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Davao to sign MOA with firm for review of fiscal incentive offerings DAVAO CITY -- The city government here signed on Wednesday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Isla Lipana & Co. for the updating of the 2012 Davao City Investment and Incentive Code, according to Lemuel Ortonio, head of the Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC). The signing took place during the first regular meeting of the Davao City Investment Incentive Board at the City Mayor’s Conference Room in the presence of Mayor Sara Duterte, department heads, private sector representatives, and representatives from Isla Lipana & Cop. Ortonio said that the forging of agreement formalized the partnership between the city and the company to start the timely review of the six-year-old incentive code, owing to the several changes in the city’s economic profile and landscape brought about by the entry of several infrastructure and development projects. “We need to keep up with the trends and we hope that with this review, we will be able to introduce investments that the city needs that are in line with the development direction of the city,” he said. The Isla Lipana & Co, a member firm of the London-based multinational professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) global network and is in the business of delivering audit and assurance, tax and advisory services, also presented the eight-month timeframe for the review. Atty. Brando Cabalsi, the firm’s tax director, said they envision to make the city fit for accelerated growth, strengthen the partnership between private and public sector to achieve goals, and create a source of pride for Dabawenyos. In coming up with a new list of preferred investment areas, Cabalsi said the eightmonth review would focus not only on sectors that are already sustainable because that will render support coming from the city useless. He added they would also look into the areas that need more support in the form of incentive or subsidy. He explained the city government should focus on improving the supporting linkages to sectors that are already sustainable or are already being supported by the national government The five-page memorandum of agreement (MOA) stated that both parties agreed, among others, to determine whether sufficient investments in an area or activity have been attained; to determine whether continued extension of incentives or support measures for the specific investment area is no longer to the interest of city; to conclude that an area or activity See sign, page 9
Thursday
DAVAO
May 17, 2018
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Defeated poll bet in Davao City dies DAVAO CITY--A candidate who lost in Monday’s election for barangay captain died of illness on Monday night. Amil Bangsa Manding, former chief of Barangay 23-C, was already trailing behind his opponent in the election minutes before he expired at about 6 p.m. At half-past 5 p.m. on Monday, Manding garnered 332 votes against incumbent Alimodin Wating Usman, who was ahead with 465 votes. When Manding voted at about 2:45 p.m. at the Mini Forest voting station, he was seen being carried by relatives sitting on a chair. Supporters around him barred people from taking photos of Manding, who was frail compared to his active days as a barangay leader and Liga representative in the City Council. He also served as chief of barangay affairs during the administration of then mayor Rodrigo Duterte in early 2000. According to information, Manding was already suffering from kidney disease. Senior Insp. Ma Teresita Gaspan, spokesperson of the Davao City Police, said the remains of Manding were
Amil Bangsa Manding, in red shirt seated was being carried by supporters when he voted on Monday at the Mini Forest voting station. Photo courtesy of Davao City Police Office PIO
brought to Lanao at dawn on Tuesday. He added the family refused to provide details of Manding’s condition. After voting on Monday afternoon, Gaspan said Manding was immediately brought by the family to a hotel here to rest. Unconfirmed information said Manding’s condition was aggravated by Saturday night’s shooting incident in Barangay 23-C that left three persons wounded. Those wounded were Alcon See bet, page 9
PH RISE EXPLORATION. President Rodrigo Duterte assures his support to Filipino marine scientists for the Philippine Rise exploration at the BRP Davao Del Sur in Casiguran, Aurora on Tuesday (May 16, 2018). The exploration, which will be conducted until November, was ordered through Executive Order No. 25. President Duterte earlier ordered to cease all marine explorations conducted by foreign scientists in the area. (PNA photo by Oliver Marquez)
PH under a unified power grid by 2020 DAVAO CITY-- The government’s goal of interconnecting the nation’s three major power grids into a single national grid will be realized in 2020, a ranking official of the Department of Energy (DOE) announced. Patrick Aquino, director of Energy Policy and Planning Bureau said once the Luzon-VisayasMindanao interconnection project is completed by December of 2020, the proposed single grid will allow the country’s three island groups to share power reserves with each other. “There can be exports or imports of electric power between or among the main islands in the country,” Aquino said. He noted that the linkup of the grids would strengthen the country’s energy infrastructure resiliency as it would enable one island group to supply the deficiency of supply in the other islands. To illustrate, the deficiency of supply in Mindanao may be supplied by importing power from Luzon or Visayas, he said. He also noted that the interconnection would not only stabilize supply but should also result in the widening of
the electricity market in Mindanao since a unified grid would encourage more investments in the power plants. But just as the project is being pursued, Aquino explained that the overall direction of the DOE is to ensure the availability of indigenous power resources in communities in order to meet their needs. “Both projects come hand in hand since the project will be a redundancy later on, that when something happens to the indigenous side, you do have your transmission interconnection to augment and vice versa,” he said. Aquino was here for the conduct of an information, education and communication campaign on the implementing rules and regulations of the executive order “creating the energ y investment and coordinating council to streamline the regulatory procedures affecting energy projects.” The EO decrees the implementation of logical, systematic, organized and speedy issuance of permits and clearances for energy projects of national significance within 30 days. PIA