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==Tuna Festival in GenSan set==
*Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/node/331916/tuna-fe
*August 24, 2011, 5:19pm
:by  JOSEPH JUBELAG
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – This city goes in full gear for the celebration of the “Tuna Festival” from August 26 to September 5, 2011.
City Mayor Darlene Antonino Custodio will lead the festival opening ceremony on Friday at the city’s oval plaza.
Festival director Ronald Velasquez said the week-long festivities will showcase the city’s charter anniversary, and local tuna industry that serves as the backbone of the local economy.
Custodio said the local economic spiral is attributable to the tuna industry’s continuing bullishness that created a prominent mark in the global economic landscape.
“The local government gives credence to our local tuna industry which serves as the backbone of our local economy,” Custodio pointed out.
Among the highlights of the festival is the holding of the Tuna Congress where local stakeholders are expected to discuss the major problems plaguing the industry, including the proposed fishing regulation that will be imposed by Indonesia in December that seeks to ban Filipino fishermen from venturing into Indonesian waters.
Several activities have been lined up for this year’s Tuna Festival, which include the colorful float parade, street dancing and Shashimi Night, lawn tennis national open, “Pasiklaban sa Paaralan” quiz show, pop song competition, trade exhibit, “Fish Fest sa Fishport,” mountain bike challenge, “Sayaw sa Baybay,” bancarera, culinary competition, Miss Gay Tuna Amazing, Munting Mutya ng GenSan, scooter circuit, cheer dance contest, battle of the bands, chess, skimboarding, beach volleyball, open bonsai competition, national table tennis, and indoor football tournament.
As this developed, Central Mindanao police director Chief Supt. Benjardi Mantele has assured the deployment of additional policemen who will be tasked to provide security during the festivities.
He said the police force will be augmented by the military, security guards, coastguard personnel, Armed Forces reservists group, student cadets, and Muslim groups.
“We urge the public to be vigilant of any suspicious-looking persons or belongings during the festival and report them immediately to the nearest police station for immediate action,” Mantele said.
Mantele has ordered police chiefs in the cities and provinces in Region 12 to monitor all activities in their respective areas and coordinate with concerned local government officials for necessary action.
==Region 12 gets P676-M in conditional cash transfer==
*Source: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2011/08/23/region-12-gets-p676-m-in-conditional-cash-transfer/
*Tuesday| August 23, 2011
:by    Bong S. Sarmiento |
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 August) — The government has poured P676 million for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Southwestern Mindanao since 2008.
An anti-poverty and social development strategy of the national government implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), 4Ps provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education, particularly of children aged 0 to 14 years.
Gemma N. Rivera, DSWD-12 assistant director, said the total target beneficiaries in the region reached 138,637, of which 74,572 have already received cash assistance.
“Some 500 beneficiaries have been delisted from the list because they are not really poor,” she said Saturday at the sidelines of a regional DSWD orientation program for the media.
The disqualified beneficiaries were barangay officials or their relatives who can afford to own home appliances, lingering reports said.
Rivera said the 4Ps project will run for five years or until 2013.
Of the amount disbursed, South Cotabato received the biggest at P222.4 million; Sarangani, P181.2 million, Sultan Kudarat, P157.7 million; and North Cotabato, P93.6 million, data showed.
Cotabato City has also received P21 million from the 4Ps project, it added.
The 4Ps project covers 32 municipalities across Region 12, also called the Soccsksargen region.
Rivera said they expect to release the cash to beneficiaries who have not yet received the assistance before the end of the year, amounting to P42 million.
World boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” D. Pacquiao has endorsed the 4Ps project nationwide, with his slogan “Kakampi sa Pagpuksa sa Kahirapan.”
All the seven towns in Sarangani are covered by the 4Ps program.
Sarangani ranked 18th in the list of poorest provinces of the country. (Bong Sarmiento/MindaNews)
==Ma, toddler kidnapped in General Santos City==
*Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/46011/ma-toddler-kidnapped-in-general-santos-city
*6:17 pm | Monday, August 22nd, 2011
:by    Aquiles Z. Zonio
Inquirer Mindanao
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—A mother and her two-year-old daughter were snatched by unidentified men while attending mass at the St. Michael Parish Church here around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Director Felicisimo Khu, head of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations in Western Mindanao (Dipo-WM), identified the victims as Dina Dumaran and her daughter Sophie.
