CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Turkish and Korean investors have expressed interest in acquiring the 114-megawatt Iligan Diesel Power Plant 1 & 2 in Dalipuga, Iligan City. Some members of the 30-man Turkish mission that visited this city last week expressed interest in the plant now owned by the city government of Iligan.
The 7.9-hectare power complex was acquired by Iligan City under a compromise agreement with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. following its failure to settle real estate taxes with the local government.
Earlier, the Energy Developer Co. Ltd. of Seoul, South Korea, a company involved in renewable energy generation, contracted Cagayan de Oro-based MERGS Technologies, Inc. to conduct due diligence and feasibility study on the plant following a visit to Iligan Mayor Lawrence Ll. Cruz.
Formerly known as the Northern Mindanao Power Corp. (NMPC), the $110-million facility was the first fast-tracked build-operate-transfer power project that is controlled by a local firm. It was commissioned in 1993 as an offshoot of the independent power producers initiative of the Ramos administration and is a joint undertaking of the Alcantara Group and Tomen Corp. of Japan.
Previously designated as NMPC-1 and NMPC-2, the plants were renamed as the Iligan Diesel Power Plant 1 and 2 when the two units were turned over to the National Power Corp. — Michael D. Baños
MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The government is seeking compensation of not less than P42 million ($0.97 million) from a Panama-registered cargo tanker that destroyed a coral reef area in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao, a senior government official said today.
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje said that damages inflicted on the Bakud (Takut) Reef in Kiamba, Sarangani by MV Double Prosperity on May 8 should include not only the cost of the damaged coral area, but the total worth of marine services that have been lost.
“We estimate that the damaged cost in Bakud Reef could run up to P42 million. But this amount is like giving a slap on the wrist on the ship’s owners as the value in marine services that was lost as a consequence of the accident is invaluable,” he said.
The 225-meter Panama-registered cargo tanker, loaded with 65, 900 metric tons of coal, was heading for India from Australia when it plowed through a portion of Bakud Reef, which is within the 215, 950-hectare Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape (SBPS), a declared protected area.
Authorities have estimated that a hectare of coral reef has an annual average value of 130,000 dollars in terms of services to people.
Bacolod City — The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has put its housing loan program on hold as it is faced with total unpaid loans of P11 billion for 17,000 house-and-lot packages nationwide.
“The GSIS means business in protecting the resources of its stakeholders, which may have been abused in the past,” said its chairman, Daniel Lacson Jr.
“The current board and administration have decided to immediately stop additional housing loans until a comprehensive policy and program can be introduced to dispose of all the non-performing assets amounting to P11 billion or more,” Lacson told the Inquirer.
He said the 17,000 properties were now with the GSIS asset and disposal management group for disposal. The GSIS has been providing housing loans since 1954 and over the years has come up with different programs, Lacson said.
In the beginning, the GSIS provided loans to members only but later it began extending loans to developers and then got involved in real estate development, buying land and building houses and selling these as house-and-lot packages, Lacson explained.
In a report to the GSIS board, consultant Mel Alonso said the GSIS did not have adequate manpower to support its various financing activities, which resulted in its failure to collect payments. The GSIS could dispose of its assets through government agencies engaged in housing programs, banks or private developers, Alonso said.
“In short, the board wants closure in terms of policy with regard to the housing program as well as other activities of the GSIS currently having difficulties,” he said.
The GSIS, meanwhile, has foreclosed on a 5-hectare private cemetery in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, following its owner’s failure to pay a P17-million loan, Lacson said.
The estate of Jose and Rosario Echauz used the P17 million loan obtained in 1999 to develop the property. When it was granted the loan, the Echauz estate promised to create a corporation with a paid-up capital of P25 million but when it registered the firm with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the paid-up capital was only P312,500, Lacson said. /INQUIRER
ISLAND Garden City of Samal––Tourism Project: Visit Samal Island is a three-month summer tourist escapades for all foreign and domestic tourists and enjoy bundle of benefits and world-class amenities offered by the 27 beaches and inland resorts of the enchanted Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS) from March 2011 to May 2011.
Through a public, private partnership (PPP), the Department of Tourism in Region 11, with the able leadership of Regional Director Art Boncato Jr., the local government of Samal with its dynamic local executive, Mayor Aniano P. Antalan and the Samal Tourism Council innovative chairman Dr. Austerio “Bebot” Obenza bring to the “World of Tourism” the first-ever Samal Visit Island Project to attract more tourists to visit the island.
With the project, it is with pride and pleasure that Samal Passport is presented to all foreign and domestic tourists and are available and found in all major malls in the country and visitors arriving in major ports, where tourists can pick them up and bring to Samal City as passport, capture the beauty of the island, and for the visitors to genuinely enjoy the huge discounts offered by the participating resorts of Samal City.
