Edge Davao 5 Issue 83

By Lorie A. Cascaro

No excuses.Starting today, the City Envi-

ronmental and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) will issue citation tickets to owners and/or managers of estab-lishments found using non-biodegrad-

able plastics and polystyrene foams as food and beverage containers.

Guesting in the Club 888 Media Fo-rum at The Marco Polo Davao yesterday, Cenro chief Joseph Felizarta said estab-lishments had been given enough time to comply with the ban.

He said four teams comprising 40

enforcers will monitor malls, public markets, ambulant vendors, and manu-facturers, adding that 29,000 establish-ments with business permits as per re-cords of the Business Bureau.

Some 10 plastic manufacturers in the city working on the double to pro-

By Jade C. Zaldivar

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio was invited by the Repub-lic of Singapore to join the World

Cities Summit (WCS) 2012 set on July 1 to 4. Singapore’s Minister of State Lee Yi

Shyan of the Ministry of National Devel-opment and Ministry of Trade and Indus-try in a letter invited Duterte-Carpio to participate as a select panelist to the WCS Mayor’s Forum 2012.

The forum is a by-invitation only global platform for mayors to discuss

best practices, and city challenges of a modern culture. It will also be an oppor-tunity to network with other city mayors of the world, CEOs of Singapore public agencies, chiefs of international orga-nizations, and private sector business

Sara is World Cities Summit panelist

EDGEP 15.00 • 20 PAGES

www.edgedavao.netVOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012

SportsPage 16

Monitoring seton plastic ban

Science/EnvironmentPage 4

Serving a seamless society

FMONITORING, 13

FSARA, 13

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DAVAOIndulgePage A3

PLASTIC BAN. City Environment and Natural Resources Office chief Joseph Dominic Felizarta shows examples of biodegradable plastic bags. The city’s non-biodegradable

plastic ban will be implemented starting today. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012THE BIG NEWS2 EDGEDAVAO

IBM Corp. boosts PSCC’s functionsBy Jade C. Zaldivar

ThE Davao City Pub-lic Safety Command Center (PSCC) got

a boost last week with the introduction of new technology from service provider International Busi-ness Machines Corporation (IBM).

IBM has set up an Intel-ligent Operations Center (IOC) within the PSCC head-quarters which will inte-grate communication among the city’s peace and safety units, such as the Davao City Police Office (DCPO) and Central 911.

With the introduction of the IOC, the PSCC now has a single source of informa-tion to support emergency responders. Through a web-based access, Davao City agencies can plan and coor-dinate actions, share infor-mation and monitor events, incidents and operations.

The system also serves as an ‘early warning system’ that monitors Key Risk Indi-cators (KRIs) and allows the city to take action in a collab-orative manner.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Car-pio last week said the city will benefit highly from the new technology.

“I am happy that it was IBM who won the bidding. It means that the quality of the services will be good,” she said. l.

The project cost P128,512,567.67 payable in three phases in the next three years.

The primary integration of new gadgets involves a total of 253 hardware com-ponents.

FeaturesThe IOC features a dash-

board for executives which

displays Key Performance indicators and measures the performance of public safety operations.

It also provides an easy access Video Feed data and a platform for 911 responders to seamlessly communicate with other agencies.

Geographic Information System (GIS) integration is also provided for situational awareness.

These services will be delivered through a role-based portal which provides a single, integrated view of significant events and in-cidents that are occurring within the city.

The GIS will virtually dis-play the location of incidents with respect to available re-sources such as police sta-tions, emergency response vehicles, CCTv cameras, and etc.

Agency integrationOther than the DCPO

and Central 911, IOC will also centralize communita-tion among the Task Force Davao, Traffic Management Center, Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction Manage-ment Council, City Informa-tion and Technology Center, Bureau of Fire Protection, Land Transportation Of-fice 11, National Intelli-gence Coordinating agency, and the Bureau of Jail Man-agement and Penology.

also included in the system are the office of the Civil Defense, Department of Science and Technology 11, Philippine Coast Guard Re-gion 11, Tactical Operations Group 11, Philippine Drug Enforcement agency 11, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 11, DCPO Traffic Group, Highway Pa-trol Group 11, PNP Maritime Group 11, and the Davao City Peace and Order Council.

MYTHS about bio-technology will be answered today,

June 28, during the Scien-tific Forum on Biotechnol-ogy for Communicators that will be held at the Grand Regal Hotel.

The forum will pro-vide participants informa-tion on scientific break-throughs and trends in biotechnology for them to deepen their understand-ing about biotechnology.

It aims to promote pos-itive development on bio-technology as well as seek multi-sectoral cooperation for the promotion and ad-vocacy of such scientific field of study.

Working behind the forum are Biotechnology for Life Media and Advo-cacy Center (BMARC), Bio-technology Coalition of the Philippines (BCP) and the Philippine Information Agency 11.

House Representa-

tive Angelo Palmones of the AGHAM Partylist is expected to grace the fo-rum to deliver the keynote address.

The forum will bring to the panel a battery of speakers. Among them are Dr. Candida Adalla, di-rector of Biotechnology Program Implementing Unit of the Department of agriculture, to discuss “The Trends and Development on Biotechnology; and Jen-ny Panopio, special project coordinator of CEaRCa to discuss Science Commu-nication: Building Consen-sus on Crop Biotechnology.

Other speakers are Joel Paredes, program di-rector of BMARC, to talk about the “Challenges in Communicating Biotech-nology; Abraham Manalo, executive secretary of Bio-technology Coalition of the Philippines; and PIA Regional Director Efren F. Elbanbuena. [PIA 11]

Biotechnology forum with communicators

PaRTS of Mindanao are feared to expe-rience anew one to

four hours of daily power interruption due to the curtailment implemented by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Santiago Tudio, South Cotabato Electric Co-operative I (Socoteco I) general manager, said the Mindanao grid is now in a red alert status, mean-ing a severe deficiency in power supply.

“We have [again] a

lack of power supply for the island,” he said, citing a grid advisory sent to co-operatives.

on Tuesday, a one-hour power outage hit Cagayan de oro City this city abruptly, and yester-day morning, a 15 minute power interruption also occurred there, the seat of government of Region 12.

Tudio told Mind-aNews that consum-ers besieged them with complaints because of the brownout, lamenting

they were not advised beforehand.

“What we’re asking is for the NGCP to give as a lead time so we can inform our consumers if there’s a curtailment,” he noted.

Socoteco I, which serves nine localities in South Cotabato and Lu-tayan in Sultan Kudarat, has a projected daily peak demand of 30 to 31 MW.

If the shortfall in the Mindanao grid is 260

MW, Socoteco I gets 24 WM from the grid, Tudio explained, adding they have bought 4 MW from Therma Marine, Inc. to help address the gap.

For a 24-hour outage, he lamented the coopera-tive is losing P333,000 or nearly P14,000 per hour.

At the NGCP website, it said the Mindanao grid has a shortfall of 210 MW, given the available capac-ity of 1059 MW and a peak demand of 1269 MW. [Bong S. Sarmiento / mindanewS]

Red alert for Minda power status

CEBU Pacific Air, the No. 1 domestic air-line, announced

the opening of two more flights to as many new destinations taking off from the Davao Interna-tional Airport.

Michelle Eve de Guz-man, CebPac corporate communications assis-tant manager, said the airline will fly to Ka-libo in Aklan and Puerto Princesa City in Palawan starting August 2.

Both flights, de Guz-man said, will be three times a week on Tues-days, Thursdays and Sat-urdays and will use Air-

bus 320 aircraft.The decision of the

John Gokongwei-led air-line to expand its opera-tions will result in seven destinations using the Davao City international airport. The other des-tinations are Manila, Cebu, Zamboanga, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro. It has been flying to Manila eight times a day, Cebu four times a day, Zambo-anga and Iloilo once a day and Cagayan de oro four times a week.

The company earlier identified Davao as its third hub in the country. The airline’s impressive

performance has encour-aged its management to mount more flights in the city.

Last year, the airline posted a high 47% of the market share in the city as it flew about 200 weekly flights between the city and five destina-tions.

It also posted a high of 17% growth during the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, the report added.

The expansion in the domestic market is part of the continuing expan-sion that the company

has planned within the next five years.

Early this year, com-pany president Lance Y. Gokongwei said the com-pany will also acquire six Airbus 320 aircraft to service the domestic market. Gokongwei said Davao has become an-other important market for the company.

Gokongwei also men-tioned that by next year, the company will also embark on long haul destinations by flying to Europe, US and some Middle East countries where Filipinos have been working.

CebPac flying from Davaoto 2 new destinations

Michelle Eve de Guzman, Assistant Manager-Corporate Communications of Cebu Pacific Air, announces CEB’s newest flight destinations, Davao-Puerto

Princesa and Davao-Kalibo on Wednesday at Ronaldo’s, F. Torres St., Davao City. [LEAN DAVAL, JR.]

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012 3EDGEDAVAO THE BIG NEWS

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PHILHEALTH. Dr. Benjamin Pague and Johanna Blason of Philhealth explain the Type Z cluster for Philhealth mem-bers which aims to enhance benefits for the Filipino people. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

PHILHEALTH officials bared in yesterday’s edition of the Club 888

press forum at The Marco Polo Davao PhilHealth’s Case Type Z treatment package,

The Case Type Z benefit package, named after the Z classification of diseases deemed to be medically and economically catastrophic for families, was first given last June 21.

The four medical condi-tions that will be accommo-dated by the Type Z benefit are Acute Lymphocytic Leu-kemia, breast cancer, pros-tate cancer and end stage renal disease. Only patients with high survival rates and no prior treatments for the condition will be able to avail of the benefit packages. The diagnosing of the condi-tion should also be recent.

Sponsored PhilHealth members who qualify for the package will have zero bal-ance billing for their treat-ment. Zero balance billing

PhilHealth to launch Type Z treatment package July 18By Edward C. Lactaoen

means that the patient will not have to spend a single peso for the administering of their treatment.

The Type Z package will cover the entirety of treat-

ment of the aforementioned diseases, covering costs of up to 600,000 pesos. Phil-health officials said that they have formed partnerships with drug manufacturers

and producers to order large volumes of the medication, thereby reducing the costs.

The national launching of the benefit package will be on July 18.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 20124 SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT EDGEDAVAO

UNTIL now, how species such as loggerhead sea

turtles manage to mi-grate thousands of miles across oceans with no vi-sual landmarks has been a mystery.

Now researchers from the University of North Carolina believe they have found the answer.

Loggerhead sea tur-tles appear to be able to determine their longitude using two sets of magnet-ic cues.

It is the first time this ability has been shown in any migratory animal.

This research is pub-lished in the journal Cur-

rent Biology.Surprising discoveryAlthough several spe-

cies of turtles are known to use magnetic cues to determine latitude, it was believed that this wasn’t possible for longitude.

However, the logger-head turtles have man-aged to surprise research-ers by developing a meth-od that involves using the strength and angle of the Earth’s magnetic field.

Nathan Putman, the lead author of the re-search, emphasized that “the most difficult part of open-sea navigation is determining longitude or east-west position”.

“It took human navi-gators centuries to figure out how to determine longitude on their long-distance voyages.”

Loggerhead hatch-lings, however, are able to manage this feat as soon as they reach the sea from their nests.

on reaching the sea, the hatchlings are able to establish the correct course to the open ocean.

The young logger-heads then spend several years successfully navi-gating complex migratory routes over thousands of miles of ocean.

To carry out the re-search loggerhead hatch-

lings from Florida were placed in circular water containers and tethered to electronic tracking systems to monitor their swimming direction.

The hatchlings were then exposed to magnetic fields which replicated the fields they would come across in two loca-tions on the same latitude but different longitude along their migratory route.

The turtles reacted to each magnetic field by swimming in the direc-tions that would, in the real location, take them along their circular migra-tory route.

The researchers say this shows that the hatch-lings are able to determine longitude using informa-tion from the magnetic field.

