Cagayan de Oro City News July 2014

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Interactive Google Satellite Map of Cagayan de Oro City
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Cagayan de Oro City within Misamis Oriental

Dietary supplement is a product that contains vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, and/or other ingredients intended to supplement the diet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has special labeling requirements for dietary supplements and treats them as foods, not drugs.

Manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and dietary ingredients are prohibited from marketing products that are adulterated or misbranded. That means that these firms are responsible for evaluating the safety and labeling of their products before marketing to ensure that they meet all the requirements of DSHEA and FDA regulations.

Public market of cagayan de oro city misamis oriental.JPG
Cagayan de Oro City Public Market
Cagayan de oro city river.jpg
The river of cagayan de oro city
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St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral

Wars of ancient history were about possessions, territory, power, control, family, betrayal, lover's quarrel, politics and sometimes religion.

But we are in the Modern era and supposedly more educated and enlightened .

Think about this. Don't just brush off these questions.

  • Why is RELIGION still involved in WARS? Isn't religion supposed to be about PEACE?
  • Ask yourself; What religion always campaign to have its religious laws be accepted as government laws, always involved in wars and consistently causing WARS, yet insists that it's a religion of peace?

WHY??

There are only two kinds of people who teach tolerance:
  1. The Bullies. They want you to tolerate them so they can continue to maliciously deprive you. Do not believe these bullies teaching tolerance, saying that it’s the path to prevent hatred and prejudice.
  2. The victims who are waiting for the right moment to retaliate. They can’t win yet, so they tolerate.
Limketkai Center Mall, Cagayan de Oro City.jpg
Flood Waters in the streets of Cagayan de Oro City
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Cagayan de Oro City Buildings
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Bus Terminal, Bulua, Cagayan de Oro City

Kalan-onon Festival in Talisayan seen to boost local economy, tourism

Jasper Marie Oblina-Rucat


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 31 (PIA) – A big boost to its local economy including its tourism is believed to be the impact of the Kalan-onon Festival of Talisayan town in Misamis Oriental held from July 7 to July 14, this year.

Various food and native delicacies which were locally made were displayed by representative from each of the 18 barangays in their creatively crafted booths in the open field in the heart of the municipality during the week long fiesta celebration of their patron saint Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

Among the delicacies featured were Ensaymada de Buko (pastry with coconut inside), Nilupak (made of mashed kamoteng kahoy (yucca root or cassava), or kamote (sweet potato) or banana saba with sugar or milk to taste, cassava cake (made with grated cassava with sugar, eggs and coconut milk), puto cheese (steamed Filipino mini rice cake made out of rice flour) saging minatamis (Banana Plantain in Syrup), puto kutsinta (made from rice flour), biko (sticky rice cake) tupig (made from rice flour and coconut strips then grilled in hot charcoal), camote cake (Sweet Potato cake) kipping (made with cassava flour, crunchy, thin crisp with coconut spread), squash maja (pudding made with squash) suman latik (glutinous rice with thick syrupy caramelized coconut cream used as a dessert condiment), and buko pie (pie with coconut filling).

Robert Maestre, representative of the province of Misamis Oriental, one of the judges during the event said that he could see some delicacies that could go further and really represent Talisayan in the food industry.

He said that his bet was the Ensaymada de Buko because it was the first Ensaymada he tasted with a twist of carmelized buko filling. He said it was well cooked and in terms of presentation, it could compete with other delicacies in the region and even nationwide.

With its sweet coconut filling, he said that this product go hand in hand with the province’s promotion and push for coconut by-products. With more enhancements on how it can stretch its shelf-life, he advised that the maker of the product through the local government seek assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) or Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the province.

Meanwhile, Judy M. Aclan of DTI Misamis Oriental, a judge during the event agreed with Maestre. She said she loves the product and could compete with current delicacies more so when provided with assistance such as packaging and longer shelf-life.

On the other hand, Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Regional Director Thelma Oliver, as one of the judges in the competition shared that the agency can help in the promotion of the product and their event. With the social media being a big factor in the information dissemination, PIA can help spread the word.

Town mayor Rommel Maslog expressed his gratitude to the judges for taking time to come to their town and shed some light in the possible ventures they could get into.

He said that one of their main efforts now is to promote tourism in their municipality. With neighboring towns having their trademark product, Talisayan hopes that through this activity, they could create or improve something that could benefit the town in the future and get more tourists in the area.

The town’s week long fiesta included activities such as novena, mass, fun run, Search for Miss Talisayan, Gay basketball exhibition, inter school swimming contest, inter-barangay Palarong Pinoy, Jetski Exhibition, Baroto (boat) racing contest and Sayawan og Kantahan sa Gym (singing and dancing in the gym). (JMOR/PIA)

Caught on camera: Kids in car trunk

By yahoo.com

Authorities are now investigating if they can slap child abuse charges on the relative of two kids put inside the trunk of a moving car in Cagayan de Oro City.

This comes on the heels of a video uploaded by Bayan Patroller Jasper Jay Nuñez showing the lid of the car trunk, apparently being opened and closed by the children inside it.

Based on the license plate number visible in the video, the city’s Land Transportation Office (LTO) officials tracked down the car owner, Cristino Ansin. The kids were his nephews.

Ansin claimed that he didn’t know about the incident because it was his son, Cristino Jr., who was driving at that time. His son had said that he resorted to putting the kids in the trunk because there was no more room inside the car.

Ansin also said the kids wanted to go to church with the rest of family, so they insisted on going inside the trunk. Ansin has since apologized for the incident and promised that it would not happen again.

Meantime, LTO officials warned the public against putting kids in the car trunk as this would lead to suffocation.






NorMin groups: Sona filled with empty talk

By Mario C. Manlupig Jr.

PRESIDENT Benigno Simeon Aquino III made his 5th State of the Nation Address (Sona) Monday afternoon, and civil society groups in the region called it “rhetorical” and “typical.”

Representatives from various sectors demanded Monday in a protest rally at Magsaysay Park to take a look at the real condition of his “boss” as Aquino failed to address issues that have plagued the country today.

Rochamae Bihag, CEGP Mindanao vice president, said what she has heard from the President were his usual achievements apt only to make himself “handsome” in the eyes of the Filipinos.

“The objective here is to expose the real state of the nation like the condition of farmers, students and laborers. Is there a reality of the agrarian reform, of sufficient wage, or of affordable education?” Bihag told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.

She added: “We are not his boss. His true bosses are the business tycoons in the country, the landlords, and those who sit in power.”

In a statement of Bayan, it said there have been growing numbers of an average of four million jobless individuals every year; 59,000 families have been displaced of demolition under the Private-Public Partnership (PPP); and 5,000 individuals ever day joining millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) abroad.

“As we can see it, Aquino gives total favor to international investors who he called will uplift the economic state of the country but at the same time forgets the other sectors. If there’s no balance in giving attention to the different sectors, no progress will be made,” said Nathaniel Saa, SCMP-Cagayan de Oro chair.

PDAF and DAP

Aquino barely talked about the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel scam of senators and representatives in Congress and his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) wherein the President has an annual 2014 budget of P1.3 trillion.

Although declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, Aquino is insistent of the constitutionality of his DAP.

“We want the president to put a stop on this. His DAP is not for the poor. It does not make open opportunities for the jobseekers, nor for the workers, and most of all, subsidizing hospitals, schools, agriculture and other needs of his people,” the statement said.

More income

Aquino mentioned the increase of profit from the levied taxes from P1.03 trillion in 2012 to P1.5 trillion last year. But Bihag questioned why basic social services have not been felt by the Filipinos.

“In short, instead of us to become happy about this collection, we feel sad that it will become a new way of government officials for corruption,” Bihag added.

Aquino said there is a P7,155 budget in each scholar of the Technical Skills and Development Authority (Tesda) to sustain their training, but Bihag asked why there have been many scholars left struggling financially.

“These Tesda scholars are designed and trained to join the exodus of Filipinos going abroad. In a word, Aquino is pushing our trained citizens to go out of the country instead of helping the country to advance its economy,” said Wildon Barros, Kilusang Mayo Uno-Northern Mindanao (KMU-10) chairman.

Peace Process

While the spate of rebel and terrorist attacks in the Mindanao have been ongoing, the groups want to call for the resumption of peace talks to all revolutionary rebels.

“Good to know that the peace process between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Philippines (GPH) is in progress. However, what about the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)? The New People’s Army (NPA)?” Barros said.

Land reform

Meanwhile, farmers are also expecting that Aquino will mention them and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).

However, they were disappointed with the president’s failure to give a clearer view on this.

“Naa man to [na-mention] pero walay klaro. Char char. Walay reporma. Wala pay saktong dapit ang atong mga mag-uuma,” Saa said.

“He mentioned the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Armm) but he never mentioned the Hacienda Luisita whose over 1,000 workers were not afforded with what’s due to them. Whereas, according to an Ibon Foundation research, the government has shelled out P400 million in partial payment to the Cojuangco family in line with the Hacienda Luisita compensation,” Barros said.

FOI

Senate Bill no. 1733 or the People’s Freedom of Information (FOI) has not been mentioned in his speech at all.

