'Riceless' Zamboanga lifts State of Calamity

By: Roel Pareño (The Philippine Star) 

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The rice crisis in Zamboanga is “officially over” as supply has started to stabilize, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said yesterday.

Piñol issued the statement after his meeting with local government officials of Zamboanga peninsula and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and executives of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and National Food Authority (NFA) in addressing the rice scarcity problem.

A boat laden with 180,000 bags of rice docked yesterday at Zamboanga port.

The volume of rice allocation was originally 110,000 bags for Zamboanga City and 10,000 bags each for Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, and 20,000 bags for Zamboanga Sibugay.

Piñol said local leaders have decided that additional allocation will be given to the three island provinces with 20,000 each for them to have stable rice supply. Zamboanga will have 80,000 bags.

“This means the city will have rice supply from the NFA alone which is good for 13 days that will actually end the rice crisis,” Piñol said.

Zamboanga Sibugay Gov. Wilter Palma said the harvest started in the province and the produce is being delivered to Zamboanga City.

“I am happy to report to the President the crisis is over,” Piñol said.

“I never thought that this will end today. Everybody joined hands and came up with this great news that would please not only the people of Zamboanga but the President as well that as of today, the boat laden with rice starts to unload, the rice crisis of Zamboanga is over. That’s the biggest news today,” he added.

However, Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the city will still be under a state of calamity for 60 days.

Isabela City in Basilan was also declared under a state of calamity for 60 days since Aug. 8 following the rice scarcity.

Salazar said the declaration was contained in a city council resolution and she will issue an executive order for the price ceiling monitoring in the city.

Piñol explained that rice smuggling was the cause of the rice crisis in the city.

“As we all know, rice smuggling has been a way of life in this part of the country. While we in the government called it smuggling, people in the island considered it as part of their traditional trading practices,” he said.

Piñol said while the rice crisis is over, there are long-term and medium-term programs that the DA will implement.

As part of the long-term program, the DA has committed to develop a demonstration farm of 1,000 hectares in the LGUs involved, including Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The DA will fund and operate the farms.

The demonstration farm will also serve as rice production center.

Piñol said the DA and the local government officials will also propose to President Duterte the establishment of rice trading centers in the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi so that there will be stable supply of rice in these areas.

He said the volume of rice supply will be based on the per capita consumption of the population of the two island provinces or about 80 percent sufficiency of local supply with the proper safeguards to be implemented.

The DA chief also committed P100-million loan to Zamboanga Sibugay as he is impressed with Palma’s program of providing zero-interest loan to farmers who will engage in organic farming.

“The allocation will help them boost the production of rice in the region and this is also a token from the DA to Zamboanga Sibugay for helping Zamboanga City,” Piñol said.

NFA chief won’t resign

Meanwhile, NFA chief Jason Aquino has decided to remain in his post despite calls for him to step down following the still unresolved issue of rice supply and high prices of the commodity in the market.

Senators are pressing Aquino to resign over the NFA’s failure to bring down prices of rice and curb shortage in some areas despite the importation.

But Aquino remained firm and called on interested parties “to get out of their comfort zones, go out to the field, and look into the root cause of the current rice and other problems.”

“My position is dependent on the trust and confidence of the President. We have been quietly doing our work. We don’t brag about it. I am not a person endowed with a glib tongue who can regularly and spontaneously dish out empty talk to impress,” he said.

“I go out to the field to mingle with local officials, talk to the local folk, feel their pulse, know their problems, and offer solutions rather than empty promises,” he added.

The NFA chief also slammed lawmakers who continuously blame the grains agency for the dwindling buffer stocks, delay of import arrivals and high prices of commercial rice.

“The NFA can only be effective in stabilizing the rice market if it has the right volume of buffer stocks. Isn’t it ironic that we are now being blamed for a problem of tight supply and high prices of rice that we tried our best to prevent way back last year?” Aquino said.

“We are open for scrutiny anytime. Those who want to verify what we had been doing, can check our records, go around the country and ask the people,” he added.

The NFA administrator emphasized that the current rice problem is a result of the several rejection of NFA’s proposal to either increase its palay buying price or to import as early as last year.

The NFA is intensifying its fight against rice traders who are illegally re-bagging and diverting NFA rice.

Aquino has appointed NFA National Capital Region director Carlito Co as focal person to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation on the conduct of warehouse inspection nationwide.