Nathan Putman ex-plains that “along the mi-gratory route of logger-heads, nearly all regions are marked by unique combinations of intensity (field strength) and incli-nation angle (the angle that field lines intersect the surface of the Earth)”.

“Thus, turtles can de-termine longitudinal posi-tion by using pairings of intensity and inclination angle as an X, Y coordinate system”.

Further applicationsDr Kenneth Lohmann,

director of the laboratory where this research was carried out, said the re-search “not only solves a long-standing mystery of animal behaviour but may also be useful in sea turtle conservation”.

The research might even have a role to play in the development of hu-man navigational technol-ogies, according to Nathan Putman.

“There may be situa-tions where satellite might not be available, where this system of using two aspects of a magnetic field could be very useful”.

Sea turtles’ migration mystery is ‘solved

SCIENTISTS track-ing the dispersal of hatchling log-

gerhead turtles have re-sorted to the nail salon to help fit tiny tags to the endangered creatures.

The Florida team tried several ideas to at-tach the technology to the animals, which mea-sure less than 20cm in length.

This included mak-ing little harnesses, and using tough epoxy adhe-sives.

But it was only when the turtle shells were prepared like a manicur-ist primes fingernails that the satellite tags would stay on for a use-ful period.

“My collaborator typically has very fancy toenails that are nicely manicured with painted waves and other designs on them,” recalls Kate Mansfield, a US National Marine Fisheries Service scientist in Miami.

“We gave her mani-

curist a call and her man-icurist recommended we use an acrylic base coat. We went out to our lo-cal pharmacy and picked some up and tried it on the turtles. We prepped the shell, sanded it down a little bit, buffed it nice-ly - kind of a turtle spa.

“The acrylic base coat extended our at-tachments by upwards of two to three months.”

The nail trick is a breakthrough in the study of atlantic logger-heads (Caretta caretta) because scientists have been struggling to find an effective way to study these animals’ early years.

Something like 80% of female loggerheads will nest in Florida. When their hatchlings emerge 40-70 days later, they make a mad dash for the water and swim out into the open ocean.

Researchers have some information on the movements of these ne-

onates from strandings and bycatch, but those first few years in the At-lantic are largely “lost years” to science. It may be up to a decade before these wanderers return to near-shore habitats.

Fitting satellite track-ers is the obvious an-swer, and the latest gen-eration of tags is now small enough not to im-pede the junior turtles’ natural behaviour.

But the compact so-lar-powered units, origi-nally developed to study the migration of birds, are expensive and must stay in place long enough to return useful data and justify the investment.

This is complicated by the speed at which the turtles grow. Their weight can increase five-fold in their first three months at sea.

Mansfield and col-leagues approached the problem in a number of ways, even making little costumes out of Lycra

and neoprene wet suit material to carry the tags.

These were cut to a range of styles. One was referred to as “The Bo-rat” because of its like-ness to the “mankini” outfit worn by actor Sa-cha Baron Cohen in the comedy movie of that name .

The aim was to in-corporate a mechanism, such as velcro, that would allow the tag to drop off after a produc-tive dataset had been ac-quired.

“We were trying to go in for that Janet Jackson wardrobe-failure mo-ment where the turtles would pop out of their harnesses, but unfortu-nately we couldn’t quite come up with the right mechanism for the har-nesses to be shed over time as the turtles grew,” Dr Mansfield told BBC News.

Direct attachment ideas included using

hard epoxy glues.These were found to

be short-lived. The top layer of the keratin shell would peel away as the turtle grew. The epoxy glues also had a tendency to deform the shell.

The team eventually settled on a preparation that involved the base-coat of the manicurist’s acrylic and a mount for the tags of neoprene strips held in place by a silicone-based adhesive.

Laboratory trials showed this combination would keep the tracker locked down for a mini-mum of 50-plus days. In contrast, hard ep-oxy preparations would come off after only a cou-ple of weeks.

Dr Mansfield and col-leagues are now com-piling a report on what they have learnt about neonate dispersal in the open ocean from their manicured turtles.

The trackers have been returning informa-

tion such as location and water temperature. This is helping the team un-derstand how the turtles are behaving in their en-vironment, where they are travelling, and the types of physical features in the ocean they are en-countering.

“It’s very important for the management of the species to know where they are, what they’re doing and how they’re interacting with their habitat,” Dr Mans-field said.

“In particular, for the smallest age classes of turtles, there’s very little information. The Atlantic loggerhead doesn’t reach maturity for decades, so those turtles have to survive for at least 25 or so years before they can reproduce and put back into the population.

“We need to know what’s going on during that time frame to ad-dress how best to protect them.”

Manicured turtles swim for science

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012 5EDGEDAVAO THE ECONOMYStat Watch

MONTHLY AVERAGE EXCHANGE RATE (January 2009 - December 2011)

Month 2011 2010 2009

Average 43.31 45.11 47.637December 43.64 43.95 46.421November 43.27 43.49 47.032October 43.45 43.44 46.851

September 43.02 44.31 48.139August 42.42 45.18 48.161

July 42.81 46.32 48.146June 43.37 46.30 47.905May 43.13 45.60 47.524April 43.24 44.63 48.217

March 43.52 45.74 48.458February 43.70 46.31 47.585January 44.17 46.03 47.207

3.5%4th Qtr 2011

3.7%4th Qtr 2011

USD 3,342Million

Nov 2011USD 4,985

MillionNov 2011

USD -1,643Million

Nov 2011USD -114

MillionDec 2011

P4,442,355Million

Nov 2011

4.71%Oct 2011P128,745

MillionNov 2011

P 4,898Billion

Oct 2011

P 43.65Dec 2011

3,999.7Sept 2011

128.1Jan 2012

3.9Jan 2012

3.4Dec 2011

284,040Sept 2011

19.1%Oct 2011

6.4%Oct 2011

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

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

3. Exports 1/

4. Imports 1/

5. Trade Balance

6. Balance of Payments 2/

7. Broad Money Liabilities

8. Interest Rates 4/

9. National Government Revenues

10. National government outstanding debt

11. Peso per US $ 5/

12. Stocks Composite Index 6/

13. Consumer Price Index 2006=100

14. Headline Inflation Rate 2006=100

15. Core Inflation Rate 2006=100

16. Visitor Arrivals

17. Underemployment Rate 7/

18. Unemployment Rate 7/

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

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

as of august 2010

COMPOSTELA Valley Gov. Arthur T. Uy said the na-tional government must

ensure that the host local gov-ernments will have bigger say on the activities in their areas and bigger share from revenues derived from the industry.

Uy made this statement when asked to comment on the most-awaited executive order on mining that President Aqui-no will issue.

“The revenues should also go directly go to the local govern-ment units,” said the governor, whose province is said to host of the biggest mineral reservation area in the Davao Region.

Uy denied he is one of the 40 governors who are against

against the proposed EO, al-though he complained that local government units have not got-ten enough share from mining revenues.

Last year, Compostela Val-ley’s share from mining rev-enues was barely P23 million, with P5 million coming from excise tax of large mining op-erations but the larger chunk coming from small scale mining activities.

Comval is host to Apex Min-ing Corp., one of the only two large scale mining operations in the region. It is located in the municipality of Maco.

Aside from Apex, the prov-ince is also known for activities of small scale miners, particu-

larly Diwalwal which is part of the 8,000-hectare area that for-mer President Gloria M. Arroyo declared as mineral reservation. Of that area 729 hectares were set aside fot small scale miners.

Other areas in the province known for its small scale mining activities were those in Pantu-kan. The Kingking mining area was recently declared for “no habitation” as some small scale miners and members of their families perished due to land-slides.

Uy and another governor in the Davao Region, Corazon N. Malanyaon of Davao Oriental, have been calling on the nation-al government to also provide more autonomy to LGUs in ad-

dressing mining activities. Local government units are

saddled with responsibilities particularly in ensuring that mining activities will not result in destruction of any form, they said.

The national government has yet to release its new policy on mining even when President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III promised to sign the order end of last week.

When the report on the drafting of the new mining pol-icy came out last year, Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said among those issues to be ad-dressed was the division of rev-enues between the national and local government units.

LGUs must have more sayin managing mining, Gov. Uy

RESTRICTIONS to be im-posed by the Civil Aviation and aeronautics Board

may hinder the Gokongwie-led Cebu Pacific Air from offering “piso fares,” the airline is taking to steps to ensure that it is still the cheapest low cost carrier in the country today.

Considered as the country’s largest national flag carrier, Cebu Pacific Air

(PSE:CEB) reduced fuel sur-charges on domestic flights by as much as 20%, to further lower fares for its passengers.

The following fuel surcharge reductions are effective starting June 25, 2012:

• from Manila to Visayas, Mindanao and select Luzon routes (less P100)

• from Manila to select Lu-zon routes (less P50)

• from Visayas to Luzon and Mindanao and within Visayas (less P50)

• from Mindanao to Visayas and within Mindanao (less P50)

Fuel surcharges are added to air fares to help airlines all over the world offset the rising cost of fuel, which is a major cost com-ponent for airlines.

“We are committed to offer-ing the public the lowest all-in fares in all the routes we operate. Now, CEB’s all-in lowest fares will be even more affordable to busi-ness and leisure travelers in the Philippines,” CEB VP for Market-ing and Distribution Candice Iyog said.

“CEB will continue to look for ways to make flying accessible to everyone, with the expected de-livery of three more brand-new Airbus A320 in the 2nd half of the year. More aircraft will make a difference in supporting the growth of Philippine tourism and trade,” she added.

CEB introduces its reduced domestic fuel surcharge with a sale from Manila to Visayas (P888 all-in seat sale), and from Manila to Mindanao (P1,188 all-in seat sale). This is available from June 25 to 27, 2012 or until seats last, for travel from august 25 to October 31, 2012.

Passengers can also buy P688 all-in seats on its two newest domestic routes: Davao-Puerto Princesa and Davao-Kalibo (Bo-racay). These new routes will be launched on August 2, 2012.

all-in domestic fares are in-clusive of fuel surcharge, admin-istration fee, aviation security fee, 12% VAT and 7 kilos hand carry baggage allowance, but ex-clusive of check-in baggage.

Meanwhile, an international seat sale to China (Beijing, Guang-zhou, Shanghai or Xiamen), Ko-rea (Seoul or Busan), Hong Kong and Macau is also available, for travel from August 1 to October 31, 2012.

CEB currently operates 10 Airbus A319, 20 Airbus A320 and 8 ATR-72 500 aircraft. Its fleet of 38 aircraft – with an av-erage age of 3.6 years – is the largest aircraft fleet in the Philip-pines. Between 2012 and 2021, Cebu Pacific will take delivery of 22 more Airbus A320 and 30 Air-bus A321neo aircraft orders. It is slated to begin long-haul services in the 3rd quarter of 2013.

In its 16th year of operations, CEB has flown over 60 million passengers. It provides access to the most extensive network in the Philippines, with 32 domes-tic and 19 international destina-tions. The airline also remains a pioneer in the Philippine aviation industry by being the first to of-fer web check-in, self check-in, e-ticketing, and Lite Fares. (CPM wIth PR)

Cebu Pacific lowers fuel surcharge on all flights

By Aurelio A. Pena

FOCUSING on what the mar-ket wants and needs can make industry clusters

operate much better, according to Tetsuo Inooka, senior advis-er of Japan International Coop-eration Agency (JICA).

Inooka said the market---importers, traders and buy-ers in both domestic and for-eign countries--- provide the exporters or suppliers the requirements for high quality and volume needed to clinch the deal.

“all these are dynamics of the industry cluster, along with suppliers, government support and competitors who’ll keep us on our toes to make better products,” Inooka said.

Addressing a number of workshops launching the Na-tional Industry Cluster Ca-pacity Enhancement Project or NICCEP over the country, Inooka stressed that due to the success of the industry cluster in Davao three years ago, JICA and the Department of Trade and Industry decided to launch NICCEP nationwide.

The Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Proj-ect or DICCEP which ended successfully in June 2010 was cited with a national recogni-tion as the 2010 Official De-velopment Assistance (ODA) Good Practice Award under the strategies for achieving outcomes category by the Na-tional Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

Inooka said the DICCEP has now moved to a higher level and industry clusters in the Davao region are expected to come up with upgraded mod-els for industrial development,

“but this depends on how ready they are to participate in this upgrading program”.

The JICA consultant said the NICCEP now in progress, is expected to set up models of industry clusters in regions all over the country covering North Luzon, National Capital Region, South Luzon, the Vi-sayas and Mindanao, except Davao which will resume its clustering activities under the advanced DICCEP 2.

“In every industry cluster, consensus is very important among stakeholders in the in-dustry. From the meetings and discussions on common issues facing them, will emerge a common consensus before ac-tual planning begins,” the con-sultant said.

Inooka cited the success of the banana industry cluster and the coconut industry clus-ter in Davao where common consensus helped the clusters come up with an agreed work-able plan and put the plan into action that helped hundreds of small farmers in the region im-proved their way of life.

DTI Undersecretary Merly Cruz, NICCEP national proj-ect director said this is part of the government’s big thrust for small medium enterprises (SME) to help them succeed in their ventures by giving them easy access to business loans and markets for their prod-ucts.

“It’s our big push to help SMEs meet many challenges in their business ventures. Using this clustering approach, DTI will link up with other govern-ment agencies, private sector, academe and local government units under the NICCEP,” Cruz said. (PhILPRESS NEwS)

JICA, NEDA cite success of Davao industry clusters

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 20126 THE ECONOMY EDGEDAVAO

NATIONWIDE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONUnit 203 Jollibee Centre Building

San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City, Metro Manila

ATTENTION: All shareholders of Nationwide Development Corporation (“NADECOR”), concerned government agencies, parties contracting with NADECOR, and the public.

Please be informed that on 13 June 2012, a writ of preliminary injunction was issued by the Special Fourteenth Division of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP Nos. 122782, 122784, 122853, and 122854 as follows:

“WHEREFORE, premises considered, the application for a writ of preliminary injunc-tion is GRANTED. Let a writ of preliminary injunction be issued enjoining the implementa-tion of the order dated December 21, 2011 of the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City, Branch 159 and allowing the Board of Directors elected during the August 15, 2011 to continue to act as Board of Directors of NADECOR.

Likewise, the parties, including the hold-over Board of Directors elected and acting be-fore the August 15, 2011 Stockholders’ Meeting are enjoined and prohibited from acting as hold-over board and from scheduling and holding any stockholder’s meeting, including the scheduled June 13, 2012 stockholders’ meeting. Any effects of said June 13, 2012 stockhold-ers’ meeting, including the ratification of the rescission of all MOUs dated April 27, 2010 and Related Transaction Agreements between NADECOR and St. Augustine Gold and Copper, Ltd. and St. Augustine Mining, Ltd., the election of any new Board of Directors and their acting as such thereafter and the sale and ratification of the sale of Unissued Certificates of Shares of NADECOR constituting 25% of its authorized capital stock to Queensberry are also hereby enjoined.

Petitioners are thus mandated to post a bond of Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000.00) to answer for any damages which may result by virtue of the writ of prelimi-nary injunction.

SO ORDERED.”The hold-over board enjoined by the above-quoted writ of preliminary injunction in-

cludes the following: Messrs. Jose P. de Jesus, the former president of NADECOR, Jose G. Rica-fort, Ethelwoldo E. Fernandez, Victor P. Lazatin, and Teodorico C. Taguinod.

The Board of Directors legally authorized to act for NADECOR (the “Current Board of Directors of NADECOR”), as stated above, is composed of Messrs. Roberto R. Romulo, the current Chairman of NADECOR, Conrado T. Calalang, Alfredo I. Ayala, Leocadio Nitorreda, John Engle, Jose P. de Jesus, Jose G. Ricafort, Victor P. Lazatin and Ethelwoldo E. Fernandez.

As stated above, the supposed deferred annual shareholders meeting of NADECOR that was held by the hold-over Board on 13 June 2012 was enjoined by the Court of Appeals. No Board of Directors alleged to have been elected at said meeting may legally act for and on behalf of NADECOR.

Finally, please be guided that, further to the resolutions of the Current Board of NA-DECOR dated 16 June 2012 and 22 June 2012, the following are the current officers of NA-DECOR: Conrado T. Calalang as President, Atty. Cynthia Roxas as Corporate Secretary, Atty. Leocadio Nitorreda as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer and Mr. Benjamin C. Sevilla as Chief Financial Officer.

For your guidance and compliance.

Sgd., Board of Directors of NADECOR

Roberto R. Romulo Conrado T. Calalang

Alfredo I. Ayala

Leocadio Nitorreda

John Engle

ThE Philippines is supporting the global efforts

to stabilize the world economy and maintain it on a growth path.”

This was how Bang-ko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. defend-ed the $1 billion loan extended by the Philip-pine government to the International Monetary Fund.

In a BSP statement, Tetangco said the Phil-ippines, being a mem-ber of the IMF, also has a responsiblity to pro-vide assistance to fellow members in their time of need.

He said the IMF uses

the contributions from its members to provide loans to countries going through financial diffi-culties to minimize their adverse impact on their people.

“We are a member of the global commu-nity of nations and it is also in our interest to ensure economic and fi-nancial stability across the globe. For about 40 years until 2006, the Philippines itself had been a net borrower from the IMF,” Tetangco said.

“We finally fully paid our loans to IMF in December 2006 as the implementation of continuing reforms

have made our economy stronger. Today, our eco-nomic fundamentals are sound, our banks are able to meet domestic credit needs, and we are capable of lending $1 billion from our inter-national reserves to the IMF,” he said.

“This is a loan to the IMF and we will get our money back with inter-est. In effect, by extend-ing a loan to the IMF that will earn money for the Philippines, we are also able to help other nations saddled with fi-nancial problems. Other nations have also com-mitted to help IMF ad-dress the current finan-cial crisis,” he added.

BSP defends $1-B loan for IMF

CLOSE to 6,000 infor-mal garbage workers and collectors in sev-

eral areas in the country are expected to benefit from a US$3 million grant extended by the Japan Social Devel-opment Fund (JSDF) for a project designed to improve their incomes and liveli-hood.

Administered by the World Bank, JSDF supports community-driven develop-ment and poverty reduction projects for the poorest and most vulnerable groups in developing countries.

The project called “Social Inclusion and Alternative Livelihoods for the Informal Waste Sector” will be car-ried out by the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines (SWAPP), a non-profit organization composed of solid waste management practitioners from local government units, national government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the aca-deme.

“We are helping LGUs, communities, and the pri-vate sector improve their capability to manage solid waste problems in their respective areas through research, training, techni-cal assistance, information exchange, and network building,”said Ms. Grace P. Sapuay, SWAPP’s Execu-tive Vice President. “This partnership with the World Bank and JSDF will greatly boost our programs while helping the less fortunate.”

The project will provide support to the informal gar-bage workers and itinerant waste buyers located in five (5) cities and municipali-ties, which are modernizing their solid waste manage-ment systems. Support will also be provided to infor-mal waste sector partici-pants that are members of existing recycling coopera-tives in Metro Manila.

Under the country’s

Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (Republic Act No. 9003), local government units are required to modernize their solid waste manage-ment practices and convert open dumpsites to sanitary landfills. These changes may affect the livelihood of garbage workers and itiner-ant waste buyers.

“This grant, which is in-tended to improve the live-lihood of informal garbage workers in selected areas and provide better oppor-tunities for them, will thus help address the impact of the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act,” said World Bank Country Di-rector Motoo Konishi who signed the grant agreement for the Bank.

“This is a very impor-tant project because it helps address the plight of one of the most marginalized groups in society—men, women and children earn-ing a living from garbage,” Mr. Konishi added.

Tens of thousands of people in the Philippines work informally collect-ing, segregating and sell-ing wastes. These groups, referred to as the “informal waste sector,” earn a living either in dumpsites or col-lect waste from households.

They are commonly migrants with limited op-portunities and assets, liv-ing as informal settlers on or near dumpsites or in informal settlements, mak-ing limited and unstable in-comes from garbage.

Informal garbage work-ers (waste pickers and itin-erant waste buyers) are commonly unable to ac-cess livelihood opportuni-ties through formal, safer or more lucrative means because of constraints like lack of education and basic livelihood skills as well as limited access to startup funds for small business.

MALACAñANG de-fended on Tuesday the Bangko Sentral

ng Pilipinas’ decision to loan US$ 1-billion to the In-ternational Monetary Fund which would use the loan to help countries, specifi-cally those located in Eu-rope, affected by the global economic downtrend.

In a briefing in Malaca-ñang, Presidential Spokes-person Edwin Lacierda said it was “in our interest” to help a sizeable number of overseas Filipino work-ers (OFWs) who work and live in Europe.

he added that the OFWs would be adversely affected should the econ-omy of the country they work and live in continues to slowdown.

“It’s in our interest to protect — to help those economies because we have a substantial number of Filipinos there,” Laci-erda said.

and tingnan na lang ay kung bumabagsak… Kung ang simpleng pagbagsak lang po ng dollar sa peso ay marami ng nangan-gamba. Ano pa kaya kung biglang nawala ang mga

OFWs natin sa Europe at pinauwi silang lahat dahil wala ng trabahong maibibigay sa Spain, sa Italy,” he added.

He assured Filipinos that the loan was not a waste of money as it is meant to help a fellow country in need.

“Hindi po natin inaak-saya. We are not wasting the money. It’s a loan. IMF would pay us back the loan. Non-monetarily, it’s going to help us because it’s going to help the econ-omy of Europe,” Lacierda said. (PNA) DCt/PCOO/SSC

IMF loan to save OFWs in Europe

6000 garbage scavengers to benefit from Japan grant

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012 PROPERTY 7EDGEDAVAO

MoST Dabawenyos know Eden as our own version of Tagay-tay, complete with scenic views,

rolling fog, pine tree-lined roads, and just a place of utter leisure. But one real estate developer is now changing Eden.

The city’s pioneering real estate de-veloper, Alsons Properties, has set its eyes on Eden to turn the landscape into a vacation haven – allowing Dabawen-yos to enjoy the harmonious merger of a residential community and of nature.

Dubbed as Eden Ridge, the project is a premier vacation home community that encourages green living with its Asian tropical theme. Large windows, verandas, lush gardens, and eco-friendly environment makes Eden Ridge a pio-

neer in many aspects.At 720 meters above sea level, Eden

Ridge has a naturally cool climate. This makes it an ideal weekend retreat and change of scenery just 45 minutes away from the busy city proper.

Eden Ridge is yet another quality de-velopment by Alsons Properties, now on its 50th year and with an excellent track record in delivering upscale residential communities in Davao City. Their proj-ects include Ladislawa Garden Village, Woodridge Park, Las Terrazas, Fern-wood, Northcrest and Wood Lane.

For inquiries about Eden Ridge, con-tact Alsons Properties at (082) 222-3281 or 227-2152 local 206 or 207, or email [email protected].

Changing EdenBy Carlo P. Mallo

Fog in the after-noon… a regular occurrence at Eden

Guests enjoy the diverse flora found at Eden Ridge.

Eden Ridge’s linear parks that allow you to explore the community from end to end while passing by interesting features such as play-grounds, vegetable and herb gardens, outdoor fitness equipment and more.

Kite flying amid

cool breezes

Guests enjoy the diverse flora found at Eden Ridge.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 20128 VANTAGE POINTS

The ultimate authority?EDITORIAL

EDGEDAVAOProviding solutions to a seamless global village.

