MORE NEWS, BAGUIO CITY

Extortionist cops plague Cordillera veggie dealers
BY DEXTER A SEE

BAGUIO CITY -- Cordillera vegetable farmers and dealers are still plagued by unscrupulous policemen who extort money from them the McArthur Highway to Manila.

This prompted government agencies like the Cordillera Department of Agriculture and Philippine National Police to map out programs against woes of vegetable farmers like extortion and problems delivery of agricultural products from northern to southern Luzon to ensure steady supply of vegetables in Metro Manila the holiday season. DA officials said the PNP’s intervention along with other government agencies such as the Department of Trade and Industry, Land Transportation Office and Metro Manila Development Authority to agricultural projects will guarantee efficient delivery of agricultural products to Metro Manila and the Southern Luzon area.

They assured collaborative efforts with law enforcement agencies so problems of vegetable dealers with the traffic enforcers and the police will be solved with the government agencies concerned. Earlier, vegetable dealers from Northern and Southern Luzon have constantly complained that their deliveries were frequently delayed because of illegal checkpoints along the way to Metro Manila even if they have the food lane access sticker.

Others claimed law enforcers often accused them of violating traffic rules and regulations, including overloading which they were not actually committing. According to the vegetable dealers, these incidents along the highway caused serious delays in the delivery of agricultural products which, in turn, added to cost of prices of agricultural crops, causing additional burdens to consumers. To speed up their transactions on the road, vegetable dealers reportedly were forced to shell out certain amounts to give to the unscrupulous law enforcers so they would be allowed to pass through the checkpoints.

The food lane program aims to reduce by 22 percent in retail cost post-harvest losses and reduce the trading layers by 18 percent. It ensures the efficient distribution of agricultural and fishery products from the production sites to the major demand centers of Metro Manila and designates food lane routes to provide a 24-hour truck ban free access to trucks weighing 4,500 kilograms and above for the delivery of perishable agri-fishery commodities.

While there is a reported 80 percent reduction in the extortion activities of law enforcers on agricultural traders, the concerned sectors said that they were still being harassed by some LTO and police personnel who refuse to follow Razon’s directive. The DA and PNP are conducting counter-intelligence operations especially along the national roads leading to Metro Manila. This is to catch red-handed those policemen and LTO personnel extorting from vegetable dealers.


Acting Baguio mayor on SP’s proposed P1 billion budget: Let’s be realistic
BY AILEEN P. REFUERZO

BAGUIO CITY – Acting mayor Daniel Farinas Thursday appealed anew to the city council to reconsider their position of passing a P1 billion budget for 2008 for practical reasons. Farinas said a P1 billion budget would be too high a goal and might not be realizable for the city.

Eight councilors including acting vice mayor Rocky Thomas Balisong are currently pushing for a P1 billion budget via a proposed resolution saying increasing the financial plan would enable the city to implement more projects next year. In the resolution, Balisong and co-proponent Councilors Galo Weygan, Perlita Rondez, Antonio Tabora Jr., Isabelo Cosalan Jr., Fred Bagbagen, Elaine Sembrano and Richard Carino said an increase in the budget “is reflective of a progressive city that practices sound fiscal management, efficient collection of taxes and careful identification of additional income generating programs that will spur the city’s economy.”

The move was bolstered by the information received by the council that the city has over P1 billion savings. Mayor Reinaldo Bautista earlier submitted an executive budget amounting to P820 million and the councilors feel that this could still be adjusted to accommodate more projects for implementation.

However, Farinas said the city should opt for a lower budget so avoid being caught in a situation where the city will encounter difficulty raising said target. “We have to check on our capabilities to raise such a big amount because if we fail to reach it, we will be faced with a situation where we will have deficits and obligations that we won’t be able to pay,” Farinas said

He said the city should also consider the plight of the taxpayers who are also faced with hardship due to economic crisis. “We should really study it so that we will not be pushing ourselves and the taxpayers to the limit,” he said. He said what the city can do is to stick with the conservative amount and just adopt measures later for an additional budget. “Let’s be practical. We can work on a lower budget and just come up with a supplemental budget later,” he said.


Public hearings on crucial ordinances set on Nov. 20
BY AILEEN P. REFUERZO

BAGUIO CITY – The city council has scheduled public hearings on three crucial proposed ordinances dealing on smoking, liquor establishment operations and vehicle number coding on November 20 at the city council session hall here. Proposed Ordinance No. 062-07 entitled, “The Comprehensive Anti-Smoking Ordinance of Baguio City” will be heard first from 8:30-9:30 a.m.

This will be followed by the Proposed Ordinance No. 098-07 entitled “Amending City Ordinance No. 1 series of 1990 (Liquor Code) by prescribing hours of operation within the City of Baguio” at 9:30-10:30 a.m. Proposed Ordinance No. 083-07, which seeks to further amend Ordinance No.1 series of 2003 or the Baguio City Number Coding Scheme will be heard from 10:30-11:30 a.m.

The hearings will be facilitated by the council committee on laws chaired by Councilor Richard Carino who said the hearing will help inform residents on such new proposals and will also enable the body to gather inputs and information from the public on how to improve said proposals. Proposed by Councilors Erdolfo Balajadia and Antonio Tabora Jr., the anti-smoking ordinance seeks to prohibit smoking in a public utility and government vehicles, accommodation and entertainment establishments, public buildings, public places, enclosed public places, private places of works and others.

Proposed penalties range from P300 to P1,000 in fines and imprisonment of one to four months. The proposed amendments to the Liquor Code, meanwhile, seeks to specify the hours of operation of the night establishments and penalties for violators. The proposed times of operation are as follows: from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. for establishments with dancing; from 3 p.m. to 12 p.m. for establishments without dancing; and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for retail liquor dealers and liquor stores.