“Despite him snubbing this bill in his speech, we’d still like to push for its approval. What will happen if information will not be provided to us? We’ll remain in this kind of system? He’s promised this at the start of his term,” Saa said.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines wanted the FOI to be included in his SONA, but Aquino never mentioned about it.

Bihag and Barros both agreed that everything in Aquino’s speech is “a lie.”

EPIRA amendment sought to solve Mindanao power crisis

  • Source:http://www.philstar.c om/headlines/2014/07/28/1351260/epira-amendment-sought-solve-mindanao-power-crisis
  • Monday, July 28, 2014 11:55am
By Dennis Carcamo (philstar.com)

MANILA, Philippines - Two lawmakers have sought the amendment of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to allow the government to generate and sell power or electricity from renewable energy sources.

Under House Bill 4422, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and younger brother Abante Mindanao partylist Rep. Maximo Rodriguez, said the government would have the power to purchase electricity through bilateral contracts with generation companies or other suppliers.

The two lawmakers cited a statement of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives, which attributed the rotating brownouts to “largely the effect of EPIRA."

The EPIRA provides the National Power Corporation may generate and sell electricity only from the undisposed generating assets and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) contracts of PSALM Corp. and shall not incur any new obligations to purchase power through bilateral contracts with generation companies or other suppliers.

The bill provides that “The government through the NPC or any other government-owned or –controlled corporation shall be authorized to generate and sell power or electricity to generate from renewable energy sources as defined in RA 9513, otherwise known as the ‘Renewable Energy Act of 2008,’ and to incur new obligations to purchase power through bilateral contracts with generation companies or other suppliers.”

They said it is high time the government seriously focuses on generating other sources or energy in light of the present energy problem.

The elder Rodriguez said the law provides it is the policy of the State to “accelerate the exploration and development of renewable energy resources such as, but not limited to biomass, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and ocean energy sources, including hybrid systems, to achieve energy self-reliance, through the adoption of sustainable energy development strategies to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels..."

“It is therefore imperative that all avenues be considered when it comes to renewable energy,” he said.

He cited a Department of Energy report on the 2013 power supply-demand outlook, which noted that the Mindanao grid has been experiencing “undergeneration” since 2001.

It also said that half of the region’s plants are hydroelectric and depends on “the availability of water and affected by weather conditions.”

Mindanao needs 1,600 megawatts (MW) of additional power to “meet the electricity demand and the required reserve margin of the grid," the report added.

“These very dark projections can actually be already felt on the island as parts of Mindanao are now suffering from 10 to 12 hours of rotating power blackouts,” he said.

Rodriguez said there has been no dramatic improvement in Mindanao’s power situation since the DOE issued its outlook.

The DOE also reported the region’s power supply of 1,064 MW was 158 MW short of its peak demand of 1,222 MW according to Rodriguez.

Oro to upgrade its technological system

By Alyssa C. Clenuar

TO ENSURE faster and more efficient delivery of services, the City Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a local university on Saturday that will upgrade the city’s technological system.

“There is a need for the upgrading of the approaches, the technology, among others to better the delivery of services to the city. It is not okay that we stick to our old system anymore, as times are changing, we also have the need to adapt and I am happy that Xavier University (XU) will help us on this,” Mayor Oscar Moreno said.

The project is spearheaded by XU through the Collaborative Service Learning Program of the university’s Kristohanong Katilingban sa Pagpakabana –Social Involvement Office (KKP-SIO) in coordination with the XU College of Computer Studies, School of Business and Management Accountancy, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Agricultural Development Community, and the College of Information Technology which is tasked to create technical aspect of the system.

A software on the database management will be developed by students of XU, the beneficiaries of which are the City Economic and Enterprise Department (CEED), the City Development and Planning Office (CPDO), and the Information and Communication Technology Office (ICTO).

To keep records through the use of the new technology which is less dependent on hard copy and more on storage of “soft copy” files, XU will create the Documents Tracking System (DTS).

THE DTS will ensure that documents will be preserved with integrity and that can improve efficiency in the delivery of public service by expediting government transactions, the MOU stated.

“To establish good governance that will anchor on transparency, accountability and public trust, this project is the answer,” Moreno said.

With the campaign, the City Information Office (CIO) is undertaking at present “Connecting Government and the People in collaboration with the Youth through Communications,” a radio and television airtime will be established to utilize for development communications, and this will assist students in training them to become better communicators.

This is an avenue for the students who want to publish their write-ups in the city’s publications.

Also to be launched is a GIS Mapping and Community Profiling (GIS-MCP) at Sitio Talungan for the CPDO-EMD where the sitio’s 40 families, who are Typhoon Sendong victims, reside.

Unlike the three programs where undergraduate XU students of XU will help create, the GIS-MCP will be however manned by the Masters of Information students of the university.

KKP director Nestor Banuag said the projects can definitely take the city to a higher level in terms of its system and its management to be competitive with the other cities in the country.

“I see a great future of the city with the four projects. Development after all is within its reach if we know how to utilize it,” Banuag said. All projects are free of cost.

Anniversary of terror attack in CDO recalled

Cris Diaz

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 26 (PNA) -– People in this premier capital of Northern Mindanao on Saturday commemorate the first anniversary of the bombing last year of a commercial hub that killed 9 people and wounded 48 others here.

Monsignor Elmer Abacahin, a Roman Catholic priest, who officiated an interfaith mass at the site of the bombing in Limketkai’s Commercial Complex, said in his homily that the Cagayanons were saddened of the bombing that shocked the entire country as well.

“Today, we commemorate one of the darkest history of terrors that shook the island of Mindanao with an optimism that justice be delivered to the victims and an ardent prayer that such inhumanity would never take place again,” Abacahin said.

The bombing that ripped through a crowd of professionals and visitors who were attending a national convention of doctors killed a medical practitioner and a member of the provincial board of Misamis Oriental.

Dan Lagbas, the eldest son of Misamis Oriental provincial board member Roldan Lagbas who died in the bomb explosion, said that his family is still craving for justice that led to the death of his father.

“There are times of the day that my mother cry for no reason at all. We know that she and us, the children, the excruciating pain of losing a husband and a father,” the young Lagbas said.

He said that the Lagbas family no longer heard updates of the bombing since the last time – two months after the bombing incident – that the family heard that the military and the police already identified the alleged suspects and perpetrators of the dastardly act.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have filed multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder against a certain “Usman Hapids” and five others in connection with the Limketkai bombing. However, the suspects have remained at large to this day.

The Limketkai bombing here occurred just as the city government was in the thick of preparing for the annual fiesta celebration in August.

City Councilor Ramon Tabor, chair of the city council committee on police, fire and public safety, on Monday expressed the concern on the city’s peace and order.

Tabor told the city council that prior to the bombing incident, there was a big event, which was the signing of the peace agreement between the MILF and the national government at that time.

He said that the bombing incident also took place in Zamboanga, Cotabato and Maguindanao.

Tabor warned the local police to be vigilant for fear that some groups might also want their presence felt at times when people are busy for a big event. (PNA) CTB/CD/RSM

WORM’S EYEVIEW: Let’s refocus, activate our role, and be in control!

Manny Valdehuesa

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/25 July) — We’re going through a period of voter anguish these days. There’s frustration and exasperation about chronic problems due to government’s inconsistent or errant behavior.

There’s anger about previously unimaginable plunder; many are sick and tired of endless news of abuse and venality that make a mockery of Matuwid na Daan.

Bewildered by this frustrating drift in the nation’s condition—over which we have no influence or control—we might just as well do something we can influence and control, and maybe derive some satisfaction from getting actual results.

It can’t be at national level, though, which is already overcrowded with wannabes and their gimmicks. Besides, the sheer volume and complexity of challenges at that level can be overwhelming for plain citizens to tackle. Even for one with great resources, and who devotes full time to it, the challenge can be daunting and end in deeper frustration.

Better to be practical and realistic, turning to fairly simple but important initiatives that are close to home, literally. In other words, tasks a citizen can and should do even with limited time, energy, and resources to spare.

The tasks should partake of nation-building—small chores in the community that make up the big things in the nation.

One such task is trying out autonomy or self-governance in our community, a task we citizens have not been performing although duty-bound to do so. The reason we haven’t done so, some say, has to do with a neglectful attitude or apathy. Others point to laziness, habitually relying on the few officials in the barangay hall to do the governing.

Yet we have long been mandated to govern ourselves, to make autonomy a reality in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

This principle requires that any task of government that can be done at a lower level should not be delegated to a higher level. It is the essence of autonomy or self-governance; but very few, if any, seem familiar with it—or, being used to rely on an oligarchic system, very few are comfortable with implementing it.

For example, the formulation of policies and plans for one’s community is supposed to be done in a participatory manner by the barangay constituents in conjunction with their local officials. But the officials don’t let them, preferring to do it by themselves.

The constituents aren’t even consulted. The officials don’t even bother to inform or invite them to hearings or meetings on the development planning process.

It has been like that since anybody can remember, such that even on rare times when they’re invited, they don’t bother to attend or participate.

This has had unfortunate effects. It has bred a cynical attitude. “What’s the use?”—people say, “they won’t listen to ideas or suggestions anyway!”

And it never seems to occur to the people that they can insist on participating; it’s their community, they’re the sovereign citizens, the officials are their public servants!

In fact, if they have no confidence in the officials, their public servants, they can replace them using their power of recall—taking back the power they delegated to them during the elections.