ANTONIO M. AJEROEditor in Chief

OLIVIA D. VELASCOGeneral Manager

LORIE ANN A. CASCARO • JADE C. ZALDIVAR • MOSES C. BILLACURAStaff Writers

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

KARLOS C. MANLUPIG • JOSEPH LAWRENCE P. GARCIALEANDRO S. DAVAL JR.,

PhotographyARLENE D. PASAJE

Cartoons

KENNETH IRVING K. ONGCreative Solutions

NEILWIN L. BRAVOSports and Motoring

Printed by Zion Accuprint Publishing Inc. Door 14 ALCREJ Building,

Quirino Avenue, 8000, Davao City, PhilippinesTel: (082) 301-6235

Telefax: (082) 221-3601www.edgedavao.net

[email protected]@edgedavao.net

CAGAYAN DE ORO MARKETING OFFICELEIZEL A. DELOSO | Marketing ManagerUnit 6, Southbank Plaza Velez-Yacapin Sts.Cagayan de Oro CityTel: (088) 852-4894

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CARLO P. MALLOFeatures and Lifestyle

ALBERTO DALILANManaging

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Advertising SpecialistsAGUSTIN V. MIAGAN JR

Circulation

SOLANI D. MARATASFinance

EDGEDAVAO

Cross-border attack imperils peace efforts

ThE approval for special use zone appli-cations over the Dumoy aquifer will now mainly depend on the consent of the

Davao City Water District (DCWD).This rather simplistic statement comes from

no less than Roberto Alabado III, the city plan-ning and development coordinator. It gives the wrong impression that the DCWD is the ultimate authority in so far as putting up cem-eteries above aquifers is concerned. Nothing is farther than the truth. Nowhere in the provi-sions of DCWD’s charter or any law on water that arrogates that power to the water district. The truth is the water district’s power and pre-rogatives are so limited it could not even have any say in the continued exploitation of the city water resources by the softdrinks factories like Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and lately RC Cola no matter how excessive it maybe.

It is also doubtful if the DCWD has the ex-pertise to be deserving of such a huge respon-sibility of deciding it is alright to build any structure like cemeteries above a major water resource like the Dumoy aquifer. In fact , the DCWD representatives who helped craft the Water Code, like their City Council counter-

parts, failed to include the Dumoy aquifer as a major water resource. Because of their du-bious expertise, the DCWD “experts” also al-lowed the councilors to include only the areas from barangay Calinan to barangay Dacudao, from Dacudao to Malagos and barangay Sir-awan as the only major water resource areas of the city. Can you beat that?

If the water district is that good, why couldn’t it solve the perennial lack of water in many parts of the city like the 2nd congressional district? How can the water district explain the finding of one study that as early as the mid-90’s it has been engaged in water mining, which means that it had been drawing volume of water more than what nature can replenish.

It the DCWD really has the expertise and the ultimate authority on water resources, what need is there for the city government –the city council and the city mayor’s office-- to craft or-dinances on water resources such as the Water Code and the Watershed Ordinance?

Isnt reposing so much undeserved trust in the water district an absurdity like allowing cemeteries on top of the city’s bigger source of potable water.

By MuhaMMad TahirNews ANAlysis

a cross-border attack on Sunday by Afghan militants that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers has esca-

lated the tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan and could imperil the much-needed peace and reconciliation efforts by the neighboring countries.

Pakistan’s civilian and military officials said that the militants used afghan territory for the deadly Sunday attack on its check post in Dir district in the country’s northwest region.

The Sunday’s cross-border attack happened at a time when the two countries are exerting efforts to find a political solution to the Afghan crisis ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces.

Pakistan-Afghanistan joint peace and reconciliation efforts were deadlocked after the September’s assassination of Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Pakistan insists that several key leaders of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have crossed into Afghanistan following major military operations over the past three years and now they are using remote Afghan border regions for attacks on Pakistani border checkpoints and villages.

The Afghan deputy ambassador here was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Monday and a formal protest was lodged over the recent Taliban incursion, officials said. The envoy was asked to convey to afghan authorities that they must take urgent steps to prevent such attacks in future.

Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan, Omar Daudzai, told Xinhua on Tuesday that Islamabad’s “concerns and demands” have been communicated to Kabul.

He said that both countries should not fall prey to the conspiracies of the Taliban, their common enemy.

A spokesman for the TTP, who goes by a single name Sirajuddin and who is believed to be in Afghanistan, confirmed to the media in Pakistan via phone that Taliban fighters indeed ambushed a convoy of Pakistani soldiers, killing six and beheading seven more after they were kidnapped and taken to Afghanistan.

A Pakistani military official also confirmed the beheading of the soldiers in a statement.

Pakistan insists that several top Pakistani Taliban leaders, including the former chief of Taliban in Swat valley, Maulvi Fazalullah, the TTP deputy chief, Maulvi Faqir of Bajaur tribal region and Abdul Wali, TTP leader in Mohmand tribal agency have established bases in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Nuristan provinces and launch attacks on Pakistani border posts from there.

But the afghan government has denied Islamabad’s claim and asks Pakistan to support their claims with pieces of evidence.

Also on Friday, two Pakistani security men were killed and two others were injured when a mortar shell hit a border post in Mohmand Agency, official sources said.

The sources said a rocket was fired by militants from across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

There had been series of cross-border attacks in the past and Pakistani Taliban in a major attack in August last year had killed 25 security men in northern Chitral district. [PNA/XINhUA]

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012

PA C Q U I -ao and

D o m i n g u e z , friends before their political parties went separate ways during the last election, have become allies again and both have announced their plan to swap positions as early as July last year.

Some quarters from Pacquiao’s camp however are not hiding their intention to thwart the budding alliance between the two young politicians. Joining the mix is Vice Gov. Steve Solon who is not coy on running for governor provided Pacquiao keeps his current post. Solon, a grandson of James Chiongbian who created the prov-ince, has reportedly offered Dominguez to be his vice governor. Inside sources from both camps said Dominguez and Solon are on the verge of political estrangement if not already political enemies. Should Pacquiao opt to run for governor, Solon is likely to run for congress putting him on collision course with Dominguez.

Last month, Dominguez quietly took his oath as a member of the Liberal Party of President Benigno Aquino III after sev-eral years of courtship from LP stalwart and budget secretary Florencio Abad. Pac-quiao, meanwhile, joined Vice President Jejomar Binay’s PDP-Laban. Solon is a member of Lakas-Kampi.

If Solon is eased out of the equation as a result of a Pacquiao-Dominguez tandem, long-time Pacquiao lawyer Jeng Gacal could end up as running mate of Pacquiao in the gubernatorial race. It is to the best financial interest of Pacquiao, however, if he could convince Solon to serve the lat-ter’s remaining available term. For Solon and the Chiongbians, 2013 opens a politi-cal crossroads.

Pacquiao has been repeatedly sending signals he will run for senator in 2016 and has probably found his current job in the House of Representatives not to his liking. Being out of the graces of Malacañang – courtesy of his past association with for-

mer President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – Manny found his pet projects languish-ing in the drawing board for lack of sup-port from the administration. Manny also reportedly wants to have a direct hand at running the affairs of the province which will make him closer to his constituents and where his generosity is more suited.

Clearly, it will also save him resources if he and Dominguez remain allies in local politics despite their opposing party affili-ations. Should that alliance hold up, Man-ny can concentrate on financing the cam-paign of younger brother Roel and helping Councilor Ronnel Rivera in the mayoralty race in nearby General Santos City with still plenty of resources left for his 2016 senate run.

Whatever, Pacquiao has emerged as an important political figure in Sarangani, General Santos City and, to some extent, South Cotabato.

Mining giant’s shadowIn nearby South Cotabato, former po-

litical ally turned rival Gov. Arthur Pingoy will have his hands full against Rep. Daisy Fuentes who is raring to make a comeback as governor of the province after just one term in her second stint as member of the House of Representative (Fuentes served for three consecutive three-year term in 1992 to 2001 before running and winning as governor in 2001. She again ran for congress in 2010 after serving her three 3-year term limit as governor.)

Issue-wise, the South Cotabato guber-natorial race is the most interesting and worth watching. It was under the steward-ship of Fuentes when the Provincial Envi-ronment Code was passed by the provin-cial board. The ordinance bans open pit mining in the province. Fuentes signed the ordinance a few weeks before her term ended.

While Pingoy has repeatedly stated he will implement the ordinance unless ordered by a competent court or it is de-clared unconstitutional, he also said he is open to reviewing the code. What is preventing Pingoy from opening up a re-

view is the prevalent sentiment among the members of the Provincial Board which is still dominated by anti-open pit mining.

South Cotabato is host to the ex-ploration activities of Sagittarius Mines Inc., an X-Strata controlled compa-ny that owns the US$6-billion Tampakan Copper and Gold Project. SMI has already announced it will use the open-pit mining method to extract cooper and gold ore de-posits in the mountainous villages of Tablu and Danlag in Tampakan, South Cotabato. SMI’s projected 2016 commercial produc-tion however runs contrary to the provin-cial ordinance as well as the advocacy of the local Catholic Church which is strongly opposed to large-scale mining operations.

Early this year, SMI was denied its ap-plication for the issuance of environmen-tal clearance certificate despite arguing that the provincial environment ordi-nance is contrary to existing national min-ing policy.

Instead of contesting the ordinance before the Supreme Court, SMI is lobby-ing the Office of the President to have the province repeal the local legislation. It is expected that SMI will support candidates who will pledge to repeal the controver-sial but landmark local ordinance.

Pacquaio could also enter into the play in the issue as his brother will try to woo the votes of residents from Tampakan, Tupi and Polomolok – all South Cotabato towns which, including General Santos City, comprise the first congressional dis-trict of the province.

Fuentes, by the way, is a long-time ally of the Antoninos.

With the October deadline of the filing of certificates of candidacies, local political parties have barely four months to final-ize their slate. For some, it could just be a matter of adding a candidate or two and a little tweaking of their lineups. But for others, it would be fielding the best candi-dates and optimizing resources. Which-ever, interesting times in local politics lie ahead. [Edwin G. Espejo writes for www.asiancorrespondent.com]

9VANTAGE POINTS

Monkey Business

EDGEDAVAOTraining a generation of citizen-journalists

Pacquiao factor in Gensan, Sarangani politics

By NaoMi WolfCommeNtAry

Home alone

(Conclusion)

(1st of 2 Parts)

I’VE hardly seen the sun this week.

The rains would come even at midday, leaving a dreary sensation that blends with the stillness of our village.

But it’s not actually the clouds that cover the sun that has caused this gloomy feel-ing. Nor is it the sun I’m missing. Each time I sit at my desk amid the silence around like I’m doing now, I become aware that the weather isn’t to blame. I’m alone the whole day on weekdays, except during lunchtime when Alex-andria, the youngest who is still in high school, would come home.

Her mother eats lunch in her office. Sometimes her job takes her to other towns.

Alexandria is the only child left with us. Her brother Aries is staying with Lola and Auntie in the old house, al-though he sometimes joins us for meals. Athena, who will hopefully finish her civil engineering course this school year, is in Musuan, and only comes home on weekends. Anthea is in MSU-IIT, trying her wits in chemical engineering. Most likely, she’ll only be home during long breaks.

Thanks to the wonders of technology, we can often keep in touch despite the distance. And there’s always this folder in my PC that holds the digital memories of their younger years when they were around most of the time. Still, there’s no substitute for their physical presence that sometimes I’d wish they were small children again and totally dependent on us.

Baisha, Warming and JB keep me

company in the absence of the children. I can talk to them but they can’t do the same; they can only bark and wag their tails to acknowledge my calls. At least, aside from serving as my security, their barking at strangers and other dogs that pass by reminds me that there’s a world out there. Nothing compares though to the music of the children’s laughter; their mirth gives warmth, their smile brings radiance on gloomy days.

