Davao City High School Batch 1988

These are the some of the parents and kidswho will benefit the FunRun “Run and Advance” at the SM City Grounds (Davao City) on Dec 10, 2006 at 6 AM.

Once again, in behalf of the 36 families, we seek your and your friends’
support for this cause. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any clarification or questions.

You Can Help The Children Advance.

God bless.

Please check their website www.advancecentre.org.uk

Dear Friends,

Greetings !!! As you all know our daughter Kym (younger sister of Kido) is a special child born deaf and blind and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Her life is a story of faith and hope. When she turned 4, the thought of her never able to walk encouraged us to search for a therapy or cure to treat her condition.

In this pursuit, we were able to try a breakthrough in restorative rehabilitation that builds a recovery pattern by addressing weaknesses within the blood and oxygen circulation of the respiratory system. This is called The Scotson Technique (TST). It was developed through more than 13 years of research and practice by Linda Scotson who was committed to finding a cure for her son Doran who had Cerebral Palsy. Kym and thousands of children worldwide with brain injuries have made significant progress through this drug-free program.

Kym’s very remarkable progress is her breathing and behavior. She used to be admitted to the hospital almost every two months due to respiratory problems (CP children experience the same problem). She was very stiff and very hard to manage. Since starting the therapy (Cathy does it everyday since January 2005), her muscles are more relaxed, we can “touch-commuicate” with her, and more importantly, she never got sick again for the last 2 years.

Conventional approaches rely on the stretching of limbs and manipulation. Other alternative approaches use high-tech equipment (including space suits and electric shocks). TST relies only on the use of face towels which mothers will use in making very light massages on different areas of the body. We thought that this would be a perfect setting for the Filipino family since there have been a steady decline in the number of physical therapists (due to the Nursing trend) and expectedly, the cost per session became higher.

Cathy and Kym were supposed to return to the UK last April but instead we invited Linda Scotson and her team to come to Davao so that more children can benefit. Linda Scotson has graced us and will be sending her senior therapists to Davao City this January 2007. They will conduct two-week training sessions for parents on the TST. 36 children will be measured, assessed and given an individualized therapy program that will be developed based on the child’s condition. For a period of 5 days, the parents will be then taught to carry out their child’s therapy program at home.

Sharing Ms. Scotson’s vision, we hope to make this endeavor sustainable and be able to accommodate more families in the future and further reduce training cost. However for their first visit, each of the 36 families need to raise P25,000 to cover the training costs (This has been reduced from their regular price of 1,400 Pounds or P140,000). While there are some families who can afford, most cannot.

This is why the parents are orgaizing a FunRun “Run and Advance” at the SM City Grounds (Davao City) on Dec 10, 2006 at 6 AM. Once again, in behalf of the 36 families, we seek your and your friends’ support for this cause. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any clarification or questions.

You Can Help The Children Advance.

God bless.

Denton and Cathy

please check their website www.advancecentre.org.uk

By Nina Margarita Castrillo / Child Communicator

BEING in a private school for nine years straight made me think that that’s all there is to schooling. But when I moved to a new school I found out that there is a whole new world out there.

When I first entered my new school, it was a bit hard for me to get used to it. It was hot, muddy and by the looks of it, over-populated. But every bad news has good news and lots of interesting facts. Like, did you know that there are around 2,000-plus first year students alone, and that there are 48 sections for that year level? And this very school started on 1922 but was only proclaimed as a national high school just recently.

There, instead of teachers moving from one classroom to another for different subjects and classes, the students are the ones who move from place to place.

When it is raining, then you need an umbrella. When it’s hot, then you still need an umbrella.

And there are a lot of different kinds of sections. There’s the special class or the node, the honor class, the general section and the SPA also known as special program for the arts.

I don’t know if our lunchtime is longer or shorter. All I know is in the special section, our lunch time is at 11:16 12 o’clock. And the honor class and the special section have more subjects than the other sections.

And academically speaking, I find this school very nice. Because here all the students have an even chance to go and compete.

For example in Math Quiz Bee. To join the Math Quiz Bee, all the students will take the phase one, and so on. Not like in my old school they just choose the students. So its unfair for the rest.

For the contests and competitions there, there are field demos and more contests than you can imagine. It wasn’t like this in my old school where there were but a few.

Especially in the SPA, there are a lot of students who play the guitar so well. The dance troupe have a whole host of dances to perform.

Indeed there’s a whole new world out there in our public schools, an I just realized that now.

*****

Nina Margarita del Rosario Castrillo or Meg, 13, is a first year student at the Davao City National High School.

Meg is a member of the Children and Youth Communicators’s Team of the Sixth Countrywide Programme for Children (CPC VI).

Mga taga city high!

