BusinessWeek MINDANAO
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Issue No. 154, Volume III •
Market Indicators
As of 5:46 pm Jan. 21, 2013 (Monday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P40.70
6,171.70 points
13 cents
X
32.49 points
Briefly
X
Mindanao agenda
GOVERNMENT officials and international development partners will meet in Davao City next week to discuss ways to better implement multilateral initiatives, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said on Monday. These international partners make up the country’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) agencies, MinDA said in a statement. More than 300 heads and representatives of various ODA offices including some members of the diplomatic community and officials from national line agencies are expected to attend this year’s Mindanao Development Forum (MDF) which opens Feb. 1 at the Marco Polo Hotel.
Ecofish project
SURIGAO del Nor te - - T h e Ec o sys te m s Improved for Sustainable Fisheries (Ecofish) Project of the Philippine Government and the United States Government will be launched in the province this year, said Gov. Sol Matugas recently. The lady governor said the project seeks to address the complex problems of ecosystem degradation, fish stock depletion and poverty in the fishing communities. Based on records, fish production in the province is declining due to excessive fishing, destruction of coral reefs and breeding grounds, and variations or changes in ocean conditions. This caused coastal communities to become marginalized and poor because of their dependence on catch from seas.
Cagayan de Oro City
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January 23-24, 2013
4 giant firms to solve M’danao power woes President Aquino says 4 big companies promise to build 3000MW power plants By MICHAEL VINCENT D. CAJULAO, Contributor
chance to talk with four of the biggest business firms in AMBOANGA City -- President Be- our economy about energy. nigno S. Aquino III brought some They said we will soon have of power. They comgood news on the present power surplus mitted 3,000 MW. Before we deficiency in Mindanao during his recent parted, they said Mindanao visit here to attend the “Top Level Forum” may be experiencing power shortage right now, but soon of Mindanao university presidents. Mindanao will be exporting In his speech, the Presi- (MW) of power, more than power because of surplus,” dent disclosed that four giant enough to address the power Aquino quoted the business business firms committed problems in Mindanao. firms. at least 3,000 Mega Watts “Two nights ago, I had a Aquino expressed con-
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fidence that this will be fulfilled as he directly talked with the heads of these companies which the President declined to divulge for the moment. The President said there is only 4 MW surplus here in Mindanao, but it is way below the needed backup to power all grids in the region if there is routine maintenance of the power plants which will take away
over 300 MW. At present, Zamboanga City is experiencing two hours rotational power interruptions every day. Power situation has improved from last year wherein the city had experienced up to eight hours of brownouts in a day. Aquino also said, “For this project to be realized, the help and cooperation of the community is very vital.”
UN-OCHA gets flak for ‘housewarming party’ By BONG FABE, Correspondent
VOLUNTEERS and staff of local and international organizations doing disaster response and humanitarian work in typhoon-devastated areas in Davao Oriental criticized the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) for its insensitivity in inviting partners and friends to a housewarming party in Davao City when thousands of people that badly and urgently need its help still have no decent shelter to protect them from the elements. “Insensitivity at its worst!” said the head of one nongovernment organization doing disaster response and humanitarian interventions in Baganga. “Whoever prepared this invitation should not be
part of any disaster response team,” said another, who has spent most of December and January with the survivors in Baganga. T he i nv itat ion was emailed by Kasper Engborg of UN-OCHA Davao City sub-office to all partners in the clusters doing emergency response in the wake of Typhoon Pablo (Bopha). What really fuelled these negative reactions was the sentence in the invitation that was highlighted in red that said: “There will be drinks, snacks, good music, dance floor and a lot of happy people. :)” “Immoral, inhumane, insensitive,” were just some of the descriptions those working with the typhoon devastated people on the ground said about the invitation. party/PAGE 7
ATI-ATIHAN FESTIVAL. Former Rep. Cynthia Villar celebrated with the Kalibonons during the Ati-atihan Festival. The Ati-atihan Festival, marked by colorful street dancers parading colorful indigenous costumes and body paints, is held annually in January in honor of Santo Niño (Infant Jesus). Accompanying Mrs. Villar is Vice-Gov. Billie Calizo-Quimpo.A dvertorial
ERC cuts power transmission charge THE cost of power transmission - one of the line items in consumers’ electricity bills - will go down this year after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved
a lower tariff than what the National Grid Corp of the Philippines (NGCP) had applied for. In a decision, the ERC ordered NGCP to impose an
average transmission rate of P0.67475 per kilowatt-hour for 2013, down by O.00975 from the previous year’s P0.68450. ERC derived the new t ra nsm ission rate f rom NGCP’s maximum allowable revenue (MAR) of P44.567 billion for this year. Although this year’s MAR is P1.644 billion higher than NGCP’s revenue ceiling of P42.903 billion in 2012, the regulator expects an increase in demand that will mitigate power/PAGE 7
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