Khu, in a text message, claimed that Ian Dumaran and wife Dina were inside the church when their daughter ran outside.
The mother followed, but they failed to return even after the mass was over, Khu said.
Khu said that a few minutes after the duo went missing, Ian’s father, Igmedio Dumaran, a businessman and owner of Shell Gasoline station in Purok Malakas, Barangay City Heights here, received a call from unidentified men introducing themselves as kidnappers.
The elder Dumaran told the police the kidnappers told them the two victims were in their hands and to wait for instruction from them.
Igmedio further told the police he was also warned not to report the incident to the police.
Khu said ransom money has been asked by the kidnappers for the release of the victims but no specific amount has been mentioned.
==Region 12 inventions to compete in national tilt==
*Source: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2011/08/21/region-12-inventions-to-compete-in-national-tilt/
*Sunday| August 21, 2011
:by  Allen V. Estabillo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/20 August) — Four promising inventions from Southwestern Mindanao will compete in the National Invention Contest and Exhibit (NICE) of the Department of Science and Technology.
Zenaida P. Hadji Raof Laidan, DOST-Region 12 director, said the four qualifiers in the 2012 NICE competition were among the more than two dozen entries to the recently concluded Regional Invention Contest and Exhibit (RICE) here.
“This only proves that we have gifted inventors in the region who can help promote the benefits of S&T towards a sustainable economic development and peace in the countryside,” she said in a statement.
The 2011 RICE winners and qualifiers for the 2012 NICE contest are:
–Cipriano Diego of Tulunan, North Cotabato for his betel oil product  (Tuklas Award). He received a plaque and P20,000 cash prize;
–Benjamin Hurtado of Koronadal City for his barangay mechanical rice dryer (Outstanding Creative Research Category or Likha Award). He received a plaque and P10,000 cash prize;
— Jade Pamela Barriga, Anthon Mark Jay Rivas and Emil Keith Antoni from the Mindanao State University-General Santos City for their entry “Procoagulant and Bioplastic from Bitter Cassava and Chanos-chanos Scales” (Student Creative Research or Sibol Award College Level). They received a plaque and P10,000.00 cash prize, and;
— Ever Luv S. Esquilla, and Juhrina D. Sabpa of  Esperanza National High School, Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat for their entry “The Potential of Pansit-Pansitan as Bio-coolant” (Student Creative Research- Sibol Award High School Level). They received a plaque and P10,000.00 cash prize.
RICE was among the highlights of the regional observance of the NSTW, which carried the theme “Nasa Siyensya ang Pag-asa” (In Science is our Hope). It was the first time for RICE to be held since previously, the invention contest was conducted through the clustering of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
At least 1,000 participants joined the two day NSTW celebration, which was attended by national officials of the DOST from Manila.
AGHAM Party-list Rep. Angelo B. Palmones, also the event’s key guest of honor, handed the awards for the winners of the RICE whose theme was “Imbensyon at Inobasyon, Kabalikat sa Pag-unlad.”
Palmones urged inventors to develop more products that can help the country move forward and become a major player in the global S&T community.
“Your exhibits are worth bringing to roadshows in Manila so they will see that in Region 12, there are very good inventors too,” said Palmones, who has roots in North Cotabato.
Laidan said the RICE is an undertaking of the DOST primarily aimed at providing opportunities for inventors to exhibit and present their inventions and breakthroughs in line with the national efforts to promote inventiveness pursuant to Section 4 of Republic Act No. 7459 or the “Inventors and Invention Incentives Act of the Philippines”.
“This is our approach to ensure maximum participation of inventors and researchers as well as to further promote technologies, inventions and innovations from the countryside for possible commercialization prospects,” she noted.  (Bong S. Sarmiento/MindaNews)
==GenSan upbeat over emerging BPO industry; restructures computer literacy programg==
*Source: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2011/08/20/gensan-upbeat-over-emerging-bpo-industry-restructures-computer-literacy-program/
* Saturday| August 20, 2011
:by  Allen V. Estabillo
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 August) – Upbeat with the prospects of the city’s emerging Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, the city government has restructured its flagship computer literacy program for local public schools to complement with the manpower requirements of potential BPO locators.
Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio said they have introduced a “re-engineered” curriculum for its SHEEP-Computer Literacy Program (CLP) to help upgrade the computer skills and awareness of students in public elementary and secondary schools in the city on various modern Information and Communications Technology (ICT) trends and developments.
“We came up with a more advanced computer education curriculum, focusing on the teaching of more advanced computer skills that are required by BPO companies,” she said.
SHEEP stands for Social Transformation, Human Empowerment, Economic Diversification, Environment Security and Regeneration and Participatory Governance and Transparency, which are the city’s main development thrusts.
The city government earlier launched the CLP as a major component of the SHEEP program’s education-related initiatives.
In coordination with the Department of Education, Custodio said they initially launched a trainers’ training for ICT coordinators of all public elementary and high schools in the city.
She said the training program is aimed at developing a core of competent ICT trainers or instructors who would implement the new SHEEP-CLP curriculum.
“Before this, our computer literacy curriculum was just focused on computer fundamentals like word processing which, I think, most of our students already know how to use. With the upgraded curriculum, we will now be teaching them some advanced skills like animation, webpage design and development, among others,” the mayor explained.
Aside from the restructuring of the CLP curriculum, Custodio said they are planning to upgrade the existing computer laboratories of local public schools and acquire additional computer sets.
She said the local government will also establish a pilot speech laboratory in one of the public schools in Barangay Lagao this year.
“This will be the first speech laboratory in GenSan. This is for pilot testing and we will evaluate how we can replicate it later on in other schools here,” the mayor said.
Custodio said these initiatives are aimed at making the students of local public schools become more capable and well-prepared in case they eventually decide to take up advanced computer courses in college or seek possible employment in the BPO industry.
On Thursday, the local government and the business community here unveiled the city’s first Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA)-registered Information Technology or IT Park, which is being developed as the region’s BPO hub and a “landmark for IT and IT-enabled services and business” in the city.
The 2.8-hectare Mabuhay IT Park, developed and operated by local firm MabuhayOne Corporation, is envisioned as “a one- stop facility capable of carrying voice, video and data services that will deliver a superior, reliable and secured network communications and back- up power supply to assure of clean and uninterruptible power.”
It formally opened its doors Thursday to “ICT service activities, especially in the area of software development; IT-enabled services such as call centers, data encoding, transcription and content development; knowledge-based and computer-enabled support services like design process engineering and consultancies; BPO; IT research and development; and, other IT related services.”
Custodio said top BPO player Sutherland Global Services is currently preparing to open a call center facility at the Mabuhay IT Park as part of its ongoing expansion.
She said the company is presently training its newly-hired manpower pool in its call center facility in Davao City.
Sutherland, which was earlier named by PEZA as the “2011 Outstanding Employer,” operates in six locations in the country namely Makati City, Taguig City, Davao City, Tarlac City, Clark Field in Pampanga, and Pili in Camarines Sur. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
==GenSan promotes ASEAN barter trading==
*Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/node/331288/gen
*August 19, 2011, 3:34pm
:by  NONOY E. LACSON
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – The city government here started exploring possible linkages with its counterpart local governments within the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) for the opening of barter exchanges.
City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio said Thursday the local government here is bent on forging ties for barter trading arrangements between the city and neighboring areas within the BIMP-EAGA to help provide alternative livelihood opportunities for local traders and fishermen.
The move, she said, is in the wake of the upcoming implementation of stricter fishing regulations in Indonesia, which is expected to affect the fishing and canning industry of this city.
She added that the move is also aimed at helping cushion the impact of the implementation of the new fishing regulations starting on December 1, on the area’s fishing industry, especially the tuna hand-line fishing sector.
“We can convert the fishing boats and use them instead to ferry products from the city to any open port for barter trading within the BIMP-EAGA,” Custodio said.
According to Custodio, they are initially planning to open the barter exchanges with neighboring localities in Indonesia, and are considering similar arrangements with the trade cooperation forged by the local governments of Sarangani and Davao del Sur with Tahuna in Indonesia about two years ago.
Under the BIMP-EAGA cooperation, she said Philippines and Indonesia already simplified the trading regulations in the area through a unified Customs, Immigration, Quarantine, and Security (CIQS) mechanism.
“Traders just need to pass by the CIQS through the ports of Glan and Balut Island or in Tahuna to make the trade exchanges,” the mayor said.
