Moreno hits Olano, calls Abbot an ingrate

MISAMIS Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno, yesterday, repeateadly accused provincial board members Henry Clyde Abbot and Butch Olano of orchestrating an alleged demolition campaign against him even as he called Abbot a “traitor” and “ingrate” (walang utang na loob).

Moreno lashed out at Abbot after he received reports that his accusers - radio blocktimers Ronnie Waniwan and Eddie Dangcal - have been frequenting the latter’s office at Stronghold Insurance beside the Cagayan de Oro press club, for the past few days.

“I helped Abbot during the last elections, even campaigning for him just to make himwin. How come he still did all these things, “Wala syang utang na loob,” Moreno said.

Moreno challenged Abbot to “be man enough” and face him openly and prove all his allegations.

“Dangcal was seen at the office of Abbot yesterday (Sept. 29),” Moreno said adding that in the past few weeks Waniwan and Dangcal has allegedly been seen coming “in and out” from Abbot’s insurance office.

“If Abbot has evidences,” let him prove it and he should not use any dummy or other persons for his own personal interest,” said Moreno . He said Abbot should not hit him at theback. “He should face me openly, and squarely, “ Moreno said.

Abbot did nothing at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan until this time, according to Moreno.

“He (Abbot) got angry and offended after his name was not included at the billboard,” Moreno said adding Abbot’s name was not included as he was just one of the SP members who approved the project.

“Billboard is required by law, but placing names on the billboard has two meanings: Credit of the persons who really worked for the projects and the persons responsible of the projects in case of any irregularities,” Moreno said.

“If I included the persons who are really not behind the project,’it loses the value of the recognition,” Moreno said.

Moreno also said that he lost his thrust on Abbot for claiming things that he is not. “I am not comfortable with his (Abbot) attitude anymore.”

Earlier Waniwan and Dangcal, known for buying radio airtime so they could broadcast stinging political commentaries, have filed two complaint for graft against Moreno before the ombudsman. They charged Moreno with graft and technical malversation of funds before the ombudsman here in connection with a controversial audit report. The report showed that the capitol spent some P12.6 million for fuel used by the private vehicles including the alleged shopping of medicine.)

Over DxIF-Bombo Radyo, Moreno denied any wrongdoing. He even reiterated his challenge on Waniwan and Dangcal including Abbot to show their proof instead of inventing stories.

Moreno also explained that copies of the COA findings now in the hands of his accusers are “no basis at all.”

“They are holding documents without exit conference,” Moreno said adding that capitol was already cleared and verified after the said “exit conference” with the COA officials.

Moreno said he had thought of bringing the findings to higher ups as the COA released their findings without any exit conference, but added that he has second thoughts because it would only be a waste of time.

“Many people need the Capitol’s support, and several projects have to be prioritized,” Moreno said.

Mindanao Gold Star Daily

Mindanao coal plant to operate in December

VILLANUEVA, Misamis Oriental (MIKE BAÑOS/Sept. 30) - Construction of the Mindanao coal-fired power plant is proceeding as scheduled and should be online by the end of the year, plant officials said.

"We are on the final stage of the power plant's commissioning. The first unit has passed the guarantee and efficiency test while the second unit is gearing-up for a reliability test in preparation for full operation by yearend," said Jerome Soldevilla, communications officer of Steag State Power Inc, (SPI), the project company of the Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant.

"Commercial operations will begin as planned not later than 31 December 2006 and we will have our official inauguration in January 2007" he added. "As of 27 September 2006, the power plant project attained a weighted progress achievement of 99%. Based on this figure vis-à-vis the timelines, we are on track and confident that it will commence commercial operations as committed."

Oliver Brock, head of Steag's commissioning team, has been working closely with his counterpart Y. Onishi, head of the Kawasaki Plant Construction, Inc. (a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries) since the first quarter of the year for the commissioning of the first 105MW unit even as the second 105MW unit is being assembled nearby.

That may sound like good news for an island where demand is fast outstripping available power supply, but power supply in the island remains critical, as oil fired plants come down and repairs in its hydroelectric plants continue.

Emmanuel Abellanosa, Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the Assistant Vice President for Mindanao, said they have been constrained to implement voluntary power curtailment or "power shedding" at various times last summer due to imbalances between the available power from National Power Corporation (NPC) and the demand from residential, commercial and industrial users.

