Second Day Medal Tally

Results of medal standing on November 29, 2008:

1. Sabah 47 (23 Gold, 13 Silver, 11 Bronze)

2. Sarawak 24 (7 – 9 -8)

3. Brunei “A” 18 (6 – 6 – 6)

4. South Sulawesi 24 (5 – 9 – 10)

5. Palawan 16 (5 – 5 – 6)

6. Mindanao 14 (5 – 5 – 4)

7. Northern Territory 4 (2 – 1 – 1)

8. Central Sulawesi 11 (1 – 5 -5)

9. Papua 4 (1 – 2 -1)

10. Brunei “B” 3 (0 – 2 – 1)

11. Labuan 3 (0 – 0 – 3)

12. South Kalimantan 1 (0 – 0 – 1)

13. West Papua 1 (0 – 0 – 1)

1st day medal tally

6th BIMP EAGA Friendship Games in Brunei Darussalam

Medal Standing (November 28)

1. Sabah 22 (12 Gold, 8 Silver, 2 Bronze)

2. Sarawak 11 (3-4-4)

3. Mindanao 7 (3-2-2)

4. South Sulawesi 7 (2-3-2)

5. Brunei “A” 8 (2-2-4)

6. Palawan 7 (1-1-5)

7. Northern Territory 2 (1-0-1)

8. South Kalimantan 1 (0-0-1)

9. Brunei “B”

10. Central Sulawesi

11. Labuan

12. Papua

13. West Papua

6th BIMP EAGA Games

10:05 a.m. – We just went through the formal opening of the 6th BIMP EAGA Friendship Games here in Brunei Darussalam with Team Philippines in high spirits.

I was named head of Team Mindanao and just like in yesterday’s flag raising ceremonies, I was at the head the delegation and received the token from our hosts. Joseph Encabo is head of the whole Philippine contingent after PSC Chair Butch Ramirez begged off due to the budget hearings in Manila. Former councilor Greg Austria is head of Team Palawan.

Swimming competitions started this morning, while most of the other sports namely athletics, aquatics, badminton, pencak silat and sepak takraw would commence this afternoon. Futsal, an indoor version of football, started yesterday.

The hosts from Brunei are leaving no stone unturned in this historic first time for them to organize the Friendship Games. We also took note of the participation of a guest team from Northern Territory of Australia for the first time since 1996. Their entry was well applauded during the opening this morning.

Other contingents are from host Brunei, East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Papua, West Papua, Central Sulawesi and South Sulawesi from Indonesia and Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan from Malaysia.

The Friendship Games, first hosted by General Santos, aims to promote cooperation among the member countries of the sub-region of the ASEAN through sports and cultural exchange.

Side events at the Games include Youth Exchange, Exhibits, Sports Seminars and special competitions among officials.

MIndanao will host again the Games in 2010. Previous hosts were Kuching, Sarawak in 1997; Puerto Princesa, Palawan in 2003; Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in 2004; and Makasar, South Sulawesi in 2006.

All the members of Team Philippines are staying at the Games Village, a cluster of three four-storey athletes dormitories at the sprawling Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex.

The Philippine Embassy through Minister and Consul Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat has been very helpful to the Philippine contingent.

I will post results of the Games once they arrived here at the Media Center where I was accredited representing Mindanao Times.

