Davao City's Public Cemeteries In Urgent Need Of Rehab

Davao City's public cemeteries are so overcrowded the city needs to shell out a minimum of P10 million for every hectare of cemetery land that would be rehabilitated.

There are nine public cemeteries in the city but it is still not enough to accommodate the city's requirement. The city is eyeing the development of a 2.3 hectare lot in Tagakpan, Calinan District but the road opening alone cost P275,000 and the cemetery development costs P2 million.

Davao City Economic Enterprise chair Francisco Vales, Jr. said the city's cemeteries are already overloaded and he hopes that next year's annual development plan will already include the proposed budget for the rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation work still does not have a definite date, he said, but the Wireless public cemetery near the downtown area will undergo rehabilitation first. He also said the rehabilitation work should be simultaneous with the construction of the proposed crematorium as the latter would help maximize the cemetery spaces.

Davao City Gov't. Eyes Computerization Of Services

Davao City is eyeing the full computerization of most of its offices starting from the real property tax department of the City Treasurer's Office to the business department to make the city's services more efficient, manageable and investor-friendly.

When this pushes through, those applying for business permits and business licensing can process their transactions online. "We will push for it if budget allows," City Council committee on ICT chair Councilor Teresita Marañon said.

Marañon said the city needs to allocate from P20 to P22 million for the realization of this program based on estimated made by one company. The amount is less than the P40 million budget allotted for the Davao City Real Property Tax Computerization Project which the city implemented last year.

The said program, City Treasurer Rodrigo Riola said, is an "effective and efficient control measure" which will help the department detect erroneous entries as well as the encoder immediately. It will help the department determine if the previous taxes have already been paid and will also help eradicate the proliferation of fake receipts.

Davao City Gov't. Employees Assured Of Addt'l. Cash This Christmas

Employees of the city government of Davao have more reasons to smile these days after the City Council approved Tuesday the P262 million supplemental budget which includes the Christmas bonuses and wage increases of both plantilla and contractual employees.

The approved budget includes P42 million for the employees cash gift, P28.2 million for the 10% salary increase for plantilla employees and the P55 million salary augmentation fund for contractual employees.

City Treasurer Rodrigo Riola said the fund will be sourced from the local tax collection as well as the city's internal revenue allotment balance of P142 million from 2001 to 2004.

Wednesday Movies: Igor At Davao Cinemas

Kids have one more reason to smile this week as the much-awaited Igor Movie is now showing in Davao cinemas.

Aside from having the handsome and funny John Cussack (remember him in ConAir and War Inc.?) in the lead role as the voice of Igor, the movie is also a welcome respite from the horror and violent action films that has invaded the Davao cinemas in the past months.

Igor is not a who but a what. An Igor is a hunchbacked assistant of a mad scientist whose only purpose in life is to obey his master. Not this Igor who got tired playing a yes-man so he decided to join the annual evil science fair and that's where his misadventures with the land's brilliant but mad scientists began...

Shia LaBeouf (more popularly known to fans as Sam Witwiki in Transformers and Mutt, the son of Professor Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) is also back in theaters today via the successful "Eagle Eye".

Here's the movie schedule for this week:

Igor
SM Cinema 5 12:15/2:00/3:45/5:30

Eagle Eye
SM Cinema 1 12:20/2:30/4:40/6:50

Davao Internet Cafe's Up

photo shows NeBiTh Computer Systems at Central Park in Bangkal. For only P20 per hour you get to try the facilities of the first cafe in the city to feature high-end units design for hardcore gamers.

The number of Internet Cafes in Davao City has mushroomed to about 400 cafes making the Internet Cafe business not as feasible as it used to be. Of the total number, only 70 are accredited cafes and are guaranteed to be following the guidelines set by City Ordinance No. 0227-04 otherwise known as the Internet Cafe Ordinance.

The Internet Cafe Ordinance requires the procurement of a business permit before operating a cafe. It also prohibits students from playing in the cafes during class hours.

The proliferation of Internet Cafes even in subdivisions has made it difficult to monitor them, Internet Cafe Association of Davao president Yvonne Cabada said during a media forum held at SM City's cafe Rysus Tuesday.

Cabada said most of the small Internet Cafes are owned by Overseas Filipino Workers who invest in the business out of a personal need. An Internet business is more practical for OFWs as it also allows them to communicate with their families for free. However, most of them are faced with technical and operational problems.

Gaisano Pours P100M For Newly-Opened Panabo Mall

Panabo City's economy is expected to get a big boost with the infusion of at least P100 million for the construction of the Gaisano Grand Mall of Panabo which opened its doors to the public last October 18, 2008. Residents of Panabo used to travel at least an hour to Davao City for their shopping needs. Prior to the opening of Gaisano, residents of Panabo had to shell out at least P100 for their fare going to the Davao City malls so most of them only went to the mall once a year. With the opening of the city's first mall however, Panabo residents can now go to the mall everyday.

With 72 commercial spaces, a spacious grocery store on the ground floor and a department store on the second floor, the 3.5 hectare Gaisano Grand Mall of Panabo is a testament not only to the city's growing economy but also to the efforts of the Panabo City officials in encouraging investors to invest in the city.

Gaisano Grand Group of Companies chair Benito Gaisano said they did not experience any red tape in the processing of their papers making Panabo City a sure investor-friendly city. Once fully operational, the mall is expected to provide at least 2,000 employment opportunities to the city.

The mall aims to serve the 170,000 residents of Panabo City as well as the nearby town of Carmen. The mall management has promised to offer god quality merchandise at very low prices comparable to the price being offered by Gaisano Cebu.

thanks to junax for the photos

DCPO XI Canine Dog Retires From Service

Spike has finally retired from the Davao City Police Office after 12 years of service.

Spike is a bomb sniffing canine and was brought into the folds of the Davao City Police Office in 1996 under the leadership of then City Director PSupt. Isidro Lapeña. Spike became a member of the DCPO's Canine Unit along with Snappy, a drug sniffing dog. Both dogs were handled by PD1 Roger Dy, a certified canine trainor from the Special Response Group.

Spike was a hardworking canine and he was responsible for the clearing operations during important events in the city including the Kadayawan and the Araw ng Dabaw celebrations. He was also utilized for clearing and paneling operations whenever the President of the Philippines and other high ranking official came to visit.

Spike is known for the following accomplishments:

• finding and recovery of an IED at the Gaisano Mall basement on March 5, 2001
• finding and recovery of an IED inside a plastic container which was left in a public utility vehicle on March 11, 2003