It takes only 50 signatures of the barangay’s constituents to trigger a recall initiative; but no one seems familiar with the procedure, or confident enough to initiate or spearhead it.

Meanwhile, without the people’s participation, no relevant policies or innovations are generated for the community and no comprehensive development plans are prepared.

This has been made plain where disaster after disaster strikes the barangays and neither the officials nor the residents are able to respond with any degree of preparedness.

Then since the officials are left to themselves, the plans and activities they do prepare are concerned with politically expedient programs and projects, which of course turn off the sensible constituents, deepening their apathy.

Thus, the official policy of autonomy for local governments starting with the barangays—our primary-level governments—still has to be realized after more than a generation since it was mandated. The people remain dependent on often incompetent or corrupt local officials who prefer things to remain as they are, meaning, under their total control.

For as long this situation prevails, the constitutional dictum that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them will remain meaningless to our people. And we shall never have a government of the people, by the people, or for the people!

Time to wake up and dust off your sovereignty, be assertive, and be in control of our republic!

Oro chosen as model on good practice

sunstar.com.ph


THE Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-10) in Northern Mindanao has chosen Cagayan de Oro City’s ‘Taxpayer-Friendly Kiosk and Automated Business Permit and Licensing System’ as ‘model on good practice’ among local government units in the region.

The selection came during the agency’s recent ‘Training on Documenting LGUs Good Practices’ which was participated in by 11 cities and municipalities in Region 10 and aimed at drafting a ‘reference document’ of its ‘model projects’ or ‘good practices’ that can be replicated among interested LGUs.

Unlike before, the clients now are experiencing hassle-free, convenient transactions at City Hall, especially at the City Treasurer’s Office, due to the establishment of a touch screen, self-service, multifunctional kiosk machine.

The ‘first-of-its-kind,’ in-house kiosk machine, which was developed and designed by the City Treasurer’s Office, can issue statements/receipts of bill on business tax, real property tax, professional tax, community tax (‘cedula’) and queuing or priority number when paying at the counter.

Through the innovative technology and assistance from the USAID-funded Project INVEST, faster and efficient service delivery has resulted to a remarkable almost 40 percent increase in the city’s tax collection during the first quarter this year as the city earned more than P412 million during the period as compared to P297 million on same period in 2013.

It can be recalled that Cagayan de Oro City received the Department of Science and Technology’s ‘e-Readiness Leadership Award’ last June for being ranking no. 1 among cities all over the Philippines in terms of e-governance primarily due to the city’s kiosk-based business permit and licensing system.

Armed men rob online casino in Cagayan de Oro

Joel Locsin


Motorcycle-riding men on Monday pulled off a predawn robbery of an online casino in Cagayan de Oro City, taking at least P45,000 in the establishment's earnings.

The men, numbering at least seven, struck at the online casino along J.R. Borja Extension in Barangay Camaman-an, GMA Northern Mindanao's Kaye Mercado reported.

Five of the men were armed and took the service firearm of the casino's security guard. The men fled aboard two motorcycles.

While the casino's staff locked down the establishment, they were forced to open the door after the armed men threatened to kill the security guards outside.

"Binuksan na lang nila kasi papatayin kami sa labas kung hindi nila bubuksan. Nariyan ako, tapos lima silang nakatutok ang baril sa akin," said security guard Zayas Salosad.

An investigation showed the men then poked a firearm at the cashier, who was forced to open the vault.

The robbers made off with P45,000, along with the wallets and mobile phones of the security guard and three casino staff.

PO3 Ramil Acero said they will check the footage from the closed-circuit television system to look for leads on the robbers.

In the meantime, police have set up checkpoints to catch the suspects. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News

THE WORM’S EYEVIEW: What if we empower the grassroots?

Manny Valdehuesa


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/22 Juy) — If we empower the grassroots or the masses, really empower them, it would be a good thing for the local governments.

The masses don’t care much for macro or large scale ideas; they’re better with the nitty gritty of things. Stark reality, not abstractions. Reality they can touch and smell and taste. Not the future, but the here and now; not tomorrow but today; and not the national but the local.

If they have a sense of ownership of their community, they would be more particular about their surroundings, more sensitive to official acts and decisions that affect them and their neighborhood directly. And they would be watchful about threats to peace and order, including incursions of traitorous insurgents.

So it would be good to get them truly enfranchised, aware and knowledgeable about the tasks of local governance. Then they will have a greater sense of ownership of the local government, as they ought to have being the people from whom all government authority emanates.

If they’re aware of the large amounts of money earned and collected by their barangay government—which belongs to the community but held in trust by the officials—they would be more concerned about where and how the money is invested. After all, the money, especially the IRA (internal revenue allotment), is really the barangay’s capital for investment but which the officials spend as if it’s a spending allowance. So they will want to be updated on the expenses and raise questions about local conditions are improved by spending these, especially what difference it makes in their own lives.

If they’re truly empowered, they would know how to punish or remove unreliable or corrupt officials without waiting for regular elections to take place. They would be active in the local governing processes, actually contribute ideas or suggestions on what problems to address and what programs or projects to undertake for their neighborhoods. And they’ll also want to know who are benefitting or not—and why.

Since they would be engaged in addressing the concerns or needs of the immediate community, they would be less preoccupied with Malacañang or Congress—whose activities interest them more like teleseryes do, as engaging bits for neighborhood discussion or marketplace gossip, a distraction to spice up their boring existential reality.

To be empowered means they can create their own prosperity within the framework of the community, enfranchised and not taken for granted as the officials presently treat them.

To be empowered is to be infused with the confidence of one who feels he is master of his fate, engaged in the task of governing a community, a sovereign citizen enjoying the blessings of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Such a government enables every citizen to focus on his quest of a better life, for a fruitful occupation, and a community-based livelihood that earns real dividends. (An empowering motive for striving).

To be empowered means having a voice and a say on the disposition of the community’s wealth, seeing to it that everyone gets a share according to his needs, while also contributing according to his ability.

What a great undertaking it would be if our bureaucracy can focus on efforts to empower the grassroots, turning our government into an empowering institution. Our people would then be at their resourceful best, able to express and apply their talent, turning idle or unutilized assets productive, and assuring earnings for poor.

A barangay of a few hundred families putting their heads together—collaborating to develop the local assets and spaces, mobilizing trade, services, cooperatives, and commercial opportunities within the jurisdiction—can expand the local economy, increase the gross barangay product, and produce benefits for everyone.

Too bad the idea isn’t being tried. We have the people, the technology, and the resources to do it. There are senior citizens with a wealth of experience and skills the community could benefit from. There are women handy with arts and crafts and culinary creations. There are youth and the still unemployed eager to employ energy and imagination to challenging pursuits including sports, the performing arts, technologies, and crafts.

All of them deserve opportunities for useful involvement. They have brains and imagination as sources of ideas, technology, and enterprises. But no one bothers to call on them, to organize, motivate, or challenge them to leave a lasting legacy.

What is lacking is leadership—expansive, imaginative, creative leadership. It’s ridiculous to think that there’s no such leadership in a community of hundreds of families. Our society needs them to induce the elusive progress and prosperity for our barangays.

Many of them lay hidden and anonymous in the barangay. There are educators, working or retired. There are architects and engineers. There are doctors and other health professionals, even scientists and technologists. There are artists, craftsmen, beauticians, assorted service providers. There are lawyers, entrepreneurs, accountants.

If local leaders would only try, they will find a host of other skilled, talented residents in their neighborhoods. But they might as well not be there, because they are ignored or unappreciated. They need avenues of service to open up. And there are more than enough of them to fire up a local volunteerism program for a barangay.

Many of them—retired, pensionado, well-off—don’t even need to be paid; they’ll work merely for the satisfaction and pleasure of doing so. But there they are, idle, at home or in obscure neighborhoods, unrecognized for what they can still contribute to community and humanity.

At the least, the best and outstanding among them should earn recognition and thanks for their services at the peak of their careers. But no official takes the initiative.

Is it because volunteers cannot be relied upon to play the game of partisan politics—the favorite game of the officials? Is it because officials prefer “paid volunteers” who then feel indebted and become grateful campaign workers and supporters at re-election time?

Too bad for the community in its need for role models. Too bad for society in its yearning for excellence. And too bad these potential but unknown heroes!

CEB's Tigerair Philippines launches Manila-Cagayan de Oro flights

Arnold Van Vugt

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 21 (PIA) --- Cebu Pacific Air (CEB), through its network made wider with Tigerair Philippines, expands its domestic network with the launch of Tigerair Philippines' Manila-Cagayan de Oro flights last 15 July 2014.

Utilizing an Aurbus A320 aircraft, the Manila-Cagayan de Oro maidedn flight departed NAIA Terminal 4 in Manila at 10:00 a.m. and landed in Cagayan de Oro at 11:30 a.m. The return flight departed Cagayan de Oro at 12:30 p.m. and landed in Manila at 2:00 p.m.

"Tigerair Philippines remains committed to providing the travelling public more travel options and low fares. The launch of firect flights to Cagayan de Oro increases accessibility to northern Mindanao," said Atty. Leilani de Leon, Tigerair Philippines chief legal and corporate affairs.

