BusinessWeek MINDANAO
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Volume IV, No. 44
Market Indicators
As of 5:57 pm jan. 2, 2013 (Thursday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P44.45
5,984.26 points
11 cents
X
X Briefly 94.43 points
Caraga’s tourism BUTUAN City -- Caraga’s tourism industry is targeting an increased contribution to the regional economy of some P3.91 billion more and 48,522 new jobs by 2016. To meet these goals, industry players are adopting three main strategies as outlined in the National Tourism Development Plan 20112016, namely – 1) improving market access and connectivity; 2) developing and marketing competitive tourist destinations and products; and 3) Strengthening tourism institutional government and human resource capacities. The 2016 targets are made after due consideration of 2012 base figures such as the estimated P1.16 billion gross value added (GVA) in 2012 and about 74,465 jobs as of the same year. Estimates were based on the number of tourists, revenues generated from each tourist, the input level standard for the gross value added or economic contribution figures, and the jobs created per tourist standard used by local government units. The move was made during the Learning Session on Green Tourism cum Roadmapping Workshop, recently.
ARMM investments ZAMBOANGA City – The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) for 2013 has recorded P1.463 billion in investments, 157 percent higher than last year’s P569 million. Ishak Mastura, chair and managing head of Regional Board of Investment (RBOI-ARMM), said this was the second time the ARMM hit the P1 billion mark. The first was in 2011. The RBOI-ARMM has registered four firms this year that availed of both fiscal and non-fiscal investment incentives. One of these companies is Al-Tawi-Tawi Nickel Corporation (ANC) which emerged as the top investor that poured in P707.9 million for an expansion project on mining and quarrying of nickel ore in Barangay Tumbagaan, Languyan, Tawi-Tawi. The second top investor was the Bumbaran Development Corporation, which constructed 1,500 housing units worth P365 million in Barangay Sarmiento, Parang, Maguindanao.
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Oro solons renew call for mandatory CCTV A
By SAMMY F. MARTIN Philippine News Agency
FTER proving that closed circuit television (CCTV) is becoming a necessity for residential and commercial areas in deterring crimes, two Mindanao solons on Thursday renewed their call on their colleagues to support their measure making CCTV cameras mandatory requirement for business establishments and government offices all over the country.
The proposal embodied in House Bill 2449 or the proposed “CCTV Act of 2013,” was filed by siblings Reps. Rufus Ro driguez
Rep. Rufus Rodriguez
(Cagayan de Oro City) and Rep. Maximo Rodriguez (Abante Mindanao party list). According to the solons, solons/PAGE 7
Davao hotels to undergo review for star ratings By CARMELITO Q. FRANCISCO Correspondent
DAVAO City -- Industry experts will assess tourist establishments in the Davao region early this year to give them their star value recognition. T he re v i e w is p ar t of t he $7.1-million assistance the Asian Development Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency provided the government in order to raise tourism standards in the regions to meet international requirements. Arturo P. Boncato, Jr., assistant secretary and regional director of the Tourism department, said ratings are necessary especially for hotels and other accommodation-dependent establishments. He explained that the government classification currently used, which c ategor izes est ablishments as “economy,” “deluxe” and “first class,” is different from the standards accepted internationally. ratings/PAGE 7
2014. First sunrise of 2014 as viewed from Sta. Ana wharf in Davao City, 1 January 2014. photo courtesy of michael w. li
UN: PH economy projected to grow 6.7% in 2014 By DANIELLE VENZ Contributor
THE Philippines is projected to sustain its robust growth in 2014, making it the second fastest growing economy in the Asia-Pacific region next to China, according to the latest United Nations (UN) macroeconomic projections for the region. In its Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2013: Year-end Update, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) sees the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growing by 6.7 percent next year. “And could see further acceleration due to reconstruction activities in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (international name for typhoon Yolanda),” it said. ESCAP noted that remittances would continue to serve as a stable source of support for the Philippine economy given the better outlook for receiving countries as well as the economy/PAGE 7
DOE expects Mindanao power woes to persist in 2014 MINDANAO is expected to have insufficient power generating capacity to meet demand next year, the country’s Energy chief said. Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said that Mindanao consumers’ only recourse to avert power supply disruptions is for their electric cooperatives to secure electricity from
the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (IMEM). “Forecast shows shortfall but we hope the IMEM will resolve this but only if the coops are willing to buy from IMEM for their shortfall,” he said. The IMEM is a platform for trading electricity that allows
Mindanao Daily NEWS
establishments that have generators and plant operators with excess supply to sell to the grid. The power market was established in November 26 to help Mindanao improve its tight power supply situation. Petilla said that the IMEM, at expects/PAGE 7
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