We are excited to be hosting the Grand Alumni Reunion this Dec. 17 @ NCCC Convention Hall and our theme is PANAGTAGBO 2006. It simply means meeting or reunion.


We plan to make this event as upbeat as a pep squad & we need your “collaboration” to makethis a success and hope you join the contest which has two categories & two winners will bag a 25k prize.

Attached are the invitation letter & contest mechanics. So APIL NA!

jeck

Kadayawan sa Dabaw 2006 events set
Mindanao Times News Online
June 25, 2006

It’s all set for this year’s grand celebration of the 21st Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival.

Slated on August 14-20 2006, the Kadayawan sa Dabaw is Davaoeños’ thanksgiving celebration of cultural heritage, bounty, creativity and unity.

The festival does not only involve the promotion of investment and tourism in Davao but as well as to promote arts and culture and mold creative individuals.

It is during this important annual revelry that the Davaoeños manifest their committed effort in nurturing culture, understanding of history and appreciating art as part of the city’s total development.

This year’s showcase of the interlacing prides and wonders of Davao through various cultural events are as follows:

Aug. 14 Pasalamat (Festival Opening and Promenade), Tingog Kadayawan (Concert of 200 Voices); Aug. 15 - Tugtog World Music Festival (World Music Festival), Aug. 16 - Hiyas sa Kadayawan (Search for Festival Symbol), Urog Etnika (Mindanao Fashion Showcase), Aug. 17 – Suba sa Kinabuhi (Davao River Festival), Agongan ug Kulintangan (Indigenous Music Festival), Aug. 18 - Sayaw Mindanaw (Mindanao Indigenous Dance Festival), Aug. 19 - Indak-indak sa Kadalanan (Whole Day Street Dancing), Yanog ug Yugyugan sa Kadalanan (Street Disco), and Aug. 20 - Halad (Floral Float Parade), Banda Lanog (Parade Band Competition).

Scheduled on-going events are Kaan Dawet (Food Street Fiesta) on Aug. 11-20, Hudyaka (Nightly Concerts) on Aug. 14-20, and Tabo (Agro-Industrial Fair) on Aug. 1-21.

More events are set to keep the locals and guests busy for weeklong celebration.

The Kadayawan sa Dabaw 2006’s theme is “Nagkahiusang Katilingban Bisan Asa sa Kalibutan” (One People Anywhere in the World).

For more information, visit or call the City Tourism Operations Office, Rm. 20, 2/F City Hall, Davao City, tel. nos. 222.1956 / telfax 222.1957, or the Kadayawan sa Davao Foundation, Inc., No. 6 Penaloza Bldg., Villa Abrille St., Davao City, tel. no. 224.6319.

Kadayawan sa Dabaw 2006 events set

Globe Telecom in cooperation with the Kadayawan sa Davao Foundation, Inc. and the City Government of Davao is all set and ready for this year’s grand celebration of the 21st Kadayawan sa Dabaw Festival.

Slated on August 14-20, 2006, the Kadayawan sa Dabaw is the Davaoeños and Mindanaoans thanksgiving celebration of cultural heritage, bounty, creativity and unity.

The festival does not only involve the promotion of investment and tourism in Davao and Mindanao but as well as to promote arts and culture and mold creative individuals.

It is during this important annual revelry that the Davaoeños and Mindanaoans manifest their committed effort in nurturing of culture, understanding of history and appreciating art as part of the city’s total development.

This year’s showcase of the interlacing prides and wonders of Davao and Mindanao through various cultural events are as follows:

August 14 Pasalamat (Festival Opening and Promenade), Tingog Kadayawan (Concert of 200 Voices); August 15 - Tugtog World Music Festival (World Music Festival), 16 August - Hiyas sa Kadayawan (Search for Festival Symbol), Urog Etnika (Mindanao Fashion Showcase), August 17 – Suba sa Kinabuhi (Davao River Festival), Agongan ug Kulintangan (Indigenous Music Festival), 18 August - Sayaw Mindanaw (Mindanao Indigenous Dance Festival), 19 August - Indak-indak sa Kadalanan (Whole Day Street Dancing), Yanog ug Yugyugan sa Kadalanan (Street Disco), and August 20 - Halad (Floral Float Parade), Banda Lanog (Parade Band Competition).

Scheduled on-going events are Kaan Dawet (Food Street Fiesta) on 11-20 August, Hudyaka (Nightly Concerts) on 14-20 August, and Tabo (Agro-Industrial Fair) on 1-21 August. More events are set to keep the locals and guests busy for weeklong celebration.

The Kadayawan sa Dabaw 2006’s theme is “Nagkahiusang Katilingban Bisan Asa sa Kalibutan” (One People Anywhere in the World).

For more information, visit or call the City Tourism Operations Office, Rm. 20, 2/F City Hall, Davao City, tel. nos. 222.1956 / telfax 222.1957, or the Kadayawan sa Davao Foundation, Inc., No. 6 Peñaloza Bldg., Villa Abrille St., Davao City, tel. no. 224.6319.

Davao schools join nationwide earthquake drill

PIA Press Release
06/20/2006

Davao City (20 June) — Students of two high schools (public and private) in Davao City will join other students nationwide in an earthquake drill today to determine how systematic and orderly will they be when real earthquake occurs.

Speaking before the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City yesterday. Regional Director Carmelito Lupo of the Office of Civil Defense said the alertness of students in Ateneo de Davao University (high school department at Matina Campus) and the Davao City National High School (DCNHS) will be put to test during the earthquake drill on Tuesday (June 20).

Ateneo has about 2,000 high school students while the DCNHS has a student population of 8,000 they will all be part of the drill including those occupying the buildings of the two pilot schools including their staff, he said.

He said it has been a requirement to all schools that they must come up with plan in case of disaster such as earthquake.

He however said that today’s activity will only be focused on the evacuation exercise and none on rescue and first aid even as he said that fire most likely occurs during earthquakes and can cause harm to humans especially when buildings collapse.

Ideally he said the drill must be done every three months but activity per semester is better if nothing is done at all.

Lupo also said that prior to the holding of the nationwide drill, the model schools already had made their own individual mock drill and students were also briefed on what to do which is part of their disaster preparedness plan.

He said members of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council will be present during the drill to observe and monitor and will meet immediately after drill to discuss their observation and come up with recommendations when there are areas that need to be improved.

There will also be pilot schools that will undertake the nationwide earthquake drill today in selected schools in the different provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley Province, Island Garden City of Samal and the cities of Tagum, Digos, and Panabo.

Lupo also announced that earthquake drills would be done in all government offices nationwide in July.

Lupo meanwhile urged local governments units in the region’s different cities and municipalities to come with an inventory of dilapidated buildings as these pose hazard to public especially in occurrence of disaster like earthquake. (PIA/pdbanzon)

Davao: City of kings

By Deni Rose M. Afinidad
Manila Standard Today
June 08,2006

IF the Philippines were to name its luckiest city, it would probably be Davao.

A sprawling metropolis of over a million people in the southeastern part of Mindanao, Davao is one of the largest cities in the world with a land area of 2,443.61 sqm—even larger than Texas City.

Not only that, Mother Nature has pampered it like a king by locating it in a typhoon-free zone along the rim of the Asia-Pacific, allowing it to serve as gateway to both the western and eastern hemispheres of the world.

Because of the city’s fertile soil and abundance in potable water, Davao has also become the habitat of nature’s royalties—the “king of birds” (the Philippine eagle); the “king of fruits” (durian); and the “king of flowers” (waling-waling).

For all these natural gifts, it’s no wonder the city’s people and local government have done so much to harness their blessings.

In 2001, 2003, and 2005, the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) assessed the country’s leading cities based on quality of life, cost of doing business, dynamism of the local economy, infrastructure, linkages and accessibility, and quality of workforce. Davao placed third in 2003, but topped the rankings in 2001 and 2005, making it the Most Competitive Metro City in the Philippines during that period, according to AIM.

This was no surprise for Davao, which was declared as the Most Livable City in the Philippines for consistently making it to the Top 20 for four consecutive years (1996-1999) in Asiaweek’s annual survey of 40 Best Cities in Asia. In the survey of livability, Davao City ranked 18th, toppling Cebu (19th) and Manila (25th). It also assumed the throne of being the Most Peaceful City in East and Southeast Asia since 1998 for an almost zero crime rate (0.8 cases per 10,000 persons—90% of these are petty crimes).

Because of this, imposing curfew was no longer needed in the city, which has the Best Police Office in the Country (1999-2005), said the Philippine National Police. Anyone can walk around town during the wee hours without fear of bumping into a street hooligan.

Similarly, Davao, The Cleanest and Greenest City in the Philippines (1999-2005), is said to be one of the least polluted and most decongested cities in Asia, according to Asiaweek. This made the city save a lot from using traffic lights or hiring traffic enforcers.

Though it is 946 km away (or a one-hour-and-45-minute plane trip) from Manila, no urbanite would feel ostracized in the City of Kings. For one, nightlife is so alive and abundant in the city that bar hopping is as easy as puffing one’s cigarette, though smoking is really banned in the city’s public hubs. But perhaps, one can forget one’s vices if the places to see are Jack’s Ridge—a string of overlooking restaurants and cafés atop a hill or the equivalent of combined Tagaytay and Antipolo’s Cogeo; and the Matina Town Square (MTS)—comparable to Mandaluyong’s Metrowalk.

