… As I am on vacation.
… see you soon.
… don’t worry i’m just taking a sort of break after a full year of blogging – cha monforte
Filed under: Uncategorized
June 25, 2009 • 6:50 am 0
… As I am on vacation.
… see you soon.
… don’t worry i’m just taking a sort of break after a full year of blogging – cha monforte
Filed under: Uncategorized
June 4, 2009 • 10:14 am 1
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june 1
![]() ATTY. DEXTER LOPOZ Compostela Valley boardmember and 2000 bar exam topnotcher Dexter Lopoz is sending two of his provincemates to study law as his own scholars beginning this semester. “Comval needs more lawyers now who would serve and work for efficient administration of justice. Eleven years after the birth of our province, we only have one Regional Trial Court, abnormally saddled with over 3,000 cases, more than half of which is handled by only two lawyers of the Public Attorneys Office,” Atty. Lopoz explained the rationale of his own law scholarship.
“Moreover, we have only three fiscals serving seven courts in the province and one court in Tagum City, while the Dept. of Agrarian Reform’s Bureau of Legal Assistants has only one lawyer,” he added.
He said that lawyers serving these offices are heroically overworked and overstressed.
By now, his law scholars Ian Enterina, a resident of far-flung barangay Casoon in Monkayo, and Francisco Maynaban, poblacion Compostela resident, are already enrolled with the newly-established law school in Tagum- the Saint Thomas More College of Law, which commences its operations this semester.
As scholars, their matriculation and and tuition fees would be shouldered by the boardmember, with the two having only to pass all their subjects in each semester to maintain their scholarship.
Lopoz said that his two scholars are only for the start and he planned to have one to two scholars in each year of law studies as they move on in years.
The search of Lopoz law scholars had been going on two months ago and more than a dozen of applications were received from usually fresh college graduates.
Lopoz picked Enterina and Maynaban as his start-up law scholars for their good grades in college and high potentials in service orientation and community leadership. The scholar must also be a bonafide resident and registered voter in the first district of Comval.
The law scholarship of a boardmember is known ot be first in Mindanao and in the country.
Atty. Lopoz placed Top 2 in the 2000 bar examinations and remains yet unsurpassed in his record of placing the highest thus in the bar exams as a law graduate from a law school based in Mindanao. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
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Filed under: atty dexter lopoz, comval boardmember dexter lopoz, comval news, comval officials
• 9:19 am 0

The LFS Law foursome (from left) Atty Arvin Dexter M. Lopoz, managing partner, Atty. Marie Jude Fuentes-Lopoz, supervising partner, Atty. Cheryl S. Sevilleno, senior partner and Atty. John-Christopher T. Mahamud, junior partner.
Filed under: Atty Arvin Dexter M. Lopoz, Atty. Cheryl S. Sevilleno, Atty. John-Christopher T. Mahamud, Atty. Marie Jude Fuentes-Lopoz, Rev. Fr. Rudy Malasmas , Atty Arvin Dexter M. Lopoz, Atty. Cheryl S. Sevilleno, Atty. John-Christopher T. Mahamud, Atty. Marie Jude Fuentes-Lopoz, Rev. Fr. Rudy Malasmas, S.J.
May 19, 2009 • 3:13 am 0
may 18
Flowers pour in while tributes keep on coming for former Congressman Prospero Amatong, who succumbed in a hospital in New York City Saturday morning. He was 77 years old.
Reports said he fell on a pavement hitting his head while strolling with family members and friends in a park at New York City.
He was on vacation at the United States with his wife Luz and family members.
His son Congressman Rommel Amatong, who did not join in their US trip, said his father’s body would be brought home by next week.
For Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy, “he is exceptional as a leader, a master politician. I would say no one could ever duplicate his performance in our lifetime. He is the real “Mr. Service”.
He was unscathed after serving as Nabunturan councilor (3 years), Nabunturan mayor (14 years, 2 years in New Corella), undivided Davao del Norte governor (9 years), District 2 Comval congressman (9 years), 2 years as project manager of the Philippine National Oil Corp. and 6 years as project engineer of the then Bureau of Public Works, his first stint in government.
He had two episodes when his mandate was cut short: the first on September 28, 1977 when he was purged by dictator Marcos for being with the opposition and replaced by Vice Mayor Zosimo Bugas who served for 4 years, and on March 31, 1986, after reclaiming his mayoral seat in 1980 polls, when he was appointed by President Cory Aquino as the OIC governor of the Davao del Norte.
Even on his political retirement starting in 2007, he was still considered an influential political kingpin- kingmaker in town and even in the whole province.
When he did not run in the 2007 election and made true his earlier declaration of retiring from politics, it was hailed as a tough class act of seasoned and experienced politician.
But from it, he bequeathed his political power to his successor son now Congressman Rommel “Bobong” Amatong. At a time when he retired began the baptism of fire in politics of his political heir. All out of the service-rich patriarch, the neophyte scion becomes a shoo in, yet it showed to the world that there were no two or more Amatongs holding the reins of power at the same time. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
Filed under: Congressman Prospero Amatong, congressman rommel amatong , Congressman Prospero Amatong, congressman rommel amatong
• 3:10 am 1
may 12
TAGUM CITY- The city veterinarian here has admitted that the city government has virtually no capacity to detect whether the dreaded swine flu virus that has already sent some countries cowering in fear has already infected swine breeds produced in the city and in neighboring places.
