theregions A The Manila Times SATURDAY D e cember 11, 2010 7


region, as Japanese investors and scientists thronged here to link up with the provincial government to bolster wine production in Japan, Gov. Joey Salceda of Albay said.


Camote scientifically known as Ipomoea batatas, will now become Albay’s second staple food, as well as a good source of income of local farmers here.


A popular plant in the country- side because of its edible root and its highly fibrous leaves, camote con- tains more vitamin C than apple, based on the thorough research of the Department of Science and


Technology (DOST). Camote is also rich in protein and potassium, while the yellow flesh variety camote is rich in vitamin A.


The root crop is considered as a


vegetable and staple foods especially during lean months and typhoon seasons with Jojo Elvira chief of Albay’s Agri-rehab office here told The Manila Times that a group of Japanese businessmen along with


Albay seeks to become top ‘camote’ exporter L


BY RHAYDZ BARCIA CORRESPONDENT


EGAZPI CITY: Soon, Albay will be the largest producer and exporter of camote (sweet potato) to Asia Pacific


scientists involved in wine manufac- turing has visited several camote farmers in San Antonio village Tabaco City to look into the planta- tion and manner of harvesting method here.


Salceda, also chairman of the Re- gional Development Council in Bicol, said that camote, which is commonly grown in Bicol, should not be belittled, as this crop’s po- tential is yet to be harnessed. Camote export can generate huge income, as it can easily be grown alone or intercropped with other crops. “Albay is the country’s second larg- est producer of camote. I always cited this as one proof of the spontane- ous adaptation of our people given our limited land suitable for rice as staple and the adverse impacts of cli- mate change on rice production. We consume 310,000 metric tons of rice but can produce only 150,000 met-


ric tons. Thus, the recourse to camote is an adaptation given our upland capacity,” Salceda told The Times.


Camote wine “When I was in Seoul, camote-based


liquor was surprisingly widespread. I was asking if the technology can be brought to Albay or we export camote to South Korea. Also, a month ago a group representing a Japanese camote winemaking com- pany and a scientist came over and made some documentations of our camote production, management, farming system,” Salceda said. “They showed interest on how we produce chemical free camote our usual practice because most marginal farm- ers plant camote and lack the necessary capital to buy inputs. They’re looking at the possibility of maybe using some promising varieties particularly the ‘trescolores’—for wine making and or-


Church urges Palace to protect public school teachers


MALACAÑANG was asked by a Catholic priest to institute the nec- essary security measures in Maguin- danao after another killing of a pub- lic school teacher last week. According to the Catholic Bish- ops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news, Father Eduardo Vasquez Jr. said that by giving tough security it would discourage indi- viduals and groups who were bent on engaging in criminal activities. “I personally appeal to the De- partment of Education [DepEd] and


ARMM wants ‘Magna Carta for Women’ enacted


COTABATO CITY: A local version of the Republic Act (RA) 9710, or the Magna Carta for Women, will soon become a Muslim Mindanao Act once the regional governor has signed it into law, according to a high official of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Friday.


Ali Macabalang, executive director of the Bureau of Public Information and concurrently ARMM spokesman, told The Manila Times that the Sixth Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) has enacted the RLA Bill 55, an act providing for the Gender and Devel- opment (GAD) Code of the ARMM and other purposes.


RLA members led by speaker


Ronnie Sinsuat passed the bill Mon- day shortly before acting Regional Gov. Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong of ARMM delivered his first State of the Region address, which urged the en- actment of some legislation includ- ing the GAD code. Dr. Sharifa Pearlsia Dans, GAD code technical working group (TWG) chairman, said that the en- actment of the bill is a regional landmark legislation that will bring an impact on the lives of women and men, girls and boys in the area of autonomy. “We thank the chairman, as well as the co-chairman of the Commit- tee on Women, Youth and Family Relations Hon. Rajam Akbar of the Lone District of Basilan and Hon. Sulayla Salic of the First District of Lanao del Sur, respectively, for their support to the passage of the code,” Dans emphasized.


The code intends to uphold wom-


en’s rights and protect them from all forms of violence and discrimina- tion, according to Macabalang. This will now serve as the regional translation of the RA 9710, which was also approved and signed into law early this year, Macabalang added. The GAD Code TWG has gone through series of public consulta- tions including Muslim religious leaders across the region during the final stages of its crafting, he said. The GAD Code is authored by assemblyman Abdulrajak Tomawis of the First District of Maguin- danao and co-authored by as- semblymen Ziahur Rahman Adiong of the First sDistrict of Lanao del Sur; Cahar Ibay of the First District of Maguindanao; and Sinsuat, among others. Rajam Akbar, who is the younger sister of the slain Rep. Wahab Akbar of Basilan said that the bill will now be submitted to the Office of the Re- gional Governor where the acting re- gional governor will sign the en- acted bill into a regional law or fi- nally implement the same as a Mus- lim Mindanao Act.


