DOH intensifies campaign with rise in Reg.XI dengue cases

The number of dengue cases in the Davao Region has increased from 5,900 in 2012 to 6,937 as of August 3, 2013 prompting the Department of Health (DOH) XI to intensify its campaign versus dengue.

“We may have a higher rate of dengue this year but we have less mortality this year compared to the previous year,” DOH Health Advocacy and Promotion Cluster officer-in-charge Divine Hilario said during Monday’s Kapihan held at SM City Annex.

A total of 63 persons died from dengue last year but this was reduced to only 47 this year, Hilario said.

Dengue is still on top of the Department’s priority list and they are intensifying their campaign again dengue. They have also enhanced the 4 o’clock habit to encourage people to clean their surroundings.

“It should not be taken literally that people should clean only when the clock strike but this is just a reminder to the people keep their surroundings clean,” she said.

Almost 50 percent of this year’s dengue cases were reported in Davao City with 3,822 cases and 23 dead. Like the past years, she said, Buhangin is still a hotspot maybe because it has a larger area of coverage.

Hilario said the following dengue cases were also reported: Davao del Sur with 932 cases and 12 dead, Compostela Valley with 846 cases and 7 dead, Davao Oriental with 736 with 2 dead and in Davao del Norte with 601 cases with 3 dead.

She said that while dengue and chikungunya are both mosquito-borne illnesses, people should watch out for dengue as it is more deadly. Both illnesses have the same vector mosquito and have the same symptoms though, she added.

“The bad thing about chikungunya is that it can last longer for a month or two—some people even suffer from arthritic pain caused by this illness for two years,” she said. However, she added, people can be inflicted with chikungunya only once but dengue can inflict them many times since there are four strains of dengue.(

DOH to conduct surveillance of stem cell facilities in Davao Region

The Department of Health (DOH) XI is set to conduct a surveillance of all establishments in the Davao Region that are offering stem cell treatments without the proper authorization.

“At present there are no facilities in the Region that have been authorized by DOH to perform stem cell treatments,” DOH XI Licensing Officer Alex F. Daba said during Monday’s regular Kapihan held at SM City Annex.

The move is in accordance with Administrative Order 2013-0012 providing the Rules and Regulations Governing the Accreditation of Health Facilities Engaging in Human Stem Cell and Cell-Based or Cellular Therapies in the Philippines which was released by Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona on March 18, 2013. However, the AO becomes effective only 15 days after its approval and publication.

“As with any new technology there is a need to regulate stem cell treatment in order to protect the public from unscrupulous people who might not be properly trained and authorized to conduct the procedure,” he said.

Secretary Ona’s AO indicated that stem cell-based therapies have existed for the past four decades and some have been proven to be effective in some medical conditions. “Stem cells that come from the bone marrow or blood gave already been routinely used in transplant procedures to treat patients with cancer and other disorders of the blood and immune system,” the AO said.

The AO was issued after a survey conducted by DOH-Bureau of Health Facilities and Services (BHFS) that five hospitals and some ambulatory clinics were providing stem cell services to patients for various indications.

Mr. Daba said they have received reports that even here in the Region, there are facilities including hospitals and clinics conducting the stem cell therapy. However, he added, they still have to verify those reports through the conduct of the surveillance.

“As of now all we can do is to comply with the surveillance and then create a Master List of these facilities,” he said. They are set to meet with the different hospitals and clinics in Davao next week to inform these facilities about the new guidelines so that they will discontinue providing the said treatments.

With the issuance of Secretary Ona’s order, he said, all the unauthorized facilities providing stem cell treatment are unauthorized and should be advised to stop.

“The primary goal of the AO is to prevent the introduction, transmission and spread of communicable disease by ensuring a minimum quality of service rendered by hospitals and other health facilities in human stem cell therapies,” he said. This will also ensure that human stem cells and other cell-based therapies are safe and effective for their intended use, he added.

