It doesn’t take much to keep schools going

Business Mirror
Monday, 22 December 2008





(PHOTO: The author with indigent honor student Irish Litub.)


CALAPE, BOHOL ---- Bonbon—Catmonan Elementary School in Calape town Bohol is your typical rural elementary school on the outside. A student population made of sons and daughters of farmers and fisherfolks, several old classrooms, a learning institution bereft of books, equipment and educational materials.

Yet inside its walls, a glimmer of hope shines for its more than 400 pupils. Town and village leaders, parents and private organizations have come together to bring out the most out of the situation and has since created inspiring stories of teamwork and triumph over adversity.

The school and its principal Maria Bel Belano has been adopting the child-friendly schools framework of the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) for three years now, involving stakeholders in the education of the children while pushing the promise of the pupils inside the classroom.

“I haven’t read about the framework but we realized we were already implementing it,” Belano said.

The framework is a set of rights-based, child-friendly educational systems and schools that are characterized as “inclusive, healthy and protective for all children, effective with children, and involved with families and communities—and children.”

Translated in Bonbon-Catmonan, pupils, parents, teachers and community leaders are involved in the school, from village guards making sure the children are in school, to affluent community members helping out in school projects one way or another.

It’s not easy for Calape (population 29,000) as it is one of Bohol’s smallest and poorest towns; and barangays Bonbon and Catmonan are its poorest barangays (combined population is 2,000). Most of the parents are barely getting by with their sustenance and most of the students could not even get a decent meal, much more buy pencils and paper.

But its students are striving hard, including Grade 6 pupil Irish Litub. A daughter of a driver, Irish is underweight and got through her early years in school borrowing pencils and asking for paper.

“My father could not afford to buy paper. When I lost my pencil, we could not buy something new,” Irish said.

But through the help of generous community members, Irish became one of the school’s 20 indigent pupils who received free school supplies from a benefactor. She is also a target of the school’s feeding program aimed at the underweight pupils in the school.

Now Irish is the first honor in her class. Her favorite subject is math and she dreams of being a teacher one day.

“I would like to share my knowledge with others and help students, just like what my teachers are doing for us,” she said.

And Irish is starting with her dreams young. Under the school’s Teach One Each One program, bright students like her help slower classmates, especially in reading.

Her “pupil,” Jane Paulyn Poquita, said Irish helped her read, by making use of the school’s few books in its “library”—basically just a shelf half-filled with donated books.

Parents are deeply involved in school activities, according to the parents’ association president Danilo Camargo.

When the school needed to repair some classrooms, tables and chairs, the parents felled a tree in the backyard and made stools and desks.

The parents are also involved together with community leaders, teachers and pupils in a classroom planning team. They identify problems and propose solutions, which are then collated by the school.

“It is now easy for us to ask for funds from our leaders because we have a plan already,” principal Belano said. One of the biggest projects implemented out of these planning sessions is the weekly feeding program of the school for the more malnourished pupils.

“This really helped in addressing dropouts because parents send their children to school to also get fed,” Belano said.

School alumni who are now working abroad also helped in some projects, while Bonbon and Catmonan each contributed P5,000 a year for the upkeep of the school.

A set of bathrooms was donated by one former student who now works abroad, and is now known in the locality as the Ireland CR, named after the country where the alumnus works.

There is also a standing ordinance in the two villages requiring students to be in school. There are no more nonreaders in Bonbon-Catmonan Elementary School. School achievement tests are back to normal and dropouts are almost nonexistent. Yet there’s still a lot to be done. The school does not have a library and it only has one desktop PC shared by all students.

Visitors, however, could not help but be inspired by the optimism of the community, the students and the teachers.

“We only have one computer, but at least all the students get to use it for a while,” parent Camargo said. “We are hoping for more, but we can make the most of what we have.”

Dark days expected in Central Philippines

Business Mirror
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 22:25


CEBU CITY—Cebu province and Central Philippines are set for a gloomy 2009 as energy players predict daily rotation brownouts all over the grid caused by thinning reserves and aging power plants.

National Transmission Corp. (Transco) officials said on Tuesday they are asking industries and households to start adopting power-saving measures in order to avert more severe scenarios.

“By 2009 we will still have the same aging plants whose output become lower and lower with power demand going higher and higher,” Crispin Lamayan, Transco assistant vice president for systems operations, said.

