1-Hour Power Interruption Hits Davao City

If you live within the periphery of the Davao Light franchise then you most probably experienced power interruption in your area yesterday afternoon. Nothing wrong with you power line though because the one-hour power interruption hit all of DLPC's franchise area including the whole of Davao City, Panabo City and the municipality of Sto. Tomas, Dujali and Carmen.

DLPC assistant vice president for corporate communication Ross Luga said the power interruption was due to a fault in the National Transmission Corporation's 138 kv Pulangi-Kibawe line. Luga said power supply from Transco was suddenly cut off at around 1:41 pm but power at 1:52 pm power was immediately activated for special lines serving key service providers in the government, hospitals and the downtown area,

Power was restored between 2:05 pm and 2:45 pm after DLPC received electricity supply from Transco.

Big 3 Oil Firms Reduce Gasoline Price By P1; LPG by P11 Per Tank

Filipinos will enjoy another round of rollback in the price of gasoline and kerosene. The Big 3 oil companies namely Pilipinas Shell, Chevron and Petron will reduce gasoline and kerosene prices by P1 per liter but no announcement was made on the rollback of diesel prices.

The other oil companies have also announced a rollback in the price of gasoline and kerosene effective this week.

On the other hand, Liquefied Petroleum Gas prices have also been rolled back by P1 per kilo or P11 per tank. This reduction is in addition to the P44 per tank rollback announced last week.

Uswag-Bubai's 2-Day X'mas Decor Demo Starts At SM City Davao Today

The two-day Christmas decoration demo to be conducted by Uswag-Bubai will start at SM City Davao Today. The demo, which is being held in coordination with the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SM City will be conducted in two sessions daily at SM City's Car Park C.

For those who want to join the free demo, here's the schedule:

November 7
10:00-12:00 AM Paper Mache
2:00-4:00 PM Gift Box making

November 8
10:00-12:00 AM Flower making
2:00-4:00 PM Crocheted Xmas Decors

P0.50 Fare Rollback in Davao Effective Today

Effective today, the minimum jeepney fare in Davao City will roll back to P7.50 after the P0.50 fare rollback announcement by the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board. Students, differently-abled and the elderly will pay a minimum fare of P6.

The rollback came after the National Consumer and Commuters Protection Inc. filed a petition with LTFRB for a fare rollback following the reduction of oil prices in the world market and the rollback in diesel and gasoline prices the latest of which was the P5 rollback by the Big Three.

LTFRB XI administrative office Edgar Violan said drivers should implement the fare rollback effective Friday, November 7. He said case number 2008-1654 reduces the provisional fare for the first four kilometers from P8 to P7.50. But since this is only a provisional rollback, he added, the reduction will not apply on the succeeding kilometers.

US Still Mindanao's Top Export Market

The United States is still the top export market of Mindanao.

Data from the Mindanao Economic Development Council shows that 25% of Mindanao's exported products go to the United States making it the island's top export market providing $378.65 million worth of export earnings to the island.

The top two export market of Mindanao is Japan which accounted for 20% of the island's export earnings. Mindanao registered a total of $309.19 million in export earnings from Japan for the first semester of the year.

Indonesia and Taiwan ranks as the 8th and 9th top destination of Mindanao's export products during the same period. The amount of products exported by Mindanao to Indonesia increased seven-fold from $4 million during the first six months of 2007 to $34 million during the said period this year. Mindanao's export to Taiwan on the other hand increased by almost 70% from $18 million during the first semester of 2007 to $31 million during the same period this year.

The other major export market of Mindanao are Netherlands, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Iran and Singapore.

Davao Artica Dome As Crematorium?

City Administrator Wendell Avisado's comments on transforming the White Elephant Davao City Artica Sports Dome into a crematorium may have been made in jest but the idea stuck!

Councilor Nilo Abellera, the proponent of the creation of a crematorium for the city, said he has no objection whatsoever if the crematorium which he has proposed as early as 2004 will be located at the Artica Sports Dome.

"The idea of converting the Artica Sports Dome into a crematorium did not come from me but I heard it is from City Hall," he said. However, he added, if this is true then he does not see anything wrong with it as the city is in dire need of more space for the dead.

Abellera said the city has almost fully paid the loan for the Artica Dome and it is really a waste of money if nothing will be done to make it useful. People are however skeptical about converting the Sports Dome into a crematorium since the safety of the structure as well as its location is still under question.

Davao Councilor Eyes Establishment Of City Scholarship Fund

Davao City Councilor Mabel Sunga Acosta is pushing for the creation of the Davao City Scholarship Fund in lieu of the Davao City College.

She said the proposal to put up a City College for Davao has not really moved. In the meantime, she said, "why don't we put up a Fund that will not only hold Davao City's money but international and other funding as well to provide scholarship for Dabawenyos?"

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is already providing financial assistance to students in the elementary and high school level so I would like to focus this time on the tertiary or College level, she said.

Acosta said she is bent on formally creating the Scholarship Fund with strict guidelines so it can benefit academically gifted Dabawenyos who could not go to College for financial reasons. "This is not charity so those who will benefit from it are not only the poor but bright students," she said.