Custodio said that based on their monitoring, several hand-line fishing boat owners and financiers have already joined the Tahuna-Glan trading route using their converted boats.
“They carry mostly local goods, and in some instances, fish products,” she said.
“This is one viable opportunity that we can offer to our hand-line fishermen. I think it’s quite easy to convert their fishing boats and join the barter trading instead of gambling with Indonesia’s fishing regulations and eventually get jailed there for illegal fishing,” the mayor said.
Over the years, thousands of Filipino fishermen have been jailed and repatriated from Indonesia for illegal fishing activities.
==3.4 magnitude quake hits GenSan==
*Source: http://www.philstar.com/nation/article.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=200&articleid=718102
* August 18, 2011 10:21 AM 
:by Shannel Tabanganay
MANILA, Philippines - A 3.4 magnitude earthquake rocked General Santos City early this morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.
Phivolcs reported said the quake struck 40 kilometer southeast of General Santos City, at 5:28 a.m.
It was felt at Intensity 3 in the city.
The bureau put depth of the tectonic quake at one kilometer. There were no reported damages and no expected aftershocks.
The Philippine Archipelago lies in the pacific ring of fire wherein it is between two major tectonic plates of the world, the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
This causes the major quakes in the country. The most active part is the eastern section including eastern Mindanao, and General Santos City is situated about 20 kilometers from the Mindanao fault. -- Shannel Tabanganay, Philstar.com Trainee
==MILF declares Kato band ‘lost command’==
*Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/42675/milf-declares-kato-band-%E2%80%98lost-command%E2%80%99
*3:30 pm | Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
:by  Aquiles Zonio
Inquirer Mindanao
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Monday declared Ameril Ombra Kato and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters as a “lost command”, and said the renegade group was an “insignificant” force.
“Until he returns to the fold of the MILF, he is a lost command,” Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief, said.
Kato headed the MILF’s 105th Base Command based in Maguindanao but decided to separate from the main rebel group over disagreements on the handling of the peace process and for allegedly abandoning him in the aftermath of the 2008 violence that escalated after the government failed to sign the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
In December last year, he formalized his separation from the MILF and announced the formation of the BIFF.
Jaafar said the MILF repeatedly tried, but failed to convince Kato to return to its fold. He said that by defying the directive for him to follow the chain of command, Kato and his men have been declared a lost command.
Jaafar said the existence of Kato and his group could not affect the ongoing peace process.
“No, he is not. His group is insignificant,” he said.
But Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari said President Aquino was dealing with a fragmented MILF and any peace agreement reached with it would have virtually no effect.
“A big number of the military component of the MILF has already abandoned the leadership of Murad [Ebrahim],” Misuari said by phone last week.
He said Kato was not the only one who seceded from the MILF. He said there was also the group of Alim Mibantas of Butig in Lanao del Sur.
Another group in the Liguasan Marsh, whose leader he identified only as Sawab, has left the present leadership, Misuari said.
“Dealing with the MILF for a peace deal will not solve the problem (in Mindanao), in fact it will only aggravate the situation,” Misuari said.
Meanwhile, Jaafar said the violence that recently erupted in Maguindanao, which has already claimed the lives of more than a dozen combatants, was not MILF-instigated. He said it was also not an MILF action against BIFF forces.
Jaafar said the fighting, stemming from a land conflict, started when a commander of the BIFF attacked the area  of the commander of the MILF’s 106th Base Command in Datu Piang.
The clashes eventually affected the nearby villages of Liong, Alunganen and Balanakan and has triggered massive evacuations, he said.
Jaafar said the MILF, in coordination with the International Monitoring Team, was trying to bring the fighting groups into a truce.
==Aquino draws appreciation from NGCP==
==Aquino draws appreciation from NGCP==
*Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/node/330795/aquino-draw
*Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/node/330795/aquino-draw
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The NGCP remains committed to “the straight path” envisioned by the President and strongly supports Aquino’s advocacy towards efficient and transparent governance for all Filipinos, said Sy.
The NGCP remains committed to “the straight path” envisioned by the President and strongly supports Aquino’s advocacy towards efficient and transparent governance for all Filipinos, said Sy.


==Coast Guard sets probe of ship collision off Sarangani==
==Coast Guard sets probe of ship collision off Sarangani==
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