talk is far from reactionary.”

“It’s in fact conciliatory. I know they would say no but I just wanted to show the people their rabid and vile reaction to a call for peace. So, who is stupid now?” she asked.

The NPA statement also criticized Duterte for defending the 69th Infantry Battalion of the 10th ID in connection with the NPA ambush in Paradise Embac.

It said that in defending the AFP, Duterte has condoned the impunity in which soldiers allegedly harassed and intimidated the communities.

Davao City bets shine in Red Horse Muziklaban Urge Super X Series

2011-12-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO City bets dominated the just-concluded Red Horse Muziklaban Urge Super X Series held at Digos City Plaza.

Chineo Sonido emerged champion in BMX flatland division to receive a pair of DC shoes and shirt, a Kurv shirt and scrapbites. He bested fellow Dabawenyo Bryan Mangmang and Tagum City's Jake Pajaron who placed second and third, respectively.

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Mark Calvo of Davao City, for his part, ruled the skateboarding division over Werner Cosid who placed second and Panabo City's Reaburn Mecarez who came third.

The BMX street division title went to Algie Nepa of Panabo City even as Jhemson Alonzo of Kidapawan City and King Solomon of General Santos City wounded up in the next two spots.

All winners received merchandise items and equipment as prizes.

A total of 106 participants from Panabo City, Tagum City, Davao City Digos City, South Cotabato City, Kidapawan City, General Santos City and M'lang showed their wares.

Technical director Khryss "Chunks" Pude said, "The event was a complete breakthrough for extreme sports in Mindanao." (RPSA)

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 06, 2011.

DCWD Notice of Water Service Interruption- Dec. 7-9, 2011

2011-12-06T20:35:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO CITY WATER DISTRICT

NOTICE OF WATER SERVICE INTERRUPTION
Dec. 7 – 9, 2011

SET A
WHEN : From 9:00 PM of Wednesday, December 7, 2011 until 8:00 AM of Thursday, December 8, 2011 (11 hours)

WHERE : NO WATER
Carpio Subd., Sand Village, Sison Village, Sta. Teresita, Villa Park Subd., Holy Trinity Subd., St. Jude, Buhangin - Cabantian Road (from corner Milan to Holy Trinity Subd.), St. John Subd., left portion of Carlos P. Garcia Highway (from entrance No. 2 of Robinsons Highlands Subd. going to corner Empress Subd.), Empress Subd., Dragon Compound, Diho Subd., Lea Subd., Pareñas Compound, La Verna Hills Subd., Camp Catitipan, AFP Mutual Homes, portion of Ciudad de Esperanza (under Dumoy Water System Connections), Pag-ibig Homes Subd., Davao International Airport, Vista Verde Phase 1, Tiera Verde Village, Crystal Meadows and Bel-Air Subd.

LOW PRESSURE TO NO WATER
Right portion of Carlos P. Garcia Highway (from entrance 2 of Robinsons Highlands Subd. going to Davao International Airport), Green Heights Subd., Spring Village, Ladislawa Vill., Sandawa Vill., San PedroVillage, NCCC Housing, Garcia Heights, De Jesus Subd., Davao Medical Center, Mt. Carmel, Sto. Niño, San Nicolas, Mahayag, San Antonio, San Vicente, Margarita Village, Hillside Subd., Belisario Heights Subd., NHA Buhangin, Rooseville Subd., Vincent Heights, Victoria Heights, Mamay Village, St. Anthony Village, JLA Subd., Diamond Village, Liceralde Village, Guadalupe Village, Summerhill Village, Belen Homes, Pampanga Executive Homes, Nova Tiera Village, Fortune Executive Homes, Insular Village, Doña Asuncion Village, Don Lorenzo Homes, Doña Pilar Village, Southern Homes, Doña Paz Subd., Hacienda Village, Vicente Pichon Subd., Mahayahay Settlers, Landmark II Subd., and from Buhangin to J.P. Laurel Avenue.