10:50 a.m. – First results from swimming

Men 50 Meter Butterfly

Gold – Wahyu Wibisone- South Sulawesi

Silver – Pederewski Awang Pan – Sabah

Bronze – Jefrey Pelosa – Palawan

Women 100 Meter Breaststroke

Gold – Esther Yii Shu Ning – Sarawak

Silver – Niken Yuniarti – South Sulawesi

Bronze – Tiara Beboney Tudio – Mindanao

Men 100 Meter Breaststroke

Gold – Pederewski Awang Pan – Sabah

Silver – Emmanuele Puasabas – Mindanao

Bronze – Hasril Mamma – South Sulawesi

Men 1500 Meter Freestyle

Gold – Lee Jun Yi – Sabah

Silver – Lawin Dacera – Mindanao

Jason Jiang Kulay – Sarawak

Women 50 Meter Butterfly

Gold – Wan See Mun Terri – Sabah

Silver – Carol Pang – Sabah

Bronze – Sarah Butler – Northern Territory

Women 400 Meter Individual Medley

Gold – Lai Wei Li – Sabah

Silver – Jessica Laurens – South Sulawesi

Regiena Astrid Marie Quesada – Mindanao

11:30 – Finally Team Mindanao won its first gold in Men 400 Meter Individual Medley through Lawin Dacera of General Santos. Cheers to Team Mindanao!

Ambassadors

Members of the Ambassadors Club Davao held their monthly meeting cum advance Christmas Party November 21. Shown beaming with optimism for another banner year for the club in 2009 are (standing) lawyer Onie Partoza, Councilor Peter Lavina, Dr. Edwin Garcia (seated) Ambassador Monet and Inday Tirol, and businessman Ding Diaz.

Temporarily off

I have a number of trips starting next week. So, I am taking a temporary leave from this blog.

Nov 18 – 20 Manila for the National Inventors Competition;

Nov 26 – Dec 2 Brunei for the 6th BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games;

Dec 3 – 4 San Juan, Metro Manila for the city sisterhood agreement;

Dec 5 – 7 Manila for the Philippine Councilors League conference;

Dec 13 -15 Bacolod for the National Boxing Championships; and

Dec 20 – 21 Cebu for an OFW conference

Advance Merry Christmas to all of you dear readers!

Nov 11 City Council Agenda

Calendar of Business for today’s City Council Regular Session starting at 9 am:

Invocation – Councilor Karlo S. Bello (3rd District)

National Anthem; City March

Roll Call

Reading & Approval of the Minutes of the Nov 4 Session

Privilege Hour

First Reading – 13 Items (Item Nos. 1545 – 1557) e.g. Item No. 1545 – Application for PALC of Ocean Cove, a low-density subdivision, at Barangay Bago Aplaya containing an area of 18.3 hectares; Item No. 1548 – IRR of the Watershed Code of Davao City; Item No. 1554 – Complaint of Samantha Homes against Foothills Realty Development for the implementation of subdivision plans; Item No. 1556 – Request for tax exemption for the Gary Valenciano concert of NCCC Cares Foundation on December 22, 2008

Third & Final Reading – Item No. 1018 – Ordinance reclassifying 28.6 hectares from agricultural to residential zone at Barangay Catalunan Grande; Item No. 1449 – Tax exemption of Jose Mari Chan Concert on November 29, 2008

Committee of the Whole – Item No. 1025 – PALC of Palm Grove at Barangay Matina Pangi; Item No. 1207 – PALC of Positano Subdivision at Barangay Matina Pangi;

Second Reading (Deferred Items) – 2 Items

Second reading (New Items) – 5 Items, e.g. Naming of Mandug-Callawa Road to “Manuel G. Cabaguio,” in honor of the pioneer settler in the area; Item No. 1070 – Request for service firearms for the security of the City Economic Enterprise Management Office; Item No. 1303 – Request for Legislative Authorization for the installation of fiber optic cables from Barangay Panacan to Barangay Lasang

Events next week

Nov 13 – 5th Congress of the Davao City Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) at SM City Davao (9 am – 5 pm);

Nov 14 – Coordinating Conference on the campaign for safety and fair trade practices involving Liquid Petroleum Products (LPP) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) hosted by the Department of Energy at Probinsya Restaurant (11 am – 3 pm);

Nov 14 – Launching of the “Science on the Move – Traveling Science Centrum” a science exhibit to showcase and promote science education at the RMC Gym (10 am);

Nov 14-16 – 1st Mindanao Children’s Games sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission and supported by the Davao City Sports Council at the University of Mindanao Matina Campus involving eight sports (baseball, basketball, chess, football, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball) for athletes 12 years under. A side event is the children’s oratorical contest on the PSC theme “sports for peace” program.