“By 2009 the situation will be severe; we cannot afford any of our plants to trip. Until 2010 [with no new power plants], we will have plenty of brownouts.”

Although the business sector is already bracing for difficult scenarios, the president of the Cebu Business Club believes industries, particularly business-process outsourcing firms which employ around 25,000 in Metro Cebu alone, can cope.

“It is scary and we have to be ready for the worst-case scenario. Companies will now have to invest in emergency power,” Gordon Alan Joseph said. “But I believe companies have been investing in emergency power, and with the knowledge that the situation is temporary, up to at most 12 months, this will not cause dislocation.”

The next brand-new power plants in the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid, the 245-MW coal-fired plant of Cebu Energy Development Corp. in Toledo City, is still set to be online by the first half of 2010. The 200-MW Kepco Salcon Power Corp. plant is also set to be operational by 2011.

The CNP grid consumes around 900 MW at peak hours, with Visayan Electric Co. eating up close to 350 MW.

Moses Red, National Power Corp. (Napocor) Visayas Corporate Specialist staff, said aging plants are being pushed to the limits because of the strained grid, which, in itself, is posing great danger.

“We are either deferring maintenance, canceling maintenance or running the plants until they trip,” Red said.

He said the government, through the help of distribution utilities and the private sector, are looking for ways to relieve pressure from the grid and minimize the brownouts.

He said Napocor has initiated renting modular power-generator units on Panay Island, the worst hit in Central Philippines, which has been experiencing brownouts since early this year.

Large power consumers, especially in Metro Cebu, have also continued their commitments to run their generator sets during peak hours.

Red said they are now looking for ways to give incentives to these companies. One option is to subsidize their costs and distribute power to consumers of a distribution utility.

Lamayan said demand-side management is also important, especially among households. He said households could switch off nonessential appliances between 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Business leaders have also been pushing for the implementation of the time-of-use mechanism of the Visayan Electric Co., which was already approved but is still under appeal.

“We are also praying for more rains so the weather is cooler. That is 50 MW less demand from the grid,” Lamayan said.

Ayala Land on the lookout for new opportunities in Cebu

Business Mirror
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 21:33


PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is looking at more opportunities to expand its presence in Cebu after the phenomenal success of its first foray in the island 20 years ago.

ALI chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala told reporters that they are very happy with their first investment in Cebu, the Cebu Business Park, two decades ago which has now become the city’s business, financial and shopping center.

“We are very happy with this investment which we pursued aggressively. I’m happy with it; we’ve been happy with the developments in area and the partners we’ve had,” Ayala said.

“We always look for opportunities to do different things. There will be more to come. We are optimistic about the development of Cebu and we have always wanted to be part of it,” he added.

ALI, through its Cebu affiliate Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) held a triple celebration on Monday with the reopening of the Cebu City Marriott Hotel, the launching of the Terraces of the Ayala Center Cebu and commemorating the 20th anniversary of CHI.

In his message, the ALI executive said there was no doubt the investment they made 20 years ago when the government-owned Club Filipino de Cebu golf course complex paid off. The move was the biggest investment the company made outside Metro Manila at that time.

“What really created a successful community are the partners that we worked with the developments that are built and how they serve the people within and around the community. We have been so fortunate to be able to work with so many investors and partners who believe in the same philosophy,” he said.

“We hope you will agree that the Cebu Business Park and all the developments within it have become an integral and exciting part of this dynamic city. Our work is far from over,” said the ALI official.

The publicly listed CHI runs the 50-hectare business park as well as the City Sports Club Cebu, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, high-end lighthouse community Amara, office buildings Cebu Holdings Center and Ayala Life-FGU Center Cebu as well as residential condominiums Park Towers 1 and 2.

CHI has also entered a joint venture project with the Cebu provincial government to form the Cebu Property Ventures Development Corp. which runs the Asiatown IT Park.

CHI president Francis Monera said the company is set to surpass its growth record as well as last year’s P1.28-billion gross revenue. He said out of the 110 commercial lots in the business part, only 12 remain in their inventory as the uptake of the properties continue to be brisk.

All the properties at the Asiatown IT Park have also been sold.

Fisher groups to file raps vs DOE, Nor-Asian

Business Mirror
Thursday, 11 December 2008

Fisherfolk organizations plan to file charges of human-rights violations against the Department of Energy (DOE), the military and Australian firm Nor-Asian Energy Ltd., which is conducting oil exploration in the waters off southeastern Cebu.

