Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Misamis Oriental New Battleground of RP "Liquor War"


CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MIKE BAÑOS / Sep 3) - The "Liquor War" for control of the country's alcohol market has found a new battleground in the province of Misamis Oriental.

Bitter corporate rivals Tanduay Distillers Inc. (Tanduay) and Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI) are both putting up new plants in this Northern Mindanao province to consolidate their forces for control of the lucrative hard liquor market in the Visayas and Mindanao, as well as nearby markets in Asean.

GSMI drew first blood when it took an option for 30 hectares of the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental on August 27, 2004. Company sources said a P1.4-billion alcohol distillery with a capacity of 75,000 liters of hard liquor a day will be built on what will eventually be a 100-hectare property.

SMC said production from the distillery will primarily be used to support its export operations. GSMI is 79.6-percent owned by food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (GSMI) is a diversified alcohol-based beverage company owned by San Miguel Corporation . Originally known as La Tondeňa Distilleries, Inc., it was founded by the late Carlos Palanca, its main products are basically hard liquor.

It claims to be the largest producer and distributor of alcoholic beverages in the Philippines. In each of its product categories, Ginebra San Miguel is the market leader, with over 70% share of the gin market.

The company supports these brands through a nationwide distribution network that includes 500 beer distributors owned by San Miguel Corporation, a leading multinational in Asia that is the largest food and beverage producer in the Philippines.(orchidasia.com)

GSMI said its net income fell 40 percent to P331.9 million in the first half, from P552.8 million in the same period last year.

But Tanduay now appears to have taken the initiative from GSMI when taipan Lucio Tan announced Saturday at the 15th Mindanao Business Conference in Zamboanga City that the wholly-owned subsidiary of Tanduay Holdings, Inc. has already started construction for a P1-billion Tanduay factory besides Asia Brewery Inc.'s existing brewery in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental.

"Seeing the great potential in Mindanao as a growth area, we are expanding our presence here by investing P1 billion for Tanduay's facility beside Asia Brewery's plant and another P250-million for a soft drinks facility also in Cagayan de Oro," Tan said.

The tycoon said the liquor facility would be one of his company's biggest investments in Mindanao. "Our group's (Lucio Tan Group of Companies) biggest exposure in Mindanao is the state-of-the-art brewing facility of Asia Brewery, Inc. (ABI) in Cagayan de Oro, and it is the first brewery to invest in Mindanao," he said.

What Tan was referring to was actually the ABI brewery in the town of El Salvador, some 20 kilometers west of Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental and the first ever brewery in Mindanao.

Rated to produce approximately 2 million hectoliters of beer per annum, the brewery boasts of fully computerized state-of-the-art brewing facilities and fills ABI's need to supply the growing demand for its products in Mindanao and the Visayas.

The new Tanduay plant will produce 400,000 cases of rum a month, which together with its other plants in Manila, Laguna and Bacolod , would give Tanduay a combined monthly output of 1.3 million cases.

The new facility will be constructed on a two hectares lot within the ABI complex in El Salvador and would include a warehouse, packing facility, distillery and aging plant. It will be built in a year with mostly internally generated funds.

Sources from the ABI plant in El Salvador conform construction has already been going on for two months on the Tanduay plant as well as an adjacent factory for ABI's Absolute Pure Distilled Drinking Water.

Absolute goes through state-of-the-art distillation process employing vapor compression and ozonation and is the first bottled water company to receive NSF certification.

However, there is still no company information available on when construction would start for a P250-million soft drinks factory (also announced by Tan) which will reportedly manufacture the branded Virgin Cola within the same ABI complex.

Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno welcomed the entry of the two rival liquor companies in the province and believes the intense competition between the two firms would serve as a catalyst for further growth and development in the region.

"We would like to stress laissez faire or free enterprise in Misamis Oriental, and allow the investor to go about his businessman with a minimum of interference but maximum support from local government," Moreno said.

Besides the ABI brewery and the upcoming Tanduay, Absolute, Virgin Cola and GSMI plants, Misamis Oriental also hosts other fruit and other beverage plants in Cagayan de Oro City like Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, Nature's Spring and Del Monte.


" mike_banos_2000@yahoo.comalternate email : mike_banos@walla.com >Link


Saturday, September 02, 2006

Comelec throws out people’s initiative


Transco Transition: Abellanosa promoted, Sanchez takes over NCMA

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (By MIKE BAÑOS / Sep 1) The National Transmission Corporation's (Transco) Mindanao Operations and Maintenance in Bgy. Ditucalan, Iligan City has a new boss.

