South Cotabato officials are studying the viability of adopting the breeding of ostrich as part of the local government’s enhanced animal dispersal program.

Dr. Raul Teves, South Cotabato Animal Production and Processing Center (APPC) chief, said Friday they are planning to establish a pilot ostrich farm in the province to determine its feasibility as an alternative farm venture.

He said two male ostriches were recently turned over by a private donor to the APPC, which is based in Tantangan town, to jump start the program.

“The domestic market for ostrich meat is currently very promising and I think we have available areas that could be suitable for ostrich breeding and meat production,” he said.

Citing their research, the official said a kilo of ostrich meat currently fetches as high as P740 in high-end markets in Metro Manila.

Teves, a veterinarian, said they are currently observing the adaptability of the donated ostrich to the local climate as well as the environment.

“We are trying to learn more on how to deal with ostriches, especially on how we can breed them and maybe try its meat production in our backyards,” he said.

So far, he said the number of residents that were visiting the APPC significantly increased in the last several weeks due to the presence of the donated ostrich.

The ostrich (Struthio camelus) is a large flightless bird that originated in Africa and is considered as the largest living bird species which produces the biggest eggs of all living birds, an online reference website cited.

Ostriches are farmed in several countries mainly for meat and eggs although they are also known for their prized feathers and the use of their skin for leather production, it said.