Vince Cinches, executive director of the Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center, said they also sent a letter-complaint to United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on the plight of the affected fishermen in Cebu.

“What is sadder is that the military has joined in and had become paid hacks and goons of Nor-Asian,” Cinches said. “We [Cebu] have become a laboratory for the DOE on their service contracts all over the country. They are testing their methods here.”

Gloria Ramos of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) in Cebu said the DOE seems to be rushing service contracts in and around Cebu, when there is still a case pending before the Supreme Court.

Ramos and other IBP lawyers had filed a case before the Supreme Court in behalf of dolphins, whales and other marine “residents” of Tañon Strait in the middle of the offshore oil explorations by the local firm of Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex).

She said the DOE does not have the authority to grant service contracts. She said service contracts can only be given by the President with authority from Congress.

“There is transparency right now. The DENR is not giving the public the report of the multisectoral monitoring team of Japex,” she said.

“The SC has given our complaint due course, meaning this is set to be a landmark case,” Ramos said. She added the DOE should wait for the Supreme Court decision before pushing ahead with other service contracts.

The Visayan Sea in Central Philippines is considered the heart of marine ecosystem in the world.

Cinches criticized the exploration being conducted off the municipal waters of Sibonga and Argao towns without consultations with the affected fishermen.

He also lamented the involvement of soldiers from the Cebu-based 78th Infantry Battalion who were allegedly deployed in the two towns to scare off fishermen from opposing the project.

The Commission on Human Rights is already looking into the complaints of the fishermen.

Nor-Asian is a company jointly owned by Australia’s Ottoman Energy Ltd. and AustralAsian Energy Ltd.

It is the second company to push its oil search in the seas around Cebu.

A local company of Japex recently withdrew its efforts in western Cebu off Pinamungajan town after exploration drills indicated that oil in the area is not of commercial quantity.

Nor-Asian is searching for oil in four locations in the Philippines—off the seas of Calauit Island, Bohol Strait and off Cabilao Island, also in Bohol and Marantao in Palawan.

The prospect in Argao has an estimated recoverable reserve of up to 270 million barrels of oil, while the one in Cabilao is estimated to contain as much as 145 million barrels.

Cebu City amusement tax hike eyed

Business Mirror
Wednesday, 03 December 2008 23:31


CEBU CITY—The Cebu City government is set to increase tenfold its amelioration taxes for amusement establishments to raise more revenues for its social-development projects.

The city council is set to approve the raising of the amelioration tax from P1 to P10 per customer.

More than 23,000 establishments are seen to be affected by the increase, said councilor Jose Daluz III, the council’s finance committee chairman.

Along with beer joints, the establishments which will be affected are massage parlors, adult entertainment establishments and cockfighting arenas, among others.

The taxes will be deposited in a trust fund to be managed by a special board chaired by the city mayor, who will determine projects to be funded by the tax revenues.

“P10 is a measly amount for customers in these establishments, but it will go a long way in addressing the ill products of our society,” Daluz told the BusinessMirror.

“We are specifying this industry as the one which will fund our nutrition
and health programs in the slum areas.”

At present, the amelioration fund raises only around P2 million a year. Daluz said the city treasurer’s office admitted to only collecting from 20 percent of the establishments who were supposed to be imposed with the tax.

“If we raise it to P10 [per customer], that is already P20 million for our social projects, especially for the children,” Daluz said.

Councilor Gerardo Carillo, however, questioned the provision of the proposed ordinance exempting establishments which are already paying amelioration taxes from paying amusement taxes. “Instead of increasing revenues, we are now decreasing the revenues of the city,” Carillo said.

Daluz, however, said imposing both the amelioration and amusement taxes constitutes double taxation because they both have the same subject—the customers.

He said the amusement taxes for beer joints and other similar establishments would not affect the city’s total amusement tax revenues because 60 percent of these come from theater receipts and public concerts.

The city raises over P50 million from amusement taxes every year.

The council deferred the approval of the ordinance to next week.

Moratorium on development projects in Cebu’s north district stays

Business Mirror, 26 November 2008

ACTING Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he would stick to the stand of Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña regarding the city’s imposed moratorium on development projects in its north district.

Rama said there should be security first for an estimated 5,000 households affected by the provincial government’s plan to recover 50 hectares of prime property in the north, now occupied by informal settlers.