Mr. Daba said hospitals may already have licenses to perform the regular health services but they still need authorization from the DOH to perform stem cell therapy. Without such authorization, he said, these hospitals are not allowed to provide such services.

He said authorized hospitals and clinics are required to comply with the guidelines set by the Bioethics Advisory Board (BAB) which is chaired by the DOH Secretary. There are already two applicants for the region and once approved, DOH will release a Master List of facilities authorized to perform Stem Cell Therapy in Region XI.

One of the more serious proponents of stem cell therapy is Davao del Norte District 1 Representative Antonio del Rosario who is pushing for the establishment of a Stem Cell Research and Storage Facility in Mindanao through House Bill 5037.

Prior to the May, 2013 elections, del Rosario said the Bill has been approved by the Science and Technology Committee and is pending with the Technical Working Group.

“Stem cell technology is already available in the Philippines but only in private and expensive hospitals such as the Makati Medical Center and St. Luke’s,” he said. Mr. del Rosario is a survivor of stage-3 lymphoma or cancer of the lymph nodes.

Del Rosario said he has already met a leading stem cell expert working in the United States who happens to be a Filipino. But while the said expert is open to the possibility of heading the Facility, he is concerned about the financial support of the government to the Facility.

Davao is RP’s new gastronomic destination

The city has a reputation for being one of the best destinations when it comes to adventure tourism. However, no one will argue that it is also fast becoming one of the country’s top gastronomic destinations.

Those who have visited Davao City for the past ten years will tell you never to leave without trying Luz Kinilaw’s sinugbang panga and buntot. The budget-conscious foodies also raved about Taps and the fastfood’s famous vinegar and pepper sauce. And who can forget eating durian along the sidewalks of Uyanguren?

With the construction of malls in the city came the various specialty restaurants and fastfoods from Manila. While the newbies provided a variety of gustatory options for Dabawenyos and their visitors, the homegrown food providers still kept to their traditions and prevailed.

“We are becoming the country’s new gastronomic destination thanks to the many home-grown food entrepreneurs in the city,” Department of Tourism (DOT) XI Regional Director Art Boncato said. This, he added, has never been more emphasized than during the Kadayawan Festival which is a celebration of good harvest for Dabawenyos.

photo courtesy of DOT XI

Kadayawan street food festival

One of the very first components of the Kadayawan when it started in 1986 is the street food festival which was held at the junction of Roxas Avenue and C.M. Recto Street. “This was a Kadayawan staple which has been replicated every year,” Mr. Boncato said. The street food festival was actually an extended and a more glamorous version of the various barbecue stalls in the city.

Kadayawan, which is celebrated during the month of August every year, is itself all about the bountiful harvest of food including the fresh seafood, vegetables and fruits that abound in the city. After all, it is during this month and hereafter that you will see the streets with bukags (the native baskets) filled with colorful and delicious fruits in seas. During this month, it is natural to see trees alongside the streets teeming with luscious red rambutan and durian. It is easy to be tempted to just pick up the fruits from these trees as they hang beyond the gates.

Mr. Boncato said through the years, the city has developed its own unique blend of gustatory concoctions that can only be referred to as the Davao flavor. Kadayawan 2008 started featuring the local food choices through Ka-an Mindanao or the Indigenous Food Fiesta. This featured the indigenous cuisine of the city.

Durian Festival

Another Festival staple is the 15-day Durian Festival slated from August 10 to 25, 2013 at the SM Premier in Lanang. “We wanted to feature the different varieties of durian not only to let people taste these varieties but also to educate them,” Durian Industry Council of Davao City chairperson Larry Miculob said.

Visitors to the city can get their fill of fresh durian through the eat-all-you-can-durian at P150. For those who just want to satisfy their craving without overindulging, the P40 per kilo price for durian is good enough. The agricultural fair at Ecoland also features a durian booth where visitors can buy durian at P50 per kilo and eat the fruit at the durian tents provided by the exhibitor.

