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By Francis Allan L. Angelo
MORE than 300 employees in Western Visayas will lose their jobs because of the looming shutdown and retrenchment of some businesses in Iloilo and Negros Occidental this month.
Amy Judicpa, public information officer of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole-6), said they received notices of permanent closure from six companies while six more firms will downsize their manpower.
Judicpa said two of the companies that will shutdown are based in Iloilo, four are in Negros Occidental.
The businesses that will retrench some of their workers are all based in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City.
A total of 320 workers will be affected by the closure and retrenchment of these businesses.
But Judicpa said the figures this month are not very alarming compared to January 2008 where 21 establishments closed shop while 13 others laid off their employees.
Judicpa said the shutdowns and retrenchments of businesses in the region were not caused by the global financial crisis which resulted in mass layoffs in other parts of Luzon and Visayas.
“Western Visayas is primarily service, agriculture and tourism-oriented economy unlike other areas in Luzon which are manufacturing- and export-based economies, thus, they are vulnerable to the crisis. The number of displaced workers in Luzon and other areas are bigger compared to Region 6,” she added.
Up to 300,000 people could lose their jobs in the Philippines over the next six months as the global financial crisis deepens, warned Dole Secretary Marianito Roque.
Some 15,000 have been laid off over the past two months while 19,000 others had their work week cut to four days or less, Roque said.
The labor department chief said a “worst-case scenario” would see the number of jobless rise to between 250,000 and 300,000 by the end of June.
He described the job cuts so far, which include more than 10,000 in the Calabarzon industrial belt south of Manila, as being within the “manageable level” in relation to a nationwide work force of about 37 million.
Unemployment in the Philippines currently stands at 6.8 percent.
INTERVENTIONS
Dole-6 director Aida M. Estabillo yesterday met with the heads of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the region to discuss measures that will cushion the effects of the crisis on the labor sector.
The meeting focused on forms of assistance to workers affected by the global slowdown, Estabillo said.
“It is not ‘business as usual’ in the department because of the urgency of the situation. We urge all concerned agencies to give the affected workers the necessary interventions as fast as they can,” Estabillo said.
The initial action of the labor department is to profile the displaced workers and assess possible assistance such as job placement through the Public Employment Service Offices (PESOs) for local employment and the POEA for overseas work.
TESDA was tasked to provide training for skills upgrading/retooling while Dole and OWWA will extend help for displaced local and overseas Filipino workers.
Estabillo said Dole has three livelihood programs under its Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Programs (CLEEP): Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD), Integrated Services for Livelihood Advancement of Fisherfolks (ISLA), and Financial Assistance and Micro-Finance for Expatriates (FAME).
The three programs will benefit not just the displaced workers but also the long-term unemployed individuals, out-of-school-youth and fisher folks.
TUPAD shall be implemented in partnership with the local government units (LGUs), PNP, TESDA and PhilHealth.
ISLA shall be undertaken with LGUs and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). FAME shall be implemented by the OWWA.
Estabillo said Dole-6 has earmarked P8.578 million for the initial implementation of TUPAD and ISLA in Region-6 in the first quarter of 2009.
OWWA-6 head James Mendiola said their help desk in their office at General Luna Street, Iloilo City, is now operational.
“In fact, the Help Desk has already assisted 16 displaced overseas Filipino workers from the region,” Mendiola said.
OWWA-6 has a 24-hour hotline number – 0917-8963111 – where OFWs can call or text for assistance.
TESDA 6 will install an on-line program at OWWA’s Help Desk to immediately capture the profile of workers who wish to avail of its training programs.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
A THREE-man panel will investigate the alleged involvement of two Iloilo provincial prosecutors in the illegal drug trade.
Regional State Prosecutor Domingo Laurea said Department of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. ordered the probe following the controversial “Balasan Boys” exposé of top Capitol officials against Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office (IPPO) chief Bernabe Dusaban and Prosecutor Ricaflor Obsequio.
