Fare reduction not in the offing

There is very little chance for the realization of the Filipino commuters’ wish to get a fare reduction before the end of the year.

This after the new chief of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board failed to issue a clear pronouncement on the fare reduction earlier promised by former LTFRB chair Elena Bautista.

“There is still no clear cut pronouncement on the fare reduction so the commuters will have to pay the old rate,” LTFRB XI Regional Administrative Officer Edgar Violan said.

Violan just came from Manila for the national planning workshop and a briefing on the first 100 days of new LTFRB chair Thompson C. Lancion.

It was hoped two weeks ago that the different LTFRB regions were called to Manila for an announcement on the fare reduction. However, Violan said that the fare reduction issue was not even discussed during the planning.

Violan said they were however informed that a consumers’ group already petitioned LTFRB for a fare reduction and such petition will still be scheduled for hearing.

“It is now up to the Board to rule on the fare reduction petition; it is out of our hands,” he said.

Bautista already made a pronouncement on the possibility of a fare reduction before she was promoted but the change in the leadership of the Board has resulted to a delay on the decision to approve the fare reduction.

Dabawenyos have been clamoring for a fare reduction due to the successive reduction in oil prices. The price of oil has been reduced at least five times in the last three months.(lovely a. carillo)

LTO XI investigates 22 insurance firms

The Land Transportation Office XI is in the process of conducting an investigation of the twenty two insurance firms located near its premises a day after Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered them to look into fly-by-night insurance firms.

“We are making an inventory of the insurance firms located just outside our office in compliance with the Mayor’s order,” LTO XI director Atty. Gomer Dy said.

Duterte earlier asked LTO XI to look into complaints that some insurance agencies have not complied with their obligations particularly in paying the insurance claims to insured vehicle owners.

He also urged LTO to blacklist insurance firms that have been remiss with their obligations.

Dy said that when they receive complaints against insurance firms, they report it to the assistant secretary who will in turn write the insurance companies concerned.

“With the Mayor’s order I can now address the problem from my end,” he said. After receiving notice of Duterte’s order, Dy immediately instructed the LTO law enforcers to look into the permits of the insurance agencies concerned.

He said they are still verifying if the insurance agencies have the certificate of accreditation issued by the Insurance Commission. They are also inspecting the business permits of the insurance agencies and will double check the records with the Business Bureau.

Dy said there is no connection between LTO XI and the insurance agencies outside their office and the vehicle owners can choose their own insurance agencies.

“Ang palaging nabibiktima ng mga bogus na insurance agencies yung mga from out of the city who want to register their vehicles pero wala pang insurance,” he said. What they do, he added, is to get insurance from any of the agents outside since they are more accessible.(lovely a. carillo)

MP-Values Taekwondo Team wins 9 gold

Nine of the thirty team members of the Marco Polo-Values Team coached by Alan de Francia won gold medals during the 2006 Regional Taekwondo Championships held at the Entertainment Center of the SM City Davao yesterday.

The gold medalists are James Paolo Ancheta and Mikee Selga (both 6 years old) from Values School; Jana Bihr, Karl and Cassandta Villaruz, Prince Sta. Maria, Cyndi Amahan, Nigel Deriza and Carol Estacio from Marco Polo.

Both Ancheta and Selga are first timers in the said tournament and only had at least three months training compared to their opponents who have been into Taekwondo for more than a year already.

Selga bested her opponent who is already an advance bluebelt from Butuan and had four years training.

The Team also won 7 silver medals and four bronze medals. The silver medalists are Angelito Blataria, Kristine Miranda, Esman Abdul and Nicole Manawan from Values School and Angeli Longted, Monica Jordan and Merell Herrera from Marco Polo.

Former gold medalist Patrick Baker won a Bronze this time. Baker, 8 years old and with only one year training, was earlier bested by a 9-year old opponent who had four years training in Taekwondo.

The other bronze medalists are Eman Dignadice, Prince Muñez and Diane Nepomuceno.(lovely a. carillo)

Multinational firms to invest in Mindanao’s tuba2

European, Korean and Indian firms are looking into the possibility of investing millions in Mindanao through the establishment of tuba-tuba or jetropha plantations.

However, scientists and some sectors in Mindanao see the forthcoming multinational investments as something that would place not only Mindanao but the whole country at a disadvantage,

“The tuba-tuba or jetropha is the best alternative fuel source that we can get right in our backyards and we should not allow other countries to ex0plore such resources,” Davao Inventors Association president Virgilio Sangutan said.

Sangutan, who is also the chairperson of the Mindanao Inventors Federation, said several companies from Europe, Korea and India are already exploring the possibility of entering into joint venture agreements with Mindanao farmers for the planting of tuba-tuba.

“The joint venture will be welcome by Mindanao farmers because the multinational companies will finance the planting of the tuba-tuba or jetropha,” he said.

However, he said, the joint venture contract will provide that the farmers could not sell the tuba-tuba seeds to other buyers except the multinational companies who financed the venture.