Mr. Boncato said the Davao Fruit Craze also opened at Abreeza Mall just in time for the Kadayawan. “Visitors will get the chance to enjoy all their favorite fruits including pomelo, mangosteen, banana and other fruits in season right at the mall,” he said. This is clearly a proof that August is indeed a season of harvest in Davao, he added.

One of the events that showcased Davao as a real gastronomic destination not only during the Kadayawan Festival but all throughout the year is the three-day Gourmet Collective which opened at SM Lanang Friday.

“This is the first effort to gather the gourmet chefs of Davao to showcase their tastiest specialties,” Mr. Boncato said. Among the food choices on display are the concoctions of Bangkok Wok which showcased Thai Cuisine, Cellar de Boca which served Spanish-inspired food using Davao’s very own brown rice and Monica Floirendo which served Mexican-inspired food.

AWS certification in Davao to make RP welders world class

Filipino welders are known for their world-class skills but the establishment of the American Welding Society (AWS) Test Facility Center in the city will make them more competitive in the world market.

“The ASW Certification is recognized by companies in the Middle East so a welder who has this certification can immediately get employment there without retesting,” Technical Education and Skills Development Authority(Tesda) XI Regional Director Gaspar Gayona said in an interview.

The Testing Center was established after the signing last year of a

memorandum agreement between Tesda and the Middle East Industrial Training Institute in the United Arab Emirates (MEITI-UAE). AWS has accredited MEITI-UAE as an international agent for AWS certification and as a certified welding fabricator.

“This is the only center in the Philippines so even those from Luzon and Visayas who want to get AWS Certification can get tested here in Davao,” he said.

Mr. Gayona said Dabawenyo welders, or even Filipino welders who get hired in Middle East countries only have their NCII (National Certification II) which is not enough. What happens, he said, is that they are still retrained outside and their skills reassessed in the Middle East.

“We want our welders to be ready for employment when they reach the Middle East and the other countries requiring welders so we asked our partner in Abu Dhabi to bring the assessment agency here in Davao City,” he said.

The AWS Accredited Test Facility possess all the minimum test facilities required by AWS when it comes to the personnel, equipment and the accreditation test for welders.

Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva said the MOA between Tesda and MEITI-UAE aims to upgrade the skills of Filipino graduates of technical-vocational education trainings like welding. Up to P20 million worth of training equipment was provided by MEITI-UAE to help welders become world-class.

Among the first trainees of the 10-day free American Welding Society-Certified Welding Inspector (AWS-CWI) Preparatory Examination Seminar held in the city last May are Dabawenyos. Mr. Gayona said all Tesda trainors all over the country were among those who took the certification exam last July 29, the results of which are yet to be released.

“The result of the exam will help us determine if we need to make changes in our curriculum so that our welders can level up to the global standards,” he said. The AWS-CWI certification is recognized by the world’s welding industry so welders with AWS certification will have an edge over the others, he added.

Mr. Gayona said welders are highly in demand all over the world including the construction industry, shipyard industry and fabricator industry. He said the various technical and vocational trainings provided by Tesda aside from welding open new world of opportunities for Dabawenyo workers.

Tesda XI is eyeing 62 thousands graduates under the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program year after it achieved its target of 58 thousand graduates in 2012. Out of the 58,000 TVET graduates last year, around 85 percent were expected to get certification assessment.

However, Mr. Gayona said not all of the TVET graduates will take an assessment exam for a variety of reasons.”Some will undergo more training since they are not yet confident about their skills while others will be concerned with their finances,” he said.

He said 65 percent of their graduates last year got certified and 60 percent of those who were certified are now employed mostly in the metals and engineering industry. Tesda XI conducted a profiling of priority industries last year to help solve the problem of job mismatch and came up with five priority industries for the region including metals and engineering, tourism, agriculture, information and communication technology and construction.

