Sara hails opening of DFA's authentication center in Davao

AUTHENTICATION SERVICE. Mayor Sara Duterte led the ribbon cutting ceremony together with DFA officials (L-R) Eric Valenzuela, Acting Director, Authentication Division, Maria Theresa Lazaro, Executive Director, Atty. Brigildo DJ Dulay, OIC, Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns, Nick Santos, SM Regional Operations Manager, Uriel Noman Garibay, DFA Mindanao Assistant Secretary and Duke Villanueva, Director, Consular Office Coordinating Division.PHOTO: PRIX BANZON

Mindanaoans need not go to Manila to get their documents authenticated with the opening Friday of the first Authentication Services Center of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) located at SM City Ecoland. 

Mayor Sara Duterte hailed the opening of the first Authentication Services Center of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday here, making services accessible not only for Dabawenyos but also Mindanaoans.

She said this would be more beneficial to the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), OFW aspirants and their families coming from Mindanao.

The new center, she said, is a promising breakthrough as the country continues to benefit from the increased remittances from OFWs given the Duterte administration's thrust to speed up the processing of various government-issued documents.

Lawyer Brigido DJ Dulay, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns, said the opening of the center in Davao City will do away with inconvenience and expense of authenticating documents in Metro Manila.

He said President Rodrigo Duterte on April 3 signed The Philippine Instrument of Accession to the Apostille Convention, effectively reducing the authentication process cycle by half.

"Filipinos who wish to have their documents authenticated no longer need to go to the Embassy or Consulate of the country where they intend to present or use such document," he said.

The authentication of Philippine-issued documents alone will be accepted in 113 Apostille Convention member-countries around the world like the United States, Japan, and Australia, he said.

He said the Apostille replaces the Authentication Certificate, and this is what DFA Authentication-Davao would affix to Philippine-issued documents to be presented and used abroad.

"The roll-out of authentication services here, and the implementation of the Apostille Convention in the Philippines are a testament of the Duterte administration's commitment to bring efficient, effective and responsive frontline services to the public," he said.

Dulay added that streamlining the authentication of Philippine public documents, the Apostille Convention establishes conditions more conducive to foreign investment as well as raising the country's competitiveness.

Eric Valenzuela, acting director for Authentication Division of the DFA's Office of Consular Affairs, said DFA processes 770,000 documents for authentication here in the Philippines yearly while another 770,000 documents from overseas Filipinos abroad or about 1.4 million documents coming from here and abroad every year.

He said DFA expects the number to increase with the opening of services outside Luzon.

Authentication fee is P100 per document regardless of the number of pages, he said.

"Once the documents are authenticated at the center it can now be used to any country that will be presented unlike before where the authenticated documents must first pass through the embassy or consulate of that particular country before it can be used," Valenzuela said.

Valenzuela said most of those seeking authentication of documents are OFWs and most documents are unclaimed. "We hope that with the opening of centers in the regions there will no longer be unclaimed documents," he said.Prix Banzon

Amreco-supplied areas in Mindanao assured of 300MW supply by 2017

The different provinces in Mindanao relying on the different electric cooperatives for their power supply are assured of a 300-MegaWatt supply by 2017 but are at a quandary as to where to source power from now up to 2015.

“We have already contracted with GN Power and the Amreco-PSAG (Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperative- Power Supply Aggregation Group) for our projected 300-MW demand for 2017,” Amreco President Sergio C. Dagooc told BusinessWorld Tuesday.

Amreco is composed of 33 electric cooperatives, six of which are considered SPUG or Small Power Utilities Group located in different Mindanao islands such as Jolo, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Dinagat and Basilan. The six cooperatives have their own generators while the 27 others rely on the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

All the six electric cooperatives are under the National Power Corporation (NPC) as per Republic Act 9136 which mandates the NPC to operate power plants in isolated islands in the country.

He said Amreco accounts for 60% market share or an estimated 1,941,554 residential consumers in Mindanao. The rest of the market is accounted for by private electric companies like the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) and the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company, Inc.(CEPALCO).

Mr. Dagooc said 80% of their member cooperatives are Triple A cooperatives which means these are “financially, technically and institutionally stable.” However, he added, 20% of its members are hard-up electric cooperatives located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Among the top cooperatives are servicing the Davao Region namely Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Dasureco), Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative (Doreco) and the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) which used to be a top-performing cooperative before it got embroiled in its present controversy.