Everything is set for the interment of the late Rep. Erico Aumentado on Saturday at the Victoria Memorial Park. On the same day, necrological rites will be held at the Provincial Capitol at 9 in the morning. Aumentado served as governor for three terms. His remains will be transferred to the St. Joseph Cathedral for the requiem mass at 2:00pm with Bishop Leonardo Medroso as the main celebrant. The public and the private sectors continue to pay their last respect to the departed solon whose remains lie in state at his residence along Calceta st., this city. Upon arrival last Saturday, his townmates in Ubay paid glowing respect to their departed leader whose remains were brought to Ubay from the airport. Yesterday, The Bohol Chronicle Radio Corp. paid their respect to Aumentado by hosting the top-rated “Inyong Alagad” publis affairs program at his residence from 8 to 10 yesterday morning with anchormen Boy Guingguing and Chito Visarra. The solon’s widow, Greeny together with son, Aris recalled their fond memories with the solon who was a loving husband and father. People at the vigil also took turns to air their memories and admiration to the late governor and congressman of the province. 45 LONG YEARS AS PUBLIC SERVANT The late Aumentado served the province for 45 years starting as a provincial board member in 1967. His political career started in 1967 when then governor and later, President Carlos P. Garcia “pushed” the newly married young lawyer into running for Provincial Board member. At 27, he was the youngest to be elected as such, and was senior board member to boot for two terms, with extension until 1980. There was no turning back since then. He was a Sangguniang Panlalawigan member from 1980-1986, vice governor from 1988-1992, congressman for three terms from 1992-2001, governor of Bohol from 2001 to 2010 and congressman from 2010 until his passing. He was Deputy Speaker of the House from 2000 to 2001, and was president both of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap) during his first two terms as governor. He declined the position in his last term in order to devote more time to his home province and his family. He used to jest that he received a memorandum from his grandchildren reminding him that Sunday was “family day”. Aumentado was orphaned by his father when he was only eight. He joined a fishing crew at night to help his mother support his studies by day – and those of his siblings. He graduated valedictorian from the Ubay Central Elementary School. He broke his piggy bank and his life’s savings then of P50 launched his buy-and-sell career of broken bottles and other recyclables that he sold in Cebu. In turn, he bought basins, pails, kettles and other utensils for his mother to sell during Mondays – Ubay’s market day. Business was quite good, and soon, he and his siblings had to help their mother sell the items. But helping out during market days took a toll on his school attendance. Thinking that he had been plain playing hooky, his school director called his attention. To his credit and his surprise, Msgr. Margarito Gonzaga, then school director, understood his predicament, took pity on him, his siblings and other students in the same situation, and moved school days to Tuesdays to Saturdays instead. He graduated valedictorian from the Holy Child Academy. He pursued higher education at the Rafael Palma College, now University of Bohol, on full scholarship. He earned stipends by writing for the school paper, and working for a local newspaper and later, as correspondent for a national paper. He graduated with highest honors in Pre-Law, magna cum laude in Bachelor of Arts in 1960, and cum laude in Bachelor of Laws in 1964. A JOURNALIST The late solon was a journalist by heart. He joined The Bohol Chronicle as a writer when he was the editor of The Varsitarian, the school publication of then Rafael Palma College (now University of Bohol). He was Bohol correspondent of The Manila Times during his stint with the Chronicle. With his journalistic ability, the late Chronicle publisher-editor Jun Dejaresco gave Aumentado a break through his column “Between Extremes,” one of the longest running and well read columns in this paper. CONGRESS HONORS BOHOL SOLON In her eulogy, Occidental Mindoro Rep. Amelita Villarosa, fellow House minority member, said Aumentado distinguished himself in the four terms he served in the legislature on top of bringing progress to Bohol. She said Aumentado once stood on the floor for 12 hours to defend the 1999 budget bill – the longest budget defense in the history of the House of Representatives. She also said he had stood alone on the floor in 1999 to foil a House resolution that had asked the Supreme Court to allow a solon convicted of statutory rape to serve in congress. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said the lawmaker served as ethics committee chairman “with distinction.” He had picked Aumentado to head that committee with no qualms even if the latter belonged to the minority. Committee chairmanships are usually awarded to members of the majority but Belmonte justified his choice: “He’s the proper man for that position,” he said, adding that “Aumentado had not come from a political family or a wealthy clan and earned respect in public office through hard work.” “Public service was to him not only a calling but a passion,” he said. “To him, public service was almost a religion.” Belmonte recalled that whenever Aumentado was given a reward, he would instead refer the persons giving it to him to the church. Parishioners of the Santo Niño Church in Poblacion and in Barangay San Pascual both in his hometown of Ubay, the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Sevilla, the hometown of his wife Grenie, and even inmates of the Bohol District Jail, among others, can attest to that. And the list is still long. Aumentado, a lawyer, also provided pro bono legal services to the poor, Belmonte had said Among his cherished awards is the one given by the Citizens’ Legal Aid Society of the Philippines (Clasp) – in recognition of his brilliant and courageous performance in bringing justice within the reach of the poor and for his continuing devotion to the cause of legal aid in the Philippines. Aumentado founded the Clasp Bohol chapter. Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said that in all the positions Aumentado occupied, he served with great skill and distinction. He also never lost any of his bids for a public position. Minority Leader Danilo Suarez praised Aumentado’s infrastructure projects for Bohol, and further hailed him for being a man of humble beginnings who rose to become a leader of men. LEGACIES The Bohol solon did his homework, pushed thru gestation (resolutions, fund sourcing for feasibility studies, detailed engineering design, civil works, etc.) and birth pains (trouble shooting) and implemented the Bohol Circumferential Road Improvement Project Phases I and II, the Bohol Irrigation Project Stages I (Malinao Dam) and II (Bayongan Dam), Leyte-Bohol Interconnection Project Phases I and II, National Transmission Corp. (Transco)-Bohol Backbone Transmission Project, Improvement of the Tagbilaran, Tubigon, Ubay and Jagna ports and the Ubay and Tagbilaran airports, improvement of bridges, public markets and the Zamora Dam. Ongoing are the Rural Electrification Project, barangay master planning, concrete bridge along the Danao–Getafe road, P106M San Vicente–La Esperanza (Dagohoy)–Concepcion (Danao) road, P139M Sagbayan-Danao road concreting, waterworks systems, medical and surgical missions, P14M Getafe-Jandayan Interconnection Project, school buildings, flood control projects in Sagbayan, P14 million, and Inabanga, P10 million, Hello Bohol (livestock dispersal) Project, livelihood projects with the Department of Labor and Employment, distribution of computers and internet accessing, tractors for hybrid rice and corn projects, rice ratooning project, Extreme Adventure Tourism in Danao, barangay health centers, solar dryers, Botica ng Barangay, multi-purpose buildings with stages, Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP), and others. He had worked for and had received the grant from the Korean Government for the recently inaugurated Rice Processing Complex in Pilar town. Aumentado is dedicated to his work. He often emphasized that he did not work just for show, or to harvest awards; he worked because that was his job. But in the process, he did reap recognition. He treasured most his Golden Heart Award for Humanitarian Service, his Konrad Adenauer Medal of Excellence as Outstanding Governor, Local Government Leadership Academy award as Most Outstanding Governor and a host of others for protecting the environment, pushing nutrition, promoting Bohol as a tourist destination, Gawad Galing Pook for eco-tourism, coastal law enforcement, local peace building initiatives and the Award of Excellence (ACE) for maintaining the above initiatives for at least three years, among others. For the environmental management system (EMS) initiatives the province pursued during his watch, Bohol was issued an ISO 14001 Certification. And the list of awards is still long. Also under his stewardship, the Bohol Branches of the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, National Bureau of Investigation, the Region 7 office of the National Irrigation Administration in Tagbilaran City, the Philippine Carabao Center at the Ubay Stock Farm, the Don Emilio del Valle Memorial Hospital in Ubay and the Bohol Medical Care Institute were established – to give his consitutents accessibility to the services of these offices at minimal cost compared to having to go to Cebu or Manila. At the House, on top of his chairmanship of the Ethics and Privileges Committee, he was a member for the minority of the committees on agriculture and food, appropriations, basic education and culture, Constitutional amendments, good government and public accountability, local government, public works and highways, suffrage and electoral reforms, tourism, transportation, as well as ways and means. (with reports from June Blanco)