Cagayan de Oro is a key government, commercial anf tourism hub in the region. It is the gateway to eco-adventure atrracttions such as white water rafting and canopy walks, and is a rapidly developing city with myriad shopping and hotel options.

Tigerair Philippines now operates approximately 220 weekly flights to one international and eight domestic destinations:Hongkong, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Iloilo, Kalibo, Manila, Puerto Princesa and Tacloban. It utlizes a fleet of four Airbus A320 aircraft.





Revisiting the past

Arnold Van Vugt

The Living Spirit


LAST June 17 one of our Filipino Carmelite Priests, Fr. Eddie Albiño, had suddenly died from heart attack. After saying Mass in the morning in our parish church in San Francisco, Agusan Sur, he succumbed and was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

It was a great shock for all of us Carmelites in the Philippines. Fr. Eddie was only 63 years old. His funeral was set for June 25 and together with my wife I went to San Francisco to attend the funeral. We arrived in San Francisco on June 24 at 12 midnight where Fr. Eddie was laid out for the wake. His face was bloated because of the embalmment and I hardly recognized him. The next day we attended the funeral Mass and the burial in the new cemetery of San Francisco.

San Francisco is a very memorable place for us Carmelites. In the old cemetery in San Francisco is buried Fr. Engelbert van Vilsteren O. Carm, who was parish priest in San Francisco when he was killed in 1973 in a mistaken identity by a group of Rizalians, who had opposed the declaration of martial law during the plebiscite called for by Marcos.

Fr. Engelbert was still very young. He had newly arrived from Holland as a missionary and this was his first assignment. When he died he was one of the first martyrs under the martial law regime. Another Carmelite who is buried there is Br. Isagani Valle, a Filipino seminarian of the Carmelites who was salvaged in Buenavista, Agusan Norte, while he was on exposure there. He was killed because he was an anti-martial law activist.

San Francisco is a memorable place for us in particular. It was here that my wife, Lorna, lost her husband in the infamous Antongalon Massacre in 1985. Her 6 young children were left without a father and this prompted me to leave the priesthood in 1988 and marry his widow Lorna Malicay and adopt her children. It was an experience which has left an unforgettable trauma in the children that still has its ill-effects until now.

After 3 years we received also a daughter of our own whom we consider to be a gift of God and a clear sign that God has approved of my decision to leave the priesthood, which I never in my life would have expected to happen. Since that time we officially became Lay Carmelites and associate members of the Carmelite Order.

Coming back on Fr. Eddie Albiño, he was the first Filipino Superior of the Carmelites in the Philippines. He has in his own way contributed very much to the Filipinization of the Order. On his mortuary card are printed his own words in his memory, I quote: “Whatever status or position we have now, it is because we are Carmelites, and we cannot brag about it. The Order does not owe us gratitude; rather, it is us, simply because we were the ones, who opted to be Carmelites. In this way we can easily learn to live out our religious life and vows in a very simple way.” This is a full-length portrait of Fr. Eddie – Rev. Fr. Eduardo Castillon Albiño, O.Carm.

Fr. Eddie was a very simple and humble Carmelite. Testimonies about Fr. Eddie during the wake and the funeral Mass of so many friends of Eddie were very emotional and these showed very clearly how much he was loved by so many people. Fr. Albiño had been assigned as social action director of the Diocese of Butuan. I feel my association with Eddie because I myself was assigned as social action director in Iligan City. That was a horrible experience for me as a priest. Because of my involvement in the labor movement I was put in detention in Camp Tipanoy and handcuffed brought to Manila and under escort brought to the plane that deported me from the Philippines.

As a priest and a foreign missionary I felt terribly humiliated like Bong Revilla must have felt as a senator when he was put in chains. But in his case he is a big criminal but in my case I was totally innocent of the charges they had filed against me except for Marcos who had declared my involvement in a strike in Iligan City illegal and deported me as an undesirable alien. Our visit to San Francisco was indeed a re-visiting the past similar to what Renato Constantino describes in his book, ‘The past revisited’.

On another note, I am still supporting President Aquino in his stand regarding the legality of the DAP. He is right in filing a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court. Of course, there must be a separation of powers but as President he has the right to stick to his guns when it comes to following his ‘straight path’ and fighting corruption and dishonesty of our government officials. For me, Aquino is still the best president we had since the ouster of Marcos.

Village officials ‘behind’ illegal mining, logging

Froilan Gallardo


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/19 July)- The international outrage against Israel’s invasion in Gaza has sparked protest rallies in some parts of Mindanao.

Around 30 Muslim students joined by their Christian fellows from various universities here staged a protest rally at the Freedom Kiosk in Divisoria, Cagayan de Oro City today (Saturday).

The students, some waving miniature Palestinian flags, urged the United Nations to stop the Israeli invasion in Gaza.

“We want the international community and the United Nations to see the injustice and violence brought by the Israeli invasion against the people in Gaza,” said Prof. Mehmet Derindag of Liceo de Cagayan University.

Last Thursday, Maranao youth burned an Israeli flag in Marawi City to show their outrage and support to the Palestinian residents.


Similar protests were also reported in the key Mindanao cities of Davao, General Santos and Cotabato over the week as the Israeli army stepped up their offensive along the Gaza strip where militants kept firing rockets to Israel.

“Innocent Palestinians fell victim to the violence. Children are dying,” Derindag said.

Jalani Pamlian of the Muslim Youth Center said the Muslim communities around the world cannot simply watch the Israeli army bomb the houses in Gaza.

Pamlian said most of those who died were not combatants but civilians caught in the crossfire.

“We can not leave Gaza alone. This Ummah (community) will not leave Gaza alone,” he said. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)

Village officials ‘behind’ illegal mining, logging

Alyssa C. Clenuar


A GOVERNMENT official and an environmental advocate alleged that some barangay officials are involved in the illegal mining and logging operations in the city’s upland villages.

“I am very sure the barangay captains are behind all of these widespread illegal mining and logging activities in the upper lands of the city,” Orlando Ravanera, regional director of Cooperative Development Authority said during the press conference at Cagayan de Oro Press Club’s “Media Konek” on July 17, 2014.

Ravanera chairs the local environmental group Sulog–One Sendong is Enough.

Ravanera said during their operations coupled with intelligence reports, the village chiefs of the five barangays along the upstream area of the Iponan River are allegedly running the extensive mining and logging operations.

“Although I would not name them for confidentiality purposes, but yes, the barangay captains and kagawads are the ones who spearhead the mining and logging businesses in the mountains,” Ravanera added.

He questioned the Environment Protection Order (EPOs) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to participating government agencies, which failed to act on the environmental problems in the upper area of the Iponan river.

Sulog is currently fast-tracking its request for a dialogue with other agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division (4ID), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Environment Management Bureau (EMB) and DENR, to be included in its letter to the Court of Appeals.

“Sulog is seeking for a dialogue from the government agencies after we submit further reports on the order of the protection of the watershed in Iponan,” he said.

Edwin Dael, head of City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) also said that one of the bases that barangay officials are indirectly or directly involved is the sudden change of their lifestyle which is irreconcilable with their monthly salaries.

“There are many barangay captains and kagawads I know personally who do not have the kind of opulent lifestyle before. They can barely eat but now they have numerous cars and huge mansions. How could you explain that?” Dael said.

In their operations, Dael said they have been receiving reports that some of them (village officials) are really financing while others are merely protecting and operating the mining and logging activities.

“The bottom line here is that whatever their participation in the illegal activities, they are definitely receiving money from it,” he added.

Military participation

Ravanera also recalled his experience in 1991 when a grenade was lobbed at a group of people protesting which included him.

“We exactly remember everything they did to us. We figured out already that it was from the military because the grenade used can only be purchased and found in the military,” he said.

In the last anti-mining operations the group conducted, a backhoe was found which has long been missing and allegedly owned by a high-ranking military official.

Dael added the army official denied the allegations and claimed he rented the backhoe from a barangay captain in another village.

Dael admitted that there are still widespread illegal activities in the upper areas of the city until now.

Majority bloc councilors urged to hasten road project

Alyssa C. Clenuar


THE Cagayan de Oro City Council’s minority bloc wants to speed up the farm-to-market road (FMR) project in various villages where a counterpart from the city government is needed to bankroll its construction.

City councilor Lourdes Darimbang said they wish to hasten the project so that residents’ needs in the hinterland barangays can be addressed immediately instead of hindering it.

“I wish they could stop arguing about the project saying that there are some requirements which have not yet been met. All of them have already been submitted and now we wait for the city council’s approval only,” Darimbang said.

The FMR will cover nine barangays in the hinterlands, namely, Tumpagon, Pigsag-ang, Tuburan, Taglimao, Pagalungan, Tagpangi, Besigan, Tinagpuluan and Dansolihon.

Last June 26, 2014, 24 tribal leaders of the nine barangays sent a letter to Vice-mayor and presiding officer Caesar Ian Acenas asking him to persuade the city council to sign the 10 percent equity fund.

The 10-kilometer project is estimated to cost about P120 million which comes from the Department of Agriculture, and the P12 million must be shouldered by the city.

Fausto Orasan, the spokesperson of the city’s tribal leaders, said there are so many requirements that were allegedly unaccomplished that delayed the approval of the city council.