Twenty-seven of the member coops are hooked up with the island’s transmission grid while another six operate in the off-grid islands surrounding the main island of Mindanao.

“While most of our member cooperatives are doing good we have to unify our resources to help ailing members such as those in the ARMM,” he said.

Amreco-PSAG Executive Director Clint Django Pacana said these cooperatives are non-stock, non-profit organizations that rely on the P6,000 monthly dues of its members for its continued operation. This is mainly the reason why PSAG was formed and do business in the power industry, he added.

Amreco recently conveyed to Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla its opposition to the Price Determination Methodology (PDM) of the Philippine Electricity Market Cooperation (PEMC) which will be used by the Interim Mindanao Electricity Market (Imem).

Mr. Dagooc said while they are not against Imem’s implementation, they are protesting some of its provisions. The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved last September PEMC's Pricing and Cost Recovery Methodology (PCRM) which allows the use of the PDM in the establishment of power rates. He said they are protesting the rule which states that “the Imem Day-Ahead Price (Idap) shall correspond to the highest offer price fully or partially scheduled for the particular Imem trading interval."

Mr. Dagooc said this will leave the power distributors with no choice but to pay for the highest power rates no matter their choice of power generator and its previously offered rate.

Construction industry a big boost to Mindanao’s economy

The conduct of the 4^th PhilConstruct Mindanao at the SMX Convention Center on September 5 to 7, 2013 (with over 100 exhibitors) has put into perspective the impact of the construction industry on Mindanao’s economic growth with an estimated worth of P40 Billion.

“We have 700 contractors registered with the Board and 60% are based in Davao,” Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Davao City Director Teolulo T, Pasawa said. The distribution of wealth is not trickling down, he said, so it is pulling its resources to the construction industry since it has a bigger multiplier effect.

Event Chairperson Engr. Ramon F. Allado said there may be a similar number of contractors not registered so it is possible that we have at least 2000 contractors here with close to half a million workforce. Mindanao, he said, is the single biggest producer of construction workers who are trained here and are sent to other parts of the country and of the world.

“The construction industry provides money for the local economy with a 15 times minimum multiplier effect in terms of suppliers, workers, lodging establishments and other support facilities,” he said.

Mr. Allado said there is a boom in Mindanao construction industry today, especially in Davao. There are two 300-MW coal-powered plants in full construction in the Region today, he said, with Therma South’s project 40% completed and SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation’s project in Malita just starting out. Two more coal-powered plants in Misamis and South Cotabato will start constructing soon, he added. “That’s only the power sector eh yung mining sector pa.”

He said the tourism sector is another big user of the construction industry with various tourism construction projects going on and many that are yet to be developed.

Mr. Allado said the Department of Education (DepEd) has completed the public-private partnership (PPP) bidding for 20,000 classrooms in Mindanao. Sector, which comprises almost the other half of Mindanao with 10,000 classrooms to be built in one and a half years.

“All of these spell at least P40 Billion for Mindanao alone,” he said.

The booming construction industry is one of the reasons why the organizers have decided to make PhilConstruct Mindanao a yearly event every September. With more than a hundred innovative suppliers of equipment, technology suppliers, materials and tools, the stakeholders of Mindanao’s construction industry need not go to Manila or Cebu to get the latest in construction technology, he said.

Mr. Pasawa said “Davao is a very good market for the construction industry with a 2.4% growth per annum, 1.5 million people and vast availability of land that is seven times larger than Cebu and three times larger than Metro Manila.”

He said the city has a very reliable 24/7 power supply which is also among the country’s cheapest at P6 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) (beaten only by Lanado del Sur) compared to the almost P8 per kwh in Cebu. The city has also consistently ranked at the top of the Most Competitive Cities Survey by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), he added.

Davao City has a very vibrant construction industry, he said, that DTI has established desks and officers for regulatory purposes including the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board which handles registration and the Construction Manpower Development Authority which handles arbitration cases.

DOE more concerned about oversupply of power in Mindanao

Mindanaoans may be worried about having enough power supply now and in the future but the Department of Energy (DOE) seems to be more worried about the oversupply rather than shortage of power in Mindanao once all the power plants are completed and operating by 2015.

“The companies, when they see an oversupply of power and lesser demand then they will delay the implementation of the projects,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said in a press conference at SM Convention Center in the city Friday.

