Benjamin Cuaresma, president and chief executive officer of the company, said on Tuesday in a press forum at Medispa in SM City Davao that they are currently negotiating with Green Tropics Coffee Enterprise that engages in civet coffee production.

Green Tropics Coffee Enterprise is a non-government organization that trades, processes, and markets civet coffee. The coffee from alamid cats was harvested by the B’laan tribe in Mt. Matutum, South Cotabato.

“Once the launching is successful, we will soon blend it with durian,” he said. The firm’s coffee shop has been known for its durian-laced drinks since it started its operations in 1998.

Civet coffee is one of the most expensive coffee concoctions in the world. In the country, it costs P8,000 per kilo.

The coffee came from the wastes of civet that selects and eats red-colored coffee berries, a type of berry that produces top quality coffee.

In Mt. Matutum, there are about 2,000 civets in 2,000 hectares of land. The area could produce at least on ton of civet coffee or 80,000 cups of coffee per year, a figure which is enough for Blugre’s consumption.

He said they will also introduce the product to the world. The company plans to expand globally in areas like Singapore; Bangkok, Thailand; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Toronto, Canada; and Adelaide, Australia.

The company also eyed to establish branches in Las Vegas in US and Paris, France.

“This is the company’s first time to venture outside Mindanao and even outside the country,” he said . The expansion is either through franchising or by investing in potential markets.

The company has currently five branches in Davao City and General Santos City with three of its branches are located in Matina Town Square, SM City Davao and Landco Bajada.

This year, the company is planning to open branches in Cagayan de Oro City, Ilo-Ilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Manila, Makati, Ortigas, Calamba, Pampanga and Baguio with least one coffee shop and commissary per area.

In the Davao Region, the company is also setting up three branches in the soon-to-open SM City North in Lanang, at the Gaisano Mall of Davao and at the newly-opened Gaisano Mall Tagum in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

Wanda T. Teo, second vice president of National Association of Independent Travel Agencies Phil. Inc. and proprietor of the Mt. Apo Travel and Tours Inc., said yesterday in the weekly Club 888 forum at Marco Polo Davao Hotel that it will be the city’s first time to be visited by tourists on board a French cruise ship.

The cruise ship is called Princess Danae, a liner operated by NDS Voyages. It is touring in the world for 127 days in areas like Papua New Guinea, Australia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Mediterranean and Philippines.

In the Philippines, it will visit Manila, Cebu and Davao City.

“There might be more international cruise ships that will visit in the city after it,” Teo said, citing that there is another cruise ship that already showed intention to include the city as part of the ship’s destination.

Usually, she said, international cruise ships only dock in Manila and Cebu. She said it is about time that the city should be included in the packages to encourage more foreign tourists especially French nationals who are strict in adhering to travel ban advisories.

She said there are zero French tourists in the city although Davao is excluded from the French travel advisory. “Hopefully, there would be more French tourists who will travel in the city after the cruise ship’s visit,” she added.

The tourists that will visit in the city aged 45 to 70 years old.

Teo’s travel agency has arranged their trip in the city. They will be heading to People’s Park, Philippine Eagle Center and Sul Orchids, the three destinations that the French tourists would love.

Gov. Rodolfo P. del Rosario said some groups, including the Federation of Agrarian Reforme-based Cooperatives o Davao, have already asked the provincial government to allow them to explore areas that could be planted with oil palm.

“I am supporting the proposal (for palm oil production),” del Rosario said, pointing out that the farms are located mostly in Kapalong and Asuncion, two towns which are also homes to big banana farms.

The plan, del Rosario said, is for the provincial government to identify the areas where the palm oil could be planted and for the groups to negotiate with the Land Bank of the Philippines for possible financing.

The federation earlier announced it had gotten the approval of the bank for a P1.2 billion loan for starting the crop, a statement that the official of the bank denied.

In its announcement, the federation said it was planning to develop about 5,000 hectares of farms, with the big portion located in Davao del Norte. The federation, whose cooperatives are mainly into banana production, said its members wanted to diversify to oil palm and even cacao production, because of the fear that the banana farming would collapse mainly because of the dreaded Panama disease, a soil-borne disease that has devastated many small banana farms in the Davao Region.

