Volunteer "Scubasureros" conduct underwater cleanup in Toledo City, Cebu

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

TOLEDO CITY -- AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Visayas, Inc. (TVI) in partnership with Aboitiz Foundation organized an underwater garbage cleanup with its volunteers called “Scubasureros” in Barangay Bato in celebration of Earth Day in April this year.

Therma South, Inc. (TSI) Reputation and Stakeholder Management Manager Lou Jason Deligencia said, the term “Scubasurero” was coined from 'scuba diving' and 'basurero' or garbage collector" which TVI organized to conduct an activity that is part of its environmental commitment to help protect marine life, especially in the areas where the company operates.

“The idea for this activity came from TVI employees who are also divers. They were diving in the beach just across TVI when they discovered trash stuck to the seabed, and so they’ve decided to tap us and other divers to conduct a wider underwater cleanup,” Deligencia explained.

Among the volunteers who participated in the event were TVI employees, community members, and local government officers. Local surfers from Toledo Local Breakers groups and members of the Young Environmentalists group of Barangay Cabitoonan also provided support to the event. Non-diver volunteers also joined the coastal cleanup in the area.

Most of the trash found underwater were single-use plastics and old clothes. According to diver Daryl Carabio of the Toledo LGU City Planning and Development Office that the “scubasureros” found a lot of plastic and even clothes in just two hours. “We were able to collect 101 kg of plastic, 21 kg of glass, piles of clothes.”

The Scubasureros were hoping to raise community awareness on proper waste disposal and segregation since most of the trash collected underwater were single-use plastics, such as sachets and other plastic packaging, which do not easily biodegrade, Carabio said.

Along with other volunteers, TVI Procurement Operations Specialist Relyn Lazaro has also committed to regularly do underwater cleanups to help decrease the amount of trash in the sea.

Deligencia said the company also took into consideration its host community members who heavily rely on fishing as the main livelihood.

"Marine life in the area is so rich, but we need to ensure that it continues to thrive so that our local fishermen wouldn't need to go farther out into the sea to catch any fish. It will be more efficient for them to fish nearer the coast," Delegencia added.

He added that they also intend to put up an initiative to manage Crown of Thorns (COT) starfish infestation in the area. COT feeds on corals and if left unmanaged, will devour an entire reef colony in months. Without corals, the fish will find habitat elsewhere creating lower fish catch for the fishers in the area. (Photos: TVI/Google Images)

 

 

LTO-District Offices in Liloan, Alcoy soon, licensing centers in Bohol, NegOr reopens

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY -- Land Transportation Office (LTO-7) Regional Director Victor Emmanuel Caindec announced on May 21 that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11743 and R.A. 11741 establishing the LTO District Offices in the towns of Liloan and Alcoy in Cebu Province.

"Cebu Island will also be getting two new district offices, and when we say district offices these are full-service offices which of these offices having their own plantilla positions, their own budgets. I think this is really fantastic news," Caindec said.

These additional district offices are in addition to the recently approved request of RD Caindec to LTO Chief Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante to reopen the full-service licensing centers for Bohol and Negros Oriental.

Caindec said that the 5th LTO Office in Bohol has completed its final touches and they are now setting up the computers including the IT system. Tagbilaran City Driver's License Renewal Offices (DLROs) will soon open in Island City Mall in Tagbilaran City.

While the same reactivation of Licensing Renewal Functions and Issuance of Student Permits in the DLRO of Robinsons' Dumaguete in Robinsons Place, Calindagan, Dumaguete City will soon be announced its opening once the office will be available to the public.

"Over the course of four and a half years, I'm happy to inform you that we have doubled the number of LTO offices from when we took over region 7 in January 2018," Caindec said.

LTO-7 has now 28 offices in the region pending the opening of the DLROs in Tagbilaran and Dumaguete City and the two new District Offices in the Province of Cebu compared to the only 16 offices when RD Caindec took over in 2018.

Aside from those offices, Caindec has secured approval for the opening of two additional New Registration Unit (NRU) offices in the region.  This will be established at the LTO Cebu City District Office and LTO Mandaue City District Office will complement the existing Regional New Registration Unit (R-NRU) located at Subangdaku in Mandaue City. (Photos: LTO7-FB/Google Images)

 

 

Imee urges DOF clarify WFH arrangements

CEBU CITY -- Senator Imee Marcos who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs urged the Department of Finance (DOF) to iron out inconsistencies between its back-to-office order and the government’s approval of work-from-home programs before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Marcos said the lack of a consistent and comprehensive policy on work-from-home arrangements discouraged the entry of more foreign investors and would make it harder for the next administration to keep investment growth on track.