By Gee Biliran When I attended an international human rights seminar in Hawaii in the year 2000, the participants who had never been to the Philippines were shocked to know that Filipinos speak different regional languages. I was the only Filipino delegate then and I had the monopoly (and the challenge) of sharing with them the unique qualities of the Philippines and its people. As simply as possible, I explained to them that owing to our country’s being an archipelago or a group of islands, each region has its own peculiar language, culture and trait (according to language experts and sociologists, what we call “dialects” are actually “languages” because they are independent of each other). I explained to the awe-struck participants that we have as many languages are there are regions – we have the Cebuano language, the Tagalog language, the Waray language, the Ilocano language, etc…. I further arduously elucidated that we have a supposedly common “Filipino” language formally taught in school, which is the Tagalog language adulterated with the English language (or is it the other way around?) – but which is actually not the most widely spoken language in the country. I had the time of my life as I told them that I was a linguist because I spoke Cebuano, Tagalog, “Filipino”, and English. They found it incomprehensible that while I spoke Cebuano, I neither understood nor spoke the other regional languages, and for me to communicate to a Filipino of another region, we would have to speak Tagalog or English for us to understand each other, the latter being preferred. What else is uniquely Filipino? One time, my family was watching a Filipino movie with a foreign visitor. I remember it was the scene of the young Gretchen Baretto crying over a dying person. Expecting to hear the moviegoers’ sniffle, the foreigner was shocked to hear their laughter instead. We had to explain to him that as a coping mechanism, Filipinos tend to cover up an embarrassment or sadness by laughing. That is why we rarely have suicides or serial killings, we proudly pointed out. Or perhaps, I later wondered, had it something to do with the lack of acting prowess of the supposed actress? Filipinos are also hospitable to a fault wherever they are in the globe. Don’t we offer the best bedroom to our visitors, even if it means having to sleep on the sofa? When I attended a human rights seminar in Strasbourg, France in 2002, I extended my stay and was privileged to spend a week with a Filipina/Ilongga named Jeanette, her French husband Jeanne Marie Haberkorn and son Kevin. Much to my embarrassment, Jeanette insisted that I sleep in the master’s bedroom, while she slept in her son’s room and her good husband, in the sala! Boholanos are no exception. Carving our own place in history, we proudly lay our claim to the first international treaty, the blood compact between Datu Sikatuna and Legaspi. The boost in our tourism is attributable not only to our rich natural resources but also to the hospitality of the Boholanos. Thus, we attract local and foreign tourists, some of whom even decide to live here permanently. Such decision is highly welcome to our government because it could easily be translated into more dollar earnings for our coffers. It is welcome to the local community because the slightest indication of affluence is claimed as reflective of the affluence of the community. It is welcome to the barangay officials because financial contributions for some projects are received now and then. It is welcome to parents because their children are invited to the new resident’s house and return home with food and money. Anything that would threaten this comfortable arrangement is highly denounced, and the new resident is defended at all cost. Never mind if the new resident is an escaped convict. Never mind if the community’s children and women are abused. Never mind if the locals become second class citizens in their own land. What is important is that the dollars are coming in. Tourism always has its social costs, they would argue, and such costs, they are willing to take. Sadly, we forget that we, too, had a Dagohoy. We forget that we fought the longest revolt in the country. We forget that we refused to surrender our identity, our integrity, our self-respect and our pride for thirty pieces of silver. What has brought us to the level where we eat up our pride as fast as we eat up the apples and hamburgers brought by our children from the new resident’s house? Why are we willing to throw our children into the lion’s den for some fleeting moment of gastronomic satisfaction which is inevitably convertible into mere organic matter? Before it’s too late, let us look into ourselves and rethink where we are leading our children. What values are we teaching them? Is poverty an excuse for such a debasement? Why is it that before this new resident came, we were content with living simple lives? We fed our children with simple but nutritious food. We sent them to school. We taught them the value of work, honesty and self-respect. Where have all these values gone? What has become of us? Can we still hold our head up and proudly declare that we are uniquely Filipino?