In denying the claim that the bank already has approved the loan, Charlotte I. Conde, manager of the Davao Lending Center of the bank, said that everything “is still in the exploratory stage.”

Conde told the TIMES although the federation has already discussed with the bank the “idea about its plan for a oil palm plantation, there are still no specifics and that we cannot still approve without the concrete basis for the loan.”

But she admitted the bank is keen on the proposal considering that it already has about 400 hectares in its loan portfolio on oil palm farming, spread across Southeastern and Central Mindanao, particularly Agusan provinces and Maguindanao.

Under the mechanism of the bank, it provides about P180,000 package to a hectare of farm that is to be developed, but 20% of the package is the equity of the farmer “which is not cash” like his or her labor that would be quantified.

The loan has a 10-year life, with the borrower starts paying the loan on the fifth year after it is obtain. “This will allow the farmer to start paying the loan with the proceeds of the farm,’ she added.

The approval of the loan, she explained,” is dependent on the market.” “But since there is a big market for palm oil based on the evaluation of the bank, the loan could be approved. What the proponents must do is that to convince the bank that their proposal is very much feasible,” she added.

Melanie Provido, high-value commercial crops coordinator of DA-XI, said yesterday in press forum at Medispa in SM City Davao that Rocky Mountain Arabica Coffee Corp. is currently looking finalizing its plan in establishing coffee plantations in the city.

Provido said the company is planning to build the plantations in the city’s highland areas such as Brgy. Carmen in Baguio District, Brgy. Salaysay and Brgy. Marilog in Marilog District, Brgy. Tamayong in Calinan District and Brgy. Sibulan in Toril District.

The identified barangays are among the areas suited for Arabica coffee production.

“The plan will push through once we have signed a memorandum of agreement with the company and the city government,” she said. Both DA and the firm have already discussed the plan two weeks ago.

Arabica is a type of coffee used in making cappuccino and latte. In the city, it costs P200 per kilogram.

The company has already established a coffee plantation in Benguet, a province in Cordillera Administrative Region. It is also planning to expand in other areas like Columbio, Sultan Kudarat and Kiamba, Sarangani.

“The company also want to establish the plantations where there are indigenous people,” she said, adding that the department planned to produce 100 hectares of arabica per barangay.

ICHEF (The Institute of International Culinary and Hospitality Entrepreneurship) does not only provide outstanding credentials, cooking skills, and hospitality business acumen but also relevant links to major players in the food industry.

On February 16, 2012, Adolf Aran of F & H Events Specialist, Inc., came to the Chef’s Kitchen of ICHEF Davao at De Jesus Street and shared information about food trends in 2012. Speaking before local restaurateurs, chefs, tourism people, media friends, and JIB officers, Mr. Aran talked about the rising popularity of “reinvented” Asian cuisines, Mexican cuisine, Groupon and other “real meal deals,” the power of the diner in food blogging, global restaurant brands, health food, and Filipino cuisine, among others.

He also took the opportunity to invite participants to the 4^th Annual Foodservice Convention to be held at SMX Convention Center on March 29 and 30, 2012. Called “Top Menu Masters 2012,” the event is aimed at Hotel and Restaurant Owners, Operators, Developers, CEOs/COOs/CIOs, General Managers, Food Suppliers, Caterers, Directors of Customer Service, Sales & Marketing, Product Development & Design, Business and Site Development Food &Beverage, Academic Faculty of HRM schools, and Food and Franchising Consultants who want to know the trends and best practices in the foodservice industry that should be adopted to create a great customer experience.

The F & H Events Specialist President also bared that there will be a Restaurant Management Conference series in Davao (July 2012), General Santos City (July 2012), Cebu (August 2012), Bacolod (August 2012), and Baguio (September 2012).

Mindanao Tourism Congress Vice President Mary Ann Montemayor said that such conference series should also be introduced in other areas like Caraga in Davao Oriental.

