BusinessWeek MINDANAO Best in Business and Economic Reporting Philippine Press Institute Civic Journalism Community Press Awards 2013
Volume V, No. 8
Market Indicators
As of 6:12 pm june 24, 2014 (Tuesday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P43.86
6,793.07 points
7 cents
X
31.08 points
X
Briefly No tax HIKE TAXPAYERS of Cagayan de Oro will heave a sigh of relief as city mayor Oscar Moreno announced that the City Government will not impose new taxes or increase the current tax rates next year even if the latter proposed a P3.8 billion annual budget for 2015. “We will not raise tax rates. We will not impose new taxes, but we will just collect the right and proper taxes,” Moreno said during his first City Mayor’s Annual Report last June 15, 2014, coinciding with the celebration of the 64th City Charter Day. He further said, “Tulubagon ko na to raise the money for that (2015 proposed budget). Ako na ang manubag,” Moreno said.
‘Palengke watch’ MALAYBALAY City -National Food Authority (NFA) Bukidnon said it is continuing tight monitoring of rice in the province’s major markets to ensure that prices are reasonable and affordable during the lean season. In an inquiry before the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Agriculture and Food, NFA Provincial Manager Juliet A. Obeso said commercial rice prices may increase during months of July, August, and September because this is planting season, and traditionally, rice traders take advantage of this lean harvest time of the year to rake in more profit. “Hence, ‘Palengke Watch’ teams have been mobilized to keep track of the supply and prices in the market and safeguard government rice against unscrupulous traders,” she said.
www.businessweekmindanao.com
THE
FOUR-WAY TEST
of the things we think, say or do
1. Is it the TRUTH? 2. Is it FAIR to all concerned? 3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIP? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Wednesday | June 25, 2014
P15.00
Cepalco eyes expansion of solar power plant I
By GRACE BEBER, Staff Writer
N a bid to further boost Mindanao’s power supply using renewable energy sources, the Cagayan Electric Power & Light Co Inc. (Cepalco) is mulling to expand its solar farm in Cagayan de Oro City from the current capacity of 1-megawatt (MW) to 10-MW, the company official said.
Cepalco currently operates an on-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant In Barangay Indahag with a generating capacity of 1MW. “We’re planning to expand it sa 10 MW. Not in the same area, but still within the franchise area of Cepalco hopefully next year,” Jose Maria A. Abaya, Cepalco director said.
The envisioned solar park shall make use of a 30-hectare lot within the First Cagayan de Oro Business Park in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, some 30 minutes east of Cagayan de Oro City. Pre-feasibility study of the proposed PV plant indicates that it will be able to supply the Cepalco distribution expansion/PAGE 10
BANGSAMORO FUTURE. Keizo Takewaka, JICA Director General for General Affairs; Guiamel Alim of CBCS; MILF chair Mohagher Iqbal; and government peace panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer at Session 1 on “Challenges for the Bangsamoro Future” at the opening rites Monday morning of The Consolidation for Peace for Mindanao seminar in Hiroshima. mindanews photo by carolyn o . arguillas
Customs reform initiatives P-Noy, Murad in Hiroshima for seminar to boost trade facilitation on B’Moro peace pact implementation By APIPA P. BAGUMBARAN, Contributor
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is eyeing various reform measures to s t re am l i n e op e r at i ons , combat corruption and boost trade facilitation. Lawyer Agaton Teodoro Uvero, customs deputy commissioner for assessment and operations coordinating group, said BOC intends to implement key reform programs to rationalize operations and address concerns on corrupt customs and trade practices. Uve ro s ai d c ustoms pro cess es are exp ec ted to be fully automated by
middle of next year including consumption entries, transhipment and CBW operations. He said they will also require containerized and other non-containerized import cargoes to undergo a load port survey (LPS). This requirement, he said, will mean faster processing and less costs. For as long as there is no valuation and classification issue, a containerized cargo covered by a LPS report can go through advance clearance process and be exempted reform/PAGE 10
By CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS, MindaNews
HIROSHIMA — Nearly three months after the March 27 signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim are back in Japan where they first had a one-onone talk to fast-track the peace process nearly three years ago, to address a three-day seminar-workshop discussing “obstacles and opportunities” in implementing the peace pact.
‘Water dwellers’ grow nutritious, organic veggies thru small-scale, container gardens (First of Two Parts) By BONG D. FABE, Correspondent
EVERY morning, Evelyn Galitche, her neighbors Monley Tamula, Emilyn Monsion, Carmela Monsion,
Lorregie Abat, and others, go out of their houses and go to their gardens just outside their doorsteps to harvest
Arrangements are being made for another meeting between the leaders on Tuesday afternoon, June 24, at the Sheraton Hotel Hiroshima, venue of The Consolidation for Peace for Mindanao (C OP6), organized by the Research and Education for Peace of the University of Sains Malaysia (USM) and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with the theme “Post Agreement Implementation: Building Capacities for Peace of the Bangsamoro Stakeholders.” The seminar comes at a crucial time in the postsigning scenario particularly
amid fears that a “watered down” version of the 97-page draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) would be submitted to Congress when it reopens on July 28, the day President Aquino delivers his State of the Nation Address (SONA). In last year’s SONA, he urged Congress to pass the BBL before yearend 2014 to allow for more time for the transition period from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to the regular Bangsamoro Government whose first set of officials will be elected, according to the parties’ roadmap, in the synchronized elections on May 9, 2016. The roadmap sees June 30, 2016, seminar/PAGE 10
fresh vegetables for their breakfast. Before, these mothers went to the nearest public market, some 5 kilometers away, and spent at least P150.00 a day to buy grow/PAGE 11
Editorial and advertising email : businessweekmindanao@gmail.com • Cell Number : 0917-7121424 • 0947-8935776