Saturday, February 28, 2009

President Arroyo meets displaced OFWs in Davao City




President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo awarded P50,000 individual checks to 25 displaced Overseas Filipino Workers coming from the different parts of Mindanao. The President was assisted by Labor Secretary Marianito Roque in a ceremony held recently at the Apo View Hotel in Davao City.
The 25 displaced OFWs came from Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Hong Kong, Laos, Thailand, Qatar who opted to avail of the livelihood assistance to start or expand existing businesses of their families.
Most of the enrolled businesses are on piggery expansion, food distribution, bakery enhancement, frozen fish trading, sari-sari store, boarding house completion, and banana production.
The initial livelihood assistance given by the President to displaced OFWs on Thursday in Davao City amounted to P1.5 million which was on top of the 35 scholarship certificates to OFWs from Mindanao who were retrenched due to the current global economic crisis.
The event is in recognition of the OFWs contribution to the economy where the Arroyo administraton mapped out this "pay back package" program.
The distribution of checks was witnessed by 600 OFWs and their families who prior to their meeting with the President were extended a techno demo on beadworks and novelty item making, ice cream making, trendy balloon making and Christmas decor making and fresh flower arrangement.
Displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) must first complete a training on livelihood of their choice before they become eligible to a loan under the Filipino Expatriates Livelihood Support Fund (FELSF).
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Region XI director Ronleonil M. Bartolome said the government has earmarked P1 billion for OFWs assistance under the FELSF. The fund he said will come from OWWA with P100 million, National Livelihood Support Fund, P100 million, Land Bank of the Philippines, P400 million and Development Bank of the Philippines, P400 million.
He said they would expect more OFWs to register with them and in Davao Region alone they already listed about 72 as of February 19.
Bartolome stressed that these OFWs must first undergo training on their desired livelihood projects which OWWA will facilitate in coordination with Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education Skils and Development Authority. They must also be able to come up with a business plan, he said.
He also said that they will be taught how to manage and operate the business and OWWA will strictly monitor the implementation of the livelihood project.
"This is a loan extended to OFWs with five percent interest payable in two years with two months grace period," he said.
Bartolome meanwhile said that the livelihood assistance is their regular fund assistance to OFWs which started in 1998 even as he said they would be employing a stricter monitoring system to improve on repayment rates which before in Davao Region was only at 40 percent.
Bartolome on the other hand said that they still receive request from OFWs who prefer overseas employment while the younger ones opted for the scholarship program to augment further their skills which they need for seeking jobs abroad.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

PGMA visits Davao hydro power project; meets beneficiaries in Davao del Sur






President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited Barangay Sibulan Thursday morning where she was briefed on the Hedcor, Inc.'s P5.1-billion Sibulan Hydropower Project (SHP) that is expected to generate 42.5 megawatts (MW) of power.

During the visit, President Arroyo was given the briefing by Hedcor president and chief operations officer Rene Ronquillo.

Ronquillo told the President that the hydro project is expected to be finished in October 2009. With 60 percent of the works completed, they were able to employ 1,100 workers mostly coming from Barangay Sibulan and neighboring areas, he added.

The project entails the construction of two cascading run-of-river hydropower plants that will harness the Sibulan and Baroring Rivers in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.

Once operational, the SHP will generate carbon neutral electricity that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more that 95,000 tCO2e. It is the largest investment of the Aboitiz Power in the hydropower generation business.

Hearing this, the President took note of the efforts of the private sector like Hedcor in helping the government in its "green" programs and job generation.

She said the government's job is to make sure that it (goverment) is hospitable to investors.

She was also pleased to hear of Hedcor's other power projects already in the pipeline like the Tamugan Hydropower Project in Davao City.

The President, while at the SHP Plant B, interacted with some beneficiaries of the hydro project such as Ariel Aninipot, who told her about the development brought by the project to their community including the lighting of some areas in the barangay. He is employed as liaison officer of the project.

George Concepcion, a farmer, told the President that with Hedcor's rehabilitated road, it is easier for him to bring his produce to the market.

Rogelio Manapol, tribal leader, said their sector, the Indigenous Peoples (IPs), will now be able to enjoy their royalty share from the project. The IPs get a share of one centavo per kilowatt hour of energy produced.

After her 30-minute visit to the hydropower project site, President Arroyo proceeded to Cagayan de Oro City for the 18th Convention of the Vice Mayors League of the Philippines at Pryce Hotel and the Bridging and Skills Re-training Program at SM City Cagayan.

Meanwhile, Hedcor, Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz said they are just awaiting the water rights they applied with the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) for their Tamugan hydro power project located in the Davao City area.

He said that they are hopeful to pursue the project this year.