“We have to double our effort because it is not enough that we have NFA rice available if it does not go to the market and reach the people. We have to ensure that NFA rice is not diverted or rebagged, and then sold as commercial rice at a much higher price in the market by some unscrupulous individuals,” Aquino said. – With Louise Maureen Simeon, Marvin Sy, Eva Visperas, Rhodina Villanueva

Filipina lands bronze in new Asiad Sport

By: Nelson Beltran (The Philippine Star)

All-Filipina duel in ju-jitsu

JAKARTA – Margarita Ochoa outfought Jenna Kaila Napolis in  an all-Filipina bronze-medal match in the new sport of ju-jitsu as Team Phl regained some winning momentum heading to the final week of the 18th Asian Games in various battlefronts here.

A prospect of another double-medal haul loomed before Carlos Yulo was bumped off the Top Three then eventually settled for fourth place in men’s vault in gymnastics at the Jakarta International Expo Hall.

SEA Games gold medalist Dines Dumaan and Jefferson Rhey Loon, meanwhile, whipped their separate quarterfinal rivals to book their spots in the semifinals and assure themselves of at least bronze medals at the Pencak Silat TMII hall.

Dumaan, who broke a 13-year-old gold-medal drought in the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur last year, crushed India’s Naorem Boynao Singh, 5-0, in the men’s 50-55 kgs Class B quarterfinals while Loon dominated Kyrgyzstan’s Almazbek Zamirov, 4-0, in the men’s Class D 60-65-kgs quarterfinals of tanding (sparring).

Princesslyn Enopia, however, took a 0-5 beating at the hands of Laotian Sounthavong Olathai in the round-of-8 to bow out of the women’s 50-55 kgs Class D division.

Dumaan faces Malaysian Muhammad Fayzul Nazir while Loon takes on Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Tuan in the semifinals tomorrow.

It’s almost the same time at dusk over at the Jakarta Convention Center when Ochoa and Napolis figured in a repeat of their all-Filipina title match in the Asian championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan earlier this year.

This time, they slugged it out just for the bronze medal as both were beaten in their third match in the day and had to survive the repechage.

As in Ashgabat, Ochoa proved to be the superior fighter, pulling off a 2-0 victory for the bronze that weighed a lot for Team Phl after a day of heartaches and heartbreaks, stopping the momentum of the contingent’s harvest of one gold and five bronze medals on the first four days of competitions.

Even then, the Philippines dropped deeper behind the leaders among all the teams and among Southeast Asia teams in the medal tally.

China raised its haul to 66 gold, 46 silver and 27 bronze medals on the steady dominant showings of its world-class athletes. With the exploits of its own elite bets, Japan remained at second with 29-31-43, followed by Korea (22-26-28), Iran (12-11-8) then the host country (9-9-14).

The Philippines, with 1-0-6, dropped down to sixth among the Southeast Asians as Singapore (2-1-6) jumped past the Philippines, Malaysia (1-4-1) and Vietnam (1-6-9) on a two-gold blitzkrieg by Olympic champion swimmer Joseph Schooling.

Still, it proved to be a better day with Cebuano WeiWei Gao firing a five-under 67 to move within three strokes of Japanese Keita Nakajima in the second round of men’s individual play of golf at the Pondok Indah layout.

Gao, who charged back at the front to salvage a 72 Monday, gunned down seven birdies, including three in the last seven holes at the back. He did commit a couple of miscues that led to bogeys on Nos. 3 and 10 but the Univ. of Virginia sophomore bounced back from those mishaps with a string of birdies to put himself in contention for medal honors.

With a 139 aggregate, Gao tied India’s Aadil Bedi, who made a 70, at third, just three behind Nakajima, who carded a second 68 for a 136 and a one-stroke lead over Korean Hoyoung Choi, who also turned in a 68.

But while Gao rebounded to figure for medal race in the last 36 holes, the Phl men’s team lagged at 432 despite recovering from a 223 with a 209 as teammates Lloyd Go carded a 71-145, Luis Castro also shot a 71-148, and Rupert Zaragosa III hardly improved from a 77 with a 73.

Japan pooled a 206 for a 414, padding its lead to six over India, which made a 420 after a 207 while Korea remained in third at 423 after a 209.

The Pinay golfers also made waves, rallying into the Top Three with a five-under second round of 139 for a 36-hole 282 total. They however lay nine shots behind the Chinese, who pooled a 273 after a 135, and four behind the second running Japanese (142-278).

Yuka Saso fired four birdies against a bogey for a three-under 69 after a one-under 71 as she stood as the best-placed Phl bet in the individual play at joint fifth, five behind pacesetter Du Mohan of China, going to the last two rounds of play.

Bianca Pagdanganan was another two strokes down with a two-under 142.

The Philippines hopes to sustain the surge today with Daniel Caluag, the country’s lone gold medalist in the 2014 Incheon Asiad, returning to defend his title in the men’s BMX over at the Jakarta International BMX Track.

The contingent is also pinning its hopes on the other ju-jitsu fighters and the karatekas who plunge into action today.