"There's not enough spinning reserve in the Mindanao grid to address contingencies," Abellanosa said.

NPC figures show the system gross reserve in Mindanao from the latter half of 2005 to year end 2006 was already insufficient to meet the 11.9-percent load following/frequency and spinning reserve requirements.

NPC president Cyril C. del Callar, earlier warned that "recurring power shortages are expected especially during peak periods, when generators and or associated transmission lines are on forced outage."

Peak power demand in Mindanao last summer topped 1,100 megawatts but the NPC only managed to supply an average of 1,050 megawatts to the Mindanao Power Grid. As a result, whenever there's a glitch in the distribution system, power is cut in some areas as the grid seeks to balance the remaining available power throughout the delicately balanced system.

Abellanosa said NPC's total power generation was curtailed due to rehabilitation works in the 92MW Agus IV Hydro-Electric Power Plant at Iligan City, the 255-megawatt Pulangi IV Hydro Electric Plant in Bukidnon and the 25MW Iligan Diesel Power Plant in Ditucalan, Iligan City, turned over a few years back by independent power producer Northern Mindanao Power Corporation.

As a result, power supply to the Zamboanga peninsula and nearby areas was curtailed by 50MW causing up to three hour power outages although Cagayan de Oro city managed to get by thanks to the 18MW Mindanao Energy Systems (Minergy) power plant which augmented available power to the local utility (Cagayan de Oro Electric Power & Light Co. or CEPALCO).

Rufino T. Magbanua, communications officer for Transco NCMA, said at least 85 percent of Mindanao has already been tapping independent power producers (IPPs) and NPC power barges particularly in key areas.

That's for the short term. Over the medium and long term, even if only ongoing base load coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental comes online as scheduled by year end, it's merely going to patch things over but not fix it.

Although the grid is being weaned away from its traditional dependence on hydroelectric power plants, the bulk of generated power in the island is still being sourced from the Agus Hydroelectric Power Plants in Iligan City and Lanao del Sur and the Pulangi Hydroelectric Power Plants in Maramag, Bukidnon.

The Regional Development Council in Region 10 (RDC-10) has sounded the alarm over the deteriorating power situation in Mindanao.

Arsenio L. Sebastian III, RDC-10 vice-chairman and Dr. Modesto Babaylan, RDC 10 infrastructure committee co-chairman, disclosed recently that Pulangi is producing only 100-120MW of its 255MW rated capacity due to accumulated siltation in the Pulangi River feeding its catchment basin.

Besides the lack of available funds to dredge the Pulangi river, Sebastian said they also have no place to dump the dredged silt taken from it.

Sebastian is also concerned the Mindanao Coal –Fired Power Plant might not be sufficient to meet energy demand in the island, citing Department of Energy statistics show a rising demand for power that the present supply might be unable to meet even with the new base load plant online.

NPC President del Callar earlier said that from 2007 to 2008, power supply in Mindanao would be stable as the system gross reserve remains sufficient to meet the LFFR and spinning reserve with the scheduled commissioning of the 200 MW coal plant.

The average power supply reserve margin in the Mindanao grid from 2005 to 2008 is 7.26% with 2008 having the lowest projected power supply reserve margin of 3.93%. By 2009, peak demand for power in Mindanao will start to exceed the existing power capacity, with additional new capacity of about 57 MW to be needed for the year and an average of 116 MW every year thereafter.

But the environmental advocacy group Task Force Macajalar (TFC) has called on the NPC to review its projections.

TFM spokesperson BenCyrus Ellorin said Mindanao can sustain its power needs without resorting to fossil fuels like oil or coal because its existing hydropower plants are sufficient to meet the island's needs if their full potential of 12,000MW is tapped.

Latest NPC figures only show an existing power band of 982 –1,500 MW with independent power producers (IPPs) capable of another 543 MW.

NPC expects power demand in Mindanao to grow 11.8 percent from 2005-2011 and would need an installed capacity of 2,830MW by the end of this period with the Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant filling the gap.

Ellorin believes Mindanao would be better off if it rehabilitates its present hydroelectric power plants and reforest the watersheds that support them or inter-connect with the rest of the Philippine grid with the Leyte-Mindanao Inter-connection project.