“Companies in export zones are now afraid of losing their tax incentives if they don’t resume all operations on-site. But their work-from-home programs were approved as early as 2017, which the Telecommuting Act of 2018 also supports,” Marcos explained.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) approved the pre-pandemic WFH programs of companies that mainly belonged to the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector: Accenture, ANZ Global Services and Operations, Deltek Systems, HSBC Electronic Data Processing, Optimum Global Solutions, and PSG Global Solutions.

Despite two years of the pandemic and under work-from-home conditions, the IT-BPM sector grew its workforce by 8.9 percent to 10 percent and its revenue by about 9.5 to 14.5 percent, according to PEZA data.

But the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB), headed by the DOF, ordered a return to full office operations at the end of March to aid the recovery of businesses that depend on IT-BPM workers for their livelihood.

Marcos asserts that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) like community groceries, restaurants, and delivery services would also thrive where employees worked from home.

While fear of a pandemic resurgence remains, Marcos supports PEZA’s call to extend WFH programs until the end of the government’s state of calamity declaration in September.

She added that working from home helps employees save on fuel and commuting costs, besides minimizing traffic and public transport congestion.

WiFi connection problems would also ease with the broader distribution of internet bandwidth away from business centers, which Marcos said even the FIRB recognizes.

 

 

KALAHI-CIDSS awards projects to LGUs in Cebu, Bohol

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY –The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) turned over six community sub-projects worth P9.5 million to the municipality of Ginatilan, Cebu and 43 units of handwashing facilities to the local government of Sevilla in Bohol this year.

DSWD-7 regional information officer Leah Quintana said these projects intend to provide support to poor municipalities affected by the pandemic and address health and sanitation issues in both towns. 

Ginatilan LGU received communication devices, medical tools, equipment, isolation facility with amenities, and rehabilitation of water systems for Barangays Calambawan, Cagsing, Palanas, Poblacion, Looc, and San Roque.

The town fully supported the KALAHI-CIDSS since November 2021, giving their cash and in-kind contributions and constant monitoring of the projects while the program provided project funds and trained the community volunteers in operational management.

“Sub-projects were implemented smoothly and properly since some of our volunteers already had experience with the program’s previous implementation,” Area Coordinator Michael Alelen said,

Alelen said the KALAHI-CIDSS Additional Financing implementation produced 334 volunteers with 126 women, and 10 of them now hold leadership posts while projects are now being used by the communities in Ginatilan.

Meanwhile, Sevilla town in Bohol received the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) “Safety Seal Certification” because of the availability of handwashing stations in all 13 barangays, among other measures contributed to Sevilla LGU.

These sanitation projects helped Sevilla manage the local transmission of COVID-19 cases while helping communities implement their priority needs which earned the LGU the seal.

The certification program measures the compliance of an establishment, organization, and other units to minimum public health standards.

KALAHI-CIDSS also purchased medical equipment, sanitary products, and disinfectants to supplement the LGU’s and partner health agencies’ health standards. Through these sub-projects, DSWD ensures that local government units maintain safe public spaces, which are critical to the reopening of local economies.

Angelita Calamba, BDC Technical Working Group Head, thanked the DSWD-7/KALAHI-CIDSS for providing them with the handwashing facilities. “We took advantage of this to stop the spread of COVID-19 cases. It also helped evacuees in our barangay after we were affected by Typhoon Odette,” she said.

The program of KALAHI-CIDSS continues to invest in projects that will strengthen the efforts of partner areas in their fight against health emergencies, Quintana stated.

 

CTU Campus soon to rise in Liloan, Borbon towns with PRRD signing into law RA-11751

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY –President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11751 on April 27, 2022 establishing campuses of the Cebu Technological University (CTU) in the municipalities of Liloan and Borbon in the Province of Cebu.

Fifth District Representative Vincent Franco Frasco principally authored and separately filed House Bill No. 4740 and HB No. 4741 establishing CTU satellite campus in Liloan and Borbon respectively on September 20, 2019.  This, after his victory in the 2019 elections where he put in place quality education as one of his priority agenda

Liloan is a first-class municipality in the Province of Cebu that is home to a number of industries in need of technical instructions, such as livestock and vegetable farming, baking, ceramics, and manufacturing, among others.

Borbon, on the other hand is a fourth-class municipality in the Province of Cebu with farming and fishing, including crop, livestock, agriculture, farm machinery, vegetable and fodder as its sources of livelihood.

