Only 16% of labor force to benefit from wage hike

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, March 12, 2010—Only sixteen percent (16%) of the total labor force in the country will benefit from any legislated wage increases, the chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) claimed the other day.

Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said that of the total work force of the country, only 16% are in the “formal” sector while the 84% are in the “informal” sector.

“The formal sector of our labor force is the only one who are affected by any legislated increase in salary. Yung 84% palaging naiiwan,” he explained.

Ortiz-Luis said only those who are in the formal labor sector are covered by the Labor Code and other labor laws while the greater majority who composed the informal labor sector are not covered by the laws because they are those who are mostly small self-employed entrepreneurs and workers in the so-called “underground economy.”

The informal sector comprises of those who are casual, contingent, contractual, seasonal, temporary and non-regular employees, which really are the unsung heroes who have contributed to several businesses’ and industries’ progress and yet are taken for granted.

Recent Labor department statistics (2008) showed that the informal labor sector in the country comprises 20 million workers while the formal sector is just 5 million.

But the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) said the formal sector is composed of 5.067 million out of a total labor force of 34.5 million.

Ortiz-Luis said that while the P75.00 across-the-board increase in salary is a “populist idea,” it will really benefit only a few workers and not those who are in the informal sector.

“You’re not doing the working class a favor by increasing the wage,” he said, warning that if this happens in light of the power crisis that is spawning a host of other problems particularly in the business sector, many businesses will be forced to retrench workers or shut down operations to cope with the rising cost of doing business.

“It is not really a question of how can we cope but much of a question of how productive we will be,” said Jaime Ralph U. Paguio, president of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc. (Oro Chamber).

Paguio said while most businesses in Cagayan de Oro which are members of Oro Chamber have not yet thought of laying off workers, some “maybe forced” to move towards that direction if the power crisis persists and no mitigating measures are instituted in the short term.

However, he stressed that they are also thinking of using “flexi-time” to cope with the power crisis.

“It really is a judgment call for businesses,” he said

Ruben Vegafria, president of the Promote CDO Foundation and chairman of the Regional Small and Medium Enterprise Development (SMED) Council in Northern Mindanao, said that the business sector is “now suffering” because of the power curtailment imposed by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) because of limited power supply produced by the National Power Corporation (NPC).

Vegafria said the petition for a P75.00 across-the-board wage increase filed by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) will further the suffering of the sector and will eventually result to the suffering of the labor force.

“The TUCP petition is bordering on being heartless. The business sector is suffering already,” he said.

He and other business leaders feared that many politicians running for various elective positions will milk the petition to boost their chances of victory at the polls.

“We hope the politicians will not ride on the TUCP request,” he said. (Bong D. Fabe)

Forwarders liable should poll machines fail to reach locations on time - GMANews.TV

KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV

Companies in charge of transporting voting machines across the Philippines will still be held liable should the equipment fail to reach their locations on time, the Commission on Elections said on Friday.

“The PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines)’... role is important but the forwarders are responsible in the delivery of the PCOS [Precinct Count Optical Scanner] machines," Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said during a meeting attended by the poll body, the PNP, AFP, Smartmatic-TIM, the Department of Education, and the three forwarders tasked to deliver the machines.

More than 76,000 poll machines must reach their designated areas three to seven days before the elections for the testing and sealing, Larrazabal said.

The PNP and the AFP will be in charge of securing the machines.

Earlier, the Comelec enlisted the services of forwarding firms Germalin Enterprises (National Capital Region), Ace Logistics (North and South Luzon), and Argo Forwarders (Visayas and Mindanao) for the transportation of the poll machines and ballot boxes.

The Comelec decided to leave the delivery of all the election materials to the three companies so that there will be no more confusion, just like how it awarded the contract to manufacture the ballot boxes to poll machine supplier Smartmatic-TIM, Comelec chairman Jose Melo said.


Forwarders ready

Amalia Zoleta, vice president of Argo's marketing division, said that the company is well aware of what will happen should they fail to deliver more than 35,000 PCOS units to the Visayas and Mindanao.

"It's in the contract, nakalagay dun (it says there)... if u cannot deliver within that four days then you have to make an advance delivery," she said.

She refused, however, to divulge how much they will have to pay should they commit a contract breach.

But she noted that they have insured the machines in case anything happens.

She also said that their deployment plan will ensure that the voting machines will be delivered to their hubs in the municipalities beforeMay 3, which will be the beginning of the deployment to the polling places.