At the end of the “coffee and tea” afternoon event, JIB Career Center founder Joji Ilagan Bian announced that ICHEF offers Bachelor of Science in International Culinary and Entrepreneurship. This 4-year Bachelor’s Program offers a unique and rewarding pathway to earn two (2) credentials:

• College or University Diploma

• Diploma in Hospitality issued by the Technical and Further Education – New South Wales South Western Sydney Institute (TAFE-NSW SWSI) – recognized and accredited worldwide.

Graduates may opt to work in cruises, international hotels, institutional or commercial kitchens, or start their own business.

Rock icon Joey “Pepe” Smith took the event’s theme Rakenrol Circus seriously.  That night, he was Joker, the nemesis of superhero Batman; but on that stage, Pepe “the Joker” was loved, as he, together with Wally Gonzales and Mike Hanopol, his also members of the Juan dela Cruz band, entertained the Red Horse Beer fans with some of their classic ‘70’s hits namely Beep Beep, Titser’s Enemi No. 1, Kagatan, Rakenrol sa Ulan, and Wally’s Blues.

Completing the 70’s Pinoy rock nostalgia in the star-studded Red Horse Beer Pambansang Muziklaban was Maria Cafra’s rendition of Kumusta mga Kaibigan and other popular hits.

His first Muziklaban appearance, world-renowned Freddie Aguilar sent chills down the spine when he played the highest-selling Philippine record, ‘Anak’ and the socially-relevant Maguindanao.

The action began early on with Kevin Roy  of Razorback and Jamir Garcia of Slapshock’s live rendition of Red horse Beer anthems, a prelude to the grand opening number of rock heavyweights Pepe Smith, Jett Pangan of The Dawn, Ely Buendia, Reg Rubio of Greyhoundz and Jamir Garcia of Slapshock.

What made the 2011 Pambansang Muziklaban extra really “way out” was the collaborative performances of the four band finalists with their rock idols.

Reg Rubio joined the 2011 champion David vs. Goliath of Davao City in performing the song “DobleKara” popularized by Greyhoundz.   Ian Tayao jammed with Cebu’s bet, Leviticus in Wilabaliw’s hit song “Matador;” Kevin Roy played Razorback’s “Payaso”  with Benguet’s Zephaniah and Mark Abaya  performed Kjwan’s “Daliri” with Mind of Clay of Legazpi City.

Red Horse Beer fans also had a great time with the brand’s newest endorser, Lovi Poe, who hosted the star-studded event with musician Francis Brew and celebrity host Julia Clarete.

Rocksteddy, Franco, Tanya Markova, Valley of Chrome, Chongkeys, Ganhava, Mr. Bones & the Boneyard Circus, Giniling Festival, and Dogfight  added delight to the 13th Pambansang Muziklaban, the biggest, loudest and most prestigious amateur rock competition in the country.

The event would not have been complete without the riveting performances of past Muziklaban title holders who expressed their appreciation for Red Horse Beer’s continuing support for new artists.

Mayonnaise (2004 champion), Ibarra (2006), Gayuma (2007), Even (2008), Hatankaru (2009), and Light of Luna (2010), proudly welcomed the incumbent champion band “David vs, Goliath” from Davao, which won a tax-free cash prize of P500,000, an exclusive band contract with Red Horse Beer, plus other perks.

“Our experience in the 13th Pambansang Muziklaban was overwhelming.  We did not only bring glory for Mindanao but we also performed onstage with our idol Reg Rubio of Greyhoundz.

David vs. Goliath is composed of Kenneth Zamudio (lead guitars), Jules Montanez, Arvin Nacario (bass guitar), Amiel Avila (drums), and Oliver Louis Lagdameo (lead vocalist).    They passed through the rigorous elimination in Matina, Davao City, and won in the semi-finals at Digos City.    The members’ age range from 19 to 22 and have been friends way back during college days.

Roberto M. Huang, President of SMB said: “We in SMB make sure that we live up to our reputation of not only providing our loyal patrons with world-class products and services, but also with activities where they can express themselves, share their talents, and celebrate with friends.”

It does not come as a surprise then that Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is tapping the barangay leaders to help curb the spurt in criminality. These people do live in houses and that is where the barangay intelligence network comes in. For sure, the barangay police are familiar with the bad guys in the ‘hood and can easily monitor or weed them out, if needed.

