BusinessWeek MINDANAO Best in Business and Economic Reporting Philippine Press Institute Civic Journalism Community Press Awards 2013
Volume IV, No. 100
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Exports up MERCHANDISE exports in the first quarter of the year has increased by 6.54 percent to US$ 14.263 billion from same period of last year’s US$ 13.387 billion, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday. Positive performance of exports of goods in the first quarter was manifested by increase in four out of seven commodity groups. Commodity groups that increased their exports value in January-March are manufactures which increased by 7.94 percent with exports revenue of US$ 12.1 billion from same period last year’s US$ 11.211 billion. Agro-based products also went up by 2.15 percent to US$ 1.157 billion during the first quarter this year from last year’s US$ 1.133 billion.
Banana center DAVAO City -- A government-run school in Davao del Sur is putting up a P7-million banana center to address the need to develop indigenous banana varieties and produce crops on a 30-hectare farm. Dr. Irvin C. Generalao, president of the Southern Philippines Agri-Business and Marine Aquatic School of Technology, said the banana center, to be located in Matanao town, will apply the results of researches from various institutions. “We will not conduct new research because what we will do is to apply the findings of existing researches so the small farmers can benefit from them,” said Mr. Generalao.
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Monday | May 12, 2014
Lawmakers hit DOE for pushing IMEM revival E
By FROILAN GALLARDO, MindaNews
NERGY Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla and top government officials met with Mindanao congressional leaders last Wednesday, but they “did not offer any solution” to the power crisis crippling the island with the daily brownouts lasting six to 12 hours in some parts, Mindanawon lawmakers said.
SIGN OF THE TIMES. A girl lights up her home with a kerosene lamp on Friday in Malaybalay City as power went off. Rotating power outage continues to grip most part of Mindanao which is being attributed to low water levels in Lake Lanao and Pulangui River, two of the main sources of power in the island. mindanews photo by h . marcos c . mordeno
Petilla, who came with top officials of the National Power Corp. and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), was instead pushing for the adoption of the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market
(IMEM) as the solution to end the Mindanao power crisis. The House Committee on Energ y had already recommended the suspension of the IMEM following objections from Mindanao’s
power distributors and consumers during a public hearing in Cagayan de Oro on March 4, 2014. “Petilla did not offer any solution. He was asking us to give IMEM another chance,” said Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, representative of the city’s second district. “Petilla did not go there to offer a solution. Instead he pushed for the IMEM and for the co-ops to buy the expensive modular generating sets,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate also said. The meeting, sponsored by the House Committee on Energy, was held not in Revival/PAGE 7
LTFRB orders suspension of 15 buses of Rural Transit By MINDANEWS
Z A M B OA N G A C i t y – The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has placed on a 30-day preventive suspension 15 buses of the Rural Transit of Mindanao Inc. (RTMI).
LTFRB Provincial Head Swilbery Baybayan said their central handed down the preventive suspension order which took effect Thursday, May 8. Baybayan said the 15 suspension/PAGE 7
HIGHWAY DRIER. Farmers dry palay on the road, occupying half the lane of the newly constructed diversion road in Brgy. Bulua, Cagayan de Oro City. mindanews photo by erwin mascarinas
GROUNDED. Fifteen units of Rural Transit of Mindanao, Inc. (TRMI) plying Cagayan de Oro-Zamboanga route have been grounded for involvement in a recent accident.
Vivant acquires 40% stake in Oro-based power firm A UNIT of a Vivant Corp. subsidiary is set to acquire a 40% interest in a Mindanaobased power generation firm, the listed parent said in a disclosure on Friday. “On May 5... a subscription agreement between Vivant Integrated Generation Corp.
(VIGC) and Minergy Coal Corp. was executed, which allows VIGC to subscribe to 40% of all issued shares of Minergy Coal,” the disclosure read. VIGC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vivant Energy Corp., which in turn is
100%-owned by the Cebubased listed company. Vivant described Minergy Coal as the company set up by Mindanao Energy Systems, Inc. (Minergy) to build, own and operate a three 55-megawatt (MW) units of vivant/PAGE 7
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