Comment from NZ

Here’s a comment sent to us through the contact page.

Hi Pete,

I just heard the news about the plan of converting the Artica Dome into a crematorium cum mausoleum? Is this true? This proposal, despite the high propobability that the facility will collapse should an earthquake start to wiggle it?

The notion that “it is OK to be turned into a place for the dead , after all – they are dead – in case it collapses, it’s OK because inside it are dead already” , is DISGUSTING.

A decent and moral society is judged on how it treats those who cannot defend themselves. The ultimate moral decay of society is reached when that society cannot even pay proper respects for the dead.

I hope you will put a sense out of this mess when this issue comes into your turf in the City Council.

If the place if indeed unsafe, there are only two options: structural strengthening/earthquake proofing (which is what builders in Wellington are doing to almost all high-rise building in this city. as you may know, Wellington (and perhapd the whole of NZ, is in a fault line too.), and demolition of the entire facility.

Regards.

Banjo Roxas
Wellington, New Zealand

I myself was surprised by this suggestion. The donation of the land for the dome stipulated that it be used for a sports facility, so it is not possible to convert it for other purposes. In fact, the family that donated the land had an immediate unfavorable reaction to the proposed crematorium.

If ever the Mayor would change his mind on this facility, the best thing to do it to retrofit it as you have suggested. Mayor Rody Duterte mothballed this project due principally to safety concerns.

Wasted time

The Mindanao Daily Mirror editorial today warned that there is no time to waste in the water wars between the local water utility DCWD and the hydro power firm Hedcor over the use of Tamugan River in the west of the city.

I fully agree.

Unfortunately, DCWD has already wasted over a decade in foot-dragging on this issue.

The water firm was granted a permit for the use of the river as far back as 1997. It has dilly-dallied and has not delivered even a single drop of water from this river to its expanding clientele in the city.

Two major events have thus overtaken its indecision. The first is the expansion of farming in the area during the past ten years that has reportedly contaminated the river; the second is the energy crisis that has demanded for the development of clean energy particularly hydro power.

Had the DCWD acted ten years ago to tap the river, we would not be confronted with this time-wasting debate today.

The board and management of the water firm should be accountable for this clear failure to act accordingly to develop the river as its water source.

They cannot fault others for this wasted time. In fact, its permit should be revoked for this utter inaction.

Historic vote

Nov. 4 City Council Agenda

Calendar of Business of the 40th Regular Session today of the City Council:

Invocation – Councilor Samuel B. Bangoy (2nd District)

National Anthem; City March

Roll Call

Reading & Approval of the Minutes of the Oct. 28 Session

Privilege Hour

First Reading – 18 Items – Nos. 1525 – 1544, e.g. Item No. 1525 – Letter request of Leonora D. Lim for favorable endorsement for their application for reclamation with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) for their beach resort at Times Beach; Item No. 1528 – Proposed resolution for the inspection, rehabilitation and installation of fire hydrants in strategic areas of the city; Item No. 1535 – Proposed resolution to enact an Ordinance providing guidelines for queuing of passengers of public utility vehicles in specified public places in Davao City;

3rd & Final Reading – Item No. 1018 – Reclassification of 28.6 hectares from agricultural to residential zone at Barangay Catalunan Grande;

Committee of the Whole – Item No. 1025 – PALC of Palm Grove at Barangay Matina Pangi containing an area of 13.6 hectares; Item No. 1207 – PALC of Positano Subdivision at Barangay Matina Pangi containing an area of 19.3 hectares

Unfinished Business – Item No. 875-B – Request for tax exemption by the Samahan ng mga Musikeros sa Davao, Inc.

2nd Reading (Deferred Items) – 9 Items

2nd Reading (New Items) – 5 Items, e.g. Requests for tax exemption for concerts/shows – Item No. 1287 – Ambon, Ulan, Baha featuring actor Tommy Abuel; Item No. 1311 – Laugh out loud featuring Arnel Ignacio and giselle Sanchez; and Item No. 1449 – Jose Mari Chan concert