But while it may help to long for those times that have passed us by, we can’t go on clinging to our hopeless ro-mantic selves. We can’t be melancholic fools forever. Mortals as we are, we have to accept that every time the sun sets a part of us also dies. There’s no escaping the law of entropy. [MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Mar-cos C. Mordeno can be reached at [email protected].]

TWO years ago, frustrated by the pow-erlessness citizens expressed to me about the political process, moved by

their transpartisan worries about the state of U.S. democracy, I began an experiment on Facebook: I sought to train “ordinary” people from all walks of life as reporters and opinion writers.

The community grew fast, to a reach of over 10 million and between 100,000 and 250,000 users a week. People joined from 23 countries. There was clearly an appetite for this kind of training and the material it pro-duced.

More exciting to me as a journalist was that the quality of information these “ordi-nary” citizens were generating – once they had taken on board basics such as “what is double sourcing?”, the importance of “who, what where, why and how?” and the role of eyewitness accounts and original documents – rose very high.

My personal beat as a reporter is civil lib-erties in the U.S., and the death of local news-papers has meant there is little coverage of state-level stories of these issues. That new void of local reporting leaves the federal gov-ernment and Congress less than accountable on the local level.

But Gerald Rozner, a tech specialist, gave us solid blow-by-blow accounts of the Emer-gency Managers fight in Michigan, with origi-nal documentation such as court rulings; Jennifer Slattery, an activist, got us sound and vivid documentation of the clashes between Occupy and Oakland police, and brought us detailed reports from similar fights around the country; other sources put together a trend by agribusiness in-terests to criminalize raw milk production and sales state by state. Citizen reports came in from many local sources confirm-ing that Department of Homeland Security money and armaments were flowing into local police forces; they posted city council meeting minutes to back this up. Under-standably – since news outlets have had to slash the staff that used to cover these beats – this story and its magnitude was almost overlooked by mainstream news outlets till months later. None of our contributors are paid: They work because they want to make sure that the information they find gets into the public arena.

Encouraged by these developments, a group of partners and I began to think about building a website that would support this kind of journalism and opinion writing, and help citizens strengthen democracy in oth-er ways. DailyCloudt.com, launched three weeks ago, is the result.

This model of training citizens to be re-porters and pundits is even more exciting when you take it global. We started on Face-book to get real-time Twitter reports, via Greg Monahan in Ireland, from friends of his on the Gaza-bound illegal flotillas: We knew – before most news outlets did – when ac-tivists on board were taken off the boat and transported to Israeli hospitals. Greg connected our feed with Twitter messages, too, from Internet friends and colleagues of his in the human rights world who were reporting live from Gaza during the Israeli bombardment: We watched and heard the bombs falling in real time, in human voices. Another memorable report came when we were discussing and posting news sources about the U.S. drone presence in Pakistan – and a Pakistani dad summarized what it was like for parents in his village to decide whether or not to send their kids to school that day based on local U.S. drone activity.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 201210 SUBURBIA EDGEDAVAO

ThE people of Brgy. Sagayen, asuncion in Davao del Norte

truly enjoyed the Canoe Racing in Madgao River last June 21, 2012. The said race launched the Eco-Tourism Month to promote the proposed river cruise in the prov-ince.

The momentous oc-casion highlighted with a theme: “It’s more fun boating in Madgao”, which includes other activities such as: rivers clean-up drive, clearing of planted trees and bamboo grow-ing along Madgao river bank. The Canoe Racing was first held last 2005 and recently followed in 2011.

This time, many sup-porters got a place to watch the whole competi-tion on either side of the river or cheered on the Sagayen Bridge. Various games in different cat-egories were competed in this year’s race, namely: singles for men and wom-en, doubles for women, and bamboo raft race or also known as “lumba sa kawayan nga gakit.”

Asuncion takes pride of its Madgao River which was launched among the prime tourist destina-tions of the province. It contains marine resourc-es such as Carp and tila-pia. A fresh water prawn called “uwang” can also be found here.

Through the Munici-pal Tourism Office, Asun-cion Mayor Joseph Nilo Parreñas projected the Madgao River to be com-parable as the river cruise in Loboc, Bohol. With the support of Gov. Rodolfo P. del Rosario’s program called Ugmad Komu-nidad, necessary actions are now ready to develop this area.

Present in this sig-nificant event were: SB Chair Tourism Junie Mae Miranda, Brgy. Capt. Edu-ardo Fullante, Asst. Pro-vincial administrator Romulo Tagalo, Provin-cial Tourism officer Noel Daquioag, and Municipal Tourism officer Servando Lawas.

Canoe Racing kick-off Eco-Tourism Month CelebrationBy: Ladenice C. Tolibas

Eco-tourism month celebration held on June 21, 2012 at Madgao River in Asuncion

The eco-tourism month celebration on June 21, 2012 at Brgy. Sagayen, Asuncion attended by Asst. Prov’l. Administrator Romulo Tagalo (leftmost), SB Chair Tourism Junie Mae Miranda (rightmost), Municipal Tourism Officer Servando Lawas (second to the right), Prov’l. Tourism Officer Noel Daquioag (third to the right) and program’s emcee Brgy. Councilor Tata Lasar (second to the left).

Bamboo growing along the Madgao River with Brgy. Capt. Eduardo Fullante (leftmost), SB Chair Tourism Junie Mae Miranda (second to the left) and Asst. Prov’l. Administrator Romulo Tagalo (second to the right) on June 21, 2012 at Asuncion.

Canoe race was held during the eco-tourism month celebration at Brgy. Sagayen, Asuncion on June 21, 2012

An Automated Weather Station (AWS) installed in Capitol compound by the Department of Science and Technology on December 2011 is capable of gathering and transmitting observation data to the central server through the cellular network. AWS monitors the weather system including tempera-ture, pressure, humidity, wind direction, wind speed, and rainfall. It is also equipped with a GSM/GPRS modem to transmit data to the central server. The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office of Sarangani hosted a one-day seminar-workshop on the use of Automated Weather Sta-tion (AWS) data for disaster preparedness Tuesday, June 26, at the Capitol gymnasium. The event was attended by various government agencies and non-government organizations.

Acting Governor Steve Chiongbian Solon (center) poses with teachers, stu-dents and parents of Barrio Site Primary School in barangay Colon during his school visit Monday, June 25. The school is a regional finalist for this year’s BrigadaEskwela under the primary school category.

Saramgani in photos

Esperanza Cayanan, assistant weather specialist chief of the Philippine At-mospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA), explains the weather system affecting the country Tuesday, June 26, during the one-day seminar-workshop on the use of Automated Weather Station (AWS) data for disaster preparedness. The event at the Capitol gym was at-tended by various government agencies and non-government organizations.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012 11COMMUNITY SENSEEDGEDAVAO

MoRE children in the uplands ben-efitted in contin-

uation of the “Tulong Es-kwela” program of Davao City Water District. Dona-tions of bags, notebooks, paper, pens and pencils were given to 230 chil-dren in Brgy. Tambobong on June 16 and 30 in Brgy. Manuel Guianga on June 15.

Present in the Tam-bobong distribution was DCWD director Ma. Luisa L. Jacinto who explained to residents that the util-ity is committed in help-ing them improve their community, “Kay part-ner man jud namo mo sa pagaruga sa atong kinai-yahan (because you are our partners in caring for our environment),”she said. She also encouraged the children to study well and help their parents im-prove their lives.

Also present was act-ing general manager Ed-win V. Regalado who re-echoed the importance of the community’s help in restoring the watersheds of Davao City. “Magpa-

dayon ta sa pagbantay sa atong kinaiyahan, kay kung wala na ni siya, wala na ning mga kaka-huyan, mawala pud ang tubig. Kining lasang mao ang nagpugong sa tubig dira sa sapa nga mao ang nagcontribute ug tubig sa atong acquifer sa ila-lom sa yuta. Ang tubig sa atong aquifer ang gigamit, gipump, nato para sa ka-tawhan sa Davao. (Let us continue in guarding our environment because without it, there will be no trees and we will lose our water. The forest holds the water in our rivers that contribute wa-ter to our aquifer under-ground. The water in our aquifer is the water we use, the water we pump, for the people of Davao),” Regalado said.

Local barangay offi-cials headed by barangay captain Exequiel Salan-dao and tribal council of elders headed by Datu Samuel Gubat thanked DCWD for the continuous support over the years.

Salandao recounted that DCWD has not only

given educational sup-port to the people of Tambobong. The water utility has also helped the people improve their eco-nomic conditions citing the almost 55 hectares of land with planted rubber trees which is a result of DCWD’s livelihood proj-ects that help augment people’s organizations’ / indigenous people’s income and promote al-ternative planting in ag-ricultural / non-tillage areas. He added that the rubber plantations were very instrumental in dis-couraging people from engaging in illegal logging activities.

The water utility ac-knowledges the big role of their community part-ners in the success of its Environmental Protec-tion agendum. Thus, in its efforts to rehabilitate and protect the watersheds of Malagos, Mt. Talomo-Lipadas and Mt. Tiplog-Tamugan, DCWD has made it a point to include the immediate residents in the watershed areas in its projects. (JOVANA t. DUhAy-LUNGSOD)

DCWD’s Tulong Eskwela continues

UPLAND kIDS GET EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIES. (From L) DCWD director Ma. Luisa L. Jacinto is assisted by Brgy. Tambobong captain Exequiel Salandao and tribal coun-

cil of elder member Datu Samuel Gubat in distributing educational supplies and bags during the 8th “Tulong Eskwela” in Brgy. Tambobong.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 201212 EDGEDAVAO

NATION BRIEFS WORLD TODAy

NATION/WORLD

ChallengedPRESIDENT aquino has

challenged the 11 Fili-pino athletes set to do

battle in the eight sports in next month’s Olympics in London to finally end a long 16-year medal drought in the quadrennial games.

“I know the world may not be expecting us to take home multiple gold medals. But I believe in the capacity of the Filipino to surprise. I believe in the capacity of the Filipino to be excellent in anything they do – to be world class,” Mr. Aquino said.

Restraint MEMBERS of the house

of Representatives called for restraint

while Philippine authorities conduct a deeper probe into reports that a Chinese vessel rammed against a Filipino-manned fishing boat causing the death of a fisherman.

House Assistant Majority Leader and Davao City Rep-resentative Karlo Nograles said it is premature for the Philippine government to make a conclusion on what really happened to the fish-ermen.

Breastfeedinga consolidated bill cur-

rently pending at the House of Representa-

tives will benefit multina-tional milk companies and not Filipino mothers or their babies, a coalition of non-government organizations opposed to it said.

According to a position paper from Save the Babies Coalition, the bill, if passed into law, “will destroy the innate power of breastfeed-ing that aims to protect the Filipino’s next generations’ health and wealth.”

CorruptionPRESIDENT Benigno S.

Aquino III vowed on Wednesday to con-

tinue his advocacy to rid government of corruption and eradicate poverty by pursuing the removal and prosecution of other cor-rupt officials in government and implementing further reforms in order to sustain the momentum gained from his advocacy.

“Clearly, our reforms have won us momentum. And it is up to us, to all of us— whether in the pri-vate or public sector— to maintain this momentum. There remain serious chal-lenges ahead. The problem of poverty is one that must be solved. There are still corrupt officials who will be prosecuted and jailed. The changes we envision are massive, and these changes cannot be enacted by a sin-gle office. We have to do it together,” he added.

NabbedaGENTS of the Criminal

Investigation and De-tection Group (CIDG)

on Tuesday arrested a po-liceman assigned in Basilan province, and two former members of the Moro Islam-ic Liberation Front (MILF) in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Ma-guindanao, for illegally sell-ing military grade weapons, including .50 caliber sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Director Samuel Pagdi-lao Jr., CIDG chief, identified the suspects as PO1 Julkifli Gandilan Taraji, 43, a former member of the Moro Nation-al Liberation Front (MNLF), who was integrated to the police service; Sampang Ab-dulrajak, and Sahara Abas, both former MILF members and residents of Panamao, Sulu.