Frasco said establishing CTU satellite campuses in Liloan and Borbon will greatly benefit the families of students living in far-flung areas of the Province of Cebu.

“Not only will it provide savings in tuition and other fees to the residents, but more importantly, it will fulfill the State’s policy to provide access to quality tertiary education for all,” Frasco added.

The two-house bills were integrated into substitute House Bill 6877 establishing stand-alone CTU campuses of Liloan and Borbon instead of satellite campuses.  On June 4, 2020, the bill was unanimously approved and was transmitted to the Senate on June 8, 2020.

Senator Joel Villanueva who chairs the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education sponsored the bill at the plenary on September 28, 2021 and was approved on January 17, 2022.  It was transmitted to the Office of the President for signing into law on March 31, 2022 and on April 27, PRRD signed it into law as R.A.-11751. (Photos: Google Images)

Converge sustains 40 percent growth with its revenues in 1st quarter of 2022

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY – Converge ICT Solutions Inc. a fiber broadband provider grew its revenues by 40 percent to P7.75B in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year with the continued strong increase in the residential subscription and increasing demand from enterprise and business clients.

\“We are seeing a solid growth of our financials in the first quarter of 2022 and we expect to hit our full-year targets as we remain aggressive in our network rollout and marketing activities both in the residential and enterprise segments,” Converge CEO/Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy said.

In a media briefing on May 16, Converge revealed that it registered gross subscriber adds of 188,000 during the quarter, up by 15 percent from the last quarter in 2021 leading to 1.8 million subscribers, higher by 53 percent compared to its level a year ago.

Uy said that the company’s core net income grew to almost P2.0B in the first quarter of 2022 representing a core net income margin of 25.4 percent.

With this growth, it propped up the revenue growth in the enterprise business that included the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), corporate, large enterprise and wholesale. The reopening of the economy and gradual thriving of the SMEs aided the segment’s growth.

Revenues for the enterprise business, according to Converge, amounted to P935.5M in the first quarter of 2022 which is 25 percent higher compared to P749.7M in first quarter of 2021.  SMEs contributed 20 percent to the total and by itself grew by 118 percent year on year.  SMEs subscribers of Converge reached 25,810 as of March 21, 2022, a growth of 200 percent.

The revival of the economy and the return of businesses, especially the SMEs has given the enterprise business a push in the first quarter of the year.  “We hope to offer more values to SMEs as the continue to recover,” Coverge president/Chief Resource Officer and Chief Risk Officer, Maria Grace Uy said.

Converge continues to ensure Filipinos enjoy high availability, aggressively rolling out its fiber ports in the first quarter of 2022 and reaching 6.5M ports as of March 2022. This puts it on track to reach the accelerated target of 7.5M to eight million ports by 2023.

According to Converge, its nationwide household coverage as of first quarter of 2022 is at 47 percent. In terms of homes passed, 12.2M homes in the Philippines are serviceable by Converge, which is 70 percent higher than the same period in 2021.

Despite its massive network investments, Converge maintained an industry-leading return on invested capital of 17.3 percent due to the company’s disciplined approach in deploying capital to expand its fiber network and tracking key capital efficiency indicators such as port utilization ratios.

 

 

Imee calls on govt to stop midnight importations of sugar

CEBU CITY-- Senator Imee Marcos who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs bared that government is about to resume the importation of 200,000 metric tons of sugar despite two court orders suspending it.

Marcos said that the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) issued on Tuesday Memorandum Circular No. 11 announcing that applications to import sugar have resumed.

“This defies two temporary restraining orders (TRO’s) issued by the Sagay and Himamaylan regional trial courts in Negros Occidental earlier this year,” Marcos explained.

The Sagay court’s order in February specifically instructed the SRA to maintain the status quo to be effective until the termination of this case unless earlier lifted.

Marcos added that the SRA circular’s exclusion of Western Visayas from eligibility for import applications was a circumvention of the court orders coming from the region.

Court hearings are still being held to resolve the conflict between the government and two leading groups of sugar planters that sought the TRO’s - the United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) and the Rural Sugar Planters Association Inc.

“The brazen attempt to import sugar despite its suspension points to a real midnight deal before the present administration steps down from office at the end of June,” Marcos said, citing that the next court hearing has yet to take place on June 28.

Unifed told Marcos’s office on Wednesday that it was poised to file cases against Agriculture Secretary William Dar and SRA chief Hermenegildo Serafica for contempt of court.

Both government officials contend that a sugar shortage could occur later this year due to the damage wrought by Typhoon Odette last December, even as sugar planters remain confident of being able to meet the country’s sugar needs.