“There were so many requirements like the road-right-of-way in which has already been accomplished,” Orasan said.

City Administrator Roy Raagas added that money is already available but it needs the approval of the city council.

“Naa gyud kwarta ang syudad man. Wala na gyud ta’y problema ana. Approval na lang atong gitagad,” Raagas said.

The project has already been approved at the Committee on Public Works and Engineering and it will be passed to the Committee of Finance, chaired by City Councilor President Elipe, for evaluation of its budget. Darimbang said they will definitely encounter a problem when the project goes to Elipe.

“When the project will be passed to Elipe, I do not know how long will it take for him to approve the project knowing that in every project the city does, he counters,” she said during the press conference on the city’s clarification of Commission on Audit (COA) findings where Elipe presented issues regarding the discrepancies in the current administration during the city council session last Monday. Elipe is a member of the city council’s majority bloc.

“Everything is already submitted man gyud. Pero kana [Elipe’s actions] kay pamikil lang gyud na,” Darimbang said.

Reopening of LTO’s satellite office in CDO pushed

(PNA), CTB/CD/AR/EM/UTB

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 16 (PNA) -– Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, of Cagayan De Oro City, on Wednesday has expressed support for the reopening of the extension office of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Puerto here.

The LTO has padlocked it’s extension office in the village of Puerto in the city’s east coast last May 24, 2014 to pave the way for the centralization of the new registration schemes for vehicles in Northern Mindanao.

Rodriguez said that he would pass a resolution in Congress this week for the reopening and the establishment of the LTO’s permanent extension office in Puerto, Cagayan De Oro City.

“I will also ask Congress to appropriate an amount for the construction of the permanent building for the LTO’s office in Puerto,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also promised to personally bring the resolutions of various transport groups and local government units here asking the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) in Manila to reopen the LTO-Puerto office.

The closure of the LTO office has triggered protests from clients and stakeholders in Misamis Oriental who complained the difficulty in transacting business at the LTO’s regional office in Bulua, a coastal village west of Cagayan De Oro City.

Jesus Chan, a senior official at the LTO’s regional office, said that the LTO-Puerto entertains about 400 to 500 clients daily – most of the clients came from the east district of Misamis Oriental from the towns of Tagolo-an to Magsaysay, the last town in Misamis Oriental in the border of Agusan Del Norte.

He said that the LT0-Puerto contributes as much as P 20 million a month in licensing and registration fees for the LTO’s regional coffers.

Gilarion E. Ulep, the LTO regional director, said that LTO Assistant Secretary Virginia P. Torres has already approved the reopening of the LTO-Puerto extension office.

Ulep, however, said that the LTO regional office has not received the order approving the reopening of the LTO-Puerto office.

He said that he wrote an appeal letter to the LTO Assistant Secretary last July 2 in response to the public clamor asking for the reopening of the LTO-Puerto District Office.

Amendment to CDO’s tourism law pushed

By Aida Raut [(PNA), CTB/CD/AR/UTB]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 15 (PNA) -- The city’s local tourism board is pushing for the amendment of some provisions of the city’s ordinance on tourism establishments here.

City Councilor Candy Darimbang, chair of the City Council Committee on Tourism, said on Tuesday that the amendment intends to reclassify the status of various hotels, pension houses, apartments, and resorts here.

She said that the proposed amendment is intended for purposes of registration and licensing and the introduction of new tourism laws.

The city’s Ordinance No. 5239-96, known as the Cagayan De Oro City Tourism Establishments Regulatory Ordinance of 1996, where some provisions have to be amended in order to cope with the demands of the time.

For instance, Darimbang said, the deluxe hotels should be classified into 5- Star Hotel, first class hotels to be classified as 4-star hotel, standard hotels to 3-star hotel, economy class hotels to 2-star hotel and budget hotels.

In a meeting with stakeholders last week, Josephine Roque, of the Department of Tourism (DOT), here furnished the committee with a copy of the assessment booklet, which shall be provided to all existing accommodation enterprises.

Roque said that the material will update and appraise the owners of the hotels, resorts and apartment hotels of the new set of criteria and standard that will be used in the assessment of the establishment’s star rating classification.

However, tourist inns, pension houses and motels will still use the old classification system, the tourism committee said.

The DOT said that the classification of hotels is represented with the “star point system” where the criteria is divided into seven dimensions to include the arrival and departure areas; public area; bedrooms; bathrooms; food and beverage, amenities and services and business practices.

Catalino Chan, the DOT regional director in Northern Mindanao, said that the DOT would dispatch a team of auditors to evaluate tourism- related establishments in the city in order to ensure compliance of the new guidelines in the renewal of the accreditations.

Chan suggested that the new guidelines should be included in the amendment of the local tourism code, especially the provision of, at least, two rooms for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) as well as the strict compliance of the installation of sprinklers, fire exits and elevators, that accommodate two wheelchairs.

Darimbang also want the tourism code to compel hotels to have medicines to provide the medical needs of hotel guests, train personnel in basic lifesaving techniques, and hire “on call” medical personnel such as nurse and physicians to attend to the medical needs of hotel guests.

Bill seeks airport privatization proceeds to fund Mindanao Railway System

By Xianne Arcangel/VS, GMA News

The first phase construction of the proposed 2,000-kilometer Mindanao Railway System (MRS) may soon be a reality if the bill filed by Representatives Rufus Rodriguez and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. is passed into law.

House Bill 4059 seeks to appropriate the proceeds of the privatization and sale of the old Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City to finance the MRS project.

“With the opening of the Laguindingan International Airport in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental in June last year, the old Lumbia Airport is not being used anymore,” the lawmakers said in the bill’s explanatory note.

The Lumbia Airport used to be the second busiest gateway in Mindanao, after the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City, until it closed in 2013 due to safety issues.

The Laguindingan Airport, which boasts of state-of-the-art facilities, is now the main airport of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities.

The Department of Transportation and Communication has confirmed that the Lumbia Airport will be privatized through a public process based on Executive Order No. 323 or the rules and regulations covering the state privatization program.

DOTC previously said proceeds from the privatization of the old Lumbia Airport may be used to finance other government infrastructure programs.

For the brothers Rodriguez, the money from the airport’s privatization should be “devoted exclusively” to finance the first phase of the MRS – the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Railway project.

The 124-kilometer line will traverse 10 coastal municipalities in Misamis Oriental, including Lugait, Manticao, Laguindingan, El Salvador and Opol.

The feasibility study for the MRS is being reviewed if it could be implemented as a public -private partnership (PPP) project.

HB 4059 has been pending with the House Transportation committee since March 10, 2014. – Xianne Arcangel/VS, GMA News

MGA NAGPAPA-DEDE, DAPAT MAY BREAK / Moms bat for strict implementation of breastfeeding law

By Mark Francisco, Philippines News Agency


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- A group of nursing mothers in Cagayan de Oro is batting for strict implementation of Republic Act (RA) 10028, otherwise known as the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009.

Section 11 of RA 10028 specifically states that all workplaces must have a lactation station and that a nursing mother must be allowed 40 minutes to break each working shift to pump milk in her privacy.

The Cagayan de Oro-based group Mommy Bright Side made the call after the National Nutrition Council released on Wednesday a report listing the number of malnourished children in Northern Mindanao at 32,738.

Even though that number was relatively lower compared to 2012 and 2011 levels, Mommy Bright Side was not impressed. “That could have gone down a lot lower if only breastfeeding is practiced religiously here such as pumping breast milk in workplaces,” Mommy Bright Side founder Nadine Casiño said.

In April this year, Unicef Philippines said that child mortality could have been prevented if children are not malnourished.

The Unicef said that the number one source of nutrition in this precarious stage from zero to five years old is mother’s milk, not the one processed from cows.

“Infants should be exclusively breastfed from birth to six months and should continue to breastfeed up to two years old and beyond while receiving a variety of foods,” Unicef recommended in the report, which also accompanied the rate of child mortality in the region, pegged at 40 out of 1,000 births.

For that, Casiño and her band of nursing mothers is touring cities in Northern Mindanao advocating for breastfeeding up to two years old.

They have observed that most workplaces, even in the regional capital of Cagayan de Oro don’t have lactation stations for working moms.

Major shopping malls here have breastfeeding stations, but the thousands of other establishments and government offices don’t have.

Casiño pointed out that under RA 10028, a breastfeeding station must have a lavatory for hand washing, refrigerator for storing pumped milk, at least one electrical outlet for breast pumps, a small table, and at least one comfortable seat.

Unicef Philippines have emphasized the economic cost of breastfeeding failure by mothers – in 2013, an average Filipino family spent P 4,756.84 in processed infant milk – a product they could do without. Instead, a household with an infant spent an average of P 4,019.83 in pediatric care in 2013 – expenses they also could do without.

Organizations like Mommy Bright Side are trying to stress these disparities and their efforts are not in vain. Since March, they’ve been organizing breastfeeding awareness seminars at a local hospital here. By the next few months, they are looking forward to partnering with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for strict implementation of RA 10028.

In that way, the P 8,776.67 incurred yearly by a Filipino family for pediatric and processed milk could be dispensed with. And malnutrition and child mortality in Northern Mindanao would be lowered as a result.

