SEATCA cites Davao as model smoke-free city

The Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) gave a plaque of appreciation to Davao City not only for its anti-smoking policy but also for the efficient implementation of such policy during the two-day Regional Workshop on Smoke-Free Laws which opened at the SM Convention Center in Lanang Monday.

SEATCA is an alliance of various sectors coming from ten Asian countries that aims to help the member-countries fast track and establish tobacco control policies.

“We have an eight-country (Asian) delegate to this Workshop hoping to learn from Davao City’s successful implementation of its smoke-free city campaign for many years,” SEATCA director Bungon Ritthiphakdee said in an interview. Other cities have good laws and policies on smoking control but the problem is the implementation, she added.

She said the different countries have different regulations when it comes to controlling smoking. Others follow the national law which they implement in the local or city level, she said, and this is where the problem starts in implementing it at the city level.

“What Davao can share to the other countries is its 100 percent implementation of smoke-free public places,” she said. Asian countries also implement the smoke-free policy in hospitals, schools and workplace, she said, but the challenge is how to implement it in the restaurants, nightclubs and outdoor public places.

The Asian countries can learn from Davao’s mechanisms, legislative measures, manpower, political will and how media supported the smoke-free policy.

“Even in Thailand we have a strong tobacco-control law but the problem is how to enforce it in restaurants and nightclubs,” she said. Even the policemen in charge of implementing the law do not have a good standard of practice, she said.

Ritthiphakdee said Davao will be a very good model and leader for the smoke-free cities campaign. The key issue here, she said, is that Davao started the smoke-free city campaign a long time ago but the compliance and enforcement are still there even up to now.

In other Asian cities, she added, the campaign is no longer enforced after two or three years. But in Davao, she said, it is being enforced year after year and we are amazed at the commitment of the business owners, public officers and the citizens.

Davao City to complete installation of 8 water monitoring equipment this July

Davao City is set to complete by this month the installation of eight water measurement equipment which was provided by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) as part of Project Noah.

Through Project Noah, DOST aims to make use of technology to improve the country’s disaster risk reduction activities and responses.

“We have received the warning devices last May but we are still waiting for financing for the construction of fences for the equipment,” Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office Chief Pepito Capili said during yesterday’s Kapihan held at Abreeza Mall.

Capili said DOST wants to ensure the safety of the equipment considering that monitoring equipment installed in Barangay Suawan last 2010 was stolen two months after its installation. Part of the agreement was for the local government to pay for the fencing.

Among the equipment awaiting installation are six water level monitoring equipment to be installed along the Suawan River, Tamugan, Davao River, Pangi Bridge, Mintal Bridge, Wangan Bridge and Wangan Bridge. Also included are two rain gauges to be installed in Biao which contributes to the Pangi Water System and Baguio Proper.

He said that each of the six areas require P20,000 for fencing. The local government support fund, he said, will provide the estimated P120,000 required to construct the fences which will secure the water measurement equipment.

“The water monitoring equipment are automated but we will still need manual monitoring which is being provided by field personnel and even people from the barangays,” he said. The city is still negotiating the provision of eight weather monitoring stations with DOST and some more equipment to be financed by the League of Cities of the Philippines.

Capili said they could not ascertain the total amount of the water monitoring equipment as these were provided by the DOST. However, he said, the local government support fund will contribute around P800,000 for the city’s disaster preparedness project.

Top 10 Dabawenyo bowlers get chance to join SM Bowling Cup

Up to 10 top bowlers from Davao City will be given a chance to fly to Manila sometime this year for the SM Bowling Cup Finals.

“Players with minimum scores of 190 up will be considered as qualifiers for the SM Bowling Cup,” SM Lanang Premier marketing officer Jose Marlou Young said.

He said the SM Bowling Cup is a yearly bowling tournament that gives away brand new cars and cash prizes to the winners.

Young said three Chevrolet cars are up for grabs during the SM Bowling Cup Finals. Those who qualify in the Davao leg, he added, will have to travel to Manila for the finals.

The SM Bowling Center in Lanang, which opened last May, is the first in Mindanao. Young said the bowling center is the sixth of seven branches all over the Philippines. The latest branch is in SM Southmall.

“We are promoting the SM Bowling Center as a hub that is perfect for families and friends,” he said. The Davao branch has 16 bowling lanes, four billiard tables, four KTV rooms and PS3 for gamers.

PNP Davao fired up by Mayor’s speech but needs more equipment to bolster Davao PNP’s efficiency

The Philippine National Police in Davao City got fired up with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration that he will intensify the campaign against drug pushers and perpetrators of heinous crimes in the city but the police force can improve its efficiency with additional firearms and equipment.

“The Mayor’s statement during his oath taking has given lots of encouragement to the police to perform our jobs well considering that the chief executive is very supportive,” Davao PNP Director PS Supt. Ronald dela Rosa said during Monday’s Kapihan held at SM Annex.

However, he said, PNP Davao’s operations would be more efficient and effective given more resources for moving, shooting and communication. The PNP’s movement would be enhanced if we have more patrol cars, he said.

Dela Rosa said that at present, each PNP station has one to three units. However, the urban stations including Stations 1,2,3,4, and 5 would be more effective with up to six patrol cars. The outlying stations can make do with up to three patrol cars, he said, but wished that the stations in Paquibato, Baguio, Marilog and Toril will be equipped with 4x4 vehicles since most of the areas here have a rough terrain.

He said the existing patrol cars of the city are more than ten years old but are thriving because of good maintenance. They also need radios to bolster PNP Davao’s communication system, he added.

