Giving credit to the Davao City Local School Board

EDITORIAL

BY ROGER M. BALANZA 

Dabawenyos are fortunate that they have a local government headed by Mayor Sara Duterte and father Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that is rich in resources.
With its present annual revenue breaching the P4 bllion mark, Davao City is among a few cities in the country that have ample resources to be  able to focus major projects on the very important mission of providing education to the young.
For many educational institutions like those in Mindanao, the Manila capital, where the Department of Education is headquartered, is too far away to be responsive to local situations.
Most often, their concerns are likely to get lost in the competition for attention of DepEd.
Local School Boards (LSB) are the key to making local decisions that meet local needs. LSBs were created by the Local Government Code to help fund public school needs through the Special Education Fund. But LSBs can do much more than that.
The Davao City LSB is a case in point. More than just funding shortfalls, it has focused on interventions that provide system-wide solutions for the entire system.
Davao City has a significant Muslim population, both indigenous (Kalagan and Sama) and from across Mindanao (Maguindanaoan, Maranao, Badjao), a sizeable indigenous Lumad populace and migrants from the Visayas and Luzon. As the largest city in Mindanao, Davao City has 286 public elementary and 69 public high schools with over 250,000 students and 6,671 teachers (SY 2009-2010). Because of the city?s ethno-linguistic diversity, it is one of the most complex school systems in the country.
Because it has the resources, the Davao City government has focused on funding salaries of teachers, building of schools and providing funds for training of public school teachers, among others.
The Davao City School Board is a low-profile body that works to achieve its mission witout much fanfare.
With school opening this year less of a hassle for teachers, parents, students and pupils, it is time to give credit to the Local School Board for its persevering task of helping provide education to the young.

Davao City to bid for 7New Wonder Cities

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

Picking up from Puerto Princesa’s strategy in its winning bid for inclusion in the search for the 7New Wonders of the World, Davao City is launching a worldwide web campaign to clnch its bid to be included in the 7New Wonder Cities of the World.

THE PUERTO PRINCESA CAMPAIGN

In January this year, the Puerto Prinesa Underground River (PPUR)was named one of the world’s New 7 Wonders of Nature (N7WN) after winning worldwide support via online and text voting in the worldwide contest organized by theNew Seven Wonders of Nature Foundation.
The local government of Puerto Princesa played key role in the winning by embarking on a massive campaign in the internet in support of the PPUR.

THE CEBU CITY CAMPAIGN

The search for the 7New Wonders of the World is also organized by the  Zurich, Switzerland-based foundation.
Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte winning the contest would be a recognition not only for the Davao City Government but most especially for ordinary Dabawenyos.
With this international citation, everybody will be more interested to look out to Davao City, Duterte said.

MAYOR Sara Inday Duterte vs. Nograles in fight for Congress in 2013

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

There would be a second encounter between Mayor Sara Duterte and ex-Speaker Prospero Nograles in the coming May 2013 elections.
This time it would be in another political battlefield: the First District congressional race.
The First District is a known bailiwick of Nograles. His son, Karlo, is the incumbent congressman.
Reports say Karlo would be running for vice mayor, with the ex-Speaker to attempt to get back the congressional seat that he held for years before Karlo.
This much–that Mayor Duterte would be facing off with Nograles in the First District congress race— was hinted by the mayor’s father, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, in the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa hosted by lawyer Geraldine Tiu on ABS/CBN on Sunday.
Mayor Duterte beat Nograles with a vote margin of 220,000 votes in the 2010 elections. It was Nograles’ third failed attempt to capture City Hall from the stranglehold of the Dutertes.
“I am more useful as mayor. I would prefer to be mayor because I am eyeball-to-eyeball with the problems of the people, Duterte said in the program.
The statement came over waning speculations he is retiring from politics, may be seeking reelection or may be running for another position other than the mayorship in 2013.
In the peogram, Duterte described work in Congress as “boring and lousy.” Duterte held the First District congressional seat from 1998 to 2001.
I am good at peace and order. There is no action in Congress, he said further butressing speculations he is gunning to get back the position he held for 18 years.
Duterte however refused to be categorical about his, and Mayor Duterte’s, final plan for 2013.
Asked about who would be running for Congress against Nograles, Duterte said; I’ll just whisper it to you, but don’t make a fuss. There seems to be a plan, but it’s not final yet. It’s not me, I don’t know who,  he said.
But the body language bared all.
He siddled up to Tiu’s side, whispered something in her ear that made the lawyer let out a mischievous grin.
With Duterte running for mayor –Nograles and his Team Nograles are said to be positioning former Second District congressman Elias Ruy Lopez for the mayoral contest—and Mayor Duterte battling it out with the elder Nograles, congressman Karlo Nograles would be fighting off councilor Paolo Duterte, Mayor Duterte’s brother, in the vice mayoral contest, according to sources in the Duterte-led local political bloc Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod.