Mr. Gayona said the profiling will help ensure that the graduates of the TVET program will find jobs after their graduation. Tesda is also closely working with the priority industry clusters to determine the available jobs and compare these with the existing skills of the graduates.

World’s largest croc national museum bound

After several hours of land travel from Davao City to Bunawan, Agusan del Sur, Lolong, the largest saltwater crocodile in the world at 20 feet and 3 inches is now home.

The Guinness Book of World Records declared Lolong the world’s largest crocodile in captivity after it was measured by Dr. Adam Britton of the National Geographic in May 2012.

People from the local government of Bunawan pulled out Lolong from the Davao Crocodile Park at 2 PM Monday. However, those who were instructed to fetch the crocodile’s preserved body have no idea about the crocodile’s fate as they were just told to get Lolong from Davao and bring it back to Agusan.

“We have no idea about the LGUs plan for Lolong,” Davao Crocodile Park operations manager Sergio A. Acquiatan said. He added they are also not part of the arrangement between the Bunawan local government and the national museum.

CrocodilePark President Philip S. Dizon, who has previously urged the Bunawan Ecopark officials to get Lolong back since the crocodile needs a more modern preservation method, said the world’s largest crocodile will soon be sent to the National Museum to undergo the process of Taxidermy.

Taxidermy is the process of preserving and preparing the skins of animals especially vertebrates for stuffing. Lolong’s taxidermy specimen will be displayed at the National Museum but will be brought back to Bunawan later on, Mr. Dizon said.

Lolong, a certified celebrity at the Bunawan Ecopark and Wildlife Reservation Center where it was kept after it was caught in a local creek on September 3, 2011, was brought to the park in February this year after it died from pneumonia and cardiac arrest.

A team of investigators from the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) and the National Museum was sent to Agusan del Sur last February to look into Lolong’s death and assist in the preservation of the reptile.

DOE more concerned about oversupply of power in Mindanao

Mindanaoans may be worried about having enough power supply now and in the future but the Department of Energy (DOE) seems to be more worried about the oversupply rather than shortage of power in Mindanao once all the power plants are completed and operating by 2015.

“The companies, when they see an oversupply of power and lesser demand then they will delay the implementation of the projects,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said in a press conference at SM Convention Center in the city Friday.

Even President Benigno S. Aquino III was confident when he announced Thursday during the opening of the 22^nd Mindanao Business Conference that “Right now, we are on track to end the energy deficit by 2015—during which we foresee Mindanao to already have a surplus.”

The recurring power problem in Mindanao is one of the main concerns of the business sector which confirmed that this is one of the issues that has always been included in the annual business conference. Minbizcon conference director John Gaisano said that “unless the national government addresses this concern this will be a recurring theme in the next business conferences.”

Petilla said unless the power investors delay their projects when they see an oversupply, Mindanao will definitely have a power supply surplus by 2015.  Most of the power projects eyed by the government to solve Mindanao’s power woes are reliant on coal.

Among the major projects being eyed by the government to provide surplus power supply in Mindanao is the 300-megawatt Aboitiz (Therma South) owned coal-power plant in Davao City. First phase of the project, with a 150-MW output, is expected to be completed by third quarter of 2014.

Coal power plant

Petilla also mentioned the 200-MW power plant being built by the Sarangani Energy Corps (Alsons Group of Companies) in Maasim, Sarangani Province which can supply the power demands General Santos City, South Cotabato, Sarangani and other Mindanao areas.

“Filinvest is also set to come up with a 270-MW plant but we are not counting them yet until they submit their papers,” he said. Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC) is set to construct a P30-billion coal power plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental which is expected to initially general 270 MW of power by 2016. The second phase of the project eyes the production of 135 MW by 2018.

The government owned and controlled corporation Phividec Industrial Authority has signed a 28-year contract with the FDC in April this year for the lease of 84.4 hectares of land where the coal power plant will be located.