“I would stand by the mayor and subscribe to his view that the city should not abandon these people who are part of the constituency of the city,” Rama told the BusinessMirror.

Rama is the sitting mayor of the city as 60-year-old Osmeña went on indefinite leave for the United States to undergo chemotherapy for cancer in his urinary bladder at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

“If the province will take care of these people, that is the only time we can start talking about the lifting of the moratorium,” Rama said. “A responsible developer should always think about striking a balance between development and the environment.”

The city council in February this year imposed a moratorium on all major developments in the north, citing traffic problems and the need for government infrastructure to cope with the fast development in the area.

The moratorium affects construction of malls, schools and other huge developments, and came in the heat of a publicized quarrel between Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia over the Capitol’s land-recovery efforts.

The Capitol’s properties are located in prime properties near the University of the Philippines Cebu in Lahug, the Cebu Business Park in barangay Luz and the Asiatown IT Park in barangay Apas, among others.

Provincial officials said the informal settlers have been given enough time and numerous extensions to pay for the lots they are occupying.

The moratorium affected the P1.2-billion joint-venture Ciudad de Cebu mall project between the province and Fifth Avenue Development Corp., for a 2.8-hectare property in barangay Banilad, which was ready for construction. The province has around 100 hectares of land in the city’s northern district.

Cebu City planners have expressed concern about “overdevelopment” in the city’s northern areas, particularly the Banilad-Talamban corridor which, at present, already serves as a main gateway to major malls, universities and primary schools, as well as major subdivisions.

The corridor already serves as an artery for the Cebu Business Park; the Asiatown IT Park; malls like Banilad Town Center, Ayala Center Cebu and Cebu Country Mall; the University of San Carlos; University of Cebu; University of the Visayas; plush subdivisions like Ma. Luisa; and the thickly populated Talamban area. The provincial government, however, has softened its stand a bit and has even awarded over 500 deeds of sale to informal settlers who have paid for their lots in full.

Being a chartered city, Cebu City residents are not constituents of the provincial government. They do not vote for the governor and other elected provincial officials.

Cebu provincial government considering to challenge Filinvest Land’s proposal

Business Mirror, 25 November 2008


A SPECIAL committee created by the Cebu provincial government is set to come up with its own appraisal of a 10-hectare property in the city-owned reclaimed South Road Properties (SRP) the Capitol would like to bid out of the hands of Filinvest Land Inc (FLI).

Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s spokesman, Rory John Sepulveda, told the BusinessMirror that an appraisal committee is set to submit its recommendations any time soon on whether the property is a viable investment for the province.

“The governor herself saw the potential of the area, and the provincial government would like to invest and would like to earn revenues from its investment,” Sepulveda said.

The province said it is interested in challenging FLI over its P80-billion unsolicited proposal for 60 hectares of the SRP, which includes a 10-hectare direct land purchase and 50 hectares of joint development with the city. The deal is subject to a public challenge.

Sepulveda, however, said pending the publication of the details of the proposed joint-venture agreement between the city and FLI, the province can only so far commit to challenge FLI over the 10 hectares.

“We believe there are two separate transactions in the proposal—the direct purchase of land and the joint venture—and the province is very interested in the land purchase as of now,” Sepulveda said.

The spokesman denied the interest to challenge FLI is a strategy by the province to shake the negotiations between the city and the developer, especially with the bitter relationship between the governor and Cebu mayor on-leave Tomas Osmeña.

Sepulveda said the province is only looking for economic opportunities, especially since the city imposed a moratorium on all development in its northern areas, where the Capitol has pending development over 100 hectares of separate properties.

“If this challenge will ultimately bring more scrutiny and more discussion over the Filinvest deal, then this will surely get the city the best deal for the SRP,” Sepulveda said. “The province is looking for projects because we don’t have anything else to do.”

Sepulveda said should the city decide to lift the moratorium, he would personally recommend that the province back out of the FLI challenge so it could concentrate on its own lands, including the suspended P1.2-billion joint-venture development in Banilad, Cebu City. He said the actual bid, however, is subject to the findings of the appraisal committee to determine the cost of the land, how much the province is willing to bid and the development cost that would entail if the Capitol gets the property.

In its original proposal, FLI plans to buy the 10 hectares for P2 billion, or some P20,000 per square meter.

The remaining 50 hectares will be developed through a joint venture with the city, with City Hall getting revenue shares.