JULMUNIR I. JANNARAL


Malacañang to intervene in the se- curity problem of the teachers here in Datu Piang,” Vasquez said. It was reported that unidentified men shot down Shuaib Usop, a male teacher and concurrent dis- trict education coordinator at the Datu Gumbay Elementary School in Datu Piang, at their campus gate on Thursday. Usop was killed just a month af- ter masked men shot dead a public school principal inside his house in Datu Piang.


After last October’s village and


youth council polls, Cotabato City- based Oblate Media Center reported that teachers in Datu Gumbay and six other schools in the province have been receiving threats from sources they believe were candidates that lost in the elections.


After the elections, the principal


was killed by still unidentified gunmen, which according to local authorities, was an offshoot of the recent polls. At present, many teachers still re-


fused to report for work despite as- surance from local officials that po- licemen will be deployed in the school’s vicinity.


“I pity the school children, I pity the teachers, I hope DepEd regional and national offices and Malaca- ñang will look into it immediately,” Vasquez said. “We need to put a stop to those who are doing this. Let us not wait for the time that no more teachers will serve in Datu Piang,” he said. JOMAR CANLAS


4 soldiers seriously injured in road mishap


LEGAZPI CITY: Four Army soldiers were fighting for their lives after the mili- tary vehicle they were riding met an accident on Friday morning in the island province of Catanduanes, the military spokesman in Bicol said. Army Major Harold Cabunoc, re- gional spokesman of the Army’s Ninth Infantry Division said the military truck lost its brake, while traversing a narrow road going downhill in San Jose Village, this town at about 9:00 a.m.. Based on the report sent by Army Lt. Col. Danilo Aquino, command- ing officer of the Army’s 83rd Infan- try Battalion to the regional com- mand of the Philippine Army the se- riously injured soldiers were Private


First Class Jay Batanes, Private First Class Kenneth Olivenza, Private First Class Jerome Tongga and Pri- vate Alex Brotamante. The victims are now being treated in Virac hospital after suffering from multiple bones fracture. “The vehicle’s driver, Corporal Paz


maneuvered the truck away from an incoming passenger motorcycle which was full of commuters. The truck lay on its sides after it rammed the road cut in a hill resulting to the various injuries of the passengers,” Aquino said. The injured soldiers according to


Aquino provided the security opera- tion in the capital town of Virac during the celebration of Interna- tional Human Rights Day.


nationinbrief


POLICE NAB SINGAPOREAN WITH SHABU A SINGAPOREAN was arrested by the airport police at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 for alleged possession of illegal drugs on Thursday. Onboard Thai Airways, the Singaporean was identified as Soa Kiam Hwee, 36, arriving from Thailand at 1:45 p.m. Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., Philippine National Police spokesman, said that upon inspec- tion, Soa’s bag contained 4 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu wrapped in a transparent plastic bag and several currencies consisting of 15,960 Thai baht, 100 Taiwan dollars, 42,000 Indonesian rupiah, 70 Singapore dollars and P13,560. The suspect and the apprehended items are now at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for proper disposi- tion and investigation.


Twenty soldiers were on board the said truck and were on their way back to their military base in San Andres town when the M35 6x6 truck lost its brake while negotiating a narrow road downhill in San Jose village, the mili- tary spokesman said. They were identified as Private Kristian Visaya, Private Anthony Moico, Private George Norvin Nacion, Private Rexon Acueza, Private Jaypee Bolival, Private Ariel Fornoles, Private Marlon Ladio, Private Sonny Ano- nuevo, Private Jomar Raña, Private Emmel Dolor, Private Jose San Gabriel Jr, Private Alex S. Mota, Private Elme M. Gayo, Private Mark Ariel Sanchez, Private Paulo Felices and Private Junrick Estelloso.


ange for fries,” he added. With this, Salceda instructed Elvira of Agri-rehab office to work and coordinate with Clarita Lapus of Mama Sita for them to work, as well as improve the value-added to camote farmers and producers here. Elvira told The Times that the Kirishima Shuzou Co., Ltd., one of the leading alcohol beverage mak- ers in Japan operating for over 90 years personally visited Albay to look closely the manner of camote plantation and harvesting scheme. Salceda said that Albay province


is now positioning to be the largest producer and exporter of sweet po- tato in the coming years. Sweet po- tato does not require large amount of water during the growth period. It can be grown all year round in some areas with 30 centimeters to 50cm annual rainfall and fits well in existing cropping systems.


DENR denounces killing of Surigao forest ranger


THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Friday raised the alarm over the “senseless” killings of government operatives in- volved in the fight against illegal log- ging activities in Surigao del Sur. Environment Secretary Ramon


Paje said the killing of Rolando Sinday, 49, is an obvious attempt of suspected illegal loggers to regain lost grounds with the successful campaign of the government against illegal logging activities in Surigao del Sur—one of the identified hotspot areas in the country. “This, like other killings that took place before, is making a mockery of the rule of law and further en- trench the existing culture of impu- nity that has defined illegal logging activities in the province,” Paje said. It was the second killing just one month, involving Environment de- partment operative actively taking part in anti-illegal logging opera- tions in the province. Reports told that Sinday was on his


RHAYDZ BARCIA


way home aboard his motorbike when he was shot thrice at the back by two gunmen riding in tandem on a mo- torcycle—the victim died on the spot. Sinday took part in the July opera- tion of “Oplan Kalasangan” inside the forested area of the SAMILLA Fed-


eration of Peoples Forest Develop- ment Corp. in Lianga, where about 3,000 cubic meters of illegally cut logs were seized. “Oplan Kalasangan,” a campaign against illegal logging mounted by the department, together with other concerned law enforcement agencies and nongovernment organizations, has already netted some 1.4 million board feet of illegally sourced tim- ber in the province since July. Sinday entered the department as a casual forest ranger in 1995 and became a regular Tree Marker on January 17, 2000 with assignment in Tandag, Surigao del Sur. His main duties in- cluded the conduct of forest patrol and detection, forest survey and monitor- ing of movement of forest products. Sinday was recruited at Commu- nity Environment and Natural Re- sources Office-Lianga five years later to become a regular member of the Forest Law Enforcement Team. Be- sides forest patrol of 79,482 hectares of timberland in that area, Sinday also conducted timber inventory and en- gaged in the information campaign. It will be recalled that on October 29, Nelson Luna, a deputized Environ- ment officer, was also gunned down at a DENR checkpoint in Bislig, Surigao del Sur. JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ


The Philippines ranks eighth in the


world in terms of sweet potato pro- duction, next to China, Vietnam, In- donesia, Uganda, India, Japan and Rwanda. Philippine sweet potato pro- duction grew at an annual average rate of 1.15 percent from 693,492 metric tons in 1993 to 717,500 metric tons in the succeeding years.


The major export markets for


sweet potato flour and starch are Korea and Japan.


But the major constraints being


faced by camote farmers and produc- ers today is its low productivity be- cause of inefficient production and low adoption of technology. Camote development must also hurdle past the usual pests and dis- eases, limited sources of planting materials for large-scale and intensive production system, inadequate post harvest facilities, tools equipment and lack of farm-to-market linkages.


JOVEE MARIE N. DELA CRUZ


US UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TO VISIT CEBU TWENTY-FOUR students from the University of Louisville (UoL) in Kentucky will be in Cebu on December 13 to 17 as what UoL calls “citizen-diplomats” of the United States, learning about local communities and sharing their knowledge and skills with the residents. Accompanied by seven university faculty members, the students are participants in the school’s International Service- Learning program. During the weeklong program, the partici- pants will hold classes with elementary and high school students in Barangays Paril, Mabini, Binaliw and Banilad. The students will also hold daily dental clinics for younger children and lead workshops on topics that include addressing bullying and teaching resiliency, preventing alcohol use and abuse.


CABLE WIRE THIEVES DROWNED IN CAVITE INDANG, Cavite: Two suspected cable wire thieves drowned on Thursday after they jumped into a river to elude arrest, as three others escaped during a hot pursuit by Indang Police at Barangay Kaytambog, Indang. According to reports, the suspects were caught in the act of cutting off a Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. cable wire, but before the police could arrest them, the suspects jumped into the Lalungisan River to elude arrest. Two of the five suspects drowned, while the three others escaped. Police retrieved the bodies after three hours of search operation and were identified as Alex Cruto of Barangay Marahan, Alfonso and Rolando Rosanes, 24, of Baranagay Guyam Malaki in Indang.


OFW LINKED TO DRUGS GETS HOME THE Department of Labor and Employment has sent back home an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who had served a two-year jail sentence in Malaysia for illegal drug trafficking. According to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, the said OFW is identified as Zhara Ventura, a 30-year-old single mother from Manduriao, Iloilo, who arrived safely on Sunday onboard a Cebu Pacific flight on an air ticket bought for her by Hassan Gabra Jumdain, Philippine Labor attaché to Kuala Lumpur. Upon arrival, she immediately took a connecting flight to Iloilo to rejoin her family.


JOMAR CANLAS


ROGELIO LIMPIN


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