BusinessWeek MINDANAO CREDIBLE
Volume VII, No. 132
Market Indicators
As of 5:00 pm March 30, 2017 (thursday)
FOREX
PHISIX
US$1 = P50.221
7,327.89
X
4.1 cents
3.89 points
X
Briefly
Flood control DAVAO City -- The city government of Davao is fully supporting the conduct of feasibility study for a flood control and mitigation project in the area. Chief City Information Officer Jefry Tupas on Tuesday said City Planning and Development Coordinator Ivan Cortez gave assurances that the city would actively back the master plan and design proposed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. A team from JICA recently presented to the city government the outline it has prepared for the conduct of a feasibility study on a flood control and mitigation project in the city. The study, Tupas added, will focus on the Davao River “with an emphasis on the need for continued investment in disaster risk reduction in the city.”
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House to probe DOE on plant shutdowns www.businessweekmindanao.com
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By MYRNA M. VELASCO, Contributor
HE House of Representatives is set to drag the Department of Energy (DOE) into another round of investigation on why it has not been able to efficiently evade the massive maintenance shutdown of power plants during summer months when demand would typically peak and supply could run tight. In a resolution filed by Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate, the energy department will be quizzed on the circumstances following reported maintenance downtime of at least 20 power generation facilities throughout summer’s duration – lasting
until June. Based on the outlook drawn up by system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), reser ves would run low particularly on the months of April and May. And what has been missing in probe/PAGE 11
MIDNIGHT ‘SIKWATI’: Craving for hot chocolate and suman at midnight? If you’re in Davao City, go to Bankerohan public market for the chocolate drink locally known as “sikwate,” best partnered with suman (rice cake). Price is reasonable and the place is open 24/7. MindaNews photo by FERDINANDH B. CABRERA
‘Free tuition’ in SCUs ‘likely’ in June
Bridge repair THE Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH) Region 10 announces that the ongoing Igpit Bridge Widening along Butuan-Cagayan De Oro-Iligan Road (BCIR) situated in Opol town, Misamis Oriental with a net length of 45 L.M. is expected to be completed in April this year if no untoward incident will occur during the implementation of the project. The said target is earlier compared to its expiry date on June 22, 2017 says UKC Builders Inc., project contractor, who pledged that they will make every effort for the bridge to get done. On March 7, there was a report on the collapsed temporary structure (stone masonry retaining wall) which is part of the ongoing Igpit Bridge construction that caused traffic congestion in the area. The said collapse of about 12 L.M. retaining wall was due to too much water saturation of the base soil that supports the said temporary structure brought by water pipe leakage and consecutive rainfall.
IN-DEPTH
By MARK FRANCISCO, Staff Writer
BANGUS FINGERLINGS. Bangus growers off-loads a batch of young fish, also called as ‘garungan” at a docking area of the Manapa river in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte. These young bangus will be transported into growing cages in Carmen town where they are raised and grown until harvest time. Photo by Jun Ayensa
THE PRESIDENT of Mindanao’s premier state university on Wednesday has expressed confidence t hat President Ro dr igo Duterte would sign into law the “Affordable Higher Education Act” before June so that the free tuition fee in all state-owned colleges
and universities can take effect for school year 20172018. Dr. Ricardo Rotoras, president of the University of Science and Technology of (Southern) Philippines (USTP), said the passage of the bill last March 13 s i g n a l s t h e h o l d i n g of
the bicameral conference committee b etween the two houses of Congress before President Duterte could sign it into law. “Once signed into law, the free tuition fee in all college levels would start in the next academic year, which will start on June 2017,” Rotoras said. tuition/PAGE 11
Thanks for the tractors but a political problem needs political solution: Jaafar By ANTONIO L. COLINA IV, MindaNews
D AVA O C i t y — T h e government (GPH) must deliver a “political solution” to end the Bangsamoro armed struggle by fully implementing the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on B angs amoro (CAB) through the passage of an acceptable enabling law, said Ghazali Jaafar, the new chair of the Bangsamoro Transition
Commission (BTC) who is also first vice chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). “This is a political problem and it can only satisfy the Bangsamoro people pag nadeliver ang political solution (once the political solution is delivered),” Jaafar said Wednesday at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao during
the celebration of the 3rd anniversary of the signing of the CAB on March 27, 2014. He said he appreciates the efforts of the government in trying to solve the issues through economic means in order to trigger development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) but what the Bangsamoro people seek are selfdetermination and their own jaafar/PAGE 11
MORE POLITICAL WILL. Bangsamoro Transition Commission chair Ghadzali Jaafar reiterates that a political problem requires a political solution as he pushed for the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB). MINDANEWS PHOTO
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