City veterinarian Dr. Jesus Edullantes during Monday’s session informed City Council members that his department has no such “costly laboratory” like those in Australia that can conclusively identify swine flu virus.
He said that samples of suspected cases in the provinces are still brought to Manila and then shipped to Australia laboratories where the virus is studied and identified.
“The strains of the virus are varying and always change. It is a new isolated virus,” he said.
He added that the many virus found in swines that could also cause respiratory illness has complicated the difficulties in pinpointing whether it is already the swine flu virus that has infected a swine that is ill.
“We don’t even have no vaccine yet for it,” he said.
Edullantes then lashed out at an unidentified newspaper for sensationalizing a story on swine flu virus inspection in Davao City even as he appealed to the media for caution in their reporting to prevent people from panicking over the virus.
He also bared that city has meat inspectors in the city’s slaughterhouse at Tagum Livestock Center checking up that hogs before they are slaughtered undergo ante-mortem examination to ensure an uninfected meat for public consumption.
But city health officer Dr. Myrna Gazmin, on the other hand, in the session belittled the virus to be “only a theory, a possibility” saying that it is yet under study now by the scientific community and that “even the World Health Organization has not yet made its advisory”.
She bared though that the Davao Regional Hospital in the city as well as the Davao Medical Center in Davao City have already made plans to counter swine flu virus infection.
In the plan, she added, suspected infected persons would only be brought to and treated in government hospitals than in private ones to protect the latter from losing patients.
Meanwhile, Councilor Vicente Eliot Sr called on authorities to still not relax their guard against the entry of the virus despite the negative report on it, citing the scale and magnitude of toll it could exact once it manages to come in to infect local swine population and eventually the populace.
The city veterinary office here estimates that at minimum average some 80 heads of hogs, about 30 percent of which come from the neighboring Kapalong town, are slaughtered daily for city meat consumption, or about 6,400 kilos of meat from hogs per day end up being sold at Tagum public market, which is also patronized by the neighboring towns in Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte.
About 70 percent of the hogs are grown in the backyard, while the rest of the 30 percent comes from the large-scale commercial piggeries of Madayag Farms in the city and Mercado Farms in Kapalong, Edullantes said. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
Filed under: 20567006, 20567781, Madayag Farms, Mercado Farms in Kapalong, Tagum city health officer Dr. Myrna Gazmin, tagum Dr. Jesus Edullantes, tagum councilor vicente eliot sr , Madayag Farms, Mercado Farms in Kapalong, Tagum city health officer Dr. Myrna Gazmin, tagum councilor vicente eliot sr, tagum Dr. Jesus Edullantes
May 12, 2009 • 11:28 am 0
Filed under: boardmember ely dacalus , boardmember ely dacalus
May 8, 2009 • 12:05 pm 0
Despite AGR’s reported recovery from cancer
may 6
Former Davao del Norte Governor Gelacio “Yayong” Gementiza in an interview yesterday made his early electoral prediction that Vice Governor Victorio “Baby” Suaybaguio Jr will defeat the governor’s son Anthony Rafael del Rosario (AGR) once the two would decide to slug it out for the District 2 congressional post in 2010 polls.
Speaking in his sprawling residence cum copra warehouse in Apokon, Tagum City, Gementiza said that AGR, who was reported last week to have recovered from his Stage 3- Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer following chemotherapy treatments, could not win over Suaybaguio saying that “ay sus Tagum lang ang tan-awon (they could only glance it in Tagum) “given that Suaybaguio had served for 9 years as a mayor here”. “Modaug lagi si Baby!”
The former governor reiterated his earlier political remark that AGR is closely identified to have hailed from District 2 and not from District 1 despite than he has already established a residence in the city.
“But Baby is more popular than (Cong. Arrel) Olano, who defeated twice (Pantaleon) Bebot Alvarez due to the issue of non-residency,” Gementiza added.
Based on this result, he said that the people of Tagum will always ask, nasapawan man ta (somebody rises from outside of them) and would not want it.
Gementiza also opined that if he were the father of a son politician who has recovered from cancer he would not allow him to be drafted to go through the rigors of electoral campaigns especially in a congressional race where it is a must that the candidate should really sweat it out to individually campaign to each and everyone.
“And how much more if you win. Trabaho gyud ang naa sa Congress (it’s all work in Congress),” he added.
Gementiza said that based on what his friend physicians have told him there is a “need for a five-year rest” to those who have survived from cancer.
He further said that given this AGR could have an option of running for governor if his father Gov. Rodolfo del Rosario (RDR) would opt to retire and “in this case RDR would take charge of the campaigning”.
Obviously giving unsolicited advice, he added: “And if AGR wins as governor he can still run the Capitol through his administrator and the vice governor.”
In the same interview, Gementiza also confirmed that he had already applied to RDR for him to go back to the Lakas fold, which has yet no action taken by the Lakas party in the province at press time. “Pero daghan ang mobabag ana (Many will block my application)”.