Rody-Sara verbal clashes aimed at “public welfare”

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said public interest is a top priority in governance that he would push even if this could lead to conflicts with daughter Mayor Sara Duterte.
Duterte is acting mayor for a month with Mayor Duterte on leave starting April 5 for medical check-ups.
The Dutertes have taken opposite positions on on issues on local governance and public interest, the conflicts in opinion most often marked by verbal exchanges between the two in media.
In the Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN Davao, he reiterated that he will support his daughter Mayor Duterte “only if she’s correct in implementing the law.”
Duterte said he will also have no qualms to point out the errors if the mayor is wrong in her actions.
“This is government. This is not our property. We are working here for the people,” he pointed out.
Would you like us not to watch each other’s decision on local government matters? he said.
Even when the mayor is his daughter, Duterte said he cannot just keep silent on matters of public interest.
Duterte said he also expects the mayor to criticize him and the city council if they also commit mistakes in the performance of their duties.
He said the mayor has a mind of her own even during her growing up years.
“I did not raise my daughter as a robot. I expect her to go up as a lawyer, and if she thinks her stance is right, fine. Let’s debate on it so that the people will know, because it will be the people who will benefit from it at the end of the day,” Duterte said. ROGER M. BALANZA

‘Inday not comfy with Rody’

  Tit for tat.

    Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte says she finds it hard to work with her father, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Criticism is a two-way street.
Reacting, the vice mayor said the feeling is mutual that in fact dates to when Sara, now a lawyer, was younger.
She was the most hardheaded of my children, said vice mayor Duterte, who is widely known not no mince words and not frugal in expletives he dishes out at critics.
The Dutertes have taken opposite positions on several issues on local governance and public interest, the conflicts in opinion most often marked by verbal exchanges between the two in media.
But the elder Duterte said the conflicts are for public welfare and part of discussion on good government and transparency.
The mayor is the lone daughter of the vice mayor with estranged wife Elizabeth Zimmerman Duterte. The other siblings are Paolo Duterte, barangay captain of Catalunan Grande and sitting at the Davao City Council representing the Liga ng mga Barangay, and youngest Sebastian.
She was hardheaded even as a child, said the vice mayor at the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa televisionprogram on ABS/CBN Davao.
I find it difficult working with him because he is a difficult person, said the mayor when asked to comment on her relationship with the father.
She said she is not comfortable with having verbal clashes with her vice mayor father.
It’s difficult when he contradicts what I say in public, considering that I am the mayor, she said.
The mayor said she could not change the father, but said however that the conflicts have an upside in that public issues are raised up in the  exchange of opinion between her who is in the executive department and the father who runs the legislative branch of local governance.
Our conflicting opinions enable the public to see issues in two dimensions, she said. ROGER M. BALANZA

Davao City mayor, vice mayor in verbal clashes

No ‘Life is Here’ for VM Rody

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

LIFE IS HERE is the slogan adopted by Mayor Sara Duterte to drumbeat the city as a tourism and investment haven, and to tell people about the good things about Davao City.
But for Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, there is no life at City Hall while he is the acting mayor during the summer month of April.
The mayor, his daughter,  has filed a month-long leave starting April 5 for medical check-ups in Manila.
I will not hold office at City Hall. Nanglood na ko (I am already disappointed), he said at the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN Davao.
Host Geraldine Tiu did not push the issue to ask Duterte to elaborate, but the disappointment could be traced to Mayor Sara Dutere’s recent statement about her relationship with her father.
I find it hard to work with him, said Mayor Duterte.
Vice mayor Duterte, said he would be holding office at the Davao City Council, where he is presiding officer, not at City Hall.
While he may not hold office daily, Duterte said he would be on call by the public 24/7 as acting city mayor.
Mayor Duterte made public her relationship with the father during a recent media interview.

INDAY SARA: GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

The Dutertes are known for taking different sides of the coin in various involving governance.
But the father said the conflicts are for transparency and good governance that redound to public welfare.
I am not comfortable with him criticizing my actions because I am the mayor, she said. Mayor Duterte is on her first term. The elder Duterte had been mayor for 18 years.

DUTERTES VOW DEFEAT OF EX-SPEAKER PROSPERO NOGRALES SON IN 2013 ELECTION

Hugpong 2013 battlecry:
Get the head of Karlo!