Even President Benigno S. Aquino III was confident when he announced Thursday during the opening of the 22^nd Mindanao Business Conference that “Right now, we are on track to end the energy deficit by 2015—during which we foresee Mindanao to already have a surplus.”

The recurring power problem in Mindanao is one of the main concerns of the business sector which confirmed that this is one of the issues that has always been included in the annual business conference. Minbizcon conference director John Gaisano said that “unless the national government addresses this concern this will be a recurring theme in the next business conferences.”

Petilla said unless the power investors delay their projects when they see an oversupply, Mindanao will definitely have a power supply surplus by 2015.  Most of the power projects eyed by the government to solve Mindanao’s power woes are reliant on coal.

Among the major projects being eyed by the government to provide surplus power supply in Mindanao is the 300-megawatt Aboitiz (Therma South) owned coal-power plant in Davao City. First phase of the project, with a 150-MW output, is expected to be completed by third quarter of 2014.

Coal power plant

Petilla also mentioned the 200-MW power plant being built by the Sarangani Energy Corps (Alsons Group of Companies) in Maasim, Sarangani Province which can supply the power demands General Santos City, South Cotabato, Sarangani and other Mindanao areas.

“Filinvest is also set to come up with a 270-MW plant but we are not counting them yet until they submit their papers,” he said. Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC) is set to construct a P30-billion coal power plant at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental which is expected to initially general 270 MW of power by 2016. The second phase of the project eyes the production of 135 MW by 2018.

The government owned and controlled corporation Phividec Industrial Authority has signed a 28-year contract with the FDC in April this year for the lease of 84.4 hectares of land where the coal power plant will be located.

Petilla said SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation (San Miguel Corp) is also set to build a 600-MW coal power plant in Malita, Davao del Sur but will start with an initial output of 150MW by 2015. SMC president Ramon S. Ang informed the Philippine Stock Exchange last month (July) that SMC Global project just broke ground in time for the completion of the plant by 2015. Petilla however said SMC has not really started out full-blast.

He suggested the setting up of a smart and effective forecasting system taking into consideration the behavior of the people and their electricity consumption considering that power plants are big investments and they take some time to build.

Coal production in the Philippines

When asked about the possibility of the ban on open pit mining affecting the coal power plant projects, Petilla said that the ban is more of a local government unit policy than a DOE policy.

“We are not banning open pit coal mining,” Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairperson Lualhati R. Antonino said. She added that Semirara (Semirara Mining Corporation) is an open pit mine and supplies a huge percentage the total coal production in the country.

The country has scattered coal deposits in Cebu, Surigao and Zamboanga but the largest is in Semirara Island in Antique. As such, Semirara has been identified by the DOE as the largest coal producer contributing up to 92 percent of the local coal production. The Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) reported in 2006 that coal production has increased by 34 percent the 2003 level of 2.0 MMMT (million metric tons) to 2003 level of 2.7 MMMT.

The DOE website pegged the country’s coal consumption at 9.5 MMT in 2006, 73 percent went to power generation, 22.5 percent used in cement production and 3.75 percent for other industries.

While the coal power plants are facing opposition not only from environmentalists but also even from the LGUs with local legislations banning open pit mining, Mr. Petilla said that “if there is a national significance then the national government can step in.”

1.7% rise in poverty, 95% employment rate In Davao Region a big puzzle for RDC XI

Outgoing Regional Development Council XI (RDC) chairperson and Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio said poverty incidence in the Davao Region was the lowest in Mindanao but was saddened by the high poverty incidence of 28.8 percent as of the first semester of 2012 which is a 1.7 percent increase from 2006.

However, she noted that the Region has sustained the 95 percent employment rates for both 2011 and 2012 which is evident of the expansion of the region’s absorptive capacity for employment.

“Pero pag medyo mataas ang poverty incidence and mataas ang rate ng employment, it makes you wonder and we have to look into this,” she said,

Duterte-Carpio said the planned targets for 2010 and 2011 were not achieved because of identified risks and external shocks including the slower recovery of the US and European economies that limit market options for banana exporters, high oil and energy prices and the selling by the small-scale miners of their gold produce in the black market.

“But the Gross Regional Domestic Product levels had been increasing and the Region has rebounded as the top economy among the six regions in Mindanao for 2011,” she said.

She admitted that the statistics on increasing poverty incidence is however evident of the non-inclusive growth. But on the other hand, the creation of jobs aimed at reducing poverty is an indication of inclusive growth which is why the two conflicting statistics of increasing poverty incidence and employment growth continue to puzzle economic workers in the region.

