Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Opening of SM Davao offers 10,000 jobs


DAVAO CITY,Sept. 29 (PNA) -- Some 10,000 new jobs are up for grabs following the opening of the SM Lanang Premier and the Radisson Hotel here on Friday.

SM Prime Holdings president Hans T. Sy said "we have been very aggressive in Mindanao because we saw the potential in the island. What we are doing in China is also what we are doing here," he said.

Sy led the opening of SM Lanang Premier on Sept. 28 and had the new landmark inaugurated on Sept. 27 along with the first IMAX threatre, the first Forever 21 store in the region, an SMX Convention Center.

"It will also feature the Science Discovery Center. The Radisson Hotel will open in February 2013," he said.

The Park, an outdoor event venue was, simultaneously opened to the public. It has a breathtaking 122 meters musical fountain and a Skygarden with greens, water features, and restaurants.

Sy said the purchasing power in Mindanao is strong and this can be seen in the study they made per transaction basis.

"I'm giving them reason to spend by offering new market to make the economy rolling," he said.
Sy said next year they will have two projects in Mindanao where another mall will be built in Cagayan de Oro City and in Butuan City with a capital expense each at P2 billion.

"The Cagayan mall will be similar to that in Olongapo City with 1.7 hectares area of multi-level type while Butuan will have an area of 90,000 square meters," he said.

"What we are doing is to invest back the cash we generated in the 46 malls and not just borrow funding for reason of expansion," he said.

Sy also emphasized that all their projects come with sustainability even as he said that features of water collection and recycling is one major component in all the malls that they operate both here and abroad.

Davao City vice mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte said "the opening of SM Premier mall showed to the world that our city is the right investment area and a peaceful city to do business."(PNA) ghg/Prix Digna D. Banzon/ldp/utb
We need to protect Mother Nature ... the Indigenous Peoples here need all the help to keep the trees growing in their ancestral domain, the place they consider so sacred to them ... here's an article I write about a tree planting activity here ...


Davao Sur tribes thank hydropower firm for reforesting Mt. Apo Natural Park

STA. CRUZ, Davao del Sur (PNA)-– The Bagobo-Tagabawa communities in Sibulan, Sta. Cruz here expressed gratitude for the Hedcor, Inc. and Hedcor Sibulan, Inc. reforestation program implemented in the areas at the foot of the Mt. Apo, the country’s highest mountain.

Datu Rudy Agtad, a 50-year-old Bagobo-Tagabawa chieftain, and one of the community members of Barangay Sibulan, who recently trekked the Mt. Apo Natural Park joined the team in planting 2,000 narra seedlings at Sitio Lower Pogpog, Barangay Sibulan.

“We were not wrong when we accepted the (Sibulan hydropower) project in our lands,” relates Agtad. Adding “we are thankful Hedcor commits and takes its responsibility to protect and preserve our environment and the watershed.”

Hedcor has already planted more than 100,000 trees in the 1,000 hectares of the Mt. Apo Natural Park adopted by the company as part of its Watershed Management Plan (WMP).

The planted trees are constantly monitored by the company’s environmental department, representatives from the Province of Davao del Sur and Municipality of Sta. Cruz and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Barangay Sibulan is host to the first hydropower project registered under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project, the Hedcor’s 42.5 mega watts (MW) run-of-river hydropower plant.

The tree planting activity was also part of the second simultaneous tree planting nationwide of the Aboitiz group companies. The first was organized after AboitizPower did a pioneering carbon emission inventory that showed there is a need to plant one million trees over time to offset carbon emissions. (PNA)
LOR/Prix Digna D. Banzon/lvp