In February of 2011, the Philippine National Football team started their quest to conquer the 2012 Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup. What was once glorious dreams of making it to the actual tournament held this year in Nepal were met with demanding tasks.

Tackling Mongolia was first on the agenda to a long uphill climb.

After the two game victory by aggregate, the team found themselves in a tough qualifying group alongside Palestine, Bangladesh, and  Myanmar.  

Following a second place finish in the group qualifying stages, the team was in a spot in the AFC tournament.

With five matches invested in the goal for gold and a ticket to Nepal, the chance to fight for a slot on the podium was one step closer but yet so far.  

The big challenge was finally met in Nepal, when the team was placed in what was coined the “group of death” left to battle it out with Tajikistan, India and defending AFC Challenge Cup champions, North Korea.

This long road prior to us landing in Nepal was a very difficult task for a developing team looking to make a name for the country in the world’s sport.  (www.rappler.com)

MANILA, Philippines - Here’s a possible incentive to live long until you’re 100.

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to grant Filipino centenarians various rewards and incentives, including a cash gift of P100,000 from Malacañang.

If the Senate agrees and it turns into a law, you will also get on your birthday a letter of congratulations from no less than the President of the Philippines.

“Living to be a centenarian, or three decades past the life expectancy is an achievement and a distinction worthy of emulation and public recognition,” said Albay Rep Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the proposed “Centenarians Act of 2012.”

Life expectancy at birth is a major indicator of the level of nation’s human development. Lagman said the average Filipino can expect to live to only 71 years old.

“Centenarians are our role models for living long and aging well,” Lagman added.

It takes immense self-discipline to reach 100. While genetics plays a role in longevity, the dominant factor in living long is lifestyle, Lagman said, citing studies.

The bill seeks to amend the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 and declare every 25th day of September as the “National Respect for Centenarians Day.”

Other proposed rewards include:

• 50% discount and exemption from the value-added tax (VAT) on the sale of goods and services from all establishments, but only for the exclusive use and enjoyment of the centenarians
• A plaque of recognition and cash incentive by their respective city or municipal governments in appropriate ceremonies during the celebration of the “National Respect for Centenarians Day"
• Psychological and other financial incentives

Lagman’s bill also wants to give deceased centenarians posthumous plaques of recognition. – (www.rappler.com)

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) - Japan's defense minister said Friday, March 30, he had issued an order to shoot down a North Korean rocket if it threatens the nation's territory, a planned launch that has raised global alarm bells.

North Korea said this month it would fire a rocket to put a satellite into orbit between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il-Sung.

But the United States and its allies suspect the launch is a disguised missile test, and said it would contravene UN sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's missile program.

"I issued a destroy order," Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told reporters in Tokyo, saying he had received the green light to shoot it down.

The order was issued after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cabinet approved it on Friday morning.

Last week Tanaka said he was readying Japan's missile defense systems but Friday's approval gives the military the power to destroy the rocket if necessary.

He said last week surface-to-air interceptors would be deployed on the southern island chain of Okinawa, over which Tokyo believes the projectile may pass, and in central Tokyo, one of the world's biggest cities.

In 2009, Japan ordered missile-defense preparations before Pyongyang's last long-range rocket launch, which brought UN Security Council condemnation and tightened sanctions against the isolated communist state.

That rocket, which North Korea said was also aimed at putting a satellite into orbit, passed over Japanese territory without incident or any attempt to shoot it down. - Agence France-Presse
(www.rappler.com)

A non-government organization in Negros Oriental is pushing for the interconnection of telecommunications companies operating in Dumaguete City and other parts of the province.

The Consumers Advocates Inc., have informed Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba of the National Telecommunications Commission, that the three telecom companies, Cruztelco, Globe Innove and PLDT are not fully interconnected, “contrary to rulings of the NTC”.

Linda Basmayor, president of CAI, in a letter, said that while Cruztelco and Globe were interconnected in February 2001, problems on interconnection with PLDT have been noted.