In a consultation on peace and order with barangay leaders last Monday, the vice mayor also asked the barangay leaders to regulate the tricycles in their area. He cited particularly the tricycle terminals in  Matina, Talomo, Bucana and Toril which he said might be infiltrated by criminal elements as “all kinds of people are in these terminals.  You cannot read their minds but some of them might be psychologically ill who want to rape or molest women.”

We are not sure if there is a local ordinance on regulating the tricycles but this is a brilliant idea because doing so will give parents peace of mind especially as many young people work late night or dawn shifts.

The ball is now on the barangays’ court.

Darkness was a thick gray pall that hung over everything and, although early dawn should have been fanned by the cool breeze, the thick darkness of the room suffocated and the stationary air felt humid.

“Brown-out,” I concluded with a sinking feeling.

Outside the window, the tell-tale signs of light and life were absent – the light at the gate was off, so was the guard lamp at the balcony that was intended to discourage a thief or two. The vigil lamp at my neighbor’s balcony was out and the red pilot light atop the antenna of a telecommunications company was dead-cold.

The crowing of the solitary bantam rooster sounded forlorn; the maya that by this time should have run riot among the branches of the mango tree were uncharacteristically mute.

The lights were off and life seemed at a standstill that Saturday morning. I shone the lighter on my watch.

“4:30,” it said.

“Brown-out,” I muttered, trying to convince myself that it was actually so. My wife stirred. “Brown-out,” I told her, as if the knowledge would ease off the burden by dispersing the frustration.

There is a measure of masochistic pleasure in considering the definitely unpleasant prospect of hot, dark, tv-less days and nights that come with six-hour daily brown-outs falling upon us for days, weeks and months.

I sat on bed, trying to entertain myself by weaving opening sentences for the acerbic, acidic column I would write that morning cutting down to bloody pieces the electric cooperative providing power to residents of Davao del Sur.

It was at about this time in 2010 that Mindanao was subjected to six-hour daily rotating brown-outs. The suffering is still fresh in memory.

When the light shines at the flick of the switch, when the refrigerator hums, the electric fan swings, the computer functions, and the other electric gadgets that make life livable run, we heave a habitual sigh of contentment and say: “All’s well in God’s world.”

But what if there is no electricity? What if the spark of power dies, if we live surrounded by darkness and dead electric gadgets to which we have been accustomed as part of daily life?

When the brown-outs were imposed on us, there was nothing we could do except grumble.

We fought the darkness with candles, kerosene lamps, battery-powered emergency lights, or bonfires on the lawn.

All the other contrivances that made life civilized were dead, and when electric power surged back, many of our appliances conked out. Many of us complained that our electric consumption increased because of the black-outs – a silly distortion of logic because, after all, there was less electricity to consume.

Electricity powers industries and the country’s economy. It defines modern civilization. It is the spark that fuels progress.

What if the spark dies? The bitter chances are, we may have to suffer the blackouts again soon.

To be fair, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras warned Mindanao a couple of days before of a repeat of the 2010 power curtailment soon enough.

During the blackouts of 2010, power providers blamed the dry spell. It was easy to blame nature for our misfortunes because God seldom, if ever, answers back.

El Nino drove away the rains, we were told, and the water level in the dams that ran Mindanao’s hydroelectric plants could not create enough electricity to service the people of the island. It was easy and convenient to blame El Nino as the culprit of the power shortages.

But that is not tenable this time around. Mindanao is not suffering from El Nino; it is today being subjected to wet weather brought about by La Nina. In fact, summer is not expected until May or June.

Another reality confronting us – we may have the costliest power all over the country soon. We are increasingly dependent on power barges which use bunker fuel – definitely a more costly power source. Almendras told us that, too.

Later in the morning that Saturday, I called up engineering services of Dasureco. I asked: “Is the brown-out today the start of the six-hour daily rotating brown-outs?”

“Oh no, no! It is routine maintenance work. Power will be back in a couple of hours.”

I should have felt good. I did not. The brown-outs will start again soon, very soon. Mindanao is simply not producing enough power to service its needs.

That the power outage was routine maintenance is hardly any consolation.

No consolation at all, in the face of the inevitable.

