The new SPDA

Very little is known of the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA), so the new chairman of the board, Saeed A. Daof, explained what it is all about at Tuesday’s Bulong Pulungan Sa Sofitel (formerly Philippine Plaza Hotel). There were many questions asked about what happened to the Authority between its establishment in the 1980s and reactivation last year. Chairman Daof chose to focus on the vision of what he calls “the new SPDA.”

To begin with, SPDA covers the entire MINSUPALA region that comprises Mindanao-Sulu and Palawan, including far-off Tawi-Tawi. It has an area of 112,000 square miles or 10 million hectares, and has a population of 25 million people, 75 percent of whom are Christians, the rest being Muslims and other cultural minorities.

Mindanao, Daof said, possesses vast wealth and reservoir of resources that are awaiting serious entrepreneurs to transform them into productive states.

 Presidential Executive Order 560 reactivated the Authority last year to help foster and accelerate socio-economic development in the Mindanao region. It can go into agri and agro-industrial projects, processing and manufacturing, biofuels, fisheries ventures, mining of different minerals, and business outsourcing activities. It can enter into mutually beneficial cooperation with local and foreign companies for development of business ventures.

Daof emphasized that the new thrust of SPDA is private sector, market-driven, profit-oriented ventures that are not solely dependent on government funds. We will go on international missions and invite investors to visit and do business in the region.

 He said that SPDA will help promote the Mindanao peace process, and establish cooperation with other government agencies, ARMM, MNLF, MILF, LGUs, NGOs and IPs. It will look into corporate image-building, and create a thorough physical resources inventory of SPDA assets to transform them into productive and profitable states. It will demonstrate transparency in governance and operation — strong financial management, audit and accounting. It will create a corps of volunteer professionals to provide expert advice.

The new SPDA will be made possible by the commitment of a team consisting of Chairman Saeed A. Daof, Administrator Sultan Yahya Jerry M. Tumawis, and the members of the Board of Directors composed of Gov. Aurora E. Cerilles, Gov. Jurdin Jesus M. Romualdo, Engr. Vicente T. Lao, Lourdes Lim, Carmencita S. Conchingco, and Hadja Bainon G. Karon.

 Daof said there are 1001 opportunities in Mindanao, but SPDA must focus its attention on promoting and developing at least one to three impact projects of national and regional significance at the earliest time possible.      

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Dance aficionados will have the thrill of their lives watching the world’s best  ballroom dancers at the first Philippine StarBall, the first international open ballroom dance championship in the country to be held on February 16 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila. The setting will be strictly formal, as is done in international championships in the US, Europe and countries in the Asian region, and will have international, professional, amateur and Pro-Am events.

Competitors will show their mastery of the Latin-American dances cha-cha, rumba, paso doble and jive; and the standard/modern dances such as slow waltz, tango, foxtrot, Vienne waltz and quickstep.

If you can’t have Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez as competitors, you can have their dance coach, Danish champion Charlotte Jorgensen, as one of the judges. You can watch international names in ballroom dance from Italy, England, Poland, Denmark, Canada and the US.

The affair is organized by the Council of United Professional Dance Teachers of the Philippines, Inc. (CUPDTP), a dance teachers’ organization recognized and accredited by the Games and Amusement Board. Michaela “Pinky” Puno is chair of the organizing committee.

 Pinky, wife of DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno, is herself a Pro-Am dance competitor in the US. She won’t compete in the Philippine StarBall, though. She recently competed in the US where she represented her region at the Dance Sport series of the Ohio StarBall. She placed fourth out of 28 couples in her age bracket in the American smooth category, and she was also named one of the ballrooms Patron of the Arts and awarded the Trophy and Prizes for the six finalists for the Professional Showdance Latin Division.

The competition will also feature guest performers Nick and Lena Kosovich of the hit TV show “Dancing with the Stars”; they will demonstrate a new style of dance called American Smooth. Former World Latin Champions of the highest caliber, Max Kozhevnikov and Beata, will also perform four Latin numbers for the audience.

Pinky shuttles between her homes in Greenmeadows and Washington. She had a handful of media persons over at her Greenmeadows for dinner the other evening, and showed videotapes of international ballroom champions twirling in their stilleto heels, their movements utterly breathtaking. Jojo Carino, Manila’s only dual Fellow (the highest teaching license), helped explained the dances.

Her husband, Secretary Ronnie, arrived after coffee time. He said he feels nervous when Pinky is dancing. “That’s because he knows how old I am,” Pinky laughed. He is proud of this reed-thin grandmother, who has had two knee menicus surgeries and a torn shoulder rotator cuff — but gotten over them with months of physical therapy, will power, diligence, and hard work on the practice floor once again.

The Department of Tourism, the First Gentleman’s Foundation, Metrobank, SM Mart, Inc. and International Container Terminal Services, Inc support the 1st Philippine StarBall. The event is for the benefit of KYTHE “helping children with cancer.” For details on joining the competition, log on to www.cupdtp.org, and for tickets, call 8128464.

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