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

    The Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod has a mopping up work to do in the coming 2013 local elections: Erase from the political landscape the highest elected official from the opposition.
Object of the marching order of the dominant local political bloc is First District Representative Karlo Nograles, son of former Speaker Prospero Nograles.

DURIAN POST NO. 100

Hugpong was founded by former mayor now Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte two elections ago. The bloc is the third political bloc that dominated local politics, headed by Duterte (mayor for 18 years), since his first mayoral term in 1988. Its predecessors were the Lakas ng Dabaw and Alyansa Dabaw.
Hugpong is presently headed by Mayor Sara Duterte. Mayor Duterte beat the former Speaker in the mayoral race by more than 220,000 in the 2010 elections. It was the elder Nograles’ third failed attempt to capture City Hall.
Karlo was among few survivors of the Hugpong onslaught in the 2010, where Hugpong captured 20 of 24 elective positions at stake. Runnng under his father’s Team Nograles, Karlo beat city councilor Mabel Acosta, the Hugpong bet, by only about 8,000 votes in the district known to be Nograles’ stronghold.
My father wants the next representative of the city’s first congressional district to come from Hugpong, Mayor Sara Duterte told media.
The two other congressional posts in the city are held by Hugpong: Isidro Ungab (Third District) and Mylen Garcia (Second District).
A sweep of all elective posts is said to be a long dream of Vice Mayor Duterte.
The 26-member Davao City Council is also dominated by Hugpong with only four non-members: Joanne Bonguyan and Rene Lopez of Team Nograles, and independents Jimmy Dureza and Pilar Braga.
The Hugpong has yet to decide on who to field against Karlo Nograles, but speculations say it could be any of the three Dutertes. Aside from the mayor and vice mayor, there is a third Duterte in local politics: Paolo Duterte, Barangay Captain of Catalunan Grande who sits in the Davao City Council representing the Association of Barangays (Liga ng mga Barangay).

 

DUTERTE BARES FORMULA FOR POLIITICAL SUCCESS

DUTERTE with a paraplegic boy seeking help to buy a wheelchair

    Can you embrace the poor and the sick?

    This question, according to Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, is the question that has guided him through the years of his political life to explain the reason why he is popular.
In the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN on Sunday, Duterte said the question was first thrown by his father, the late undivided Davao Governor Vicente Duterte, at him and the other Duterte children when they started toying with the idea of entering politics.
The late Duterte, who died in 1988, was widely-known for his pro-poor image, a legacy that Duterte, and now Mayor Sara Duterte, his daughter, continues.
It is sincerity to serve the people that counts, he said.
In a recent popularity survey by the University of Mindanao Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO), Mayor Duterte and the vice mayor netted similar ratings of 99.4 percent. First District Congressman Karlo Nograles got the same score.
But in the trust survey, the Dutertes got 98.8 percent against Nograles’ 94.1 %.
Duterte said the popularity rating was natural to come, public officials being “popular” for being the “face of governance.”
In the program, he spelled out barometers for political success and public acceptability: loyalty to the country, honesty, dedication to public service and sincerity.
And then took a minute to hurl a broadside at a Davao City ‘congressman’ whom he said lacked the elements to explain why he lost in several mayoral elections.
In an edition of the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa two Sundays ago, Duterte said former Speaker Prospero Nograles suffered three defeats in his bid to become city mayor for his lack of connect to the poor.
Nograles has a rich man’s image. Anak-mayaman, he said. He brags about being No. 2 in the bar exams, about being the No. 4 most powerful man in the country (as House Speaker), but he always lost in the mayoral race, said Duterte.
Nograles has lost three times in his bid for the top city post: in 1992 to Duterte, in 1998 to Duterte’s then political ally in 1998, and in the 2010 elections to Mayor Sara Duterte, who defeated him with a vote margin of more than 220,00 votes.

Mayor Inday Sara has final say in Duterte bloc bets for 2013

 

MAYOR SARA DUTERTE with brother city councilor Paolo Duterte hitting the campaign trail in the 2010 elections

Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said that as the head of Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod, Mayor Sara Duterte has right to pick the line-up of the local bloc’s bets in the coming 2013 elections.
Hugpong is a local political grouping formed by the elder Duterte. Its present head is the mayor, being the highest elected official of the bloc.
In the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on Sunday, Duterte said partymates gave the mayor the right during a powwow in January last year.
To date, the bloc has not yet chosen its candidates, he said.
Hugpong insiders said the line-up could be completed as early as July with next year’s automated May polling, moving the deadline of filing of certificates of candidacy in late Cotober this year.
The early filing allows the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to prepare computerized voting paraphernalia for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) that would count the votes.
Duterte said the mayor’s prerogatives apply to all, including candidates for top posts like him.
She could say I run for mayor or remain as vice mayor, he said.
Mayor Duterte earlier said she may not run for reelection and would spend time with husband Mans Carpio and have a baby, but has put on hold her final political plans.
The mayor’s announcement has sparked speculations that the vice mayor would run next year for the mayoral post he held for 18 years.
But the vice mayor said a survey may be conducted in support of whatever is the mayor’s decision, saying public pulse is also valued by Hugpong. ROGER M. BALANZA

Is there a need for change?

