E-vehicle stakeholders want more incentives from gov’t, DTI says

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Monday that stakeholders of the electric vehicle industry have called on the national government to provide more incentives for the local production of electric motorcycles.

This as the DTI said mass production of the electric motorcycles would begin in June of this year.

“As the stakeholders greeted with enthusiasm the report that the local mass production of electric motorcycles will start next month, they also appeared hopeful that the inclusion of the two and three-wheelers in the EV import tariff break shall be made effective sooner than the scheduled review of Executive Order No. 12 early next year,” the DTI said in a statement.

The local production came following the signing of an agreement between the Ayala Group’s Integrated Micro-Elec-

World Bank approves USD100-M Mindanao agri dev’t project for IPs

The World Bank has approved a USD100 million agriculture development project to help boost the livelihood of farmers and fisherfolk in indigenous cultural communities in the southern Philippines.

In a statement over the weekend, World Bank said the Mindanao Inclusive Agriculture Development Project (MIADP) is expected to benefit around 120,000 farmers and fisherfolk in selected ancestral domains in Mindanao.

The project will be implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA), along with implementing partners that include the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

tronics Inc. and California-based Zero Motorcycles on the establishment of the the first electronic vehicle motorcycle manufacturing site in the Philippines.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. witnessed the signing of the memorandum of agreement as part of his official visit to Washington early this month.

Under the pact, the US-based company will lead the way in

Twenty-six ancestral domains will be involved, including in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The communities included in the project are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the country.

The World Bank said that while Mindanao contributes 33.4 percent of the total value of agricultural production in the Philippines, a big amount of agricultural land in ancestral domains remains unused or under subsistence cultivation by indigenous peoples.

“Mindanao is home to about 25 percent of the Philippines’ population but accounts for 35 percent of the country’s poor. Poverty in indigenous cultural communities is even higher, with 68 percent living below the poverty line. Initiatives that aim to improve people’s living conditions, while actively involving them, are vital for strengthening inclusive growth in the country,” said Ndiame Diop, World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

The MIADP will help address the several barriers that hinder development in ancestral domains such as inadequate road infrastructure, landslides causing extended periods of isolation, and limited access to technical services, markets, finance, electricity, internet, and telephone services.

In particular, the fund will be used for the rehabilitation or restoration of roads and bridges, installation of agricultural tramline systems, and the construction of small-scale and solar-powered irrigation systems.