Punished

CHINESE officials have fired a local family planning official and

punished several others after a woman was forced to abort her seven-month pregnancy, sparking a fire-storm domestically and around the world, China’s government-run media re-ported.

Feng Jianmei’s abor-tion was portrayed in the Chinese and international press as an example of the extreme measures some of-ficials would take to control China’s population, even if it meant breaking Chinese law.

Appealing

MOHAMED Nasheed, the former leader of the Maldives

who says he was ousted in a coup, is appealing for new elections to be held this year, warning that a delay would have dire consequences.

The former political prisoner became the first democratically elected pres-ident of the Indian Ocean archipelago in 2008 elec-tions but says he was forced to resign in a mutiny after anti-government protests in February.

Breached

UN sanctions experts have “overwhelm-ing evidence” that

Rwanda has breached an arms embargo to aid rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a re-port obtained by AFP.

Kigali has strongly de-nied accusations of involve-ment in a new rebellion in eastern DR Congo, but the UN Security Council on Tuesday published an annex to a report by the sanctions experts setting out their ac-cusations.

Pushed

EGYPT’S president-elect Mohamed Morsi pushed ahead with

selecting a government, as a court delivered a blow to the ruling military, suspending its powers to arrest civilians.

Egypt’s first civilian president, and its first elect-ed leader since an uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak early last year, still has to contend with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Floods

DAYS of heavy rain in Bangladesh has set off flash floods and

landslides which have killed more than 30 people and stranded about 150,000, police and officials said on Wednesday.

Low-lying and densely populated Bangladesh is battered by torrential downpours during the wet season which began in the past few weeks, but one official said the rain this month was the heaviest for years.

RESCUERS plucked 123 people from the ocean Wednesday

after an asylum-seeker boat sank en route to Australia, barely a week after another vessel went down in the same area, killing up to 90.

The rickety ship cap-sized 107 nautical miles north of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean and then sank, an Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman said.

Prime Minister Julia Gil-lard said between 123 and 133 people were on board,

revised down from earlier estimates of 150.

“As we speak my best advice is that 123 people have been rescued,” she told parliament as the pres-sure was turned up on Aus-tralian politicians to break their deadlock on how to deal with the arrival of asy-lum-seekers.

The incident comes just days after another boat with around 200 people on board went down in the Indian Ocean as it made its way to Australia.

Rescuers managed to

save 110 people and 17 bodies were recovered from Thursday’s capsize, but no other survivors have been found.

Three merchant vessels, including the MV Bison Ex-press, a Philippines-flagged livestock carrier, were on the scene of Wednesday’s disaster, which happened in Indonesian waters.

AMSA said two Aus-tralian navy ships and a spotter aircraft capable of dropping liferaft were also helping with the rescue ef-fort in conditions described

The wreckage of an asylum seekers’ boat lies on the shore of Wonogoro village in East Java province in April 2012. A series of refugee boat disasters have occured in

recent years, as unseaworthy, overloaded vessels packed with desperate migrants struggle to reach Australia.

En route to AustraliaAsylum-seeker boat sinks

SOME 27 million peo-ple worldwide are problem drug users,

with almost one percent every year dying from nar-cotics abuse, while can-nabis remains the most popular drug, a UN report showed Tuesday.

“heroin, cocaine and other drugs continue to kill around 200,000 people a year, shattering families and bringing misery to thousands of other people, insecurity and the spread of HIV,” director Yury Fedo-tov said as he presented the 2012 World Drug Re-port of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Global production and use of illegal drugs re-mained relatively stable last year, the report found.

However, this masked shifts in trafficking and consumption that were “significant and also wor-rying... because they are proof of the resilience and adaptability of illicit drug suppliers and users,” the UNODC warned.

Cannabis remained the most widely used drug with up to 224 million us-ers worldwide, although production figures were hard to obtain, the agency

A Pakistani heroin addict self-injects on a street in Ka-rachi. Some 27 million people worldwide are problem

drug users, with almost one percent every year dying from narcotics abuse.

27 million drug abusers worldwide—UN

said.Europe was the biggest

market for cannabis resin, most of it coming from Mo-rocco, although afghani-stan is becoming a major supplier and domestic pro-duction in Europe is also rising, the UNODC said.

“Most European Union member states (are) re-porting the cultivation of cannabis herb to be a phenomenon that appears

to be on the increase,” the report added, noting the increasing involvement of organised crime.

Opium production in Afghanistan, the world’s biggest producer with 90 percent of the global share, meanwhile jumped by 61 percent in 2011 to 5,800 tonnes from 3,600 tonnes in 2010, when the crop was hit by disease.

In Southeast Asia as

well, cultivating opium was increasingly popular, expanding by 16 percent in 2011, with Myanmar still the second largest producer behind Afghani-stan.

only a small share of this made it to Europe and North America, where opi-ate use was stable or drop-ping. Instead, 70 percent of users were in Africa and Asia, the report found.

as “fair, not ideal”.In a statement, Austra-

lian Customs and Border Protection said police re-ceived a satellite phone call early Wednesday from the vessel.

AMSA “initiated an im-mediate response to the report and continues to coordinate the search and rescue effort”.

Details were passed to the Indonesian search and rescue authority Basarnas, which said it received a re-port that the generator was broken and the boat was taking on water.

A photo from the MV Bison posted on the AMSA website showed a small, basic-looking boat crowd-ed with people on its decks, apparently taken before it capsized.

The australian Broad-casting Corporation said most of the passengers were believed to be Af-ghans and there were women and children on board, though this could not be confirmed.

The accident is the lat-est in a series of refugee boat disasters in recent years, as unseaworthy, overloaded vessels packed with desperate migrants struggle to reach Australia.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012 13EDGEDAVAO

FFROM 1 FFROM 16

FFROM 1

Monitoring... The Barca...Sara...duce more biodegradable

plastics.Asked about the re-

maining inventory of banned plastics, Felizarta said, “We recommended that they sell their surplus products to neighboring cities and municipalities.”

admitting that the recommendation was morally wrong, Felizarta said it is only for the sake of manufacturers’ busi-ness, although he added that Cenro is encouraging them to start producubg biodegradable plastics as eventually other local government units will replicate the ban.

Felizarta said the concern over wet prod-ucts, like meat, vegetables

and fruits that are sold in malls and grocery stores still needs to be discussed.

“It is the Sangguni-ang Panlungsod (SP), not the Cenro, that has the power to decide whether or not to defer the imple-mentation of the ban. The Cenro is a mere enforcer of the city ordinance, he added.

Meanwhile, Coun-cilor Melchor Quitain, in last Tuesday’s session, proposed amendments to the Davao City Ecolog-ical Solid Waste Manage-ment Ordinance of 2009, pointing out that primary and secondary packaging of food and beverages should be defined in the plastic ban ordinance.

leaders.The theme for the

WCS Mayor’s Forum is ‘Liveable and Sustainable Cities’, the discussions will cover strategies for economic competi-tiveness, ways to achieve liveability, and the chal-lenges of community en-gagement.

More than 14,000 delegates from around the world are expected to join the summit. In 2011, the WCS Mayor’s Forum brought together 32 mayors and gover-nors from 31 cities and provinces in 19 coun-tries.

The WCS is a bien-nial summit focusing on cities. It serves as a glob-al platform for govern-ment leaders and indus-try experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges, as well as share integrated ur-ban solutions and forge new partnerships.

Held in conjuction with the Singapore In-ternational Week, and the Clean Enviro Summit Singapore, the WCS 2012 is expected to attract government leaders, industry experts, and business leaders from around the world.

rest of his stellar midfield, whether the point be slightly further forward or slightly further back whereas he will choose Torres when it coms to using space or playing on the counter.

Fabregas himself said after the quarter-final win over France that he should not be compared with Messi.

“I have never com-pared myself with Messi – that would be silly. I play where the boss puts me and that is that.

“I also think we shouldn’t really be talk-ing about Messi as he isn’t here first of all and in any case is a very different player to me.

“We are talking about the best player in the his-tory of football,” said Fab-regas of his clubmate.

He added: “I hope no-body expects me to beat five players and score.”

according to team-mate Xabi Alonso, himself a midfielder of the deep-er-lying variety yet who also assumes goalscoring responsibilities – not-ing his brace against the French – the debate is not really a topic in the camp.

“There has never been an internal debate. We are all very confident and sure as to how we should play. that’s how we have come so far and we shall continue in that vein,” said the Real Madrid star.

aMERICAN car-mak-er Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday an-

nounced it is closing its assembly plant in the Phil-ippines by December this year, leaving about 250 people jobless.

Peter Fleet, Ford Asean president, who announced the company decision to close its assembly op-erations, cited poor auto supplier base and lack of economies of scale for the local automotive industry.

“First and foremost, this is a Ford business de-cision,” Fleet said stressing the company’s decision did not reflect any govern-ment policy, saying they have been happy with the government support to their operations in the country.

According to Fleet, the company had been pains-takingly working in the past 18 months to look for vehicle model that could be assembled at its La-guna plant but found no viable plan.

Its Sta. Rosa plant, which has a production capacity of 30,000 units, is only producing a tenth of its total sales in the country with only one model Escape, which has also reached its model life.

“The biggest issue is the size of the local sup-ply base which is not on a scale to make investment straightforward,” he said.

He said the 40 per-cent minimum aSEaN local content cannot be supplied by the Philip-pine auto parts suppliers but have to be supplied by importing from other ASEAN countries making it unviable.

The second biggest issue is the economies of scale as Ford would like to manufacture scale with full 300,000 assembly ca-pacity like the potentials for its plants in Thailand,

India and China.“Clearly, it is not prac-

tical today in the Philip-pines,” he said.

he said its decisions are based on current re-alities and although have also some future projec-tions just the same they would still have to come up with this decision.

He wished “good luck” to their competitors who still brave doing assembly operations in the Philip-pines given the current situation.

Ford Philippines managing director Ran-dy Krieger said that the Philippines automotive industry was highly un-derutilized with capacity utilization of 25 percent.

“That does not make a good business case,” said Krieger adding that of the over 130,000 units sold last year only 70,000 units are locally assem-bled.

“Today’s automotive and suppliers in terms of scale do not support a business decision for the Philippines,” Fleet said.

“These two issues present the biggest hur-dle to move forward,”he said.

While they stressed viability issues, Fleet cannot categorically say whether its Philippine op-erations have been losing or being subsidized by the overall Ford Group, say-ing they don’t report on a country basis, but rather as a regional group.

The company has been enjoying robust growth in sales and is set to launch three new models in the next three months.

Fleet said they have already informed its em-ployes as there would be about 250 out of 360 who are going to be jobless by end this year. They have also informed govern-ment officials of their de-cision, he said.

By Lorie A. Cascaro

STAGING a protest ac-tion in front of their office on Anda Street

yesterday, members of the Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) Davao Employees Union (RDEU) vowed to launch a strike against management any time soon.

Rey Fabe, RDEU chair-man, said yesterday was the first day for the union to officially begin the strike or leave their post as a solid statement against the inaction of the RMN man-agement.

The RDEU filed a notice of strike (NOS) before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB)

of the Department of Labor and Employment last June 4.

The strike is a form of protest against RMN man-agement’s denial to imple-ment their agreement signed by both parties dur-ing their last collective bar-gaining agreement meet-ing last November 11.

The agreement states that for the first year, a lump sum will be given to all members of the union, specifically P10,000 for five years and one day and above length of service; and, P6,000 for five years and below.

also, for the second and third year negotia-tions, management and the union will discuss wage

increase, rice subsidy, meal allowance, and the pro-posed closed shop provi-sion in May 2012.

Fabe said the union is demanding for P99,000 increase a month to be di-vided among the members.

he added that the amount is only minimal because DXDC and i-FM, the two radio stations of RMN Davao, are earning a minimum average of P24 million a month.

Because management did not pursue the sup-posed meeting last May, the union decided to de-fend their rights by filing an NOS.