The RDC XI has identified the remaining challenges for the region in the remaining three years (2013-2016): slow decline in poverty incidence, unsustained economic growth levels, low productivity levels in almost all major sectors, slow growth in employment generation.

LBP lends P7B to priority sectors in 2010

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Land Bank of the Philippines has lent a total of P7.01 billion to its priority sectors in Region XI, with the local government sector getting the highest loan portfolio of up to P4,942.05 billion as of the end of October 2010.

LBP XI regional head Vice President Camilo Leyba said the government is the best sector to lend money to, considering that it has a 100 percent repayment rate.

"The payment or amortization for their loans is already included in their yearly budget and is just debited to their accounts," Leyba said.

He admits they have a problem collecting from the small farmers who are most often faced with poor harvest and other problems that prevent them from paying their debts on time.

One Network Bank Strengthens Its Presence In Mindanao With 5 More Branches

One Network Bank (ONB) is making its presence felt in Mindanao with the opening of five additional branches next year in Surigao City, Dipolog City, Ozamis City, Zamboanga del Norte (Sindangan) and Misamis Oriental (Gingoog). The operationalization of these branches will mean a total of 75 branches for Network Bank.

Network Bank is also set to activate 30 additional Automated Teller Machines or ATMs in selected areas in Mindanao . This is proof of the bank's intention to grow with Mindanao said ONB president Alex V. Buenaventura.

Buenaventura said they have identified 35 growth areas and they will continue to saturate these areas with ONB branches. The areas being eyed by Network Bank are either underbanked or unbanked.

Is Federalism The Answer To Mindanao's Woes?

The question "is Federalism the answer to Mindanao's woes" has been asked so many times already and even though Malacañang knows the answer, nothing has been done to give Mindanao a chance to grow economically (READ: MORE BUDGET) and has been relegated by imperial Manila to the oft-repeated tag as the country's bombing and terrorism capital.

With its pineapple, banana and other exports, Mindanao is among the greatest contributors to the country's coffers. However, the budget given to Mindanao is not even a third of the total budget of the country. People have complained time and again about the lopsided distribution of wealth.

Without any success on the Mindanaons quest for Federalism, and even with a Mindanaoan for a Speaker of the House of Congress, Mindanaoans could not expect to get anything more than morsels from Malacañang now, or at anytime.

At least P1.5 million will be shelled out by the 150 participants of the three-day BIMP-Mindanao Ride for Peace which starts today.

At least P1.5 million will be shelled out by the 150 participants of the three-day BIMP-Mindanao Ride for Peace which starts today, November 16, 2006.

“We are going to ride through places in Mindanao that are not often visited by locals and tourists alike,” said biker Jimmy Gomez during a press conference with the bikers yesterday at the Marco Polo Hotel.

The event, which is now on its third year, aims to promote peace, tourism and investment in Mindanao by bringing riders from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to travel around key points in Mindanao using their motorbikes.

“We are riding to promote peace in Mindanao but this is not to say that there is no peace in Mindanao,” Gomez said. Rather, he added, we are telling Asia that there is peace here and that it is one of the best places in Asia to travel by motorcycle.

Riders all the way from Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia have shelled out $8,000 or roughly P40 thousand for the shipment of one container containing ten motorbikes. The almost 23 foreign riders would have spent an estimated more than P8 thousand for the shipment of their motorbikes from Sandakan, Malaysia to Zamboanga which is their entry point.

“Each rider will spend at least P10,000 for the whole three-day travel from Davao to Zamboanga,” said Eduardo Tombo, event chair. He said the group had minimal sponsorship which helped them with some miscellaneous expenses, he added.

The bikers are expected to travel 1,700 kilometers of land from Davao to Zamboanga, with overnight stays in Cotabato City, Dapitan and Iligan before proceeding to Zamboanga City. The Philippine bikers will then travel the whole 1,700 kilometers back to Davao after they send off their foreign counterparts in the Zamboanga port.

The bikers will be passing by Datu Paglas, Camp Abubakar, Malabang, Ipil, Pagadian and some other areas that no Mindanaoan would brave traveling even by car during the early days of Mindanao as a war-torn area.

Tombo said the Philippine bikers will return the favor by joining the foreign riders in Pontianak during the Big bike Festival in Borneo in May next year.
The BIMP-Mindanao Ride for Peace will be highlighted by the donation of a multi-purpose building at Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao.