BusinessWeek MINDANAO CREDIBLE
Volume VII, No. 112
Market Indicators
As of 5:45 pm February 14, 2017 (tuesday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P49.925
7,294.67
0.8
X X Briefly
cents
59.46 points
Fuel price freeze IN the light of the magnitude 6.7 earthquake that hit Surigao province on Friday, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi joined President Rodrigo Duterte and other cabinet members in extending the necessary assistance to all affected communities and individuals. “We are looking into the extent of the damages caused by the earthquake. We are addressing the immediate needs and concerns of our people on energy,” said Secretary Cusi, who stressed, “safety is the top priority.” “We have to ensure an adequate, reliable and secure supply of energy and to execute fair pricing of petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG),” added Cusi.
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Gov’t rolls out P36-B electrification plans www.businessweekmindanao.com
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Wednesday | February 15, 2017
By MYRNA M. VELASCO, Contributor
S
TAT E - r u n a g e n c y National Electrification Administration (NEA) has firmed up the rollout of P35.57 billion energization venture for this year that shall cover 23,713 sitios, mostly in far-flung jurisdictions. NEA said it will be spending P1.5 million per sitio for the electrification program that they had set out for government this 2017. Last year, the agency reported the completion of electrification in 3,335 sitios in various parts of the country. That electrification loop entailed P2.7 billion worth of capital outlay. Anchoring it on the Duterte administration’s thrust to step up the country’s economic ascend, NEA Administrator Edgardo R. Masongsong noted that they will complement that by providing the basic plans/PAGE 11
CHILDREN’S PLAY. Children enjoy the fair weather of the day as they play not knowing the strong quake that rocked their community and destroyed many homes on the eve of February 10, 2017 in the village of Hondrade, San Francisco, Surigao del Norte. Photo by Jun Ayensa
Quake survivors recall scary ordeal
One Billion Rising THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Tuesday joined the One Billion Rising (OBR) global activity in Liwasang Bonifacio, and called for the resumption of peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said they joined the tradition as a show of solidarity for the global call to end any form of violence against women. One Billion Rising began in 2012 as a call to action based on the staggering statistics that one in three women in the world -- adding up to more than one billion women and girls -- will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. Every year, the movement enjoins people across the world to express their outrage and to strike, dance, and rise in defiance of the injustices that women are subjected to.
IN-DEPTH
By CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN, Contributing Editor
RELATIVE CALMNESS. A local resident gathers seashells during the morning lowtide near the seawall of the coastal village of San Juan in Surigao City on February 9, a day before the magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the city. Photo by Jun Ayensa
SURIGAO City -- Fouryear-old JM Monato Ariar died of internal hemorrhage after a concrete wall on their bedroom fell and hit his head on that fateful night when the powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the city on Friday. “I tried to grab him but I was thrown away and we were groping in the dark,”
said the mother Jane,38, who lives with his four children in a semi concrete old rickety small shelter in the interior sub village of Aton, 15-kilometers away from the city proper where five other small shelters were in total shambles. JM expired while he was treated at the Caraga Regional Hospital because
of the serious head injury when the 3-meter wall made of hollow blocks and weak steel bars collapsed on them while everybody in the house was already fast asleep. The young boy was among the eight people killed by the tremor, according to a report by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council of Surigao del Norte. Some 209 others were injured recall/PAGE 11
SUPPLY and prices of goods in earthquake-hit Surigao del Norte remain “normal”, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Sec. Ramon Lopez assured yesterday. “Basically, normal supply conditions here in Surigao. Prices are stable since flow of goods is not affected and passing through ports and by land from Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao,” said Lopez who is in Surigao del Norte
to conduct an assessment of the situation there. Supply of goods in the province remains stable because most of supermarkets were not damaged by the e ar t hqu a ke l ast Fr id ay evening, he said. “Most supermarkets and stores like Parkway Mall, Absolute Essential Traders, TT and Company were not affected. Only Gaisanao Mall stable/PAGE 11
Federalism prevents diaspora Supply, prices of goods of rural people to urban centers in Surigao remain stable By ANTONIO L. COLINA IV, MindaNews
(First of a Series) DAVAO City – A shift to federalism may prevent the diaspora of people from the rural areas into the urban centers like Metro Davao, an official of Davao City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) said. C P D O h e a d Iv a n C o r t e z t o l d MindaNews on Monday that the federal form of government will promote economic diaspora/PAGE 11
Noraisa Casan, 29, attends to her sari-sari store that transforms into the family’s home by night. MindaNews photo by Antonio L. Colina IV
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