Petilla said SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation (San Miguel Corp) is also set to build a 600-MW coal power plant in Malita, Davao del Sur but will start with an initial output of 150MW by 2015. SMC president Ramon S. Ang informed the Philippine Stock Exchange last month (July) that SMC Global project just broke ground in time for the completion of the plant by 2015. Petilla however said SMC has not really started out full-blast.

He suggested the setting up of a smart and effective forecasting system taking into consideration the behavior of the people and their electricity consumption considering that power plants are big investments and they take some time to build.

Coal production in the Philippines

When asked about the possibility of the ban on open pit mining affecting the coal power plant projects, Petilla said that the ban is more of a local government unit policy than a DOE policy.

“We are not banning open pit coal mining,” Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairperson Lualhati R. Antonino said. She added that Semirara (Semirara Mining Corporation) is an open pit mine and supplies a huge percentage the total coal production in the country.

The country has scattered coal deposits in Cebu, Surigao and Zamboanga but the largest is in Semirara Island in Antique. As such, Semirara has been identified by the DOE as the largest coal producer contributing up to 92 percent of the local coal production. The Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) reported in 2006 that coal production has increased by 34 percent the 2003 level of 2.0 MMMT (million metric tons) to 2003 level of 2.7 MMMT.

The DOE website pegged the country’s coal consumption at 9.5 MMT in 2006, 73 percent went to power generation, 22.5 percent used in cement production and 3.75 percent for other industries.

While the coal power plants are facing opposition not only from environmentalists but also even from the LGUs with local legislations banning open pit mining, Mr. Petilla said that “if there is a national significance then the national government can step in.”

Get a Cloudfone with Globe's mySUPERPLAN and meet Xian Lim

Want to get the chance to see Xian Lim up-close and personal? Then check out Globe's newest promo.

Globe Telecom is extending a special and exclusive offer to its subscribers in Davao as part of the Kadayawan Festival, Davao’s biggest annual festival that celebrates life, culture and thanksgiving.

“Davao will always be an important market for Globe so we’re very excited to offer this exclusive promo to our subscribers in the region in celebration of the Kadayawan Festival,” said Raul Macatangay, Head of Globe Postpaid.

All Davaoenos who avail of a Cloudfone 352g and Cloudpad bundle FREE at Plan 499 with the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN from August 1 to 15, 2013, will get a chance to win an exclusive Meet and Greet session with one of today’s hottest heartthrobs and Cloudfone endorser Xian Lim. 

You can also choose from other Cloudfone handsets bundled with a Globe postpaid plan. Just visit any participating Globe Stores in Davao  particularly at Ayala Abreeza, SM City Davao, SM Lanang Premier or Gaisano Mall Davao and apply for a Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN with the Cloudfone your choice.

Once your postpaid application is approved, you get to pick prizes like

• Grand Prize-Meet and Greet Session with Xian Lim
• Major prizes-Xian Lim’s autographed “It’s So You” CDs
• Minor prizes-Globe premium items  

Eighty (80) grand prize winners or twenty (20) winners per participating Globe Store will have the privilege to meet Xian up close and personal. Meanwhile, there will be forty (40) winners of the limited edition autographed CDs and one hundred (100) winners of Globe premium items.

The popular actor, singer and model will fly to Davao on August 18, 2013 to celebrate the Kadayawan Festival with Davaoenos and will visit the four (4) participating Globe Stores in the region to meet the lucky winners of the promo.

Globe Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN is a next-generation postpaid plan with fully-customizable plan components, a plan value almost twice the value of prepaid load, and more contract periods to choose from, ranging from 6, 12, 18, to 24 months. With the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN, subscribers get the ultimate flexibility in creating a postpaid plan that best fits their needs, lifestyle, and budget. To know more about the Best-Ever mySUPERPLAN, visit www.globe.com.ph/postpaid or call 730-1010.