The Mindanao grid is divided into three sub-grids - North, West, and South Mindanao. Of these, only North Mindanao enjoys an excess capacity while the West and South Mindanao grids have to import from the North Mindanao sub-grid to sufficiently address peak power demand in their respective areas.

The country's Power Development Plan for 2005 to 2014 stresses the importance of putting up more power generating plants in order to avert a power shortfall in the major islands of the country, particularly in Mindanao since the previous surplus has been effectively erased with the reopening of the National Steel Corporation (NSC, now Global Steel International, Inc. or GSII) steel plant in Iligan City.

In a recent forum to determine just how real the Mindanao Power Crisis is, CEPALCO Sr. Vice President David Tauli said there's no large power plant (e.g.., 100MW or larger) scheduled for construction in Mindanao from 2007-2011 after STEAG State Power Inc's 210MW coal-fired power plant goes online this year end.

By 2009, Tauli's projections show Mindanao's energy demand at 9,150 gigawatt hours while dependable power supply, SPI's coal-fired power plant included, would only be 9,200 GWh, way below the 11.9-percent load following/frequency and spinning reserve requirements of Transco and a generating system that's no longer "N-1" reliable.

Tauli said this would result to widespread and lengthy brownouts when a section of the transmission system goes on the blink. A drought like the one expected to hit the island soon would worsen this situation.

In the same forum, former National Power Corp. President Guido Alfredo Delgado concurred with Tauli's observations, citing how energy prices in Mindanao are too low, hence the lack of an economic incentive to add new capacity to the island's power grid.

"There are no creditworthy off-takers and no long term market, hence no long term funds available in the local market for investments in power generation, which by its very nature calls for long-term funds," Delgado noted. "On top of that, there are the stranded costs of Napocor and distribution utilities Mindanao power consumers are mandated to pay under the EPIRA."

Tauli, Delgado and Ellorin all agree the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill which has been languishing in Congress to include a mandatory "renewable power supply portfolio" for distribution utilities should lead to investments in renewable sources of electricity, but chances of the bill's passage before Congress goes into recess next month look dim.

MIKE BAÑOS501 V. F. Cabaraban St., Cabaraban Subdivision,Puntod, 9000 Cagayan de Oro CityPhilippines Primary Mobile 0906-889-8484 (Touch Mobile)Secondary Mobile 0921-469-6305 (Smart)IM mike_banos_2000@yahoo.comalternate email : mike_banos@walla.com

">Link

Oro students criticize GMA’s re-take order

NURSING students from Northern Mindanao who passed the controversial June 2006 nursing board examinations from two universities in Cagayan de Oro cried foul yesterday criticizing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's order for a re-take of the said examinations.

“The order of the President is not equal for us here in Mindanao,” spokesman for Capitol and Liceo de Cagayan nursing students, Christopher Abellanosa, said. “Its unfair and unjust.”

Abellanosa added that the re-take order is not in principle only, since secretary Eduardo Ermita disclosed it to media on Wednesday.

“The order is another burden not only to those who passed the board examinations but the entire family including their parents,” Abellanosa said.

Abellanosa said the leakage reportedly took place in Luzon. “Why are they including us here in Mindanao, when we were not party to the anomaly?, he asked.

According to Abellanosa, Capitol and Liceo de Cagayan nursing students who passed the nursing examination are contemplating to take necessary actions so that Arroyo would hear their side and their mental anguish. He adds, they will try to ask the President to reconsider her Order.

Earlier, Arroyo explained through Ermita that a re-take order of the June 2006 nursing board examinations would cover the entire batch of examinees .

Ermita noted that the Chief Executive reached such policy decision during the Cabinet meeting early this week, to reclaim the integrity of Filipino professionals and PRC-administered examinations.

“For us, the order remains unclear, whether the re-take examination will be selective or not, but still the order is an order to re-take and that order is very inimical on our part,” said Abellano.
Abellanosa also criticized the Arroyo administration of “inconsistency,”in its decision.

“The June 2006 nursing board passers already took their oath. How come Malacañang ordered for re-takes? It?s purely a form of harassment to those who honestly passed the examinations without any leakage ,” Abellanosa said.

