BusinessWeek Mindanao (December 15-17, 2021)

Page 1

BusinessWeek M I N DA N A O

YOUR MINDANAO-WIDE BUSINESS PAPER

CREDIBLE

Volume XII, No. 81

We strive for Excellence!

Philippine Press Institute Civic Journalism Community Press awardee for the following: 2013 Best in Business and Economic Reporting 2014 Best in Environmental Reporting 2017 Best in Business and Economic Reporting 2018 Best in Business and Economic Reporting

RELIABLE

IN-DEPTH

Wed-Fri|December 15-17, 2021

www.businessweekmindanao.com

P15.00

Thank you for trusting us!

Market Indicators

AS OF 6:00 PM DECEMBER 14, 2021 (TUESDAY)

FOREX US$1 = P50.27

PHISIX

X

7,132.58

X Briefly

0.08

109.41

cents

points

Growth forecast THE World Bank has upgraded its economic outlook for the Philippines this year to 5.3 percent, higher than its projection in September at 4.3 percent. The World Bank revised its growth upward after observing that the economy grew in the first three quarters of 2021 despite the reimposition of the most stringent community quarantine in late March and early August. “(M)obility restrictions are overtime having less impact on economic activities,” World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand Ndiame Diop said in a virtual briefing Tuesday.

Meat import policy THE MEAT and hog industries can still influence the final form of a policy governing pork imports when the Department of Agriculture consults them on a proposal to expand the import quota, officials said. “We will go through the same process in considering the proposal of NEDA, as per Secretary William D. Dar,” Assistant Secretary Noel O. Reyes said in a text message. “That entails consultations with industry stakeholders.” The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) proposed to extend an expanded pork import quota — known as the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) — to next year, due to rising pork prices.

Power deal LISTED firm Aboitiz Power Corp. has engaged Japanese firm subsidiary JGC Philippines as its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for its P4.5 billion 94-megawatt peak (MWp) solar farm installation in Pangasinan. The notice-to-award for the EPC deal was served by Aboitiz Renewables Inc. (ARI) on Dec. 15 to JGC Philippines which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yokohamaheadquartered JGC Holdings Corp. The Pangasinan solar facility, to be sited in the 196-hectare Cayanga property in the town of Bugallon, will be the Aboitiz group’s second utility-scale development on this technology sphere, after its 59MW project in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.

'ODETTE'S RAMPAGE. A family negotiating a waist-deep water street in Cagayan de Oro City early afternoon yesterday. While rescue teams from the Phil. Coast Guard and CDRRMO fetch and retrieve standed residents living along the Bitan-ag Creek as Typhoon Odette pummeled the city. photos by gerry lee gorit

'Odette' pummels Normin 10 yrs after Sendong, many survivors back to shelters

By FROILAN GALLARDO, MindaNews

S

OM E 2 , 0 0 0 r i ver si d e residents sought shelter in e vacuation centers early morning of Thursday, December 16, hours before typhoon “Odette” made landfall over Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte.

“Odette’s” landfall on December 16, 2021 comes exactly 10 years to the day Typhoon “Sendong” (Washi) struck, leaving 1,268 dead in Mindanao and the Visayas. Of this number, 1,227 were from Mindanao, 734 of them residents of Cagayan de Oro, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Coordinating Council. Mike Fabello of the Cagayan de Oro City Social Welfare and Development Office said 152 families or some 2,000 persons sought shelter in elementary school soon after PAGASA raised the orange alert level here Thursday. In one evacuation center in West City Central School in Barangay Carmen, some ODETTE/PAGE 11

TRAPPING CRABS. Boys set up a trap for land crabs locally known as “kayabang” just outside the latter’s burrow in Catangnan, General Luna, Siargao Island. The boys said their catch will be part of the food the family is stocking up in preparation for Typhoon “Odette.”. mindanews photo by roel n. catoto

Klarex sues Ocon for cyberlibel Unvaxxed Agusan Sur gov’t By MARK FRANCISCO, Staff Writer

CAGAYAN de Oro City first district Rep. Rolando Uy filed Tuesday 22 counts of cyberlibel against Councilor Zaldy Ocon. The complaints stemmed from 22 episodes of Ocon’s radio program that were streamed live on Facebook. During his show, Ocon had been claiming that he possesses a copy of a list purportedly forwarded to President Duterte identifying Uy as a “drug lord” or someone who is engaged in the illegal drugs trade in the country. Ocon kept on insisting on the existence of the list

despite the appearance of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) officials at the City Council testifying that no such list exists. When pressure mounted on Ocon by the public to physically produce the list, the councilor immediately cited journalistic confidentiality and said that only a court order can force him to release the list. Ocon had also been insisting that the quarry vicinity where Uy’s son Roland Sherwin was killed last month in barangay Pagatpat is owned by the congressman. Under law,

government officials are not supposed to own businesses that involve public interest. O con had a ls o kept pressuring Uy to divulge the sources of his wealth in light of his salary as congressman. In a separate radio program, Uy had admitted that he owns a gasoline station and 100 trucks that he uses for logistics deliveries. Uy himself went to the city prosecutor’s office on Tuesday to personally submit the complaints. Earlier, Uy had never commented against Ocon’s tirades and left the matter for his spokespersons to respond in their respective SUES/PAGE 11

workers required to submit negative RT-PCR results By CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN, Contributing Editor

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur – Starting Monday, Dec. 13, unvaccinated workers at the provincial capitol here are required to submit a negative result of reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test every two weeks at their own expense or they will not be allowed to report to work. Gov. Santiago Cane Jr.’s order was contained in a memorandum dated Dec. 12 after he realized that there are still 66 workers at the capitol who are not yet vaccinated

against COVID-19. Most of the unvaccinated, he said, are from the General Services Office (38) and the Governor’s Office (12). The provincial government employs about 2,667 workers, including regulars, casuals, contract of services, and job orders. In his memorandum, Cane emphasized that government workers who are eligible for vaccination but remain unvaccinated, along with those partially vaccinated, are WORKERS/PAGE 10

Editorial and advertising email : businessweekmindanao@gmail.com • Cell Number : 0917-7121424 • 0947-8935776


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.