Across Mindanao Mindanao Daily A3
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BUSINESS . northmin . caraga . davao Your Mindanao-wide Community Newspaper
Editor : CRIS DIAZ
NEWS
PCSO cuts financial, medical help to Northern Mindanao Bukidnon • Camiguin • Lanao del Norte • Lanao del Sur • Misamis Occidental • Misamis Oriental
CAGAYAN de Oro City––The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Northern Mindanao has cut its financial and medical assistance by half starting Wednesday, a sweepstakes official said. Raul Regondola, regional PCSO manager in Northern Mindanao, said that the PCSO is cutting all financial and medical assistance by 50 percent due to revenue losses of the regional
PCSO office. “The losses incurred is due to the unabated operation of illegal ‘swertres’ number game that has become a stiff competitor of the PCSO, a government recognized lotto outlet in the country,” Regondola said.“Swerteres” is a three number combination game. The PCSO draws the results three times daily – in the morning, midday, and evening. Regondola said that the lo-
cal law enforcers appeared to be helpless in curtailing the proliferation of the “illegal lotto outlets” whose operation has now become computerized and sophisticated. The illegal lotto operations in Northern Mindanao have become a threat and a big blow to the operation of the state-authorized PCSO outlets, Regondola said. He said that prior to the propagation of the illegal lotto outlets,
the PCSO regional office earned as much as Php 135 million from its authorized lotto outlets every month. “With the spread of the illegal lotto outlets, the PCSO’s regional office now collects only as much as Php 55 million a month,” Regondola said. He said that the current situation has compelled the regional PCSO office to reduce its financial and medical aid by 50 percent.
Aside from extending regular assistance to the local government units in a form of ambulance and medicines, the regional PCSO office also extends assistance to hundreds of people who flock to the office every day. “We do not want to cut financial assistance to the patients until the problem of illegal lotto outlets is resolved,” Regondola said. A report from the Philippine News Agency
Aboitiz invests P437 million in public education in 2014 MORE than 60,000 students across the nation are now benefitting from the Aboitiz Group’s education-related initiatives last year, amounting to P437 million or about 72% of its total corporate social responsibility (CSR) budget allocation. Of its P610 million CSR spending in 2014, 21% or P129 million was directed to health-related and other corporate donations; 5% or P30 million in enterprise development programs, and
n The Foundation
reported turning over 23 regular classrooms in 9 schools in Benguet, Cebu, and Davao del Sur last year.
the remaining 2% or P15 million for environmental initiatives. This has been the largest amount the Group has allocated so far, up by 26% from P483 million CSR
budget in 2013. “In our focus area of education, our goal is to achieve universal public education by continuing to establish and develop Aboitiz BetterWorld schools that promise a better learning environment,” said Aboitiz Group CEO and President Erramon Aboitiz. In partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Group, led by its social development arm Aboitiz Foundation
Since 2014, more than 21,000 students in Mindanao are now enjoying better learning environments through the efforts of Aboitiz Foundation and AboitizPower subsidiaries in Mindanao like Therma Marine, Therma South and Hedcor.
Natl govt owes Oro P723m By CRIS DIAZ, Executive Editor
CAGAYAN de Oro City––The national government owes Php 723 million out of “fire fees” it has collected from 2010 to 2013 here, a city councilor said Wednesday. Councilor Ramon Tabor said a Resolution No. 12080-2015 passed during the regular session last Monday, asked the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to remit the amount to the city treasury. Tabor, chair of the city council committee on police, fire and public safety, said that the Commissions on Audit (COA) reported that the national government failed to remit the Php 723 million shares from the “Fire Code Fees” to the local government units. “The sharing of the fire fees is mandated under Republic Act 9514, otherwise known as the Comprehen-
sive Fire Code of the Philippines,” Tabor said. The COA findings covered the three three-year period from 2010 to 2013. Including the year 2014, it is likely that the amount due to the local government units (LGUs) would balloon to Php 1 Billion, Tabor said. He said that Tabor said that the Fire Code of the Philippines mandates that the 20-percent of the collected fees should go to the LGUs, while the 80-percent will go to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP). “Now we know why the local government units, including Cagayan De Oro City, have dilapidated fire trucks,” he said. He said that the remittance of the share of the fire fees is very important for the LGUs and the BFP to acquire state-of-the-art firefighting units and equipment for BFP personnel.
constructed of 27 classrooms in Ilocos Sur, Laguna, Albay, and Cebu for TechVoc high schools. The Foundation will continue funding teachers’ training for Technical Education Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA) NCII certification. In 2014, the Aboitiz Group allocated budget for the construction of 185 new classrooms to help address the issue of overcrowding and lack of classrooms in
public schools nationwide. In the last 26 years, it has donated more than 800 classrooms. The Foundation reported turning over 23 regular classrooms in 9 schools in Benguet, Cebu, and Davao del Sur last year. It also turned over 42 additional Silid Pangarap kindergarten classrooms in partnership with the Aklat , Gabay, Aruga tungo sa Pagangat at Pag-asa (AGAPP) Foundation, which it has
been supporting in the last four years. Majority of the Foundation’s infrastructure building projects last year was focused on the Post-Yolanda Schools Rehabilitation Program where it surpassed its commitment to build or rehabilitate 200 classrooms. Early this year, the Foundation completed physical turnover of 272 classrooms to Northern Cebu schools devastated by the super typhoon.