The proposed penalties range from P2,000-P6,000 fine and imprisonment and revocation of business permits. The proposed amendment of the number coding ordinance, on the other hand, seeks to expand its coverage until weekends where vehicles with plate numbers ending in even numbers and zero will be banned from the roads during Saturdays and those ending in odd numbers will not be allowed to traverse the prohibited area on Sundays.


DSWD, SM hold early Xmas for children
BAGUIO CITY -- SM Foundation Inc., in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development- Cordillera, played Santa Claus to about 400 children on Nov. 15, giving gifts and spreading joy through fun and games with the “make a child happy program.”

The SM team headed by project director Cristie Angeles, La Trinidad Municipal Social Welfare Development Office officer-in-charge Irene Tagtag, and SM City Baguio press relations officer Karren Padilla trooped to Barangays Beckel and Tawang in La Trinidad, Benguet and brought Christmas early to around 300 children through games and presents.

In the afternoon, about 100 children from the DSWD regional study center for children and regional haven, and day care centers in Baguio joined in the fun and games of the “make a child happy program” at SM Baguio Atrium. Members of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters’ Club served as big brothers to the children as they led them in relay games, bring me contest, individual and group pictures, and dance opportunity with mascots Jollibee and Hetty.

SM Baguio Mall Manager Amy Gonzales and DSWD regional Director Porfiria Bernardez were also present to share inspiring messages for the children and parents.

After the games, the children had snacks then lined-up for their loot bag courtesy of this year’s sponsors, Jollibee, Mr. Softy, SM Storyland, Quantum, and Photoline. The afternoon program was capped by a mall tour, with the children accompanied by their parents and day-care teachers.
The event is a yearly activity of the SM Foundation, involving various SM branches nationwide, where they visit the different provinces in the country to spread early Christmas cheers. -- DSWD-CAR


6 Cordillera priority projects listed under revitalized mining program

BAGUIO CITY – At least six priority mining projects are listed under the mineral industry revitalization program in the region.

In a situationer on the mineral industry in the Cordillera presented during the regional minerals development council recently, Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional director Neoman de la Cruz identified these as Project 3000 of the Itogon-Suyoc Resources, the Teresa Gold Project, Far Southeast Gold Project and Victoria, all of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.; Acupan Contract Mining Project of the Benguet Corp., Contractors and the Padcal Copper Expansion Project of Philex Mining Co.

Except for the Far Southeast Gold Project and Project 3000, the four are currently operating with gold and silver as common mineral. Only the Padcal project has copper as its commodity. According to Dela Cruz, most of the workable ore deposits in Northern Luzon are found in the Cordillera Central that include metallic minerals like gold, copper, silver, lead, iron and zinc. The non-metallic minerals include clay, limestone, sulfur, sand and gravel .

“As mining is contributory to the economic growth of the region, the MGB is active in promoting big and small scale mining that adheres to the principles of sustainable development, environmental protection and social equity,” Dela Cruz said.

As of August, there were three big scale and two small scale metallic mine producers and eight non-metallic producers in the Cordillera. Nine mines were also listed as non-operational. For mining rights and applications, nine mineral production sharing agreements, two exploration permits and four ISAG have been issued. Under process are 54 APSA, 43 EXPA, 10 AFTA and two ISAG.

In 2006, the mining industry generated some 14,000 employment -- 6,000 from the metallic and 8,000 from the non-metallic sector. The MGB report added from large scale mining production last year for gold was 4,954 kilograms valued at P4,715,579,417; silver at 5,206 kg valued at P194,775,623 and copper with 71,842 DMT valued at P5,910,271,661.

Reported gold production from small scale miners was only 1,935 grams valued at P1,75,875. Most small scale miners are selling their gold to private buyers and this can hardly be recorded.
The MGB reported for last year, excise tax paid amounted to more than P38M, national and local imposed taxes reached P137 million while occupational fees directly paid to municipalities was pegged at about P1million.

Local government units, on the other hand collected extraction fees valued at P1,644,248. De la Cruz in the promotion of responsible mining, the MGB ensures the implementation of environmental and social development programs of mining companies.

An environmental protection and enhancement program details the methods and procedures the company will use in attaining its environmental and management objective over the life of the mine.
A social development and management program, on the other hand, mandates mining companies to assist host and neighboring communities in terms of education, health, livelihood, and IEC activities to ensure their sustainable development even at the end of mining life.

As of December 2006, Philex Mining Corp. spent nearly P2 billion while Lepanto reported a little over P404 million under their SDMP for carious activities and projects for mine camps and host neighboring communities.

Three others namely Mountain Rock Aggregates, ML Carantes Development & General Construction and the BC-ACMP have spent P2,240,234; P1,814,645 and P45,098,042 for their SDMP respectively.

Dela Cruz said under the EPEP, a total of P195,594,332.25 was the actual expenditures for AEPEP by Philex, Mountain Rock Aggregates and ML Carantes construction. While P131,783,674.06 was the actual cost of IAEPEP of BC-ACMP, Lepanto, Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. and Benguet Corp-Benguet Antamok Gold Operation.

Meanwhile, Dela Cruz disclosed the MGB will complete geohazard mapping and assessment of municipalities regionwide to pinpoint geohazard prone areas in each barangay. This would help reduce the negative impact of natural geologic hazards on the residents.

MGB has reportedly asked the help of private mining companies in the conduct of geoharzard mapping especially in priority areas in the region.

Production of geohazard maps of all completed municipalities for distribution to various local government units and other stakeholders will hopefully be realized next year, Dela Cruz said. -- PIA