D1
SUNDAY, APRIL 30, 2017
Jimbo Gulle, Editor
Roger Garcia, Issue Editor
LGUs
mslocalgov@gmail.com
‘BAMBOO TO SAVE LAGUNA BAY SHED’
ARMM OPENS BLUEPRINT FOR INVESTMENT VENUES By Nash B. Maulana
C
OTABATO CITY—While the 30th Asean Summit is being held in Manila, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has opened blueprints of potential economic investment venues, including Islamic banking and interregional trading with neighboring East Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Officials and economic gurus disclosed this during this midweek's Investment Priority Plan Roadshow here, organized by the ARMM Regional Board of Investments. The IPP ARMM List (2017-2019) is a three-year guide map to the region's potential investment venues, namely: export industry; agriculture and aquaculture; basic industries; infrastructure; industrial service facilities; engineering industries; logistics; BIMP-EAGA-related investment
enterprises; tourism; health and education services and facilities; halal industry; bank and non-bank financial institution including Islamic banking and finance; and energy. BIMP-EAGA stands for Brunei-IndonesiaMalaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area. It was developed during the administration of then President Fidel V. Ramos. The IPP roadshow in ARMM is geared towards “Scaling Up and Dispersing Opportunities” in matching capital prospects with business opportunities to steer economic growth. Lawyer, Ishak Mastura, chairman of RBOI, said ARMM has consistently reached or even exceeded its benchmark target on investment growth rate of P1 billion per annum during the last three years. The region is further improving its economic potentials based on halal industry and enhanced Islamic banking. Meanwhile, Anak Mindanao Party-List Rep. Sitti Dhalia Turabin-Hataman said a bill she has filed seeks to amend the Chatter of Islamic Investment Banking to allow conventional banks to open Islamic Banking Windows, and to increase authorized capitalization on Islamic banking in the country. Former President and now Pampanga Rep.
By Raul M. Francia
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo co-sponsors the Islamic Banking Bill in the House of Representatives. Basically, Islamic banking is non-interest bearing on deposits, but prescribes partnership investments (musharaka), through profit-andloss sharing scheme. A savings or current deposit is charged small percentage for service fee or safekeeping rates. Other IPP roadshows will be scheduled later in key areas of the region, such as Maguindanao, Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi. Regional officials raised investment opportunities in ARMM, as well as fiscal and non-fiscal incentives the government can provide or offer investors. Rosamond Belderol, program officer of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, said Inclusive Business Models or IB in the national IPP list also suits ARMM. Belderol said IB covers business activities of medium and large enterprises in the agribusiness and tourism industries, but is also providing business opportunities to micro and small enterprises as part of their value chains. She said IB could help propel the local economy with such business models and social enterprises to bear sustainable economic growth.
WOMEN UNITED. Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte (center) and Quezon City General Hospital Director Dr. Josephine Sabando (fourth from right) join hands with other non-government organization officials in signing the memorandum of understanding for the QC Protection Center for victims and survivors of gender-based violence and abuse. Manny Palmero
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MAKATI WON’T BUY LOTS BESIDE WEST VALLEY FAULT By Joel E. Zurbano THE city government of Makati stood pat on its decision not to buy lots situated in identified “danger zones” within five meters on each side of the West Valley Fault. Mayor Abigail Binay made the statement during her presentation of the city's initiatives on disaster resilience at a two-day forum focused on “Building a MultiStakeholder and Integrated Approach to Disaster Resilience” organized by the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation at the Manila Polo Club. “Safety is a must for every
Makatizen. On this I make no exceptions, and certainly leave no room for compromise,” she said. Binay was invited by Ambassador Roberto Romulo, chairman of the Carlos P. Romulo Foundation for Peace and Development, to share the Makati experience with other local chief executives, key officials of local and national government agencies involved in disaster management, and stakeholders from the private sector who attended the conference. In his letter to the mayor, Ambassador Romulo cited the efforts of the city government to
mitigate the impact of a strong earthquake, particularly its move to relocate residents living along the WVF. "There are five other cities in Metro Manila directly affected by the WVF and they can benefit greatly from your experience. You are the first mayor to launch this initiative since the Valley Fault System Atlas was released in 2015,” said Ambassador Romulo in his letter. Last month, Binay spearheaded a series of dialogs with residents of each of four Makati barangays identified to be transected by the
WVF—Pembo, Rizal, Comembo and East Rembo. The new Comprehensive Land Use Plan and Zoning Ordinance of Makati have set a five-meter buffer zone on each side of the fault line and declared these as “open spaces” where no renovation or expansion on existing structures shall be allowed. Instead, they will be converted into linear parks. “I made it clear that the city will not purchase lots on the danger zones. I reminded residents that their lives were far more valuable than material possessions,” Binay said.