Businessmen in the province of Aklan have reported economic growth strongly pushed by President Benigno S. Aquino III’s ideology on his “Matuwid na Daan.”

Reacting to what he saw over the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), Jose Mari Aldecoa, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI-Kalibo) here, said business “has benefited from good governance under PNoy.”

“Investments leading to economic growth had been greatly enhanced by a no-nonsense stance against corruption,” he said.

Aldecoa added that he expects more economic investors to come to the country given the reforms in the credible SONA of President Aquino.

He added businessmen in the province reported experiencing tremendous cut in red tape in their transactions with several government agencies.

By Ben Cal

A Filipino group based in Washington, D.C. on Monday joined other organizations calling on the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) to investigate the controversial split decision favoring American boxer Timothy Bradley over Manny Pacquiao despite the overwhelming punches thrown by the latter as shown by a computer-analyzed Compubox.

“We wrote an open letter to the NSAC asking for a probe on the manner of judging the Pacquiao-Bradley fight. We do not want to be cheated right under our noses. This may just be a sport but public trust and decency are at stake here,” said Arnedo Valera, co-executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), which provides legal services and cultural development programs to U.S. immigrants.

The MHC furnished the Philippines News Agency (PNA) with a copy of its letter to the NSAC.

Valera said that the “MHC also asked Bradley to act with decency, by asking the NSAC for a probe and acknowledge that the judges were wrong,” adding, “it is good for his (Bradley’s) dignity and restore the honor of boxing.”

Millions of viewers around the world thought Pacquiao was the clear winner and were shocked when Bradley was declared the victor in a split decision swirling with controversy.

Valera said that “except for judges Cynthia J. Ross and Duane Ford, the roaring audience, ringside journalists, and the world thought that Manny Pacquiao was the winner last night (Sunday, Manila time) in his bout against Timothy Bradley. Even Bradley himself could not believe he won. Before the announcement of the winner, he earlier said he could not beat him, he was a beast.

“However, the split decision had favored Bradley, with an ironic same scores of 113-115, from the scoreboards of Ross and Ford,” he said.

Valera further said: “The world thought there was something bizarre in the judging that night. All throughout the game, Pacquiao had been mostly in control.

“Ringside punching statistics showed Pacquiao landing 253 punches to 159 for Bradley. The Compubox statistics showed Pacquiao landing more punches in 10 of the 12 rounds. Major networks CNN, HBO, BBC, and USA Today had been analyzing the game with Pacquiao as winner.”

Valera said “the MHC is asking the Nevada State Athletic Commission, chaired by Raymond Avansino, to conduct a probe as to how the judges could have arrived at the same scores, which were in contrast to the results of the computer-analyzed Compubox.”