The group pointed out that long distance charges apply when a Cruztelco subscriber makes a call to a PLDT user and the caller has to key in the ‘035’ Negros Oriental area code but calls made from PLDT or Globe to the other two providers are not charged.

The group is asking the NTC for “swift action” on the full interconnection, and the provision of enough interconnection circuits to facilitate efficient communication between subscribers of different telephone companies.

The CAI also sought a refund for what it calls unfair charges due to long distance rates charged by telephone companies from the time that they should have been interconnected.

 The CAI met recently with the local NTC representative, Bill Peralta. (The Visayan Daily Star)

The Negros Oriental government is planning to purchase more tractors to bolster its food security program, being an agriculture-based province.

Gov. Roel Degamo said this is in line with the farm mechanization program, to ensure increased supply of the rice and corn, vegetable and other farm produce.

Degamo said it is important to open new areas for production due to increasing population, and the farm mechanization program will help improve the yield of farmers. In using carabaos, a farmer would finish plowing one hectare in one week, but with the use of a tractor, it will take him only 45 minutes, Degamo pointed out.

Two brand new tractors had also arrived for use by farmers’ cooperatives and organizations in the province, the system of which is being worked out by the provincial agriculture office.

In Dumaguete City, it is called “plow now, pay later,” but farmers groups are lining up to pay first so they can use the tractor.

The governor personally tested the brand-new tractors which come complete with implements, such as disc plow. (The Visayan Daily Star)

Motorcycle accidents are for the fourth top cause of death in the Philippines, with an average of 16,208 mishaps recorded every year, Takeshi Yano, the president of Yamaha Motor Philippines Inc., said yesterday.

Yano, who was in Silliman University for the Visayas-leg of the “Yamaha Safe Riding Science: Be Safe, Be Different” campaign, added that the figures were based on their survey on the alarming statistics of motorcycle accidents.

He said the campaign is in recognition of the need to address the growing number of motorcycle accidents. It incorporates lectures and drills, aimed at highlighting the importance of road safety and the relevance of wearing protective gear, especially helmets, Yano said.

Meanwhile, the seminar attended by students from Silliman and partner schools and universities, also discussed “Impact Force: Theory for Use of Helmets”, “Kinetic Energy: Theory for Collision Impact”, “Inertial Force and Friction Force: Correct Breaking”, “Stop Distance”, “Proper Riding Position”, and “Pre-Operational Checks”.

Silliman took on the partnership with YMPH, being the first university to implement the ‘no helmet, no entry’ policy.

YSRS is a nationwide campaign in coordination with the Land Transportation Office, that will implement the Helmet Law in Negros Oriental in August this year. (The Visayan Daily Star)

The Provincial Small and Medium Enterprise Development Council (PSMEDC) in Negros Oriental encouraged farmers in the province to start planting bamboos not only for business opportunities but to lessen disaster risk.

In a meeting of the Small & Medium Development Council (SMEDC) recently, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) presented the Philippine Bamboo Foundation Inc. (PBFI) which has three bamboo nurseries in the province due to the growing demands of bamboo nationwide and in the global market.

PBFI Visayas Region senior project director Herbie Teodoro said some 400,000 bamboo propagules are now produced in a Dauin nursery and in the garden centers in Bayawan City and Vallehermoso town in Negros Oriental.

The province has bamboo varieties that are available and abundant and these plants grow fast and can be harvested in three years, said Teodoro.

He assured the SMEDC that his company will support for financing and technical if and when organized farmers' groups decide to invest in the commercial farm production of bamboos.

It was noted that export potentials for bamboo-based products in global markets remained strong in the country, Teodoro added.

According to PBFI there are around 1,500 uses of bamboo. It is used extensively for soil and water conservation technologies, suitable in disaster situations, protects against soil erosion, landslides, among others.(www.ugnayan.com)

Students in two schools in quake-hit Tayasan town in Negros Oriental received relief goods from the Bacong Holy Family High School Alumni Association recently.