Laurea said he will head the investigating panel with members Capiz Provincial Prosecutor’s Office chief Rodolfo Beluso Iloilo City Prosecutor’s Office chief Peter Baliao.
The investigation will begin Wednesday next week and will focus on the discovery of the names of Dusaban and Obsequio in a piece of paper inside the wallet of suspected drug pusher Henry Caspillo.
Laurea said they will also probe the failure of the IPPO to submit to his office the drug cases against Caspillo and Rolly Tiope for review. The DOJ requires automatic review of all dismissed drug cases handled by prosecutors.
Dusaban and the IPPO got flak from Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas Sr. for dismissing the non-bailable charges against Caspillo and Tiope who were arrested for alleged drug pushing in Balasan, Iloilo last year.
Tupas also revealed the names Dusaban and Obsequio were found inside Caspillo’s wallet.
The Capitol then sent a letter to Dusaban threatening to withdraw the P1.7-million financial aid to the IPPO.
Iloilo Rep. Niel “Jun-Jun” Tupas Jr. (5th district) also called for a congressional inquiry on the “Balasan Boys” controversy which will begin next month.
Dusaban said he is ready to face the congressional probe to clear his name of any involvement in the illegal drug trade.
UNCONVINCED
But Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel “Boy” Mejorada said he remained “unconvinced” that DOJ secretary Raul Gonzalez is dead serious about uncovering wrongdoings in his own backyard.
“I think that Secretary Gonzalez is just forced by circumstances and the revelation that Provincial Prosecutor (Bernabe) Dusaban violated DOJ regulations that require an automatic review of dismissals made on drug charges that are non-bailable,” Mejorada said in a statement.
Just the same, Mejorada said the directive issued by Gonzalez is a “vindication” because it acknowledges that transgressions of the law have been committed in the handling of the so-called “Balasan Boys” cases.
The question now that should be asked is why there was apparent haste on the part of Dusaban to hand down the resolutions that allowed Caspillo and Tiope to post bail despite the strong evidence for non-bailable offenses, Mejorada said.
He said he finds it hard to believe that Dusaban could carry out the questioned acts “right in the backyard of the justice secretary.”
“It boggles my mind to think that a provincial prosecutor would be bold enough to do such wrongful acts unless he had the blessings of the boss,” he said.
Mejorada said the exposé has already caused a dramatic about-face in the manner by which Dusaban’s office is handling drug cases.
Just two weeks ago, Dusaban approved a resolution finding probable cause against a suspected pusher arrested for selling marijuana in Leon, Iloilo in just one week after the case was filed before his office, he said.
“We will continue to monitor the performance of the provincial prosecutor’s office in its disposition of drug cases,” he said.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
TWO groups of New People’s Army rebels reportedly clashed in the highlands of Central Panay yesterday.
Maj. Antonio Tumnog, spokesman of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion in Aklan, said residents in the boundary of Calinog, Iloilo and Tapaz, Capiz reported hearing gunfire in their area.
Tumnog said members of the 47th IB patrolled the boundary and later confirmed that two groups of communist rebels led by Kumander Mayok and Kumander Tonying clashed.
The Army spokesman said internal conflict within the rebel group could be the reason for the shootout.
Tumnog said they are also entertaining the possibility of a mis-encounter between the two groups.
More Army soldiers were sent to the area to secure the villages where the clash reportedly happened.
Twin encounters between the Army and NPA also happened in Tapaz, Capiz and Negros Occidental resulting to the death of two rebels and the wounding of three others.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
TOP energy officials and stakeholders confirmed the power shortage besetting Visayas region, particularly Panay and Negros Occidental.
The energy scenario in the region and the necessary actions that must be taken to avert the shortage was presented during the energy summit initiated by the Department of Energy at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel January 14-16.
The summit was attended by officials of the National Power Corp. (NPC), National Transmission Corp. (Transco), Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), independent power producers, distribution utilities and other stakeholders in the energy industry.
In a summit brief obtained by The Daily Guardian, Crispin “Bingbong” Lamayan, Transco assistant vice president for System Operations-Visayas, confirmed the shortage of reserved electricity in the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) power grid.