The forwarder said that it has hubs in Region 6 (Iloilo, Roxas, Bacolod), Region 7 (Cebu, Tagbiliran, Dumaguete), Region 8 (Tacloban), Region 9 (Zamboanga City, Dipolog), Region 10 (Ozamis City, Cagayan De Oro), Region 11 (Davao), Region 12 (General Santos City), Caraga (Butuan), and ARMM (Cotabato).

"For the hubs we have enough security people hired. We have contracted a security agency who will handle the whole deployment for Visayas (and) Mindanao," she said.

Zoleta said that her company has already asked Smartmatic to double the packing of the machines bound for far-flung areas.

She also said that they are hoping for the AFP and PNP's protection in provinces known to have a history of election violence.

On the other hand, Germalin executive assistant Ireneo Padrigon said that her company is prepared to deliver the more than 7,000 machines to be deployed in the NCR.

"Ito naman ay pinaghandaan nmin. Since last year pa kami nag-prepare dito (We prepared for this. We have been preparing since last year)," he told reporters.

Padrigon said that the company will be storing the machines in its hub in Tandang Sora in Quezon City for safekeeping until they are scheduled for delivery.

He also assured that the PCOS units will remain unopened while inside the facility.

"Naka seal yun. Hindi namin tatanggapin kung merong irregularity (Those are sealed. We will not accept them if there are irregularities)," he said, adding that they also have organic secuirty personnel hired to guard the machines.

Argo worked with the Comelec during the 2007 national and 2008 ARMM elections. Germalin also worked with the poll body in the 2007 polls.


PNP, AFP assistance

Both the PNP and AFP have committed to providing assistance to the Comelec in the deployment of the PCOS units to the different provinces.

"We are throwing 100 percent of our commitment to ensuring that there is credible elections come May 2010," said AFP Brig. Gen. Rolando Hautea, Jr. during the conference.

Hautea said that the AFP has reduced incidents of violence in the problematic provinces.

"Some areas we have even handed over the task of fighting insurgencies to the local government units," he said.

For his part, PNP Deputy Director General Edgardo Acuna said that the police has already prepared for this project way back.

"We know for a fact that a tremendous amount of security requirement will be demanded from the PNP and AFP... we are really committed to throwing all the resources of the PNP to make this election work," he said.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio said that the poll body still be discussing in detail what the PNP and AFP will specifically be doing regarding the delivery of the poll machines.

Acuna said he will make sure that no PNP and AFP personnel will be allowed to handle any of the election paraphernalia to avoid any controversy.

He said that the military and police will concentrate on providing security. - GMANews.TV

Generators to help solve power crisis - The Manila Times

BY ANGELO S. SAMONTE and FRANCIS EARL A. CUETO Reporters
President Gloria Arroyo has authorized the release of P1 billion to mitigate effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon particularly on the agriculture sector.

“We authorized P1 billion, now it’s up to the El Niño Task Force, headed by the DA [Department of Agriculture] to determine how to allocate it among the different agencies,” President Arroyo told reporters during a dinner in Cebu on Thursday.

She said that to solve the power crisis in Mindanao, the private sector would import power generator sets based on her instructions.

“In my instructions, aside from the private sector importing generation sets, they’re going to rent, they’re going to lease. I said we should also use the embedded generating capacity, when they had a shortage here that’s what they did, they used the embedded generating capacity of the private sector, they allowed them to connect to the grid. That’s part of my instructions,” the President added.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has been talking to the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines to provide financing support for the leasing and renting of power generation sets by the private sector.

The private sector could avail of P100 million in loans for the importation of generation sets, the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo added that now that she has approved the declaration of a state of calamity in Mindanao, local governments could use 5 percent of their annual budgets to address the effects of El Niño.

When asked if the release of the calamity fund needs clearance from the Commission on Elections, the President said, “I don’t think so, the one that’s not allowed during the [election] ban is awarding contracts, but not projects.”

The President did not say how long the declaration of a state of calamity in Mindanao will last but that there is a continuing assessment on the ground that the state of calamity could be lifted once the rains arrived this June.

Also on Thursday, she declared a state of calamity in Mindanao, which has been hit daily by rotating brownouts lasting from eight to 10 hours.

Meanwhile, Malacañang deputy spokesman Charito Planas said that the government supports a proposal by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City to revisit the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 to help solve the country’s power problems over the long-term.