The association handed out about 400 packs of relief goods to almost 400 students of Tayasan National High School and Tayasan Science High School.

Each pack contains two kilos of rice, two cans of sardines, three packs of noodles, one bar of laundry and assorted used clothing, said Nanette Tindoc, president of the alumni association and the provincial focal person of the Public Employment Services Office (PESO) in Negros Oriental.

After the relief goods distribution, Tindoc gave a lecture for the graduating high school students of the two schools on Child Labor and Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Human Trafficking Act.

Flyers and posters from the Philippines Against Child Trafficking (PACT) were also given out to the students.

Tindoc said their association also gave used clothing items in Guihulngan City, another area badly hit by the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Negros Oriental on Feb. 6, 2012.

The Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF), a non-government organization, has earlier noted a link between climate-caused disasters and human trafficking as illegal recruiters take advantage of the vulnerabilities of disaster victims. (www.ugnayan.com)

A reforestation project in Ayungon, Negros Oriental, that has been planted with numerous forest trees under the National Greening Program of the government is fast becoming popular with tourists, who regularly visit the area now.

Almarie Calibo of the provincial office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the reforestation site in Banban, Ayungon, has become a model project under the NGP launched last year with a target 2,000 hectares in the province to be planted to forest trees.

Local officials have visited the Banban site to learn from its experience, and possibly replicate the project in their areas, Calibo said.

The chief of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office I based in Ayungon town, Charlie Fabre, has been invited to other places in the Philippines and even to China to share the Banban reforestation project experience, Calibo added.

Calibo urged local government units within the coverage area of CENRO I to participate in this year’s target of 4,000 hectares of land to be planted to forest trees.

The CENRO I has received a P59-million budget for the project, to include seedling production as a livelihood component for the public.

Calibo said they need not just to plant trees but to ensure that they will grow and survive over the years. (The Visayan Daily Star)

Mayor Enrique Gonzalez Jr. of Valencia, in Negros Oriental, said he is hoping that the three solons of the province will push for the amendment of Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, to allow the comeback of the royalty fees previously received from the power transmission and generation companies operating in the province.

Gonzalez said the EPIRA, that was passed during the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was intended, to bring down electricity rates and improve the delivery of power services.

But, he said, this has not been realized despite its implementation, and the removal of the royalties paid by the power utilities the past few years, noting that the cost of power has even gone up over the same period.

Only Congress can amend the law, Gonzalez said, adding that Rep. Henry Pryde Teves (Neg. Or., 3rd District) has assured that he will take action on the issue next year. “We are just following the law,” the mayor said in reaction to reports that some quarters were questioning the absence of the royalty fees.

Millions of pesos in royalty fees were paid each year by the former National Power Corporation, now Green Core Geothermal Inc. and the former Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corporation, now the Energy Development Corporation or EDC in Valencia, Negros Oriental prior to the privatization of both corporations and the EPIRA implementation, Gonzalez noted.

The royalty taxes were paid to the provincial government, the municipal government of Valencia, and the host barangays of Caidiocan, Malaunay and Puhagan, for the harnessing of geothermal energy in Valencia, home to the 192-MW Palinpinon geothermal power plants.

Gonzalez said that since the payment of royalty fees had been halted, Valencia has, instead, been collecting business and real property taxes from Green Core and EDC.

Green Core is paying at least P40 million in real property tax each year, while negotiations are still ongoing with EDC for the same, he said.

For business taxes, the Valencia LGU is collecting about P26 million from both Green Core and EDC each year, Gonzalez added.

He also said that while he and his constituents are thankful to EDC and Green Core for boosting the social, economic and development efforts of his town, he is in favor of amending the EPIRA because government has failed to follow through with its promise of lower electricity rates. (The Visayan Daily Star)