As of December 17, 2008, 7pm, Panay Island lacks 53 megawatts (MW) while Negros is short by 57MW.
Lamayan said Panay is suffering from rotating brownouts ranging from 30 minutes to 9 hours. Negros needs 240MW by 2010 on top of its present capacity of 109MW.
The Transco official also said that Cebu province lacks 291MW with Mactan Island accounting for about 65MW while the power deficit in Bohol reached 38.70MW.
The Leyte-Samar enjoys a 352.70MW surplus but it is not enough to fill in the 439.7MW total power deficit of Visayas region.
The supply coming from geothermal plants in Leyte, where the grid also gets its power needs, is also decreasing, Lamayan said in several news items last year.
The power crisis is attributed to the burgeoning business climate in the region while power sources remained the same.
What needs to be done to avert the power crisis by 2010?
Mario Pangilinan, PEMC vice president for market operations, presented the Supply Augmentation Plan which is being finalized and will be operational within the period the CNP grid is expected to suffer low electricity supply. This crisis period includes the present until 2010 when new power plants in Visayas are expected to be operational.
The summit also came up with action plans based on the needs and peculiarities of each island in Visayas.
In Panay, energy officials proposed the deployment of more NPC modular units (generator sets) to augment the island’s power supply. Another solution presented was the uprating of the Negros-Panay transmission by middle of 2010.
Another proposal is the possibility of granting renewable energy initiatives before the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9513 (Renewable Energy Law) are finalized.
Ilonggo business executive Rex Drilon, president of the Iloilo Local Economic Development Foundation who attended the summit, called for the declaration of a state of emergency in Panay given its power shortage problem.
For Negros, the development of the biomass market was encouraged.
It was also proposed that incentives will be given to renewable energy investors before the implementation of RA 9513. The rehabilitation of existing power plants in Negros must also be covered by the said incentives.
The consortium of the five electric cooperatives in Western Visayas is also seen to develop the subtransmission line and loop and improve electricity supply.
By Francis Allan L. Angelo
THE Iloilo City police are gathering more information on the identities of the suspects who stabbed to death a ranking official of a Department of Health (DOH)-affiliated foundation.
Chief Insp. Conrado Carganillo, Iloilo City police station 1 chief, said they are looking at two suspects in the murder of Epi Ramos, chief executive officer of the Field Epidemiology Training Program Alumni Foundation Inc., a partner organization of the DOH.
Ramos, 37, of Magallon Street, Cabatuan, Iloilo, was found dead inside Room 404 of Eon Centennial Plaza Hotel on Jalandoni Street, Iloilo City proper Tuesday morning.
He succumbed to more than 20 stab wounds in his chest and head.
The victim checked in the hotel January 24 for a seminar on diseases identification mounted by their foundation in behalf of the DOH.
Citing the initial information they gathered from the victim’s associates, Carganillo said the Ramos knew the suspects because he allowed them inside his room between 8:30 pm and 9 pm Monday.
Carganillo said robbery is the main motive in the crime because of the missing items and cash from Ramos’ room.
Missing from Ramos’ room was more than P100,000 registration fee of the seminar participants, two laptop computers, two cellphones and the victim’s wallet containing undetermined amount of cash.
Carganillo said they have yet to get more information from security Jeffrey Lagayan who was on duty at the hotel entrance Monday evening.
Lagayan said he saw two young males leave the hotel premises around 1am Tuesday. One male wore a brown shirt while the other was clad in a black shirt.
Lagayan said he can only identify the two persons by their body build as he failed to clearly see their faces.
Carganillo said their investigation could have been easier if the hotel management had records of their guests’ visitors.
But investigators are pinning their hopes on the fingerprints found be scene of crime operatives inside Ramos’ room.
Ramos graduated valedictorian from Cabatuan National Comprehensive High School in 1988. He once worked as a medical technologist of the Cabatuan Rural Health Unit.
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