PH MATH GENIUSES SQUARE OFF IN METROBANK CHALLENGE FINALS THE country’s math geniuses competed during the national finals of the 2017 Metrobank-MTAP-DepEd Math Challenge National Finals last April 22 at the Metrobank Plaza Auditorium in Makati City. Out of 572,916 students who competed in the nationwide elimination rounds, 44 students representing 29 FOR PAMPANGA. Cleanfuel continues with its busy second quarter of 2017 as it is public and private schools successfully poised to open another gasoline station along Olongapo Highway corner Magliman Road met the “hurdle rate” in their scores, in Barangay Magliman, San Fernando, Pampanga. This new station will offer high-quality Premium 95 octane gasoline, Unleaded 91 and Diesel. Cleanfuel stations feature 24/7 service, a allowing them to advance to the final leg credit card facility, air-conditioned comfort rooms, air and water services, and a drivers lounge of the MMC. for customers, which is not typical for gas stations. For more information about Cleanfuel and The national finals showcased the its other locations, please call (02) 655-6407; (02) 655-9219 or visit www.cleanfuel.ph. mathematical competence of Grade 6
Local Gov’t Units
and Grade 10 students who competed in individual and team categories. The challenge consisted of solving complex mathematical problems mentally within 15 seconds, and additional rounds of 30-second and one-minute questions using pen and paper. As the first math competition in the Philippines to use technology that leads to faster generation of contest results, the MMC provides national finalists with tablet computers, through which they send answers directly to the judges, who then immediately mark them as “correct” or “wrong.”
CALAMBA CITY—The government has laid out an elaborate plan to cover one million hectares of watershed, riverbanks and lake shores with 200 million seedlings of high and commercially productive variety of bamboo in the next five years. At the launch here of the bamboo development plan for the Southern Tagalog region on Wednesday, Environment Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio said the massive planting of high-quality variety bamboo is a component of the social justice thrust of the Duterte administration, meant to benefit rural communities while preserving and rehabilitating freshwater sources and lakes. “Planting bamboo will mean social justice, for it will benefit the people and the communities. In six years, we will plant in one million hectares,” Ignacio told a crowd of local officials, regional and provincial officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and representatives of other government agencies, people’s organizations and environmental groups in Barangay Looc. The riverbank barangay of the city, the birthplace of national hero Jose Rizal, is among the selected pilot areas for the massive bamboo planting program designed to cover nearly 2,000 hectares in Calabarzon area with concentration in the communities surrounding Laguna Lake. The lake, commonly called Laguna Bay, is the largest freshwater lake in the country and second in Asia. Numerous plans are afoot to protect, preserve and rehabilitate it following decades of human abuse resulting to its massive pollution and degradation threatening a major livelihood source for residents in large parts of Rizal, Laguna and Metro Manila.
APPLIANCE MAKER AIDS GENTRI BUKID YOUTH CENTER BEKO Philippines, a global domestic appliance and consumer electronics brand, recently extended its support for St. Mary Euphrasia Integrated Development Foundation Inc.Bukid Kabataan Center, located at Sitio de Fuego, San Francisco in General Trias City, Cavite. The company donated two top-loading washing machines to assist the foundation, in line with the brand’s aim to provide the institution with more efficient laundry operations. "Beko has always provided meaningful solutions that positively impacts communities. We saw the need to offer our assistance to the children of Bukid Kabataan Center, especially when we found out that they needed a better laundry area," said Melchor Zapata, Beko marketing director. Bukid Kabataan Center is a foundation that helps at-risk children, especially girls ages seven to 15 years old. The center provides life-giving environment for its beneficiaries through a community that offers protection and fosters physical and psychological healing. Since most of their beneficiaries are at-risk children, the center’s program and services include providing for their basic needs like food, shelter, and clothing. It also gives counseling and ecotherapy, as well as activities that foster socialization. Education services are also given to the beneficiaries that are focused on building knowledge, fostering right attitudes, instilling of good values, and building capabilities, talents, and skills.