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BY DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER


news The Manila Times TUESDAY D e cember 7, 2010


a notice of strike before the Department of Labor and Employment.


In a statement, Gerardo Rivera, the president of Palea, on Monday said that they submitted the notice of strike vote before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) of the Labor department on Monday morning. “With a copy furnished the Office of the Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz at 8:55 a.m. [Monday], this means that Palea can proceed with


■ DREAM FROM A1


Pinoy game maker lives out boyhood fantasy


“shadow,” has been crafting games since 2003 for many of the world’s biggest entertainment firms such as Walt Disney, Namco, Atari and Electronic Arts. The company is growing up fast and has 45 developers with an average age of only 25—a team weaned on all- night computer combat games such as Counterstrike, Warcraft and Ragnarok. Anino’s roots can be traced back


to 2001, when Dagondon was a 21- year-old college student trying to turn a game project from his computer science studies into a commercial product. He eventually burned through about P5 million of his own money over the next two years as he and seven developers brought the first Philippine-made commercial game to hit the market. Dagondon said that the product, a role-playing game set in 16th century Philippines when Spanish colonizers first arrived, was not a major success but it crucially gave his small team experience and contacts to sell internationally. The company releases an


average of one game every month and teams are at work on up to five projects at a time. A project can take between four and 10 months to complete. One recent game was adapted from the Hollywood animation film Despicable Me for Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPods. The company also created the


popular Turbo Subs game and Mystery of Cleopatra puzzle for personal computers. Dagondon said that his


company’s success internationally had a lot to do with the fact that his game makers have grown up absorbed in US pop culture. “The biggest factor that we have is our cultural affinity with most of the markets that we are in,” said the father-of-three. “Fifty percent of the market is North


America, and we watch the same TV shows, the same movies. If they want a game about hamburgers, about cowboys, it’s something we would know, but not a Chinese would know.”


Growing world market Dagondon said that the games


market has exploded in the past


three years as graphics dramatically improved, and females have also started playing—and now make up 45 percent of the market. “My daughter plays iPhone games and people as old as my aunt, who is in her 60s, also plays,” he added. But while Anino Games is growing


quickly, it remains a small-time operation in some ways. Dagondon—an endurance


sports nut who regularly climbs mountains and competes in triathlons—is the company’s one- man roadshow, attending international conferences and meeting prospective clients. His wife, Nicole, is the finance, administrative and human resources director. The company’s expansion plans are also somewhat restricted by the fact that game development requires big capital. Some of the software used in the business costs more than $5,000 a desktop.


The types of games the company specializes in require budgets of $50,000 to $200,000. But finding investors is an acute problem in the Philippines, where Dagondon reckoned venture capitalists could be counted with the fingers on one hand. And while there are now about 30 game development companies in the Philippines, he said that the country suffers from a lack of imagination and innovation. If one person decided to start a


spa, an Internet café or a bakery, the entire block would soon be overrun with them, causing most of them to fail, Dagondon noted. “If a lot more people innovate and are successful then access to capital will improve,” he said. Yet Dagondon was optimistic about the future for his company and other game makers in the Philippines. “It’s still minute, but the growth is there and the potential is there,” he said of the local industry. Eventually, Dagondon hopes that his company will become big enough to be able to produce games for itself, not just for third-party publishers. “We just want to do great games, and hopefully some of the games we will make will eventually hit blockbuster status,” he said.


AFP


PAL workers’ union to hold strike vote T


HE Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea) said that it will hold a strike vote today, having filed


the strike vote from 9 a.m. to 12 mid- night tomorrow [today],” he added. Rivera said that the strike vote is com- pliance with requirements of the law. Palea is protesting a plan of flag- carrier Philippine Airlines to spin off part of its operations, a move that will result in the airline letting go some 3,500 of its 7,500 workforce. “If management does not desist from harassing Palea members to


avail of the separation offer, which is tantamount to individual bargain- ing and therefore illegal, then we will be forced to actually hold the strike,” Rivera said. He added that PAL management continued to violate its own prom- ise during mediation held on No- vember 8 where PAL managers said that they will refrain from discuss- ing the issues with Palea members. “We don’t make strike threats. We just do it when needed. That is why we are preparing the requirements for a strike, which will happen at the appropriate time. A majority sup- port of members assessed via a strike vote is necessary to hold a legal strike,” Rivera said. He added that Palea explained that the strike vote does not constitute a


transgression of the mediation efforts of the Office of the President (OP). “We are not blackmailing Malaca- ñang to favor our position but we are warning management for its illegal acts. It was Palea that asked for the intervention of President Benigno Aquino 3rd in the PAL-Palea dispute and so it is illogical that we will sabo- tage it. The issue pending at the OP is separate though related to the case from which proceeds the strike vote,” Rivera said.


PAL question


In a separate statement, PAL ques- tioned the legality and propriety of the planned strike vote of Palea. It said that the notice of strike vote filed with the NCMB “is without ba- sis” and that conditions that justify


holding of a referendum calling for a work stoppage are not present. The airline added that Malacañang has not decided on the union’s pend- ing appeal for government interven- tion in the PAL-Palea labor dispute. Despite the row, PAL assured its passengers that flights remain normal and continue to operate as scheduled. “A work stoppage does not hap-


pen overnight. PAL will exhaust all legal means to prevent any disrup- tion that could hurt the economy and cause inconvenience to the rid- ing public,” Cielo Villaluna, PAL spokesman said. While PAL management has re-


ceived assurances from various PAL employee groups that they will not join any strike, Villaluna added that the flag-carrier has contingency


measures in place. “PAL has made arrangements with sister airline Airphil Express and other local carriers to help carry domestic passengers, while PAL’s 134 interline partners are also ready to lend a hand in our international routes. To ensure the steady supply of food and other amenities, PAL also made arrange- ments with several catering firms to supply meals,” she said.