(For comments and reactions, email: rene_bartolo@yahoo.com)

If they allow such documents to be presented as evidence, it would be enough to pin down their client. If they don’t, the public will [rightly] suspect they are trying to hide something.

The magnitude of the revelations that Corona has stashed tens of millions of pesos – and possibly thousands of dollars — in several accounts in at least two banks is not lost on his lawyers. They know they have to do something to counter growing public perceptions that these amounts are highly questionable, as these were excluded from the SALNs. But what exactly is to be done is another matter.

From the start, the defense lawyers have always been in a quandary on how to deal with Corona’s undisclosed bank accounts. They had tried all tricks in the books to stop the testimonies of the bank executives. Failing that, they declared that the money came from the Chief Justice’s wife, Cristina R. Corona, reportedly from her income as a controlling figure of a contested firm.

It remains to be seen whether this claim is true or not. Yet what will stick in the people’s minds is Corona’s dogged attempt to conceal his several accounts and millions from public knowledge in clear violation of the law governing SALNs. They will not stop wondering why the chief magistrate would not want to divulge his tons of cash if this indeed came from legitimate sources, for example, from the reported corporate earnings of his wife.

This is now all water under the bridge. Nothing much can be done to reverse the swelling tide of anti-Corona sentiment even if Attorney Serafin Cuevas and company manage to score technical points every step of the impeachment trial.

Technically, the testimonies of the bank officials who have come to the witness stand can be rendered worthless if it would be proven that the House prosecutors had obtained the bank documents in an  irregular manner. As some senator-judges explained in today’s (February 20) hearing, all these documents will be for naught if coming from government sources like the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Note that the admissibility or non-admissibility of evidence will be based on the manner with which it is obtained. If the impeachment court ruled that the bank documents – and with it the testimonies of the bank officials – are inadmissible, it would not mean that the documents are fake and the testimonies false.

Questions will forever remain on Corona’s previously undisclosed millions regardless of how the impeachment court would rule on the controversial documents submitted by the prosecution. Sadly for the Chief Justice, Cuevas and company are not the right soldiers for this kind of war, the opinion war.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be reached at hmcmordeno@gmail.com)

He is lying to himself. He knows some of our past presidents have problems with their wives, some of whom even acted like they were the president themselves.

P-Noy’s mother, former president Corazon Aquino was a widow when she assumed the presidency.  Yet, except for four threats of rebellion in her six years in office, she excelled with flying colors and  her leadership was acknowledged by other world leaders who even tried to duplicate her performance in preserving democracy through peaceful means.

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is married to the former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. And where is Gloria now, not in gloria, but under hospital arrest for alleged corruption in her 9-year administration of which her husband has been linked in most of the cases filed against her.

P-Noy said he is still hoping to find a wife. “Given the burdens of this office, if there was someone you could confide in, someone you could talk to, someone who would tell you, ‘You are still doing okay’ then of course, that would a key to you inspirations,” he said.

P-Noy does not need to have a wife if that were his reasons.

-o0o-

If P-Noy reasoned-out his longing to have a legitimate family of his own – a loving wife who loves him not because he is the President, children who could give him apos later on. then he really needs wife.

Having apos in the family will make it complete. Most older people claim they never experienced the complete happiness with their children when they were growing up until the apos came. Iba daw ang dating ng apo. This I can share with my experience.

When I was starting a family, my wife Virgie and I spent most of our time devoted looking for our everyday subsistence and for our children’s education. We seldom went out for recreation even during weekends because we spent it washing clothes and cleaning the house as well as attending to our small sari-sari store to augment the meager combined income we have then.

The apos can now spoil and enjoy the luxury we never gave to their parents because some of us are now retired and can give our full attention to them – bringing to school and even spending much of our time in malls and other recreation whenever they ask for it.

The bachelor-president at 52 may now have a hard time having apos to enjoy with. If he married today, he will be 72 when his eldest son is 20 only and about to graduate in college.

Granting his son got married after graduation and gave him an apo, P-Noy will be 73 or 74. Paano kung hindi nagka anak? Gimalas si P-Noy. Paampon na lang ako sa kanya.

But to be frank, how I wish the President will have a First Lady in Malacanang before his term ends in 2016.