REASON : Interconnection of the newly installed 1000mm diameter Coal Tar Coated and Cement Lined Steel Pipes (CTCCLSP) to the existing 400mm diameter Mortar Lined Coated Steel Pipes (MLCSP) along Carlos P. Garcia Highway for the proposed Transmission/Distribution Line Project from Panorama to Buhangin.

SET B
WHEN : From 9:00 PM of Thursday, December 8, 2011 until 2:00 AM of Friday, December 9, 2011 (5 hours)

WHERE : Truscan Road, Emerald Village, Orchid Ville Subdivision, Nacilla Village, Davao View Village and Juario Village all in Ma-a.

REASON : Tapping of the Water Distribution System at Blocks 1 to 10 of Villa Azalea Subd. in Brgy. Ma-a.

Rodrigo Duterte warns payong-payong drivers to follow law or lose livelihood

2011-12-05T20:22:00.000+08:00

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DAVAO City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte warned drivers of the so-called payong-payong (motorcycles with sidecars) to obey traffic laws and never try to bully law enforcers lest be taken out of the streets for good.

The vice mayor was reacting to a report that one traffic law enforcer was stabbed by a payong-payong driver who was resisting arrest.

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Duterte urged the traffic law enforcer to file charges.

"If ever the TMC (Traffic Management Center operative) killed the driver kay misukol man (because the driver put up a fight), that's only self defense in performance of his duty," Duterte said.

The usual reason given by drivers when arrested that they are only earning for their family is not an excuse to violate the law, the vice mayor reminded.

Duterte, when he was still mayor, often reminded vendors and trisikad and payong-payong drivers that being poor is not an excuse to violate laws.

"Gapasensiya lang ko kay dili man ko mayor. I will tell you, maybe this time mayabo na jud inyong kaldero once the government mapura na sa inyong kaabusado (I am just tolerating all these because I am not longer the mayor, but I am warning these people, once government has had enough of these abuses, these people will lose their source of livelihood)," he said.

"I do not care kung mamatay mo sa kagutom kung ana man lang mo kaabusado (if you are abusive). You deserve to be punished. So if I were you... you abide with the law," he added.

Duterte said the City Council recently thought of the Land Transportation Office to utilize the close circuit television camera to arrest the traffic violators.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 05, 2011.

Davao City Annual investment plan approved

2011-12-05T20:20:00.002+08:00

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The city council approved on second reading the proposed annual investment plan (AIP) by next year, containing different infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects amounting to P11.905 billion.

Councilor Myrna Dalodo-Ortiz, chair of the committee on finance, ways, means and appropriations, said on Dec. 2 during the deliberation of the proposal in the plenary that the AIP would serve as a guideline on what should be implemented by next year.

“It contains the list of projects, programs and activities as requested and identified by various city departments, barangay council, concerned national line agencies, executive department and the honorable members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod,” she said.

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The proposed plan was also extracted from the Local Development Investment Program 2011-2013.

Among the infrastructure projects under the plan include road development, buildings and other structures, electrification, drainage program and water system that would amount to P9.915 billion. One of the top priority projects under the plan, for instance, the drainage system which will be allocated P1.6 billion.

“The city is already experiencing a climate change with heavy rainfalls and our drainage system right now are not anymore efficient, so there is a need to rehabilitate the same in order to prevent a flashflood disaster that may happen again in the future,” Dalodo-Ortiz said.

The drainage program includes the rehabilitation of canal in Purok 6 to 4 in Brgy. 76-A Bucana, Talomo District. Lawmakers have also proposed a list of projects that would be allocated from their P2 million priority development assistance fund.

Councilor Tomas Monteverde IV, for instance, proposed to cement the road connecting Purok 5A Amparo Village and Purok 5B Bugac in Barangay Ilang, Bunawan District; continue the line canal and install a manhole in Rivera Village in Barangay Paciano Bangoy, Agdao District.

The new AIP was P1 billion less than the earlier proposal after the city council’s committee on finance, ways, means and appropriations with the City Planning and Development Office observed erroneous entries.

“There were several duplications or double entries and discrepancies in totals as reflected therein,” Dalodo-Ortiz said, citing some of the erroneous entries including the proposals involving electrification and maternal care expenditures of the City Health Office.