BusinessWeek MINDANAO “we grow minds” 2013 ppi’S Best in Business and Economic Reporting
Volume V, No. 154
Market Indicators
As of 6:45 pm apr. 28, 2015 (tuesday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P44.26
7,886.57 points
1 cent
X
X Briefly 71.50 points
RE venture ALSONS Power Group, the holding firm for Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc.’s power assets, eyes initial investments of more than P2 billion for its renewable energy venture, which involves putting up its first hydropower plant in Mindanao this year. To date, Alsons Power Group has service contracts that allow it to build a combined RE capacity of 94 megawatts (MW) that should be spread out across four different sites. “We have a pipeline of hydro projects that we are currently working on and it shows that we are on the right track as far as the renewable energy initiative of the company. This is something that we will be rolling out. Alsons is committed to building its renewable energy portfolio,” Alsons Power Group Vice President for Business Development Joseph Nocos said in an interview with reporters.
Birthing place GINGOOG City -- As givers of life to their babies, thousands of mothers in this city must be well taken cared of and assisted by their nearby birthing centers and personnel. Stressed Mayor Marie de Lara Guingona as her administration has been jointly implementing with the Department of Health (DOH) the two separate initial constructions of birthing homes in barangays Lunao and San Miguel respectively totaling to P2.4 million. Through the initiative of Mayor Marie Guingona, the amount is sourced out from DOH’s Health Facility Enhancement Program (HFEP) and divided it for a P1.2 million project to the two barangays. She has signaled the Office of the City Engineer under Felipa Baranda to submit to her office the finished program of works for these birthing homes.
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Wednesday | April 29, 2015
GMA-7’s closure of reg’l stations ‘heartless’: NUJP D
By FROILAN GALLARDO, MindaNews
AVAO City — The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines slammed GMA 7 Network for axing the news programs of four of its regional stations and morning shows of their stations in Davao and Cebu cities, calling it a heartless move on the part of the television giant.
PEACE AWARD. Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) presents the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security to Dr. Miriam Coronel-Ferrer (L), who served as the Chief Negotiator of the Philippines Government in the Mindanao Peace Talks, at Georgetown University April 22, 2015 in Washington, DC.
No turning back in peace process “WE have gone this far in our peace process. There should be no turning back.” This was the message that lead government peace negotiator Miriam CoronelFerrer gave after receiving the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for Advancing Women in Peace and Security on April 22 at the Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “ The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro acknowledges a different narrative of our national being, one that would bridge our majorityminority divide toward a shared future where fellowFilipinos live in peace under
one flag in an undivided territory,” said CoronelFerrer as she expressed hope and optimism for the future of peace in Mindanao as well as for the Philippines. Coronel-Ferrer, chair of the government peace panel negotiating with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), received the award from former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton cited CoronelFerrer as a concrete example of a woman who has brought to life UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security passed in 2000 by being the first woman ever to chair a
negotiating panel on behalf of a government in a peace process. She also recognized women as agents of change, drivers of progress, and makers of peace. “Peace and security are only possible when women have a seat at the table. I’ve seen this in so many different ways in so many different places,” said Clinton. In her acceptance speech, Coronel-Ferrer also peace/PAGE 11
NUJP Secretary General Rupert Francis Mangilit said they are “deeply appalled by the callous way” GMA7 Ne t w or k re t re n c h e d reporters, video cameramen and talents at their regional offices in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod, Naga, Davao and Cebu. At least a hundred of their employees were affected by the termination order called “Bloody Friday” which the network simultaneously issued to the affected regional
stations last Friday. “For a network that prides itself as ‘Kapuso’, the GMA 7 management heartlessly laid off hundreds of employees without sufficient warning,” Mangilit said. “In on e s w o op l a s t Friday and Saturday, the management put in peril the future of the families of hundreds of its employees and talents many of whom have spent many years of their lives dedicated to the heartless/PAGE 11
WATER-LESS. Villagers fetch water outside a brewery plant in Barangay Darong, Sta Cruz, Davao del Sur. The villagers around the plant rely solely on this water source. MindaNews photo by Keith Bacongco
Rivera shrugs off Elipe’s claim SEF fund needs council’s nod By MARK FRANCISCO, Staff Writer
CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno’s information officer Maricel Rivera said C ouncilor President Elipe erred when he said that the purchase of lots by the city government from the Special Education Fund (SEF) needs the City
Council approval. Rivera said that the Special Education Fund was specifically created by Republic Act (RA) 5447 for local governments to utilize it without necessary legislation. Culled from one percent
of the real property tax of the local government unit (LGU), the Special Education Fund is intended specifically for the construction and repair of elementary and secondary schoolbuildings, acquisition of sites and the construction and repair of workshops and similar Rivera/PAGE 11
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