The local NCMB set a meeting for the two parties last June 14, but, there was

no representation from management.

The same thing hap-pened in the following schedule last June 22, thus it was postponed to June 26.

Fabe said finally, a rep-resentative from manage-ment attended the meet-ing only to tell them that the agreement would no longer be implemented without giving categorical reasons.

The union members have reportedly been agi-tated by management’s response, saying they have been deceived but will not be afraid to expose on air the injustices they expe-rience within their own workplace.

RMN Davao workers to strikeMEDIA WORkERS’ RIGHTS. Members of the RMN Davao Employers Union stage a protest against the failure of management to comply with their col-

lective bargaining agreement for wage increase and benefits. The union is planning to wage a work stoppage. [KARLOS MANLUPIG]

Ford assembly plant to close shop in PHL

The country’s comedy king Rodolfo “Dolphy” V. Quizon Sr. has been cleared of pneumonia, but some infections remain in his system, doctors at

Makati Medical Center (MMC) said on Wednes-day.

Eric Nubla, director of MMC’s Patients Relations Office, said Dolphy had

been cleared of pneumo-nia and showing increas-ing signs of lucidity.

“he is lucid, he an-swers back by nodding his head, smiles, raises his

eyebrows, lifts his hands minimally, and winces and grimaces. He squeez-es family members’ hands and tries to mouth words and smile,” said Nubla.

Dolphy cleared of pneumonia

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012

FoRGET the NBA. It’s time for EURO 2012.

The semifinals cast of the EURO Cup is complete and we can only surmise, the remaining four teams are just the ones we wanted to fight it out to the finish.

Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany. What more can we ask?

It’s just less than 24 hours away (as I was writ-ing this) from today’s first EURO 2012 semi-final en-counter between two of the most charismatic teams in world football—Portugal and Spain.

The football world will be divided in rooting for their teams as these coun-tries boast of marquee play-ers with proven global fol-lowing—Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s biggest football star today plays for Portugal while David Villa, Cesc Fab-regas, Andres Inistea, and David Silva are the big stars of La Roja de Espana.

Combined, these players command plenty of respect and admiration from foot-ball fans and my unschooled football brain tells me this is going to be madness.

Both teams will have to counter-balance their pos-sible dangers.

Let’s dig a little piece of history. Portugal won over Spain 4 - 0 in Lisbon last time they met in an Interna-tional friendly match, so the memory is still fresh.

Rumor has it that the starting line-up for Spain, may possibly have no real forward. Football purists tell us that Spanish Football Team Coach Vicente Del Bosque will come up with a surprise and we don’t dis-count at this moment Fer-nando Llorente starting.

on the eve of the semifi-nals match against Portugal, the Spanish team was seen in practice taking penalties.

This only indicates that the Spaniards do not disre-gard a possible extra-time and penalty shoot-out situ-ation, similar to the Italy - England quarter-final. Any-thing’s possible in this level.

Spain’s bench tactician Vicente del Bosque is ex-pected to draw strength from a discrete tactical aim, a back-four in defence, a three-man centre of mid-field featuring a double-pivot, and two inverted wingers.

Portugal, on the other hand, is just as danger-ous as Spain. We expect Portugal to draw strength

from its fullbacks, Fábio Coentrão and João Pereira, midfield trio Miguel Velo-so, Raul Meireles and João Moutinho, winger Nani’s and of course, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo, who is tied for the tournament’s marks-manship, has been a ter-rible menace to all of Por-tugal’s opponents, whether it’s drifting to the centre to create, bludgeoning his marker or, at his most dan-gerous, bringing the ball onto his right foot and driv-ing at goal. In short, Ron-aldo is a triple threat. His movement off the ball has even been sublime.

Can’t wait to see this. Spain, winners of Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cupversus Portugal. Though Spain would be the stronger team on paper, Portugal remains its big-gest stumbling block.

Let’s get it on.

14 SPORTS EDGEDAVAO

Spain vs. Portugal: A rivalry like no other

GLOBAL clinched the United Football League First Division

title after salvaging a 1-1 draw with Loyola Meralco on Tuesday night at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Izo El-Habbib once again outshone his Philippine Az-kals teammates as the Suda-nese striker delivered anew for Global, scoring in the 65th minute to give his club the lead.

Despite the Sparks equalizing 11 minutes later with a Kim Hyo Il goal off a Mark Hartmann assist, Global did enough in the remaining minutes to pre-serve the score.

Global’s win negated Ka-ya’s victory against Stallion earlier. Both clubs finished with 13-3-2 win-draw-loss cards for 42 points, but Global won the title with a 19-goal difference for the

season.The Sparks showed

more aggressiveness in the first half, but could not con-vert any of their attempts. hartmann actually found the back of the net in the second half but was called offside.

Global had won the sin-gle-elimination UFL Cup last year.

“But this is different. This is the league,” Global manager Dan Palami said. “Credit goes to all the teams who played in the first divi-sion. They really gave us a hard time. It was a hard sea-son for us.”

The club had to endure early setbacks as it lost twice in the first round of elimina-tions.

“For a while, I thought this was it. I thought we re-ally had to dig deep for us to win the title,” Palami said.

But credit to my players for bringing their A-game when it mattered.”

The squad entered the season expected to be just a contender for one of the top four spots, but late-season blunders by the favored Sparks allowed Global to gain the upper hand in the standings.

“We were prepared to be bridesmaids again,” Palami admitted. “But I’m glad we had enough spirit to just do our best.”

“We’ll try to hold on to the beautiful trophy for as long as we can,” Palami said. “But I know the other teams will be preparing hard for the next season. So that’s also what we have to do.”

Despite El-Habbib giving his team the goal, teammate Carli de Murga was given the Golden Ball, equivalent to a Most Valuable Player award.

Global wins UFL crownIzo El-Habbib is greeted by his teammates after scoring the goal for Global FC.

By Bai Fauziah Fatima Sinsuat Ambolodto, MBA

“He gave to me a gift I know, I never can repay.” This is but the most beauti-ful, meaningful and heart-wrenching line from a song I can ever tell my Dad. Though July is re-garded as the Father’s Month, I still believe that every single day of our existence, we should celebrate and pay respect to the miracle of life given to us by the other half responsible for our well-being, our Fathers. We may not shower him with praises, nor mention his name in a song but Tatay, Ama, Daddy, Papa or whatever name we may call him, Maraming Sala-mat sa pag-aaruga at pag-mamahal. Mahal na mahal ka namin.

Daddy,

I am not one to write long letters, for I feel that you, Daddy, ought to know that I appreciate the hon-esty and the example that you set for me to follow. It seems much easier to just accept as true that which is accepted as true and pass it on without comment, than it is to try to replace what is proven to be false with that which is proven to be true. Am I making any sense here? Yet the spirit and the totality of truth that you have taught me

to respect all that is here on earth, may it be living or nonliving, demands obedience, discipline and strong faith if right is ever to triumph over wrong. May all fathers, young and old, grandfathers, stepfa-thers and uncles realize that their children, grand-children, niece and nephew must know the truth and act upon it, if they are to be free from the fears that rob us from the peace of heart, and a sense of security in this life and the life there-after. I love you Dad!

Your forever Little Big Girl, Alibai

Through the Years. . .

Samel,

Your name will always remain in my heart. It will be spoken and shared in the gentlest of prayers. And you will be with me forever. . . If it were not for you, I would not have half the happiness that I feel inside. I do not know what magic it is that makes people as wonderful as you. . . but I am sure glad it works. It takes a certain kind of person to be special. It takes someone exactly like you. I love you - - through the years. Happy Father’s Day! Mama

My MoM’S Sweet And Sour LApu-LApu My parents are both

health buffs. Because Dad-dy only eat those low-sodi-um and low in fat dishes, Mom tends to cook bland dishes (Love you Mama) for Daddy. However, this is one dish my Dad loves, and even me, the flavors go well together and you’d be asking for seconds in no time. (Mama cooked this for Daddy on Father’s Day) Season Lapu-Lapu with lemon salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Deep fry until golden. Pat dry on paper towels to remove ex-cess oil and set aside. In a pan, sauté minced native garlic, mashed gin-ger, slivered white onion and quartered ripe toma-toes. Mama said not to mash your tomatoes, let them wilt on their own.

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EDGEDAVAOFOOD

Living legacy!Hand-me-down recipes

Pour in sweet and spicy tomato ketchup, pine-apple juice and pineapple chunks. Let simmer but do not cover. Add carrot chunks, quartered red and green bell peppers and Hoisin sauce. Season to taste. Add fried lapu-lapu and let flavors come together. Simmer but again, do not cover. Serve hot.

Love moves in mysteri-ous ways. . .

Al,

As the years go by, I stop and think about all the memories we’ve made, the good times we’ve shared and the love between us that keeps growing. You are not only my husband but also my best friend and my soul mate. You are a blessing from above. I thank you for all the things that you have done for me and the kids. Not only are you a wonderful husband, you’re also a terrific father and caregiver. I love you Bhie… more than words, more than life. I am for-ever grateful for your love and proud to be your wife.

Baila

CHunKy CHICKen SprInG roLLS This recipe was shared

by my cousin, Baila, as she cooked it for her husband, Al, for Father’s day. Sauté garlic, onion, pre-boiled chicken chunks (You can also use canned chicken chunks. Your chicken chunks should be bite size pieces.). Season with salt, freshly cracked black pepper, cinnamon, cumin powder and oyster sauce. Cook chicken chunks until it turns brown. We want the smoky flavor to emanate from the chicken once we bite into it. Let cool and set aside. Prepare your spring roll (lumpia) wrapper. Scoop filling and sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top before you roll the wrap-per. Making sure all edges are sealed. You can add vegetables or even tofu for added flavor. Deep-fry your spring rolls until golden brown. Pat dry in paper towels to remove excess oil. For the sauce: Combine Japanese Mayonnaise, To-mato Ketchup, garlic paste and pepper. Serve hot. Shout out to my work-mates at Just Simply Out-sourcing and to Ms.Serena Tell me what you think of this week’s recipe. Email me your questions, suggestions and comments at [email protected] . Happy Cooking!

INdulge!

LOve comes in many forms, it may be through a simple phone call, a surprise bouquet of flowers, or maybe a sweet note at your bedside, but the best way to your loved one’s heart is definite-ly through their stom-ach. That is the main reason why TRUST Home Depot created a series of free cook-ing workshops featuring Davao’s very own queen of sweets, pastry chef Booboo Maramba, starting June 25. The workshop features recipes created by Booboo and are tailor made for busy moms-on-the-go who want to give their loved ones the best meals even on a tight schedule. Booboo also shares cooking tips and tricks to make cooking and baking easier. I had a delightful and in-formative time during the first workshop which was held at an actual working kitchen that was set-up at the lobby of TRUST Home Depot. The beautifully de-signed kitchen made the

lessons more fun and made the guests feel more at home with a nice and cozy atmo-sphere. Featured for the day were Booboo’s moist chocolate cupcakes and her own ver-sion of a Davao fruit salad, both of which were easy to prepare and are very nutri-tious. You can say that these (along with the other up-coming recipes) ooze with love and shows love once you prepare these as baon for the kids or for your bet-ter half. The workshops may have started but interested indi-viduals can still catch up. Chef Booboo Maramba’s Free Cooking Lessons at TRUST Home Depot is at 10A.M. every Monday,

Wednesday and Friday until July 13, 2012. For inquiries, please call 298-7878, 295-3588. Or visit Trust Home Depot on Facebook. TRUST Home Depot is at ecoland Drive, Quimpo Boulevard, Matina (former-ly Task Force Davao). Of course being a loving person that I am, here are the recipes featured last June 25 for everyone to try.

tegral Moist CupcakesIngredients:500g Tegral moist chocolate cake mix4 large eggs1/3 cup vegetable oil1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons water1/2 cup melted butter

Procedure: Preheat the oven to 325 F for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Sift the moist chocolate mix into a mixer bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and beat at low speed for about 30 seconds. Turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the mixer bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 to 3 minutes more. With a rubber scraper, check to make sure that the mixture is homogeneous then pour into prepared cupcake molds. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes. Cool before frosting. Lava cake lovers may want to bake the cupcakes for only 15 minutes to leave a runny core in the cake.

davao Fruit SaladIngredients2 cups coconut cream, chilledsugarFresh pineapple cubedFresh watermelon cubedFresh langka cubedFresh guava cubedLakatan bananas sliced (op-tional)

Procedure:

Refrigerate all the fresh fruits overnight before slic-ing In a large bowl, pour the coconut cream and add sug-ar according to taste. Add sized fruits. Chill until ready to serve.