THE WORM’S EYEVIEW: The importance of people power in the community

By Manny Valdehuesa o


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/12 July) — The long standing case of the Ampatuan Massacre—since 2009 yet! Under Gloria yet!—is a frustrating lesson for all of us. The full story may never be told—of the Arroyo administration’s coddling of the warlord clan, of the military’s manipulations, and so on.

The Ampatuans, ruling clan of much of Central Mindanao, with patriarch Andal Ampatuan as Maguindanao governor at the time, had accumulated political and economic power over the years while the people and Malacañang merely sat back and watched or even cheered Andal on as their foil against the MILF.

By 2009 Andal and his clan had amassed such power, influence, and wealth that anything they wanted could not be denied including government-supplied munitions and equipment like transport and backhoes.

The rest of the people resigned themselves to the ugly reality that even high officials tolerated, which reinforced the warlord’s swagger, self-importance, and sense of impunity all the more.

So intimidating was his power and reach that one would have to play the hero or be a martyr to oppose it. And that’s exactly what happened when Toto Mangudadatu tried to defy the clan by declaring his candidacy against the patriarch. Luckily for Toto, he wasn’t with the convoy of over 50 that was ambushed and massacred including his wife and 32 journalists.

This is a problem from hell for Mindanaons, always being played with by people in power on all levels. A Muslim friend from Cotabato, an educated man, tells me it’s a problem that only God can solve, and I cannot disagree.

But I do believe also that God has given us, men and women, untold resources for solving our own problems. We just have to know how to use these resources and employ them for our purposes. One sure thing, though: cowardice won’t do; there must be defiance, and for that we have people power.

As citizens of the sovereign community, the one resource that can be effective but which Mindanaons don’t employ is collective action. It worked at EDSA against Marcos and his fascist troops—I know because I was there with my family (wife and children) from start to finish—and it worked again when we ousted Erap.

Sure, protest or defiance can be scary: armed versus our unarmed forces. It is heart-pounding. It makes your knees tremble. It drains the color from your face as cold sweat trickle down your chest and back.

But the togetherness, the nearness to one another of citizens fighting for a cause, bonded by unity of purpose, wins the day. Just like at EDSA, people power is scary. But when citizens stand pat and hold the line; even with eyes shut but arms and hearts linked, they win day…and night! That’s now part of the story of democracy in our society. Something to savor even for the faint of heart.

Braving the showdown unarmed, surviving and prevailing, did something to the Filipino and the world and made life worth living all over again after the dark night of dictatorship.

It would be such a pity if, having already tested our mettle as a people, we do not summon it again as necessary. That time, it was in Manila; this time it can be in Mindanao, a tougher challenge. But Mindanaons have shown their toughness when times get tough: against Spaniards, against Americans, against Japanese, against Marcos!

To summon the spirit of People Power and let it arise in Mindanao would be such a spectacle! This will happen if we are resolute and determined to steer our society away from neutral and move to a forward mode.

We just have to wake up and dust off the cobwebs that keep us from seeing deeply into ourselves as citizens vested with inherent power—a power we can wield in place, right where we are in our community, our barangay.

This power is not granted from above, nor is it conferred by law or fiat. It has always been with us since the beginning of our nationhood, to be used or employed at will. Only, we have not been conscious of it because we have been looking in the wrong direction.

To appreciate and know this power, and to employ its potential for influencing the bureaucracy or reforming the system, we need only to refocus—from the top to the base, from Malacañang and Congress to our community, the barangay.

It is in the barangay where the details of our national problems are starkly manifest. The squatters, the juvenile and adult delinquents, criminality, the agonized faces of poverty and injustice: they are all in the barangay. Viewed from higher levels, it’s all statistics, aggregate data, impersonal.

Seeing them in their naked reality gives a realistic perspective that, on the scale of our barangay, can make their solutions doable.

If we focus on this reality and invest even a little time and effort, together we can change these details and improve the nation’s condition—much as rearranging the dots in a photograph or retouching its details can change the picture.

Although the task of changing the details rests primarily with our officials, it falls to us, the community to whom all officials are accountable, to see that they perform the job properly, efficiently, and honestly.

Let us use people power to moderate the excesses of government and provide quality control to official performance. People power includes civil society, the professions, the social and economic institutions who together can turn bad governance into good governance.

Reloc site identified for families affected by mega-dike

By Alyssa C. Clenuar


THE Cagayan de Oro City Government said it has already identified a potential relocation site for the residents who will be affected by the mega dike project, a 12-kilometer flood-protection structure which is expected to be built in 2015.

City Social and Welfare Development (CSWD) officer Teddy Sabuga-a told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro on Thursday that Barangay Balubal is the most feasible relocation for the approximately 2,000 affected families.

“There is a relocation site for them; Balubal is the model area. Logically, when you make a project where people will be affected, there has to have a relocation site for them, otherwise the project will be non-sense,” Sabuga-a said in a weekly press conference at Cagayan de Oro Press Club.

Shelter plan

On Thursday, CSWD announced the drafting of its Shelter Plan which according to them is the ultimate answer to the problems of houses affected by flood and other calamities, and government projects.

“First and foremost, a house would not get flooded if it was well-planned prior to its construction. It’s all in the planning so that is why we are trying to focus on that aspect,” he said.

In the plan, shanties built along waterways and creeks are also included.

He added that dwellings along Bitan-ag creek in Claro M. Recto Avenue get flooded every time there is downpour. It is one of city government’s priorities under its program “Hapsay Sapa.”

“Residents should not build their houses in the “no-build zone.” Obvious man jud kaayo na. But of course, the role of the government is to listen to its people as to whatever their cries are,” he said.

“We are taking baby steps on this since we do not want to have rash decisions. But this would not be that difficult since there is an intervention from the national government,” Sabuga-a added, referring to the mega dike construction.

An Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) must be issued to the city government before the site development and the relocation.

Doubtful

Rhodora Bulosan, regional coordinator of women’s group Gabriela-10, however, doubts if all families affected will all be given a house and lot at the relocation site.

“Even the Sendong-affected families have not all been transferred to the relocation site yet, how much more to those who will be affected by the megadike construction?” Bulosan said.

Bulosan is a Sendong survivor but did not apply for the relocation program of the City Government since the damages to her properties are not that massive compared to her neighbors, she said.

“Some of my neighbors are still at their temporary shelters. There are also families [still living in] their temporary shelters since there are no relocation houses for them. That stretches from Cala-cala to Consolacion. I do not think the [city] government is prepared. If there is, I do not know if that is true,” she said.

Bulosan emphasized that they are not against whatever development the city is undertaking.

“We support the government, actually. But they must also know that their priority should not only be up to the investors but also the people,” she added.







CDO to utilize mobile phones in all financial transactions

By Gerry Lee Gorit, The Philippine Star

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 10 (PNA) -– The city council here has approved an Ordinance for the adoption of the Electronic Payment and Collection System (EPCS) for all financial transactions with the city government with the use of mobile phones.

City Councilor Prexy Elipe, chair of the city council’s committee on finance, ways and means, said on Thursday that after the city government finds a telecommunication provider, any businessman would be able to pay taxes due the city government by using mobile phones.

The city government would initially implement the Ordinance No. 12807-2014 through the services of major telecommunication providers such Globe, Smart, and other cellular phone companies, Elipe added.

The ordinance cites that the adoption of the EPCS would advance the city’s investment promotion policy and an enabling environment that would encourage more investments and generate economic activity in the city.

Elipe said that the Ordinance is in consonance with Republic Act No. 8792, also known as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 that would create an information-friendly environment which supports and ensures the availability, diversity and affordability of Information Communication Technology products and services.

The General Welfare Clause of the Local Government Code of the Philippines also encourages the development of appropriate, a self-reliant technological capability that enhance comfort and convenience of the people, Elipe added.

He said that with the approval of the EPCS ordinance, the city is now ready to enter a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with any communication provider and act on separate legislation to authorize the city executive to sign the MOA with the telecommunication companies. (PNA) LAM/CD/AR/UTB

2 NPA rebels in mayor's slay identified

By Gerry Lee Gorit(The Philippine Star)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Police have identified two New People's Army (NPA) guerrillas involved in the July 2 ambush-killing of Mayor Mario Okinlay of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon.

Senior Superintendent David Umbao, regional deputy police director, said the suspects – brothers Joven and Efren Yanggo – belong to Front Committee 89 of the NPA’s Northern Mindanao Regional Committee.

In a statement last Saturday, the NPA owned up to the killing of Okinlay who it accused of committing anti-people and anti-insurgency activities.

Superintendent Isagani Genabe, Region 10 police director, said police units are working round the clock to arrest the suspects and give justice to the Okinlay family.

Hundreds of peace advocates joined Impasug-ong municipal employees and supporters of Okinlay in an indignation rally Monday, calling for swift justice for the mayor’s death.

Okinlay was leading a convoy of municipal employees, escorted by soldiers and policemen, from a medical mission in a remote village when an NPA sniper’s bullet felled him. He died while being treated a few hours after the ambush.

Allan Juanito, the NPA’s North Central Mindanao spokesman, said in the statement that Okinlay’s killing should serve notice to local officials in the region of the consequences of their counter-revolutionary activities.

Juanito said they had given warnings to Okinlay, but he ignored these.

