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SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2017
Jimbo Gulle, Editor
Roger Garcia, Issue Editor
LGUs
Local Gov’t Units
mslocalgov@gmail.com
TIWI-MAKBAN PROJECT IS BOND DEAL OF THE YEAR
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By Lance Baconguis
QUIET RETREAT. Monte Cueva Asuncion de la Virgen Shrine is a small cave developed by its original owners into a shrine with a quaint chapel inside. The shrine is elevated 172 meters above sea level overlooking the entire city of Maasin in Leyte. A donation by the philanthropists Odong and Loring Chung to the Diocese of Maasin City, tourists have made it a popular pilgrimage site. Mel Caspe
WORLD BANK OFFERS FUNDS TO MINDORO TUNA INDUSTRY S By Robert A. Evora
ABLAYAN, Occidental Mindoro—The World Bank recently offered a substantial financial grant to six coastal municipalities of this province to improve the quality of traditional tuna fishing based on sustainable fishing practices and resource conservation.
Mayor Eduardo B. Gadiano told the Manila Standard that The World Bank has expressed interest in providing financial resource by way of grants to the six local government units, actively involved in the tuna fishing industry using the artisanal methods. “We were told to come up with a joint proposal to list down all we need, such as fish landing, cold storage facilities and fishery-to-market roads, among other necessities, in keeping up with the growing foreign demands of handline-caught yellow-fin tuna,” he added. Sablayan was chosen by the international funding institution as the site to put up these facilities where the five other towns of Paluan, Sta. Cruz, Mamburao, Calintaan, and Rizal, all tunaproducing municipalities, will bring their catch for processing. Using the traditional hook, line and sinker (kawil), artisanal fishermen has an estimated annual catch of 375 tons (375,000 kilos) of yellow-fin tuna caught within Sablayan’s 15-kilometer municipal waters. Foreign buyers mostly from member-countries of the European Union prefer tuna caught by “kawil.” Sablayan was tagged by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources as the “epicenter of tuna production” in Occidental Mindoro followed by Mamburao, the capital municipality. Two fishing groups, Sablayan Yellow Fin Tuna Fishers Association (SYFTA) and the Samahan Ng Mga Kasa Sa Sablayan (Samasa), told the Manila Standard that their respective members still need assistance from both the local and national governments as “we still face stiff competition from big commercial fishing operators.” Ernesto G. Tauro, SYFTA vice chairman and 2014 Gawad Saka Awardee For Fish Capture by the Department of Agriculture, said “there is either lack or shortage of payaw (fish
aggregating devices or FAD) installed by the government to help boost the tuna catch of local handline (magkakawil) fishermen.” “All FADs are owned by big commercial fishing operators who are monopolizing the tuna harvest by using the prohibited fishing nets,” Tauro said. “While they allow us to use their FADs to fish, we always sail home empty-handed as we cannot compete with these big-time operators because they are using long-line fishing nets,” he explained. The SYFTA, which has 600 artisanal fishermen-members all over Sablayan, has submitted as early as 2015 to the DA, through the regional office of the BFAR, a letter-request for the installation of 10 FADs, costing only P30,000 each, for their own use. The letter-request, written in Pilipino, said: “Marami nang bangka ang hindi na pumapalaot dahil ang lahat ay puro lugi pagdating sa gabi. Iilan na lang po kasing payaw ang natatalian at nahuhulihan ng tuna ng aming mangingisda. Ito po ang labis na nagpapahirap sa amin, wala na pong payaw na para lang talaga sa mag-tutuna. Ang payaw po na tinatalian namin ay pag-aari ng mga commercial fishers na maya’t-maya ang pag-simbada at pagkulong nila gamit ang malalaking lambat.” Victor Samson, Samasa president, said that his group, composed formerly of 15 dealer-members, asked the Sangguniang Bayan of Sablayan to pass an ordinance regulating indiscriminate buying of yellow-fin tuna by unscrupulous traders and outsiders. “Our group is no longer in control of our ‘kasa’ members and have gone separately since outside buyers compete with the locals in buying tuna from handline fishermen,” Samson said.
THE project bond issued for the Tiwi-MakBan Geothermal Energy Project of AboitizPower bagged the 2016 Bond Deal of the Year of the prestigious Project Finance International magazine of Thomson Reuters. The awarding ceremony will be held on Feb. 1, 2017 at the Hilton, Park Lane in London. The project bond has also been touted as one of the best in Asia, getting the Best Renewable Deal of the Year by Alpha Southeast Asia, to be awarded on Jan. 25, 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The P12.5-billion local currency, multi-tranche bond issuance, backed by the Asian Development Bank, was the first green bond issuance in Asia and the Pacific. AboitizPower, through its subsidiary AP Renewables Inc., used the issuance to finance the rehabilitation of the Tiwi-MakBan geothermal power facilities, which it bought from the government in 2009 and to partially fund its operating expenditures and future capital investments. The two power plants, located in Batangas and Laguna (Makban) as well as in Tiwi, Albay, combine for 390 MW of clean renewable power for the Luzon grid.
CAVITE CODING SCHEME SET FEB. 1 By Benjamin Chavez THE provincial government of Cavite will strictly implement its number-coding traffic scheme on Feb. 1, giving erring motorists warning tickets if they violate Provincial Ordinance 164 until then. Jan. 9 to 31 is considered the dry run period for Cavite’s Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction System, but motorists can still expect to incur the regular penalties and charges for other traffic violations, the provincial government warned. The penalty on any person violating the provincial ordinance is P300. The areas covered by Cavite’s number-coding scheme are from Aguinaldo Highway, covering the stretch of Bacoor to the Dasmariñas and Silang boundaries; Governor’s Drive, covering the stretch of Carmona to Trece Martires City to Tanza boundary; Molino Salawag to Paliparan Road, from Zapote to, Bacoor, Paliparan, and Dasmariñas; Molino Boulevard; and Daang Hari Road, covering the stretch of Aguinaldo Highway from Imus to Molino in Bacoor.
P32-M ROAD PROJECTS FOR KALINGA By Brenda Jocson
MUNTI CENTENNIAL. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar commits to support Muntinlupa’s 100th Founding Anniversary Celebration. Andanar, who also resides in Muntinlupa, receives Centennial communication materials from the city’s Public Information Officer Tez Navarro for the promotion of the local festivity in the government-owned broadcasting network PTV 4.
PINUKPUK, Kalinga—Roads in the former hotbeds of the New People’s Army in the 1980s in this province will finally be paved and concreted with P32 million in funding under the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan or Pamana project in this town. The groundbreaking for the concreting of the AllaguiaAsibanglan road was led by representatives from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process and their local partners. The 2.6-kilometer road is the second phase of OPAPP’s road project, which is supervised by the Department of the Interior and Local Government. The Allaguia-Asibanglan road connects Barangay Calowan here and Barangay Saltan in Balbalan town, which is
expected to boost the economic activities of villagers engaged in massive agricultural production. Meanwhile, the DILG said there are at least seven Pamana projects in 2016 for Kalinga province, which is part of enhancing and sustaining peace and development initiatives in the different provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region. DILG records showed that one project has been completed, and two more warehouses are being built in Lubo, Tanudan town, with a total project cost of P1.2 million. A P40-million construction of the 60-linear-meter WagodBuaya bridge in Balbalan town and two multi-level waterworks system worth P2.2 million in Pasil town are still to be implemented, the department said. In 2016, Cordillera received at least P533 million worth of Pamana community development and livelihood projects.