Planas added that Rodriguez proposed the review of the Epira to correct its flaws and attract investments. Rodriguez also wanted that more incentives be given to companies who want to invest in the power sector.


Unexpected rains

Rains fell on Metro Manila on Friday, a rare occurrence during the prolonged dry spell the country is experiencing.

The rains came unexpectedly, with state weather forecasters saying that a cold front soaked Metro Manila, much of Southern Luzon and the Bicol region.

The last recorded rainfall in Metro Manila was on January 22.

Earlier in the day, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that a cold front was expected to provide temporary relief from the searing summer heat for residents in parts of Luzon and Eastern Mindanao.

“Luzon will experience mostly cloudy skies with light rains while the eastern section of Mindanao will have mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms. The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms,” Pagasa said in its 5 a.m. bulletin on Friday.

But the weather bureau earlier warned the public not to mistake the rains as an early end to summer, saying that these are isolated and that the hot days are due to return soon.

There were a few occurrences of rainfall during February but these amounted to less than 1 millimeter, which was insignificant.

“The rains today do not mean that the El Niño is over, because we are still experiencing and will still experience below normal rainfall,” Rusy Abastillas of the Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section of Pagasa said.

She added that Friday’s rains were caused by easterly winds coming from the Pacific Ocean, bringing in moisture.

Largest flower to bloom anew in Bukidnon - PIA

by Peri Madridano

Cagayan de Oro City (12 March) -- The rare and endangered rafflesia (Rafflesia shadenbergiana) which was rediscovered at Sitio Kalanganan, San Vicente, Bukidnon is set to give another bloom this month.

This is the 6th or 7th bloom since its rediscovery in 2007. The flower of Rafflesia schadenbergiana has a diameter of about 80 centimeters or 31 inches. It is considered as the second largest rafflesia species in the world and the largest in the Philippines.

Rafflesia schadenbergiana is a species of Rafflesia found only in the Philippines. It was first discovered in 1882 in Mt. Parag adjacent to Mt. Apo by Dr. Alexander Schadenberg, a German ethnologist who made several explorations in the Philippines. Following its rediscovery in 1882, there were no other recorded sightings of this species.

For more than a century, it was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in 2007 in the mountain slopes of the Baungon town, Bukidnon in Mindanao.

Rafflesia is listed as critically endangered under Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order No. 2007-01.

As such, the DENR and the local government of Baungon is working on the establishment of the area where the rafflesia population was found as critical habitat pursuant to Section 25 of RA 9147 otherwise known as Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act. (PAWD/RPAO)

DENR, LGU ink MOA to protect CdeO caves - PIA

by Peri Madridano

Cagayan de Oro City (12 March) -- The signing of memorandum of agreement between Cagayan de Oro City, through Mayor Constantino Jaraula, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in region 10, through Regional Executive Director Maximo Dichoso, strengthens the co-management and eco-tourism development of Makahambus Cave and Gorge, Calabera Cave and Huluga Cave in the city.

These caves have historical and archaeological values to the people of Cagayan de Oro. Makahambus Cave and Gorge which is sprawled about 175 hectares in Barangays Lumbia and Bayanga of the southern end of the city was the site of the famous battle of Makahambus Hill on June 4, 1900, the first Filipino victory against the Americans. While Huluga and Calabera Caves situated in Sitio Taguanao served as burial sites of the early inhabitants of the city.

In his appreciation for another environmental protection mileage, Director Dichoso lauded the city mayor for his plans saying that promoting the area for ecotourism is a way of connecting to the public the value of the environment.

It is also an avenue for people to have a deeper appreciation of the beauty of the environment through recreation, Dichoso said.

On the other hand, ecotourism serves as the core strategy of sustainable development because it provides financial opportunity to the locale without extracting, depleting or changing the state of the environment.

Caves are unique and very special part of our natural environment. The unique environment of caves provides a habitat for many specialized life forms that are susceptible to human disturbance. Because their climatic conditions are constant, caves are excellent sites for the preservation of archaeological and paleontological remains.

The management and protection of caves and its resources is governed by Republic Act 9072 known as National Caves and Cave resources Management and Protection Act which was passed by Congress in 2001.

The DENR is the lead agency tasked to implement the provisions of the Act in coordination with the Department of Tourism (DOT), National Museum, National Historical Institute and concerned local government units (LGU) for specific caves. (PAWD/RPAO)

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