“Conciliation talks before the NCMB remain pending and have not bogged down. In fact, it was upon mutual agreement by PAL and Palea to suspend conciliation meet- ings to allow the Office of the Presi- dent to act on Palea’s appeal to re- verse an earlier ruling of the Depart- ment of Labor and Employment,” Villaluna added.


■ Relatives of the “Morong 43” stand in front of the Department of Justice in Manila to again call for the release of the detained health workers, who are now on a hunger strike. PHOTO BY JESSIE LAURETA


Fate of ‘Morong 43’ depends on courts


A Malacañang official on Monday said that the courts will still have the final say on the case of the detained “Morong 43” health workers. Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Jose Amor Amorado added that he agrees with President Benigno Aquino 3rd saying that the fate of the 43 health workers depends on the courts handling their cases. “The President is correct that in


■ INQUIRY FROM A1 Sen. Honasan presses for new Lacson inquiry


He added, however, that he would stop if the resolution got little support from his colleagues in the Senate. Honasan had said that if the double-murder case is reinvesti- gated and the warrant of arrest against Lacson is withdrawn, Lacson might finally surface and work in the Senate while preparing for his defense in court.


He earlier asked Lacson, his class- mate at the Philippine Military Academy, to come out of hiding and face the murder charges.


Enrile immediately rejected the adoption of the proposed resolution and urged a review of the case against Lacson. “For us to make a conclusion or any implication that the case before the court is of doubtful validity would be tantamount to pressure,” he explained.


Enrile said that while individual senators could express opposition to the filing of a case, the Senate as an institution should not “because we will be transgressing the sepa- ration of powers.” The courts have rejected petitions


of lawyers of Lacson to withdraw the warrant of arrest issued against him and to review the case. They said that Lacson would come out of hid- ing once the case is reviewed and the warrant withdrawn. Lacson went into hiding in Janu-


ary 2010, a few days before he was charged by the Department of Justice for the murders of Dacer and Corbito. Enrile said that the proposed reso- lution on Lacson is different from that on detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th that was adopted by the Senate. He added that in the Trillanes reso-


lution, the Senate did not question the basis of the charge of coup d’etat, a non-bailable crime, but merely wanted a transfer of custody to the Senate. The Justice department also on


Monday said that there will be no “shoot-to-kill” order against Lacson. Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan 3rd said that issuance of the shoot-to-kill order is illegal because the fugitive senator has not even faced court trial.


“He still has his rights as an ac- cused, and one of these rights is that his warrant has to be served against him,” Baraan said, disagreeing with the proposal of Mary “Rosebud” Ong, a Lacson nemesis, to gun down the fugitive senator.


He added that “shoot-to-kill” orders are issued only against convicted criminals who escape


■ SOUTH KOREA FROM A1


» JOINT EXERCISE


Soldiers participate in a joint training exercise dubbed Exercise "Dagit 2010" in Sangley Point , Cavite City, which aims to enhance interoperability between the Navy and the Air Force through the sharing of information on maritime matters. PHOTO COURTESY OF PHILIPPINE NAVY


OFWs free to go to S. Korea


as scheduled,” Baldoz told reporters at the sidelines of the awarding ceremonies of the 2010 Model OFW Family in Pasay City.


“It is safe for the workers to be deployed because more or less the situation there [South Korea] has stabilized,” the Labor secretary said.


Baldoz added that she had informed President Benigno


Aquino 3rd on the lifting of the deferment order on the deployment of the OFWs to South Korea. The Labor department had postponed by a week the de- parture of Filipino workers to South Korea because of ten- sions between Pyongyang and Seoul. “We made the decision to defer the deployment for just one week and we coordinated with the Ministry of Human Resource of South Korea,” Baldoz said.


The Labor secretary added that the deferment did not result in contract cancellations for the concerned OFWs. “They understood that we’re just being prudent and cau- tious and that we don’t want to expose our workers if there are risks,” she said.


from prison.


The Court of Appeals recently denied Lacson’s request to sus- pend the arrest warrant issued against him by the Regional Trial Court of Manila. Also on Monday, Interior Secre- tary Jesse Robredo said that he was not protecting Lacson when he re- fused to offer a P2-million bounty to anyone who can pinpoint the whereabouts of the senator. According to Robredo, his re- fusal to give the bounty meant that he believed in the capacity of the Philippine National Police to find and arrest the senator who has managed to elude arrest since January 2010.


EFREN L. DANAO,


ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO AND JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA


the ultimate analysis it is the courts which will decide because even if the Department of Justice, the pros- ecutor, will file a motion to with- draw the information or dismiss the case, the courts will still have to ap- prove the motion,” Amorado said during a briefing in Malacañang. He, however, said that he was won- dering why lawyers for the “Morong 43” have not filed a motion to quash


a search warrant that was issued against the health workers. “You know, if you feel that the


warrant was invalidly issued, your first move should have been to move for the quashal of the warrant be- cause any evidence that is gathered by virtue of a void warrant is the fruit of the poisonous tree and cannot be used in court,” Amorrado added. He said that he posed that chal-


lenge to relatives of the “Morong 43” during their second meeting. Amorado, meanwhile, expressed hope that the detained 43 health work- ers would stop their hunger strike. “Well, it’s Christmas I hope they will stop it,” he said.


The “Morong 43,“ according to the military, are actually New Peo- ple’s Army communist rebels.


CRIS G. ODRONIA


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