Samal Passports invite the tourists from all over the world to discover, explore and experience Samal. Enjoy the island of sun, sand and seas and highland thrills, and make each visit a reason to come back again and again.
In an interview, Dr. Bebot Obenza-Chairman of the Island Garden City of Samal Tourism told BusinessWeek Mindanao that Visit Samal Island Project is the first of its kind under the public, private partnership being facilitated by his office with the support of members of Samal City Resort Owners Association to attract more tourists to visit the island. The same project will also be offered during lean months to see the extent of tourists arrivals of the City.
To date there are 48 resorts Samal City comprising the high end resorts for the AB market, middle end for the C market and the low end for all to enjoy to include the locales.
At A Glance: The Island Garden City of Samal is a group of islands in the heart of Davao Gulf and its sea waters and reefs are within the 1.6 million square kilometers stretch land area of the BIMP-EAGA Equator which is claimed to be Mother’s Earth true center of Biodiversity. Physically unattached to the mainland of Mindanao, the island is 900 meters east of Davao City and 10 kilometers of continuous coastline and with an extensive mountain range at the eastern coast, a number of isolated hills and uneven distribution of lowlands.
Participating resorts are the following: Hof Gorei Beach Resort, Paradise Island Park and Beach Resort, Pearl Farm Beach Resort, Punta del Sol Beach Resort Restaurant and Aqua Sports, Marex Beach Resort, Chemas By The Sea, Golden Bay Beach Resort and SPA, Blue Jaz, Club Asiano Beach Resort, Captain Hook’s Red Parrot Inn, Aznebo Grill and Restaurant, Rainbow Breeze Beach Resort, Island Ridge Mountain Resort, Fernandez Beach Resort, Mahan Garden Resort, Hagimit Falls, Mayumi Disney Sea Beach Resort, HI-5 Princess Tropical Inland Resort, Camp Holiday Resort and Recreation Area, Blue Water Village and Resort, Sea Grass Beach Resort, Ilihan Beach Resort, Precious Garden of Samal, Florenda’s Beach Resort, Maxima Resort Aqua Fun, Ato Ni Bay (ANB) Hotel and Wind and Wave Davao.
DIGOS CITY — Some 100 lumad leaders from Mindanao gathered for a Datu-Bai Conference calling for the stop of large-scale mining and other development projects that are destroying the ecology and Lumad ancestral domain.
The gathering continues at the San Isidro Labrador Parish, Digos City with a cultural gathering today and press conference tomorrow.
The traditional leaders include tribes from the Bagobo, Ata-Manobo, Matigsalug, Obo and Manobo in the Davao Region, B’laan and T’boli in Socsksargen, Higaonon, Kaolo, Banwaon and Talaandig in Northern Mindanao, Subanen in Zamboanga Region and Manobos in Caraga.
The Conference held April 25 pointed out that “development” projects have encroached in their ancestral lands such as large-scale mining, agri-business, and coal-power plants.
The recent deaths in a landslide in a mining area in Pantukan, Compostela Valley shows a possibility of what will happen if large-scale mining comes full blown. Datu Duluman Dausay, an Ata-Manobo from Talaingod, Davao del Norte said that while they firmly oppose mining in Davao Region, local officials fail to show the same resolve.
“It is no longer the destruction of environment, but the destruction of life as well” the leaders in the Conference said.
The traditional leaders point out that such projects do not contribute to the needs of the people especially to Lumads.
“Do the extraction of minerals go back to us? Do the plantations alleviate hunger?” asks Jomorito Guaynon, a Higaonon leader from Bukidnon.
The Datus and Bais said that these projects ultimately earn profit for foreign-owned companies at the expense of destroying the environment, and ultimately the life and culture of Lumads.
“What future do we leave for our generations if our land is gone?” the leaders asked
In a phone message, Datu Guibang Apoga, Ata-Manobo leader of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, called on fellow lumad leaders to never waiver in defending against “development” projects that destroy the environment.
Guibang also called on them to defend the ancestral land and culture of lumads.
There are 18 ethnolinguistic groups in Mindanao with a three million population. All share the common problem of environment plunder, and the military harassments accompanying these projects.
Large-scale mining companies encroaching the Lumad areas are Xstrata-Sagittarius Mines in South Cotabato and Davao del Sur, Toronto Ventures in Zamboanga del Norte, and four mining companies in Caraga.
Other projects affecting the lumad communities are coal-fired power plants in Davao del Sur and the Aboitiz in Davao City, the Hedcor hydro-power plant in Davao del Sur, plantations such as palm oil in Caraga and jathropa in Bukidnon.