The SWAT needs additional equipment like tear gas and tactical lights. He said they also need stun grenade and long firearms that can cost up to P20 million. He said they are thankful because they are about to receive Glock 17 pistols from Camp Crame. He said Crame prioritized Davao City for the new generation pistols maybe because they saw na “maganda ang performance ng PNP.”

Dela Rosa said there is also a need for more training to enhance the skills of the police so that it will be at par with the PNP standards when it comes to speed and accuracy.

DTI to conduct roving academy for SMEs

Aspiring Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Davao Region can increase the chances of setting up their own businesses through the SME Roving Academy.

“The SME Roving Academy is a machinery for information, communication and knowledge creation of Philippine SMES which aims to guide existing or aspiring entrepreneurs establish their own business or sustain existing ones,” Romeo Castañaga of the Department of Trade and Industry said during Monday’s Kapihan held at SM City Annex.

Castañaga said that with the launching of the SME Roving Academy during the 1^st Philippine Investment Conference (I-Con) in Davao City last June, entrepreneurs can expect a package of interventions to help them start or sustain their businesses.

While the Conference aimed to showcase the investment opportunities in the country, it also aimed to steer interest towards the cluster based industrial development strategy to fasttrack countryside growth and development. He said they targeted 600 participants to the Conference, but achieved a 200% attendance with 1,050 participants during the two-day Conference.

He said the package of interventions will include the startup support to help the would-be entrepreneur to choose the appropriate business given his interest, skills and resources. If the entrepreneurs has decided to push through with the business then we will provide registration support, he added.

Also included in the package of interventions for the SMEs are product development, skills training, management and marketing training, entrepreneurship training and financing. The support will extend to helping the entrepreneur maintain or sustain the business or even go into export, he added.

Castañaga said the SME Roving Academy in Davao City will be conducted initially for free in time for the SME Week this July.

Duterte sets 5 priority areas in oath-taking speech

Rodrigo R. Duterte, who has taken his oath of office as Davao City Mayor for the 7^th time Sunday, has unwittingly identified the five focus areas of his administration for the next three years including peace and order, environment, informal settlers, corruption and tourism.

While he mentioned the successful programs of the city in terms of the firecracker ban, smoking ban and curfew, Duterte reiterated the need to maintain the peace and order in the city by going after drug pushers, and other criminals.

“You can stop or leave the city vertically or horizontally,” was his warning to criminals.

Duterte said while the people could not fight and prevail against nature, he said Dabawenyos should take a deliberate action by de-clogging the canals, acquiring the needed rescue and weather monitoring equipment and continuing the conduct of barangay-based education campaign to prepare people.

“We should put a stress on the management of solid waste because these clog our canals and drainage systems resulting to floods,” he said.

He said the city has acquired relocation sites to accommodate those who live in danger zones. “There is no other option, you have to leave the place,” he added.

However, he said that relocation of informal settlers will only be allowed when the site is ready for habitation which means the people’s sources of livelihood should be accessible.

He said they plan to ask the business sector to relocate their businesses along these areas. Environment-protection and economic development should complement and not clash with each other, he added.

While he made mention of his plan to continuously promote Davao as a tourism destination, Duterte said he is deadest on stopping corruption in the city.

He asked the Ombudsman to fasttrack the appointment of a city Ombudsman to investigate corruption issues in the city. Duterte asked everyone to create a city where “opportunities abound and where every house is secured and every person is safe.”

PBGEA fears P4B in losses due to closure of Iran market

The Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) is seeking the support of the government in the wake of the possible closure of the Iran market due to the stoppage of operation of shipping companies bound for Iran effective this month.

“This could translate to losses of more or less P4 billion for our banana exporters who have not yet even recovered from the devastation caused by typhoon Pablo,” PBGEA executive director Stephen Antig said.

Antig said they have received an advisory from Mercury Steamship Agencies, Inc., an agent of the Pacific International Lines which ships bananas to Iran, about the suspension of its operations.

“We regret to inform you that Mercury Steamship Agencies, Davao will suspend the acceptance of cargoes into Iran effective June 16, 2013,” the Agency wrote in a letter sent to its valued clients. The letter further said that the last acceptance of cargoes bound for Iran was last June 15, 2013 on board Tilly Russ.

The shipping companies are suspending their operations to Iran, Antig said, as part of its commitment to comply with foreign trade regulations. It can be recalled that the United States has imposed economic and other sanctions against Iran as a result of the latter’s nuclear program. The sanctions are aimed to cut off Iran’s access to critical sources of revenue and to make its money useless outside the country.

Antig said the Iran market is one of the biggest banana markets in the Middle East, accounting for 50 percent of the Middle East market. If the shipping companies will no longer bring our bananas to Iran then what are we going to do with our products, he said.

“This is a potential man-made typhoon that will add to the burden of the Philippine banana industry,” Antig said. PBGEA, he said, has already informed the Department of Agriculture, Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Foreign Affairs about the problem and is waiting for their response.

With the suspension of operation of shipping companies bound for Iran, only APL or the American Presidential Line will be shipping good to Iran. However, APL will only load bananas bound for Iran if the exporter has a license from the US Treasury.

“This is very difficult to get and majority of our exporters here do not have this license,” he said. So now that our banana growers have rehabilitated their banana plantations after Pablo, where are they going to sell their bananas with this development?

Antig said that once again, the Philippines is suffering from an economic embargo which it is not a party to. He said the suspension will have tremendous effect on the region’s banana industry which can lead to the closure of 10,285 hectares of land planted to banana and potential job loss for up to 21,000 people.