Sangutan, who has patented a way to process crude oil from tuba-tuba into diesel, said “ngano magsugot man ta nga dal’on sa gawas ang tuba-tuba seeds na pwede himoon ug diesel samantalang pwede man nato na pakinabangan diri (why should we allow foreigners to bring our tuba-tuba seeds outside when we can process it here and create our very own diesel).”

A kilo of tuba-tuba seeds, which generally sells for P6.50, can produce 350 milliliter of crude oil. He said three kilos of tuba-tuba can produce one liter of oil. The costs can go down when it is processed on a large-scale basis, he added.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has earlier ordered the military and local government units to convert idle lands into tuba-tuba plantations. The Department of Energy said the country needs to have 100 to 200 hectares planted to tuba-tuba to start the production of jatropha diesel.(lovely a. carillo)

SM Poultry growers gears up for Xmas season

The poultry supply of Southern Mindanao may be stable but poultry growers in the region are prepping up for a foreseen demand for the commodity during the holiday seasons.

“An inventory conducted last July shows a chicken supply of 4.7 million,” Department of Agriculture XI-Livestock Division chief Dr. Rafael Mercado said.

The 4.7 million data comprises the native and broiler supply of both commercial and backyard poultry growers. Majority of the region’s poultry population or roughly 7- percent comes from the backyard growers.

Mercado said backyard poultry growers are those who grow 50 to 100 heads of broiler or native chickens in an area usually adjacent to their homes.

He said the survey revealed that some areas in the region were not able to reload their poultry farms with chicks. About ten percent of the growers failed to reload their poultry farms for one reason or another, he said, but some of them already reloaded even before the end of the survey.

“The poultry growers are reloading their farms now in preparation for a projected demand during the Christmas season,” he said. Barring all disasters, he added, the region can look at a steady supply of chicken during the holidays.

Christmas 2005 was very good for the consumers, he said, because the price of chicken was very low at P80 per kilo. The expected price of chicken last December was supposed to reach P100 to P105 per kilo but the stable supply pushed the prices down.(lovely a. carillo)

Reported women’s abuse cases in Davao City up by 100% in 2006

The number of Dabawenyas being subjected to violence has increased by a hundred percent from January to August this year compared to the number of reported cases during the whole period of 2005.

Data from the City Mayor’s Integrated Gender and Development Division show that a total of 260 cases of violence against women have been reported in the said office from January to March and from July to August this year.

This is more than a hundred percent increase compared to the 120 Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) cases reported in the same office for the whole 2005 considering that figures for September to December this year are still unavailable.

Women’s groups however said that the increasing trend in the number of reported VAWC cases can be attributed to a rising awareness on the rights of women.

Physical and economic abuse had the highest percentage of reported VAWC cases reported from January to March this year, with a percentage of 29.63 cases for each type of abuse. Cases of economic abuse were reported to be around 49.37% from July 1 to August 31 this year.

The other reported abuses against women and children include abandonment, child abuse, marital infidelity, physical abuse, rape, sexual abuse, bigamy, concubinage, sexual harassment and threat.(lovely a. carillo)

Samal’s Mariculture Park attracts P200 million worth of investments

No less than P200 million worth of investments have been poured into the 244-hectare Mariculture Park located in the Island Garden City of Samal in Davao del Norte.

The Mariculture Park, which is a joint venture of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources XI and the local government unit of Samal, was implemented to offer locators a chance to invest in the fish caging venture as well as provide an alternative source of livelihood for Samal fishermen.

“This is the first Triple A Mariculture Park in Asia and it is being replicated in others parts of the country particularly in Calbayog, Samar, Zambales and in Datu Paglas,” IGACOS city administrator Cleto Gales said.

A total of 10 large scale investors and an estimated 100 small and medium investors have already located their fish cage businesses at the Mariculture Park. Large scale investors are those with investments of over P10 million, medium scale with investments of one to P10 million and small scale with investments below one million.

“A single fish cage is capital intensive with a 20 meter by 20 meter fish cage amounting to almost a million peso worth of investments,” Gales said. However, an investor can have a return of his investment after two harvests with a single harvest possible after three to four months.

Gales said the fish cages at the Mariculture Park is quite different from the common fishpond because fishponds are dug beside shorelines to allow partly salty water to come in and mix with fresh water to create brackish water.

The fish cages in the Park, he said, are cages that are floating in the sea. It is also different from Laguna de Bay’s fish pens since they cage the water there from surface to the bottom.

“The fish cages in Samal’s Mariculture Park are environmentally friendly because it is floating,” he said. The excess feeds that are not eaten by the fish inside the cages are eaten by other fishes like Talakitok, thereby encouraging small and large fish to congregate in the area, Gales added.

A single 20 meter by 20 meter fish cage yields twenty seven tons of fish per season or roughly 27 thousand kilos of fish every harvest.(lovely a. carillo)