Then there’s the athletics team that parades Fil-Am sprinter Kristina Marie Knott, long jumper Janry Ubas and decathlete Aries Toledo at the start of track-and-fieldcompetitions at the Gelaro Bung Karno Sports Complex.

Ochoa, a judoka that has shifted to jiu-jitsu, outfought Jordanian Yasmin Alkhatib, 2-1, then mauled Thai Siramul Deepudsa, 2-0, before being relegated to the repechage by Vietnamese Thi Thanh Minh (via superiority).

Napolis, meanwhile, sent UAE’s Wadima Alyafei into submission, then rolled past Indonesia’s Santi Apriyani before being stopped by Cambodia’s Jessa Khan also via submission.

Both survived the repechage semis to set up their bronze-medal showdown.

Three Phl male ju-jitsu bets in Jan Vincent Cortez, Marc Alexander Lim and Gian Taylor Dee failed to make it past the Round of 16.

After his sorry seventh-place finish from No. 1 ranking in the qualifying round in floor exercise, Yulo pulled off some amount of redemption on a near medal finish in the vault.

He wound up fourth with 13.662 as against the 14.612 of eventual gold medal winner Shek Wai Hung of Macau, 14.550 silver medalist Kim Hansol of Korea and 14.125 of Indon Agus Prayoko.

Elreen Ando had her near win in placing fourth in women’s 63kg with a total score of 201.

Meanwhile, sport climber Gerald Verosil placed 15th in men’s combined qualification.

The lady bowlers continued to struggle in the face of tough opposition, rolling only 3916 for fifth place in the first block in the Team of Six event.

Korea paced the 12-team field with 4091 with Malaysia coming in second at 4024 then Chinese Taipei at 4018 and Japan at 3917.

The compound mixed team lost by five to Bangladesh, 149-154, in round of 16 in archery while the men’s foil routed Nepal, 45-3, in the round of 16 before being waylaid by Korea, 18-45, in the quarterfinals in fencing.

The Filipino bets suffered heavy beating almost everywhere in the morning sessions.

Jasmine Alkhaldi clocked 26.20 in women’s 50m freestyle and failed to qualify in the final.

In sepak takraw, the Philippines bowed to Japan, 1-2, in men’s team doubles.

Pride and momentum up in Philippines-Indonesia Volley

By: Nelson Beltran (The Philippine Star)

JAKARTA – Alyssa Valdez said it’s a fight for pride more than anything else as SEA Games rivals the Philippines and Indonesia face off tonight in the penultimate playdate of the 18th Asian Games women’s volleyball competition group play at the GBK Tennis Indoor court here.

It’s a virtual non-bearing game since both have booked spots in the quarterfinals with no way of bumping off Thailand and Japan on top places in Pool A.

But the two teams are expected to figure in a fierce battle in their 7 p.m. (8 p.m. in Manila) match to build some momentum going to the knockout quarterfinals.

And as Valdez insists, it’s for pride.

“Even if we’re assured of the quarterfinals, we would feel good pulling off another win, especially against our longtime rival,” said Valdez.

“Our campaign here would be better if we beat Indonesia. It’s a showdown of SEA Games rivals,” said national coach Shaq delos Santos.

After all, the main purpose of Team Phl’s presence here is to size up neighbors Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam and prepare for the SEA Games in Manila next year.

The Thais, the Indonesians and the Vietnamese finished first, second and third, in that order, in the last SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

“They won the silver coming from another bracket. But seeing their games, I do think we have the better skills,” said Delos Santos, confident of their chance against the Indonesian team built around sisters Amansya Angraini and Aprilia Santini Mangarang.

“We’ll break down the game of the Mangarang sisters. We will work hard to stop them,” said Delos Santos.

Valdez and her teammates are in high spirits following their 25-18, 25-21, 25-22 drubbing of Hong Kong Thursday – the Philippines’ first win in Asiad volleyball in 36 years.

“We’re very happy because it’s a historic win. We sacrificed a lot of things to be here, so we might as well do our best to produce the best result we could get here,” said Valdez, among the lead guns of Team Phl here along with Santiago sisters Jaja and Dindin Manabat, Mika Reyes, Aby Maraño, Mylene Paat and Kianna Kim Dy.

Curiously, the Indonesians took four sets to top Hong Kong, 21-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-14, last Wednesday.

After the decline of the Philippines in SEAG, Indonesia and Vietnam rose as Thailand’s toughest challengers. The Vietnamese were second placers in eight of the last SEAG while the Indonesians collected a silver and five bronze medals in the last six editions of the biennial meet.

The Philippines has never had a podium finish since salvaging a bronze in Manila in 2005.