THEDURIANBEAT

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

 Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in his Sunday program Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa over the weekend talked about politics and the coming 2013 elections.
No wonder. Next year’s polls for the second time would be an automated polling and the Commission on Election needs more time to prepare election paraphernalia.
The filing of Certificates of Candidacy comes earlier in the last two weeks of October this year.
The election fever should also bite earlier the politicians and the poliitical parties.
With filing of candidacy early, there should also be early selection for party bets.
Automated elections, if there is a downside to it, has extended the unofficial period for campaigning to several months, although the official period should be 45 days (for local candidates) up to E-day. This means a candidate should have larger campaign kitty.
But there is an upside to it too. The unofficial extended campaign period gives more time for the candidates to present themselves to the voters. Conversely, voters are given ample time to assess the politicians.
This is supposed to boil down to intelligent voting on E-day.
At this point in time, although the election is more than a year away, politics should already be a matter of public discussion.
For members of the press, it would be no sin to start with its mission to educate voters on intelligent voting, being partners in governance and guiding light for voters in knowing their candidates.
Media people stand up upon demand of their calling as messengers of good and bad news during elections, for people to know their candidates and help them come up with decisions on who should be their next leaders deserving of their trust and confidence.
Along the way, they get labeled as political partisans under pay of some politicians. Along the way, they get praised for telling the truth, in the spirit of free speech in aid of intelligent choice. Along the way, they are charged for libel for telling the truth—or for peddling lies against certain candidates.
Whatever, media people do their job—at the risk of earning praise, being tagged as lapdogs or at worst crucified with a libel rap.
In Davao City, Dabawenyos, like the rest of the Pinoys, would now be starting to assess politicians vying for seats in the coming elections.
There would be those who would challenge the present leadership.
And there would be questions to answer if there is need to or not to achieve an intelligent vote—to retain the present leadership or usher in new leaders.
We take this opportunity to throw in some of these questions to guide voters.
Is there a need to change their leaders? Will the change benefit them?
Is there a need for a change in this city that has become the envy of other cities?
Has the challengers something to add to the excellent peace and order situation?
Has a candidate done anything for the good of the Dabawenyos and their city?
Is the candidate sincere?
At this point in time, we are elated that these questions served as barometers for intelligent voting in the past, the reason why the Dutertes remain as top choice of the Dabawenyos every election day.
These barometers in fact have been reduced to a simple routine.
The Dabawenyos simply look at photos of the Dutertes, and then at the opposition, and pronto, make a sound decision.
But in the coming elections, certain politicians whose hunger and ambition to topple down the Dutertes have been frustrated with never-ending ignominous defeats and their political stock consigned to oblivion, are expected to surface anew to pose a challenge to the present leadership.

These ambitious politicians are political sadists who find hapiness in tormenting themselves with political defeats.

Inday Sara tells Rody: Gun ban idea mine!

BY ROGER M. BALANZA

    Mayor Sara Duterte has shielded Public Safety and Command Center (PSCC) chief Magno Adalin alleged by Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to have inspired the month-long gun ban during the Araw ng Dabaw 2012 celebration.
Mayor Duterte said the gun ban was her idea that she proposed to the Davao City Peace and Order Council (CPOC).
“I don’t work with advisers who whisper nonsense in my ears, ” the mayor told media. Davao City POlice chief Ronald dela Rosa supported the ban.
Vice Mayor Duterte had scored Adalin as having suggested during a CPOC meeting to ask the Philippine National Police to

ADALIN

suspend Permit to Carry of firearm holders during the March celebration of the 75th founding anniversary of the city.
The vice mayor also questioned the legality of the suspension effective March 1 to 31 that he said was not subjected to publication required by law.
He said the suspension left civilians at the mercy of crminals with loose firearms.
Despite the colliding opinions on the gun ban, Mayor Duterte said she is toying with imposing the same during the Summer Festival in April and May.
The Summer Festival, like the Araw ng Dabaw and the Kadayawan Festival, packaged as a major tourist attraction by the local government, was
expected to draw large volumes of tourists.