City administrator Francisco Fernandez earlier said the two deals are part of one deal, whose terms will be published by December in preparation for the Swiss Challenge.

Sepulveda said the Capitol is looking at partnering with a private developer to develop the SRP land should it win in the bidding.

The governor and the mayor’s quarrel started in 2005 when the province moved to get back 50 hectares of property in the city now occupied by informal settlers. The mayor vowed to protect the more than 20,000 of his constituents affected by the move.

Cebu exporters bullish, buoyed by forex gains

Business Mirror 23 November 2008

CEBU CITY—Despite doomsday forecasts on the economy, exporters in Cebu said they are looking forward to more opportunities in 2009, with stronger players still in the thick of the fight backed by aggressive marketing, efficient production and a more favorable exchange rate.

Philippine Exporters’ Confederation-Cebu president Jay Yuvallos admitted that several companies have closed down this year, but he underscored how the bigger and more established players have strengthened their positions.

“This [slowdown] does not mean the export business is no longer viable; there may be a slowdown in some businesses, but this situation has left industries with more stronger players which can compete globally,” Yuvallos said. “The slowdown has made the remaining companies more confident as they have managed to survive despite all these difficulties.”

Cebu’s export industry, while dominated by multinationals in IT and electronics, are driven by creative industries—export furniture, fashion accessories, as well as gifts, toys and houseware—and indications are that while 2009 will be another challenging year, the Cebu-based exporters are in a better position, especially compared with the regional competition.

According to Philippine Export Development Council member Apolinar Suarez, the “friendlier” exchange rate has greatly helped exporters regain revenues lost when the peso hit the P42 level last year.

He said that successive quality-control setbacks in China’s industries have made buyers look for other better sources like the Philippines.

Vietnam is also starting to have labor problems along with supply-chain difficulties with long monsoons in 2008; while Western manufacturers in Indonesia have started to move out because of security problems.

“We have seen designers who we used to ‘export’ to China coming back. Our buyers who went to China for cheaper products are now coming back,” Suarez said.

Jennifer Cruz, former president of the Cebu Gifts, Toys and Housewares (GTH) Foundation, said Cebu-based exporters “already pushed to the wall” are forced to innovate and create more efficient production lines.

“Now that we are more efficient, our prices can compete with China and Vietnam,” Cruz said.

While overhead-cost cuts are common in most factories, so is sharing of inventories between companies and diversification of products to meet industry demands, says incumbent GTH president Pete Sepulveda.

“Instead of making furniture, Cebu exporters can switch and make lamps instead. That is one of [their] strengths,” he said. “Cebuano exporters are already pushed to the wall, yet we are still here.”

Cruz said not all distributors and retailers in the United States are seeing a bleak 2009. “We actually see that they are preparing for an upward turn,” he said.

Just last week Cruz and his company, 33 Point 3 Exports Inc., received a group of US-based buyers looking for products to buy and distribute to their 1,700 stores.

Cruz has orders from the same company that will last until the middle of 2009.

Eric Casas, the president of the furniture exporters group Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation said his own company and several others are even set to surpass their 2007 sales revenues, aided mainly by the better exchange rate.

“There are still a lot of opportunities in the industry if the companies would only focus on our strength in design and innovation,” Casas said.

Other markets outside the United States also offer exporters another opportunity.

Majority of members of the export fashion accessories group are still experiencing growth because a large chunk of their production goes to Europe.

Janet Chua, president of the Fashion Accessories Manufacturers and Exporters Foundation, said the industry is somehow resilient despite the slowdown because of the fast pace in fashion trends.

“Chinese manufacturers are so quick to flood the markets with their products that they are no longer viable,” Chua said. “Buyers are now moving toward green fashion and Cebu was able to position itself in that market.”

She added, “We are still hoping for growth although at a slower pace.”

Casas said emerging markets like Russia, South Africa and the Middle East and even the domestic market have given furniture exporters some optimism.

“New players have emerged in the United States as the bigger players are having problems,” he said.

Yuvallos said the tougher times have forced companies to innovate and be creative, putting them in a better position to compete when the good times come.

“We believe the resiliency of the industry and its payers should be highlighted,” he said. “When we only talk about the bad things, we will all [give] in to fear, and that has a more crippling effect.”

In a nutshell, Suarez said the export-furniture industry is still viable and, in fact, growing. “While many companies have closed down, new players have come in. That means there is still business in export,” he said.