PNP condemns the killing of Impasugong town mayor

By pia.gov.ph

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 8 – The leadership of Police Regional Office (PRO), region 10, condemned ambush killing of Impasugong town mayor Mario T. OKinlay.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) will not stop until justice will be served, according to police chief superintendent Isagani F. Genabe Jr, regional director, PRO-10.

The Special Investigation Task Group-Okinlay (SITG-Okinlay) is continuously conducting further investigation to identify other culprits in this incident. A manhunt operation is still being conducted by its troops against the suspects.

Further, the intelligence personnel are still in the field for intelligence build-up.

Meanwhile, a P50,000.00 will be rewarded for any information gathering leading to the arrest of the suspects.

A case of murder was filed against Joven S. Yanggo, Efren S. Yanggo and Ryan Daluniay before the Provincial Prosecutors Office in Malaybalay City docketed under NPS No.X-01-INV-146-00231.

Any information leading to the arrest of the suspects, please text or call the following numbers: PSSupt Pedro A Austria (RTG), 09175282458; PSSupt Glen dela Torre (SITG-Okinlay, 09065078466; PInsp Joan T Galvez (PIO-Bukidnon PPO), 0906938893; and PSupt Michael M Pareja (PIO PRO-10), 09494822264. (PRO10)

USAID execs visit CDO

By philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines - Representatives from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently toured the facilities Primavera Residences, a green, mixed-use condo complex developed by ItalpinasEuroasian Design and Eco-Development Corp. (ITPI) in Cagayan de Oro City, as part of the agency’s Investment Enabling Environment (INVEST) Project. ITPI is a Filipino-Italian property development firm specializing in sustainable architecture and design, and its first project is in Cagayan de Oro City,one of the only three Philippine cities visited by USAID to promote economic growth in key areas across the Asia Pacific region through the INVEST Project. The other cities are Batangas and Iloilo. USAID officials headed by mission director Gloria Steele and assistant administrator for Asia Denise Rollins were given a quick tour of Primavera Residences, which highlighted the green features of the building. ITPI’s projects are supported by the CTI Private Financing Advisory Network (CTI-PFAN), which is a funding partner of USAID. Primavera Residences is the only condo property in Cagayan de Oro visited by USAID. “USAID has been one of our active supporters and we are pleased to be a part of this visit and share with them our innovative approach on sustainable development,” said ITPI executive chairman and CEO Romolo V. Nati. Primavera Residences is an eco-friendly twin-tower condo complex located in Uptown Cagayan de Oro. Its green features include photovoltaic solar panels that will be fitted on the building’s rooftop to produce its own energy. Its exterior walls also have cantilevered edges that provide shade and minimize the amount of direct sunlight that hits its windows. Because of its green features, it recently won in the 2014-2015 Asia Pacific Property Awards for Best Mixed-Use Development in the Philippines, given in Malaysia. In 2010, the property was cited by CTI-PFAN as one of the promising clean energy investment opportunities in the Philippines during the Philippine Clean Energy Investor Forum. To know more about Primavera Residences, visit

No let-up in hunt for mayor’s killers

By Gerry Lee Gorit (The Philippine Star)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Pursuit operations against the communist rebels who killed the mayor of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon last Wednesday are going on without let-up, the military said.

Maj. Christian Uy, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said government troops are backed up by two military helicopters in scouring the forested area of Bukidnon where the New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas behind the killing of Mayor Mario Okinlay are believed to be hiding.

Uy confirmed an earlier police statement that Okinlay had received death threats from the NPA.

Okinlay was driving his big bike as he led a convoy of municipal employees and Army and police escorts from an outreach mission in remote Barangay Bontongan when the attack took place.

“He was the main target and since he was leading the convoy, he was an easy target of the three rebel ambushers strategically positioned on the roadside,” said Maj. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Cagayan de Oro City-based 4th ID.

Okinlay was hit in the abdomen and back, and died three hours after the ambush while being treated at the Polymedic Hospital in Malaybalay City.

Citing field reports, Visaya said residents of Impasug-ong, a first-class municipality, are staging an indignation rally tomorrow.

“The people of Impasug-ong are now organizing themselves to denounce the killing on Monday of their beloved mayor,” he said.

Uy said the NPA killed Okinlay for bringing government service to Bontongan village, eroding the NPA’s influence in the area.

Members of the NPA’s Front 89 are believed to be behind the ambush.

Water dwellers in Cagayan de Oro grow organic vegetables in small-scale container gardens

By Bong D. Fabe (Correspondent)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Every morning, Evelyn Galitche, her neighbors Monley Tamula, Emilyn Monsion, Carmela Monsion and Lorregie Abat go out to their gardens just outside their doorsteps to harvest fresh vegetables for breakfast.

Before, these mothers went to the nearest public market, some 5 kilometers away, and spent at least P150 a day to buy food, mostly vegetables and spices, to feed their families.

“But now, we just go outside our homes and onto our container gardens for whatever we want for our meal,” said Abat, 41, a mother of nine.

But unlike ordinary gardens, these mothers’ gardens are composed of discarded containers, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, broken pails, used sacks and even tetra pots (tetra packs sewn together to form a container) arranged on wooden A-risers.

At a glance, their urban container gardens (UCGs) look like other ordinary container gardens. But at closer inspection, they are unlike other UCGs as they are built on stilts atop. Like their houses built on stilts along the mouth of the Cagayan de Oro River in Sitio Puntabon, Barangay Bonbon, their container gardens are connected by a network of bamboo bridges.

UCG is more fun

YES, these “water dwellers” have conquered their surroundings and found a way to grow delicious, nutritious organic vegetables not only for their own consumption but also as an income-generating activity.

“I never thought that I will be able to grow vegetables here,” said Monley Tamula, 22, spreading her arms to indicate her surroundings. Originally from Baungon, Bukidnon, Tamula admitted she missed her hometown. But since learning to do urban container gardening, her longing for her previous life in the farm gradually eased.

“This is very good as this helps in our daily needs. Besides, the vegetables are very fresh,” she said.

These UCG practitioners grow pechay, kangkong, radish, carrots, scallions, stringbeans, tomatoes, eggplant, okra, malabar nightshade (alugbati), bell pepper, camote tops, bitter gourd (ampalaya), ginseng, oregano, gynura, menthol, mayana, talimughat, kulitis, garlic, ginger, tarragon, rosemary, malunggay, celery, lettuce, cabbage, lemongrass (tanglad) and other vegetables.

Carmela Monsion, 53, used to grow flowers on pots to beautify her home. But since learning UCG, she switched to vegetables because “vegetables are not only pleasing to the eyes; they can also be eaten.”

“Growing vegetables is more fun because you get to eat them,” said Carmela’s daughter, 23-year-old Emilyn Monsion, a mother of three. To further fertilize her container garden, Emilyn experimented with urine-based fertilizer (UBF). And much to her surprise, her vegetables are much larger than those without UBF.

“This is the best strategy to help clean our environment and fight hunger and nutritional deficiencies because this encourages recycling, proper waste management, resource management aside from helping families grow their own organic food right where they live,” said Evelyn Galitche, 56, a mother of 17 and a grandmother of 60.

Adds necessary nutrients

URBAN agriculture strategies such as UCG are becoming a must in cities where many residents lack the necessary nutritional requirements due to the fast-paced life compared to rural areas.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said a typical Filipino diet lacks nutrients.

“Food supply and how it is distributed and consumed by the populace have consequent impact on nutritional status. While reports indicate that there are enough food to feed the country, many Filipinos continue to go hungry and become malnourished due to inadequate intake of food and nutrients. In fact, except for protein, the typical Filipino diet was found to be grossly inadequate for energy and other nutrients,” said the FAO Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department.

These mothers’ UCGs on stilts are adding to the dwindling supply of nutritious vegetables in the market, as climate change is negatively affecting the country’s agricultural production by about 5 percent to 7 percent, according to the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Fishery and Natural Resources Research and Development, a line agency of the Department of Science and Technology.

The Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Agricultural Research said “vegetable production in the Philippines is highly seasonal,” with bulk of production occuring from October to November. But with UCG, delicious, nutritious organic vegetables are grown all-year round.

Teaches children to eat vegetables

THE Philippines’s very own classic nursery song “Bahay Kubo” has immortalized vegetables as the single food group that children memorized early in life. But come dining time, only very few children appreciate and eat vegetables. The song is not enough to propel eating vegetables to stardom in the dining table.

But with UCG, children learn to take care of vegetables and appreciate them and their nutritional values. Besides, UCG is helping landless urban families contribute to food (nutrition) security and help them diversify their income aside from helping fight hunger.

The 2013 Global Hunger Index (GHI): The Challenge of Hunger: Building Resilience To Achieve Food and Nutrition Security, published jointly by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe, ranked the Philippines in 28th place with a 13.2-percent hunger index in 2013, which is 0.8 percent lower than the 14-percent hunger index in 2005 and 6.7 percent lower than 1990’s 19.9-percent hunger index. But despite this significant reduction in hunger in the country, “hunger in the Philippines is still serious,” the 2013 GHI said.

The Statistics Division of the FAO said there were 15.6 million undernourished Filipinos in 2013, or an undernourishment prevalence of 16.2 percent.

Worldwide, about 870 million, or 1 in 8 people, still suffer from hunger.