Follow me on twitter @kennethkingong for happen-ings around the city, foodie finds, and travel tips.

ENTERTAINMENTEVENTS

A2 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012EDGEDAVAO

Dishing it out with Davao’s queen of sweets

Shauna Seng of TRUST Home Depot. Chef Booboo Maramba. Karina Seng of Home & Design.

Booboo and her Davao Fruit Salad.

The queen and her kingdom. Booboo Maramba preparing some cupcakes at TRUST Home Depot’s working kitchen.

Frosting the Tegral moist chocolate cupcake.

WANNA spice up your life? You’re in luck: The Spice Girls are back. On Tuesday, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bun-ton and Victoria Beckham reconvened publicly for the first time since their 2008 world tour. The ladies, look-ing fabulous as ever, were on hand at London’s St. Pancras Hotel to announce new details of a Viva For-ever!, the West End musical based on their hit songs. The women were joined by producer Judy Craymer, who also brought Mamma Mia! to the stage, and writ-er Jennifer Saunders, co-

creator/star of Absolutely Fabulous. “Thank you girls! Amaz-ing to see u all today!!! Lots of love,” Victoria, aka Posh Spice, tweeted. “Had an amazing day with my girls @MelanieC-music @victoriabeckham @OfficialMelB @GeriHalli-well love ya!!!!” Emma, bet-ter known as Baby Spice, wrote on the social net-working site. “Girl power #VivaForever” Mel B (Scary Spice) tweeted back to her pal: “hell yizzels” Viva Forever! is sched-uled to open Dec. 11 at London’s Piccadilly The-atre.

Anyone waiting for Britain’s Jubilympics hysteria to die down is going to need to steel themselves with the kind of stiff-upper-lipped fortitude the nation was built on (T minus 31 days to the opening ceremony!). Because just when we thought the U.K.’s national pride had peaked with the majesty of a, um, monarch-transporting, rain-soaked flotilla, along comes this frankly impressive honor: to further mark the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, Parliament has voted to change the name of Lon-don’s landmark Big Ben-housing clock tower and

rename it for the royal. So, Large Liz? Betty’s Belltower? What, oh, what, is the monument’s new name?It’s not catchy, but it’ll do: Tourists, get ready to add Elizabeth Tower to your London itineraries. The House of Com-mons confirmed the name change today, the result of a campaign backed by the majority of the Members of Parliament and lead-ers of Britain’s three main political parties (including Prime Minister David Cam-eron) and was proposed “in recognition of Her Maj-esty’s 60 years of unbroken

public service on behalf of her country.” As it happens, it’s not the first time the tower has been rechristened. Com-monly referred to as Big Ben, that nickname really belongs to the giant bell inside the clock tower, not the tower itself—instead, that iconic Westminster structure was built under the name King’s Tower in 1860, before getting re-named Victoria Tower in honor of that queen, and more recently was known simply, if unoriginally, as the Clock Tower, before its latest naming incarnation. Long may it reign.

THE Avengers is go-ing where only James Cameron has gone before. The superhero team-up will reach $600 million at the domestic box office to-day, its studio announced. The Avengers joins Cameron’s Avatar and Ti-tanic as the only films to achieve that milestone. The Iron Man-and-friends adventure, which opened May 4, kicking off, then dominating the sum-mer movie season, will hit the mark in its 54th day in theaters. It is the second-fastest to $600 million, behind Avatar (47 days) and ahead of the marathon

runner that was Titanic (252 days). At $600 million and change, The Avengers sits in third place on the list of Hollywood’s all-time do-mestic champs. The Avengers is also the third-biggest grossing film of all-time worldwide, with an overall haul north of $1.44 billion. It obviously has out-grossed every Marvel-superhero movie, and has outdone the combined domestic takes of The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor, three of the films leading into the Joss Whe-don-directed mash-up. Here’s a complete look

at the Top 10-grossing movies of all-time domes-tically, as reported by lead-ing box-office sites:

Avatar, $760.5 millionTitanic, $658.7 millionThe Avengers, $600 mil-lion (estimated)The Dark Knight, $533.3 millionStar Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, $474.5 millionStar Wars, $461 millionShrek 2, $441.2 millionE.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, $435.1 millionPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, $423.3 millionThe Lion King, $422.8 million

ENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

Spice up your life!The Spice Girls are back!

Big Ben renamed for QEII

The Avengers joins Hollywood’s exclusive club

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ENTERTAINMENTUP AND ABOUT

A4 INdulge! VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012EDGEDAVAO

EVERY pair of feet deserves a comfort-able pair of shoes. Dress it up, dress it down, PAYLESS Shoesource has the right shoe for every occasion. This ‘shoe supermarket’ of-fers endless fashion possibilities for the whole family! Payless, the American discount footwear retailer founded in Kansas is now at SM City Davao! In Payless, shoes are stacked with its respec-tive shoeboxes and are lined up according to size. This makes perfect shoe hunting adventure for those who know exactly what they are looking for! If you like it, try it on. If it fits, grab the box and take it to the cashier counter and a happy customer is good to go! So all shoe-holics, unite! March your way to the new Payless Shoesource at the Ground floor of the city’s hippest hub, SM City Davao Annex!

Called as City of Smiles, Bacolod never fails to capture the interest of those who visit. From lush greenery to pre-served ancestral homes, the Negrenses are truly proud of their heritage. Given that there are no direct flights from Davao to Bacolod, getting there would mean you have to pass through Manila then catch a connecting flight. It might be incon-venient for some as the flight time is consider-ably lengthy, so others might opt for a plane ride routing through IloIlo and taking the one hour ferry boat ride to Bacolod. No matter what are the modes of

transportation, once you have arrived at Ba-colod, the gentle breeze and warm smiles will come to greet you. Once again, MX3 found another opportunity as God routed them to Ba-colod. Despite of the bad weather, MX3 managed to

have a safe journey. True to the description, the City of Smiles warmly greeted MX3. Before the show started, the Negrenses gladly accepted the Good News through MX3’s flier-ing activity. Everything that MX3 does is not just to enrich

the company’s bucket of wealth and for the sake of popularity, but also for the benefit of human bodily and spiritual health. That’s why last June 15, 2012, MX3 arrived at Silay City, Bacolod to take part in the charter day celebrations, in which the people of Ba-colod celebrated the 74th founding of Bacolod as a city. Aside from providing good health benefits, MX3’s mission to the world is to bring the Good News of our Salvation. Ev-erything that MX3 does is all for the greater glory of God and letting the whole world know how it feels so good to be called as God’s own children.

Payless now at SM Davao Annex

MX3’s gift to Bacolod

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WI M B L E D O N , England -- Ra-fael Nadal lost

the first four games of his first-round match at Wimbledon before turn-ing things around against Thomaz Bellucci, beating the Brazilian 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-3.

Just like defending women’s champion Pe-tra Kvitova in the match before him, Nadal had a shaky start Tuesday on

Centre Court. He was two points away from going down 5-0 in the first set, but Bellucci netted an overhead backhand at 30-15 and Nadal went on to break for 4-1 to start the comeback. He won the next three games to make it 4-4 and Bellucci then self-destructed in the tie-breaker, making several unforced errors.

The two-time cham-pion was hardly troubled

after that and served out the match with an ace.

In other matches, Ser-ena Williams did much better than big sister Ve-nus at Wimbledon, de-feating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 6-4 Tuesday in the first round.

Playing on the same Court 2 where Venus lost in straight sets a day ear-lier, Williams took com-mand by breaking her Czech opponent three

times in the first set. The players then traded breaks twice in the sec-ond before Williams broke again in the 10th game, converting her sec-ond match point when the 62nd-ranked Zahlavova Strycova sent a forehand long.

Williams was 46-0 in the first round of Grand Slam tournaments before losing her opening match at this year’s French Open.

Give Rafa a scare

SERENa Williams’ first-round match at Wim-bledon was far less

eventful than the one she played at the French Open. The four-time tournament champion didn’t show any ill effects from her upset loss at Roland Garros and defeated Barbara Zahlavo-va Strycova 6-2, 6-4.

The most interesting part of her opener, as usual, was the clothing. When you hear “warmup jacket” you think of zipped-up nylon or hoodies. Serena’s white, double-breasted Nike number is a bit of a genre bender. I can’t tell whether the jacket looks like it be-longs to a waiter at a party thrown by a James Bond vil-lain or someone portraying a nurse in a Cinemax movie.

In recent years, Serena has opted for cardigans and

Illegal headband?

Rafael Nadal towels off during the break, then celebrates a point (below). Nadal lost the first four games of his first-round match at Wimble-don before turning things around against Thom-az Bellucci, beating the Brazilian 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-3.

Is Serena Williams’ purple headband against the all-white policy of the All-England Tennis Club?

shawls but wore the same style coat in 2008 and 2009.

The headband is even more interesting. Wimble-don has let players subtly flout the “almost entirely white” rule for years. Col-ored stripes, details on sleeves and bandanas are prevalent despite the sev-en rules forbidding such pigmentation. We detailed

the trend during last year’s tournament. But that purple headband is pretty blatant. Even the official Wimbledon site wondered whether it was crossing a line.

Maybe it’s a nod to roy-alty. Either way, I wonder if that white swoosh on it has anything to do with officials at the all England Club looking the other way.

VOL.5 ISSUE 83 • JUNE 28, 2012SPORTS16 EDGEDAVAO

DONETSK, Ukraine – Eight goals in four games – albeit half of

those against Ireland – and Spain are moving on to-wards their date with des-tiny as they target an un-precedented third straight major title.

Spain have had to deal with a certain amount of criticism as against Italy and Croatia they found it hard to serve up caviar foot-ball, particularly with coach Vicente Del Bosque’s predi-lection for economising on the strikers.

Yet the Furia Roja are now at the business end of the tournament and have a reputation to live up to as the pass masters of the modern game.

The Spanish share that philosophy with Barcelona,

though of course the key difference in personnel is the absence in Del Bosque’s side of Argentina’s Leo Mes-si.

Del Bosque has, like Bar-ca, tried the false number nine route with Cesc Fabre-gas – but the Barcelona def-inition of that role is some-what different given that Messi is the man with the attacking licence to roam.

To be fair to Fabregas he has scored twice here – but at Barca he naturally can leave Messi in the free role. The Catalans have the lux-ury of being able to call on both men to pull the strings.

Del Bosque says that, if Spain were to look for a Messi figure, then it would not even be Fabregas – who in any case rejects the com-parison.

“David Silva is the Span-ish Messi,” Del Bosque said recently – although he has not called upon the Man-chester City man to assume any kind of similar role, rather moving him further right than where he per-forms for his club.

Silva assumed the false nine responsibilities and scored twice in a qualifier against Scotland last octo-ber.

at Barcelona, mean-while, coach Pep Guardiola used Fabregas with success for a time at the start of last season but then moved him back again as Messi gener-ally began to run riot on the way to 50 league goals – a club record.

Del Bosque sees Fabre-gas as a point man for the

The Barca Identity

Spain reveals weapon vs. Ronald, Portugal

Spain’s big stars (left) will gave their hands full against Cristano Ronaldo of Portugal (below).

FTHE BARCA, 13