MINDANAO DAILY TRUTH. JUSTICE. PROGRESS.
Volume IX, No. 373
www.mindanaodailynews.com
Mon-Tue, December 21-22, 2020
P15.00
RCL Shipping to boost CdO, MisOr as major agro-industrial exporter— La Viña T AGOLOAN, MisOr, — The launch of an international shipping route of the Thailand-based Regional Container Lines (RCL) at the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) as its newest port of call will boost Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental as the emerging agro-industrial exporter of Northern Mindanao. PHIVIDEC-IA Administrator and CEO Jose Gabriel “Pompee”La Viña congratulated the management of RCL as the newest player in international shipping routes through the expansion of its container fleet. “Let us continue to work together to lead our organizations and country to a bright economic future,” La Viña said during the inaugural event held at the MCT Port. La Viña cited RCL’s
weekly service connecting MCT in the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate to Singapore as transshipment hub. “This could only mean higher incomes, more jobs, and a more comfortable life for our people”, La Viña said. This will not only increase the transshipment capacity but extends the reach of the international port as welll with other leading ports of call in the Phividec IA Administrator and CEO receives from General Manager Marlo de Guzman the certificate of acceptance See BOOST, page 7
that signals the re-entry of RCL shipping lines to Mindanao Container Terminal as its newest port of entry.
Flooding in Agusan town triggered by housing project inside watershed By CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur — Concerned residents here expressed alarm that the massive flooding at the town center brought about by Tropical Depression ‘Vicky’ on Friday could have been triggered by the clearing of a four-hectare sloping land for housing development inside the one-kilometer buffer zone of Mt. Magdiwata Watershed. At least 1,658 hectares of Residents in San Francisco, Agusan Del Sur expressed fear that that a housing proj- the watershed, which is the ect on the slope inside the buffer zone of the Mt. Magdiwata watershed triggered the only source of potable water massive flooding Friday, December 18, 2020 as Tropical Depression ‘Vicky’ slammed of this highly developing across northeastern Mindanao. mindanews photo by chris v . panganiban
town, is a fully delineated protected area under Presidential Proclamation 282 in 1994 issued by President Fidel Ramos. John Columban Paredes, son of former Agusan del Sur governor and congressman Ceferino Paredes Jr., presented through his social media page, his own study using a geological map of this town and how a huge bulk of floodwaters cascading through the path of the sloping area that had been cleared by a bulldozer,
submerged the outlying communities situated at the foot of mountain as early as noon on that fateful day. Paredes, who ran for mayor and lost by a small margin in last year’s polls, said this is the first time in many years that the barangays of San Isidro and Karaos, situated along the Davao-bound national highway were first hit by flashfloods when what is usually submerged during continuous heavy rains in the past were Barangays 1 and 3, caused by a run off See FLOODING, page 6