Like their counterparts, Jack’s Ridge and MTS overflow with beer and delicacies alongside local and foreign entertainment; yet unlike them, MTS and the Ridge possess the staple in every Davaoeño plate—the durian. A coffee shop in the Ridge serves chocolate durian cake, while MTS has the Blugré Café, where durian coffee and the durian frappe are the bestsellers.

The Ridge is also known for being the former fort of the Bagobo tribe and for its underwater origin, as testified by large seashell fossils that were found there. It also offers a telescope, where one can peep into the lofts of the metropolis during daytime and gaze at the stars or the city lights at night.

Besides these, countless first-class hotels and specialized fine-dining restaurants can be explored around the metro. Of note is the Marituna Seafood Market and Restaurant in Pampanga, Davao, where one can feel like dining at the ocean’s bosom as baby white sharks and other marine creatures swim in large aquariums that adorn the restaurant’s walls. Marituna serves clamshell soup, crispy tuna tail, kilawin tuna eggs, shrimp with kangkong, sizzling swordfish belly, and fresh fruit shakes. It also has a market where customers can walk out knowing some bits of trivia about the seafood they bought.

If the tourist is not contented to just see and eat sea creatures at Davao’s restaurants, he or she can visit these animals at their natural habitat—and that would bring him or her to the Island Garden City of Samal—a 15-minute ferry ride from the metropolis where one can commune with nature’s delights via island hopping, scuba diving, snorkeling, banana boat riding, white water rafting, seaside swimming, water tubing, and everything that would fill the tourist’s heart with content. The paradise at the very end of Samal is the world-famous Pearl Farm—known for its world-class beaches, services and facilities.

From under the sea, the traveler can trek uphill to see a triad of nature’s havens—the Eden Nature Park at the slopes of Mt. Talomo; the Crocodile Park in Dencio’s Hill; and the Philippine Eagle Breeding and Conservation Facility in Malagos.

Located 2,630 feet above sea level, the Eden Nature Park is Davao’s Club John Hay as its cold climate, log cabins, and lush pine trees remind one of Baguio.

Peaceful as it may seem, the park activate every visitor’s inner Indiana Jones. Its 40-hectare, jungle-style camping and adventure site invites diverse activities for the whole family. Wedding reception is most memorable if held in the Park’s garden amphitheater, which seems like an ancient Roman ruin with picturesque overlooking view and flowery surroundings. Similarly, honeymooners can maximize privacy at the Parks’ soundproof villas and rooms. Sports aficionados, meanwhile, can play any sport they have in mind (even traditional Filipino games) as the Park has spacious courts suitable for mini-Olympics and for playing piko, patintero, and the like. Lastly, companies and school organizations can hold their seminars and recollections in the Park’s jungle-inspired function rooms, and have their team-building activities in the resort’s trekking, wall climbing, rappelling, and obstacle course areas—complete with shower rooms, bleachers, sound system, and fun gliding cables.

Riding on horseback, or in a Safari-style van, one can stop over to sneak at the rare species being raised at the parks’ gardens and farms. Examples of what can be seen are the yellow pitaheya or dragon fruit from Jamaica; the giant ferns or the signature trees of Mt. Apo; white African tulips; the cassowary bird from Australia—one of the world’s largest and fastest bird; mangosteen and macadamia nut plantations; organic herbs; and gourmet vegetables like zucchini or Italian squash.

Another exhilarating landmark to see is the Crocodile Park in Dencio’s Hill, which breeds around 300 fresh water crocodiles. A skeleton of a 40-year-old crocodile (14 feet in length) greets guests, while dancing parrots and Glide—a two-year-old eagle—welcomes the visitors with a peck. A couple of Burmese pythons, 20-33 feet in length and weighing 200-300 lbs., can be touched and carried (but cannot be taken home) by guests upon request. Baby crocodiles are also allowed to be touched after their mouths were tightly shut—giving tourists an idea of what a Seiko wallet feels minus the buttons and the zippers.

There’s another crocodile in the Philippine Eagle Breeding and Conservation Facility in Malagos, but this one seems out of place. The Conservation Facility, obviously, is where a number of endangered Philippine eagles are protected and bred in captivity. The main star of the facility is the 14-year-old Pag-asa—the center’s first successful hatch. Recently, it was learned that Pag-Asa’s brother, Kabayan, died of electrocution by landing on an electric cable shortly after it was freed in the wild.

Before these Philippine eagles become extinct, or better, before another generation of them wakes up to embrace the world, tourists should come and see Davao especially in August, when Davaoeños celebrate the Kadayawan, or the blossoming of the waling-waling and the harvest time of durian.

Truly, Davao is the country’s fruit basket and king of destinations. If you also want to feel lucky as this city is, you ought to be seen here.