Asked on what post he would aspire by 2010, he shot back: “ayaw sa, wala sa (none yet)”.
In 2007 Gementiza made a jump ship from Lakas close before elections and subsequently ran but failed in his gubernatorial bid for reelection against the comebacking RDR. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
Filed under: Anthony Rafael del Rosario (AGR), Former Davao del Norte Governor Gelacio “Yayong” Gementiza, Vice Governor Victorio “Baby” Suaybaguio Jr , Anthony Rafael del Rosario (AGR), Former Davao del Norte Governor Gelacio “Yayong” Gementiza, Vice Governor Victorio “Baby” Suaybaguio Jr
• 11:49 am 0
Filed under: Boardmember Maricar Zamora-Apsay Compostela Valley, vice governor ramil gentugaya , Boardmember Maricar Zamora-Apsay Compostela Valley, vice governor ramil gentugaya
• 11:47 am 0
may 1
TAGUM CITY- A banana-growing workers cooperative here has assailed the sudden issuance of a 20-day temporary restraining order of the provincial adjudicator of the Dept. of Agrarian Reform in Davao del Norte following a complaint of the Lapanday Foods Corp (LFC) prohibiting it to sell “Class B” cavendish bananas to third parties.
In a press conference, Valentino Rotoni, chairman of the Hijo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative-2 (Hearbco-2), hit the TRO issued Thursday by DAR Adjudication Board provincial adjudicator Jose Nilo Tillano saying that he was aghast to see DAR now running against the welfare of its own agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“We will no longer sell our Class B banana rejects to Lapanday which buys these at low prices,” he said.
He said that he was surprised why on Thursday the TRO was suddenly issued by Tillano
on that day when Hearbco-2’s yearly marketing contract with LFC as the buyer of their “Class B” bananas ended.
He charged that LFC has been forcing them to sell to the company their banana rejects “when other buyers even quarrel among themselves during bidding over our Class B bananas”.
He said that LFC offered only to buy their “Class B” bananas at $1.50 per box while the Davao City-based Mira Agri Ventures, which won in in last week’s bidding, offered $3.20 per box.
He said that naturally Hearbco-2 chose the highest price “to sustain our banana production at a time of high cost of inputs and improve our income to feed our families.”
Rotoni said though that LFC remains to be the buyer of Hearbco-2’s “Class A” bananas which the company buys at low $2.90 per box as covered in a separate ten-year banana marketing agreement which would end by December 2013.
“Buying prices for Class A bananas from other giant firms such as Dole and Unifruti range from $3 to $4 per box,” said Jeremias Coralde, Hearbco-2 production manager.
Herbco-2 officials also accused of LFC of cornering their production through high-priced agricultural inputs and lower buying prices and of implementing tough standards for “Class A” bananas “so it could become Class B bananas and buy it at much lower prices.”
At its recent production figures, Herbco-2 has an average harvest of 14,000 boxes and 6,000 boxes of “Class A” and “Class B” bananas or about 100,000 boxes of export bananas per month.
Coralde bared that with Hearbco-2 as landowner-producer of bananas and LFC as the buyer-marketer the cooperative is paying LFC about P500,000 for the aerial spray alone plus the about P110,000 for the plane’s fuel in every week.
DAR adjudicator Tillano in his grant of writ of injunction with TRO to LFC stated that in the marketing agreement LFC, as the surviving firm after the merger with the Global Fruits Corp, assignee firm of then Hijo Plantation Corp, has the first option to buy of Hearbco-2’s banana rejects or those do not conform to export specifications.
At press time, Hearbco officials with their counsels are preparing for their countermoves. Tillano set the hearing on TRO on May 6.
At present, Herbco-2’s 342 members, who were former Hijo banana workers, are still amortizing through the Land Bank of the Philippines the 278.41-hectare land they wangled in the late 90s out from the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
From the land distribution, they formed a cooperative and agreed to share equally from net earnings from cavendish banana production they continued when the production of Hijo Plantation Corp ended following the putting of the vast tract of land of Jose Tuazon Jr under CARP.
“Out from the .82-hectare share of land for each member, I managed to earn at the range of P5,000 to P8,000 every quincena (15 days) from my billing from Lapanday,” said Danny Yting, a Hearbco-s member.
Until at present, Hearbco-2 has an estimated total assets of P200 million and owns a cooperative buildings and packing house right at its plantation located in Barangay Madaum, some 5 kms northeast of this city.
Hearbco-2’s plantation just forms part of the 1,200-hectare banana plantation enclave of Madaum area in the city. It neighbors with the plantations of Hearbco-1 and Harbco. (Cha Monforte/Rural Urban News)
Filed under: DAR Adjudication Board provincial adjudicator Jose Nilo Tillano, Hijo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative-2 (Hearbco-2), Lapanday Foods Corp, Mira Agri Ventures , DAR Adjudication Board provincial adjudicator Jose Nilo Tillano, Hijo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative-2 (Hearbco-2), Lapanday Foods Corp, Mira Agri Ventures
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