He's Engr. Emmanuel M. Abellanosa, erstwhile North Central Mindanao Area Manager for Transco, formerly based in Cagayan de Oro City. Abellanosa has been appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the Assistant Vice President for Mindanao. He is charged with the operations and maintenance of all Transco's transmission facilities in Mindanao, including its power lines, power pylons and substations.

Abellanosa has been serving as NCMA Manager since 1992. A native of Cagayan de Oro City, he is an Electrical Engineering graduate of Silliman University in Dumaguete City, and passed the board for electrical engineers in 1974, and the professional electrical engineering board in 1987.

He will be replaced by Engr. Virgilio P. Sanchez, who previously served as corporate staff officer in the Transco Office of the Vice President for Visayas and Mindanao Operations and Maintenance.

Gil, as he prefers to be called, is no stranger to Cagayan de Oro, having served here previously under Abellanosa as a Technical Staff in 1992-2001. He also served briefly in the same capacity in Transco's North Western Mindanao Area based in Pagadian City, before moving to Cebu in 2002 prior to this assignment.

Sanchez is an electrical engineering graduate of the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) Class '83 and passed the board for electrical engineers in the same year. He hurdled the professional electrical engineering board in 1988.


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Friday, September 01, 2006

Cabanlas says judge has an ax to grind against him

COUNCILOR Edgar Cabanlas yesterday risked catching the ire of regional Judge Anita Lucagbo when he attacked her––and her decision––in declaring him and other local officials guilty of deceiving the court in connection with a case that stemmed from the redevelopment of Cogon market.

Cabanlas, one of those who served as city hall’s lawyers in the case, said a personal grudge made Lucagbo decide against him and his clients.

"Dunay kami’y personal nga away sa piskal pa siya (We had a personal misunderstanding back when she was still a prosecutor)," said Cabanlas without elaborating.

He called Lucagbo’s order ‘‘unfair and biased" and added that the judge took matters personally.

This was not the first time Lucagbo ruled against him. He said the judge has not been fair in her decisions in many, if not all of the cases he handled in her courtroom.

"For a long time, all my cases were not given a single merit in that branch," Cabanlas said.

Cabanlas described Lucagbo’s recent decision as ‘‘unjust, cruel and unfair,’’ adding that the judge should have first decided on his group’s motion for reconsideration in connection with a case for the annulment of City Ordinance no. 8931-2003 before she cited them for indirect contempt.

"She has no respect for the members of the city council," said Cabanlas.

The Mindanao Gold Star Daily


Who will pay the fines?

LOCAL legislators met behind closed doors late Tuesday afternoon to discuss if the payment of fines imposed on them by Judge Anita Lucagbo would come from their own pockets or from city hall’s coffers, sources said.

Insiders said some councilors were insisting that it was city hall’s duty to pay because the case was a result of their official functions.

For indirect contempt, Mayor Vicente Emano, Spiers, councilors, contractor Yian Ping of UKC Builders and their lawyers, were fined. The fines range from P20 thousand to P30 thouand each.

The local legislators immediately met at the office of Vice Mayor Michelle Spiers right after the council session.

Councilor Maryanne Enteria said the officials failed to meet with Emano as scheduled because the mayor was resting.

Enteria said the officials cited for indirect contempt cannot do anything but pay the fine although an appeal would likely be made.

"Ingon ana man gyud na ang kaso. Kung pabayron mobayad kita," said Enteria, herself a lawyer.

Enteria said cut short the interview, saying she opted not to say more about the case. She said
she was leaving matters in the hands of Cabanlas and another lawyer, Damian Mart Maandig.

Councilor Juan Sia agreed with Enteria. He said Lucagbo’s order was ‘‘fair enough.’’

"We have to respect the court’s order," Sia said.

Other councilors like Edgar Cabanlas, Jose Benjamin Benaldo and Caesar Ian Acenas said they were willing to be sent to prison by Lucagbo.

"Willing kami nga magpa-priso kung iyang gi-order. Andam kami niana nga panghitabo," said Cabanlas.

Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya declined to comment. "I will reply at the proper time."

His father-in-law, Councilor Reynaldo Advincula, said local officials agreed to bring their case before the Court of Appeals.

Cabanlas said he and the other officials would file appeal their case before the appellate court next week.

"We’re still working on it," Cabanlas said.

The Mindanao Gold Star Daily

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Photos courtesy of the Army's 4th Infantry Division



(Left photo) Recovered detonating wire and switch.






Personnel from Explosives, Ordnance & Demolition
(EOD) unit recovering the improvised landmines.

Talacogon, Agusan del Sur was wounded during an ambush
last 25 August 2006 at KM 5, Marbon, Talacogon, Agusan del Sur.

Email at: mike_banos_2000@yahoo.com, alternate email : mike_banos@walla.com