The Tamugan River is the same river the Davao City Water District is developing as another source of potable water for Davao City residents. (Photos by Mae Gevera)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Mindanao posted positive growth in social security

Mindanao posted 16 percentgrowth for SSS benefit paymentsThe island of Mindanao posted double digit growth on benefit disbursements for Social Security System (SSS) members.SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Romulo L. Neri reported that it marked a 16 percent growth in 2008 on payment for all types of benefits.
Neri said from January to September 2008, SSS paid a total of P5.92 billion in benefits, 74 percent or P4.39 billion of which is for regular pensions. Their pension disbursements for the period were actually 20 percent more than the P3.67 billion they paid for the same nine-month period in 2007. Maternity benefits rose from P105.81 million to P176.36 million, or an increase of 12 percent Seven percent more or P853.49 million were paid for lump sum payments for retirement, death, disability, and P306.09 million or five percent more for funeral claims combined payments for sickness benefits and medical services increased by two percent to P188.97 million.
Neri meanwhile encourage members to pay their monthly premiums without fail so they would be eligible for SSS salary loans when they encounter financial emergencies.
He also urged members with delinquent loan accounts to avail of the amnesty program that ends on April 30 in which the SSS condoned the penalties.
In Davao City he said the total contribution collections in Southern Mindanao for 2008 amounted to P3.54 billion. This surpassed the P3.31 billion collection in 2007 by P227.45 million for a seven percent growth.
Meanwhile Davao branch head Manolito Tagalog attributed the increase to options they offer to both employers and employees.He said aside from loan condonation and amnesty program for workers, the employers with delinquent accounts were allowed to pay on installment or through "dacion en pago" where they pay in kind of real property for non payment of workers premium but subject for assessment of the SSS. He said the property among others must be accessible for easy disposal.
He said their delinquency rate from 80 percent had been decreased and in Davao City their delinquency account is only about P70 million.Tagalog also said they now have a good ratio of benefit disbursement against their collection where few years back their disbursement was more than their collection.

Davao City has 800 ,000 active members that covers more than half of Davao Region's combined active and inactive members of 1.5 million. SSS members for both active and inactive accounted to about 24 million.

Eco stimulus fund safe area to invest, says SSS

Eco stimulus fund is safearea to invest says Neri President and Chief Executive Officer Romulo L. Neri of the Social Security System explains to the Davao media on Thursday that SSS will only engage in safe investment like the proposed P300-billion economic stimulus fund.
Neri said they are looking at this scheme because they will be lending under sovereign guarantee even as he said that it would be purely an investment which is expected to earn reasonable yield based on benchmark rates.
SSS he said eyes an investment of about P12 billion or one-fourth of the government financial institutions' share of infrastructure projects or less than five percent of the total assets of SSS. Under the Social Security Law, the SSS can finance domestic infrastructure projects provided that the investment shall be guaranteed by the Philippine government.
SSS will invest 30 percent of their funds to infrastructure and 40 percent on government securities. And all are invested in the Philippines and nothing on foreign exposure. SSS also maintains a solid balance sheet, he said.
The proposed investment still has to be finalized he said and the other financial institutions namely the Government Insurance System, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines will come in for as long as the investment is sound.He said participating on this investment would create jobs which could probably help those would be affected SSS members because of the financial crisis.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

To pump prime the economy, funds are ready to fund Mindanao rural infra

There is budget for implementation of rural infrastructure project in Mindanao.

Director Helena B. Habulan of the Municipal Development Finance Office of the Department of Finance said there is budget and this is more than the $10 million funding under the Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP) for the first set of projects for implementation within the first six months this year.

"We have the budget that can cover more than the $10 million fund and there is about P1.3 billion to be spent this year in Mindanao rural projects," she said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) as what Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras said the rural infrastructure is upon instruction of President Arroyo for their department to focus more on infrastructrure development in Mindanao and with the MRDP phase 2 some $10 million is programmed for implementation of infrastructure projects for the first semester this year.

The implementation will take within next two months and this would consists of farm to market roads, cold storage, post harvest facilities and rehabilitation of irrigation systems.

The rural infra project aims to generate employment especially during this time of crisis and the MRDP is a program implemented under DA geared towards alleviation of the poor communities in Mindanao and jointly funded by World Bank, DA and the local government units.

World Bank team leader Carolina F. Geron said the release of funds will given directly to the LGUs even as she said that the process went through consultation with them and the LGUs and the communities and the DA.

The projects pass through national competitive bidding and part of the agreement is to allocate 70 percent of labor to be taken from the local communities and this type of intervention will have impact at the local level.

The implementers of the program are accountable of the project the WB representative said and Geron continued that it is important to really build their capacity.

Anti-corruption measures she said are embodied in the MRDP projects and their role is to ensure that measures are implemented in all the projects.

The $10 million fund or P586 million comprises 90 percent of farm to market road, 6 percent potable water system, 2 percent for single bridges, and 2 percent on irrigiation projects. Another P200 million is for livelihood assistance and P40 million for protection and sustainable management of natural resources.

MRDP 2 covers 27 provinces in Mindanao and 225 town of the 400 municipalities of the island with 75 subprojects. The rural infa component under MRDP 1 covered only 19 municipalities with total project cost of P160.889 million for the 25 subprojects on the ground.