Boosts food resiliency

“DESPITE the progress made, the level of hunger in the world remains serious, with 870 million people going hungry, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,” the 2013 GHI said, adding that in order to fight hunger, people should have food resiliency, which involves boosting food and nutrition security.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development identified the top two causes of global hunger and malnutrition as the people’s lack of self-sufficiency in food and the inability to grow their own food.

And that is what UCG is all about, said the technology’s developer Perfecto “Jojo” Rom.

Rom said empowering families to become food resilient is the aim of UCG as it enables poor families who are always exposed to manmade and/or natural shocks cope, while allowing them to also improve their lot through diversified sources of income. Thus, UCG contributes to food security, nutrition and livelihood in a combination of ways, such as providing for family self-consumption, allowing for saving on food expenditures, providing a source of income, improving the supply of local markets with fresh and nutritious organic food at competitive prices, among others.

“Urban container gardening is the only doable strategy of democratizing agriculture where people will now have a form of control in the area of food security. Through container gardening, social enterprises flourish and more jobs are generated and lessen migration to other countries. This will also result in lower incidences of food-borne diseases or illnesses. It is also a system of turning waste into a resource, thus building the resiliency of people,” Rom said.

UCG practitioners said investing in UCG would ultimately reduce poverty and hunger in the Philippines, aside from contributing to increasing the food security of the nation and thus help promote economic diversification and growth.

“Increased agricultural activity generates higher incomes and creates income-generating opportunities for otherwise destitute population groups, offering a recognized way to escape the poverty trap,” the FAO said.

And the mothers in Sitio Puntabon, Barangay Bonbon—whose houses and UCGs are built on stilts on top of water—growing the ubiquitous, delicious and nutritious organic vegetables not only contribute to the maintenance of a healthy life but also to the city, regional and national economic health.

“We have no land, yet we were able to do it. How much more they who have parcels of land?” said the younger Monsion.

Holcim-PPI launch media awards and workshops

(Manila Standard Today)

Sustainable construction reporting

Media reports on construction-related topics are often confined to physical structures, costs, or technical aspects. Yet construction plays a vital role in sustainable development.

Appropriate building standards, for instance, could strike down the barriers to better housing for poor households, thus helping ensure inclusive growth. Use of indigenous construction materials can maximize their environmental benefits while reinforcing poverty alleviation efforts of both public and private sectors.

Local media reporters, editors and publishers will have the opportunity to explore these intertwining themes in a series of seminars that the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) will conduct beginning in July.

Dubbed “Seminar-Workshop on Sustainable Construction Reporting: Building It Right,” the seminar series is being undertaken in partnership with Holcim Philippines, the country’s largest manufacturer of cement.

The Holcim-PPI Media Seminar series on Sustainable Construction Reporting aims to raise awareness of the linkage between sustainable construction and development issues such as poverty alleviation.

The conference likewise will explore themes and issues surrounding sustainable construction that the media participants can discover and write about Journalism Award

Highlighting the seminar series is the official launch of the Holcim-PPI Journalism Awards for Sustainable Construction Reporting (JASCOR).

This media program seeks to encourage excellent reporting by the print media on the construction industry’s impact on development as it foster and incite the covering press to write meaningful and substantive stories on underreported or neglected topics or themes dealing with construction and infrastructure as these relate to sustainable and inclusive development.

Holcim-Philippines promotes sustainable construction through various programs that help raise public awareness of and support for its advocacy. One of its flagship initiatives in this regard is the Holcim Journalism Awards for Sustainable Construction Reporting, which is undertaken in partnership with the Philippine Press Institute. This media program seeks to encourage excellent reporting by the print media on the construction industry’s impact on development.

The first leg of the seminar series will be held on July 4-6 at the Golden Pine Hotel in Baguio City. PPI’s member newspapers in the NCR and Luzon will participate in this event.

The succeeding seminar round will be conducted in Cebu City on July 11-13 for PPI’s Visayas members, and in Cagayan de Oro on July 25-27 for its Mindanao members.

Architect Miguel Guerrero, chairperson of the Green Architecture Advocacy Philippines, a non-government organization, will speak on sustainable construction and environment, in the seminar in Baguio. Engr. Salvador Royeca, general manager of the Baguio Water District in the city of pines, will address the issue of sustainable infrastructure and development.

Seminar participants will have a chance to explore relevant topics and themes that they can pursue when they go back to their respective newsrooms.

Economic experts, stakeholders prime up for ASEAN integration (Business/Economy)

By Cris Diaz [(PNA), CTB/CD/UTB]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 3 (PNA) -– Economic experts, investors, stakeholders met Thursday afternoon in this premier capital of Northern Mindanao to tackle the opportunities and concerns of the envisioned ASEAN integration next year.

ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations organized on August 8, 1967 with five initial members, namely; Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The association eventually included Brunei Darrusalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam as members. Currently, East Timor and Papua New Guinea also sits in the Asean as observers.

The meeting will be held in the posh country club of an upscale district here had speakers from various areas of business, economic, and Geo-regional concerns that exchanged futuristic concept of the ASEAN economic integration, Rufino Magbanua, the spokesperson for the event said.

Dubbed as “Priming Up for the ASEAN Integration,” the economic briefing in partnership with the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc. and Cagayan de Oro City Government was held Thursday afternoon from 1 to 6 p.m., Magbanua said.

With the prospect of ASEAN economic integration, the investments, capital, goods and services are expected to flow freely, thus turning the ASEAN community into an economic powerhouse of about 600 million people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of close to US$ 2 trillion.

Among the invited guest speakers and resource persons were: Dr. Bernardo Villegas, an economist; Dr. Rolando Dy, dean of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s School of Management; Dr. Tomas Aquino, a former undersecretary of trade and industry; and Dr. Graciano Yumul, former chief of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Villegas will focus his discussion on “The Philippines as the New Asian Tiger.” Dy’s discussions on “Asean Economic Integration and Philippine Agriculture: The Pluses and Minuses,” and Aquino’s presentation is on “Philippine Readiness to the Asean Economic Integration.”

Yumul, who also served as undersecretary of the Department of Science and Technology, will expound on “Changes in Weather as a Signpost of Climate Change.”

Rare deepwater shark caught in Oro shore

By Mario C. Manlupig Jr.

ONE of the world’s rarest sharks was caught by fishermen in the nearby shore of Barangay Cugman in Cagayan de Oro City Monday morning.

It is believed to be the 59th species of the megamouth shark seen by humans. The megamouth is an extremely rare species of deepwater shark according to Wikipedia.

Animal bone enthusiast and expert Darrell Blatchley, American curator and owner of D' Bone Collector Museum in Davao City, told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in an interview at the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in northern Mindanao (BFAR-10) office Tuesday that the megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) is one of the rarest fishes in the world.

"In my 20 years as a collector, I have seen various species of dolphins and whales. This is my first time seeing this kind of shark. It was strange. So lucky to have seen a megamouth shark in [the] flesh," he said.

Rey Eduardo Hojas, officer-in-charge of Fish Health Laboratory at BFAR-10, told this paper by phone Monday that the shark is a female filter feeder mammal that eats plankton, and jellyfish.

Filter feeders can play an important role in clarifying water, and are considered ecosystem engineers.

Filter feeding sharks along with manta rays and dolphins indicate that the region's marine ecosystem is still relatively healthy and should continue to be protected, Hojas said.

The 500-kilogram, 18-feet megamouth died while struggling in the fisherman's net Monday morning.

According to the fisherman who caught the megamouth, the shark was already feeble when he caught it.

Data deficient

Blatchley and Hojas cannot identify the possible reason why the shark came near the shore.

When sharks are ailing they usually take shelter near the shore. This is not the surest reason but this has been the trend, Hojas said.

A circular scar was found at her caudal fin which Blatchley believed is a mark of a shark's teeth. However, he dismissed possibilities of this scar as the primary cause of her death.

The age of the shark cannot be identified since the reproduction of the species remains unknown to science.

Due to the lack of information concerning population status, the megamouth is considered "data deficient" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A data deficient species indicates that little or no information is available on the abundance and distribution of the species.

BFAR classified the species as edible, however, it does not advise the residents to eat the meat of the shark since the cause of death has remained unknown.

Before burying the shark, Blatchley scalped off the skin and will have it stuffed to be displayed in his museum.

Some parts of the shark were sent to BFAR central office for further examination.

Blatchley first visited Misamis Oriental when he asked for the remains of a dolphin in Lagonglong last year.

Before this, a dolphin and a whale shark were also found in the shores of Tagoloan and Villanueva, Misamis Oriental recently.

Blatchley vowed to seek the help of American laboratory centers to further study the species.

41st megamouth

The last megamouth seen in the Philippine seas was in Burias Island in Masbate. It was tagged “Megamouth 41” since it is the 41st megamouth recorded in the world, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The megamouth shark was first discovered off Hawaii coast in 1976.

According to Wikipedia, on May 7, 2014 a 3.96 m (13 ft) 1,500 lbs female shark was captured at a depth of 2,600 ft off the coast of Shizuoka, Japan. The body was dissected in front of the public, by staff at the Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka City, Japan. It was the 58th sighted in the world.

Quoting an article from wildlife conservation site arkive.org, a TV network website reported that the megamouth is “one of the most mysterious and least understood of all the sharks.”

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