Mindanao

COTABATO, Philippines—The Philippines is to offer money and jobs to its militant-hit southern communities amid peace talks with Muslim rebels, an aide to President Benigno Aquino said Tuesday.

AS the global economic crisis of 2009 cut consumption and income in the National Capital Region and other regions in Luzon, the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) of households in the Visayas and Mindanao remained robust.

THE government has identified six potential “sunshine industries” in Mindanao that could help the region industrialize and lift millions out of poverty, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said.

SEVERAL officials of business groups in Mindanao, during a press conference for the coming 19th Mindanao Business Conference in mid-September, identified three major sectors—mining, energy and agriculture—that the Philippine government must address in order to bring lasting development to the region. Ruben Vegafria, conference director of the 19th Mindanao Business Conference that will be held…

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will release for consultations next month the initial draft of the island’s 2020 peace and development framework.

Three months ago when I visited Zamboanga del Sur the province was suffering from frequent and prolonged brownouts brought about by the dry spell. Rain has since fallen in sufficient volumes to bring up the level of water of Lake Lanao, the biggest source of electric power in Mindanao. The power crisis that crippled Mindanao…

MINDANAO QUESTION MANILA, Philippines—Urooj S. Malik’s article, “Mindanao can be RP food basket” (Talk of the Town, Aug. 8), is a well-meaning attempt at breaking the current political and economic impasse in Mindanao. The problem, however, is that it ends up hewing closely to the long-running Manila-imposed strategy of utilizing Mindanao’s human and natural resources…

(The author, who covers public finance for The STAR, won in round one of the THINK3 global blogging competition organized by the Netherlands-based European Journalism Center. This article is one of her blog entries published on May 15, 2010 at http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3.)

RICE consumption was highest in the poorest  region of the Philippines, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Annual per capita consumption was 144.66 kg. This is according to a study by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS). “Soccsksargen ranked next with 136.5 kg. On the other hand, the least consumption was observed in Central…

MANILA, Philippines—The success or failure of nations in their pursuit of economic development depends, among other factors, on nurturing racial harmony and peaceful coexistence, as well as on the manner by which they manage the environment and use natural resources.

PLANS TO unleash Mindanao’s development potentials will require economic and financial integration of its growth hubs with its less developed peripheries, as well as with key economic centers in Luzon and the Visayas and with select foreign markets, a study of the World Bank and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) said.

DAVAO CITY — Mindanao’s situation appears to be improving with recent developments providing respite to alarming issues that have emerged in recent months. Foremost of these are security and power supply deficiency.

The Northern Mindanao chapter of Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) based in Cagayan de Oro recently reported that daily power outages in Mindanao have hit an average of five hours a day and is expected to persist until the third quarter of this year.

MANILA, Philippines – Mindanao could be the best site for a nuclear power facility, a top energy official said.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Thermal plants are still the best solution to the Mindanao power problem in the long run, Energy Secretary Jose C. Ibazeta said here on Monday during a consultation with stakeholders.

Regarding our proposal to boycott party-list groups of dubious legitimacy or whose nominees are discredited politicians or scheming operators, we received a plea that Mindanao party-lists be given a fair chance.

MANILA, Philippines – Malls and industries in Mindanao may have to temporarily shut down or at least slow down operations so that enough power could be harnessed and saved to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply during the election period.

Businessmen in Mindanao believe that shifting to nighttime operations to save on electricity may not be feasible.

MANILA, Philippines – Power barges PB 117 and PB 118 have been in full operation from the very first day that AboitizPower Corp. assumed their full ownership this year and have been used to help ease the electricity shortfall in Mindanao.

MANILA, Philippines – To avoid job losses in Mindanao because of the power crisis, the government is looking at shifting the working hours of Mindanao businesses at night in order to balance the power demand.

BAGUIO CITY—Drought equals brownouts equals bad economy equals migration.

MANILA, Philippines – With barely two months left before election time, the government still has not come up with concrete plans to solve the Mindanao power problem.

MANILA, Philippines – Mindanao-based businessmen are complaining that their electricity bill has gone up despite the five to six hours brownout a day.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) central office has signed with the new leadership of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) a memorandum of agreement to ensure an intensified implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the poverty-laden ARMM communities.

A high-ranking United Nations (UN) official has called for the implementation of the 1996 Tripoli Agreement between the Philippine government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF), and a possible consolidation of the two-decade old pact with future peace agreements that will be entered into by Manila.

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THE government will encourage companies in Mindanao, where power outages are happening daily, to shift their working hours at night when demand for electricity is lower, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines – EmPower Consumers Alliance has raised doubts on government‘s pronouncements of a power supply crisis in Mindanao, saying it could be a play to force the use of nuclear energy and raise power rates.

MANILA, Philippines – The power deficiency in Mindanao has doubled, raising fears of longer blackouts as well as massive business disruptions. The surge in Mindanao’s power deficiency to 578 megawatts (MW) came as electricity supply in Luzon and the Visayas started to normalize yesterday.

A prolonged dry spell is expected to further worsen the already critical power supply in southern Mindanao, a power firm executive said on Wednesday.