Abellanosa also said that Malacañang should focus their investigation ongovernment agencies which took part in the alleged irregularities during nursing board examination.

“Why did Malacañang failed to immediately initiate an investigation of officials who administered the examinations? Including those floated to have been involved in the leakage?, he asked.

He said that until now no single official has been named and even punished. “The leakages they were talking about are baseless if no one is investigated or punished,” he commented.

Abellanosa also denied that students in Mindanao benefitted from the leakage, and that the accusation for cheating. should not be generalized. “Why have they not accused the examiners of cheating also?, he asked.

“This is foul. No leakage reached us here in Mindanao and it is not true that some of the students benefitted from it”, Abellanosa said adding that not even a single questionnaire was leaked to examinees here in Mindanao.

“The leakages reportedly started in Baguio and Manila. So the focus of investigation should be there,” Abellanosa lamented.

“The investigators themselves disclosed that based on their computerized investigations, no single questionnaire was used here in Mindanao,” Abellanosa said, adding that the re-take order is not as easy for them even if the government would shoulder the examination fees.

“The problem now is the expenses during the re-take like the board and lodging, especially for examinees who lived in distant places,” he concluded.


Mindanao Gold Star Daily

Lanao cops nab suspects of Rtmi bus robbery

POLICE authorities in Bacolod town arrested two of the six (6) suspects in the highway robbery at Sitio Lawian,in said town of, Lanao del Norte, police officials said yesterday.

Police said the suspects were the ones responsible in the robbing of Rural Transit bus number 1134 on September 12, this year.

Regional Police Community Relation's Division chief Police Senior Supt. Rolando Dela Vega identified the suspects as Rodel Labigan, 25, of Brgy Paiton, Tangub City and Cesar Estabas, 20, of Brgy Rebocon, Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte.

"The immediate arrest of the two suspects would be a great help to our policemen in looking for the four remaining suspects," Dela Vega said.

Dela Vega said they already increased their personnel securing bus and jeepney terminals in the region to avoid another possible higway robberies.

"Personnel of Regional Traffic Management Group are now guarding highways by tightening their checkpoints," Dela Vega said adding that even management and personnel of bus companies are now cooperating for the immediate arrest of the remaining suspects.

Meanwhile, Northern Mindanao police head Chief Supt. Florante Baguio said the suspects were arrested at Sitio Lawian, Brgy Esperanza, Bacolod, Lanao del Norte by the elements of Bacolod Municipal Police led by SPO3 Candido Briones.

Baguio said the suspects were arrested while they were on board a jeepney where one of the passengers named Richelle Hajiula who was likewise one of the victims during the said RTMI robbery, was present.

“The suspects were positively identified by our policemen as among the robbers that robbed the RTMI bus,” Baguio said adding that a hot pursuit operation is still being conducted for the arrest of other suspects.

Baguio has previously ordered Lanao del Norte provincial director PSSupt. Linog Bagul to conduct investigation right after the incident to identify and file appropriate charges in court against the suspects in order to facilitate their immediate arrest.

Baguio also said that they are still conducting operations for the immediate arrest of suspects in a separate highway robbery incident which victimized a bank in Gusa, Cagayan de Oro. The robbers got P4- million supposedly to be deposited for Ficco, a cooperative.

“We’re still investigating if the suspects arrested in Lanao have some connection to the Gusa highway robbery,” Baguio said.

Baguio said a cellphone, Nokia 6610 which turned-out to be the cellphone of Ritchelle Hajiula was seized from the possession of the suspects during their arrest.

Police said a case for highway Robbery/Brigandage was filed against the suspects docketed as Criminal Case number 12729 dated September 18, 2006 at the 12th RTC, Iligan City with a P30,000.00 bail recommended for their temporary liberty.

Mindanao Gold Star Daily

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "MAYAMAN" AND "MAHIRAP"

Kung mayaman ka, meron kang "allergy"
Kung mahirap ka, ang tawag dyan ay "galis" o "bakokang"

Sa mayaman, "nervous breakdown" dahil sa "tension and stress"
Sa mahirap, "sira ang ulo"

Sa mayamang "malikot ang kamay", ang tawag ay "kleptomaniac"
Sa mahirap, ang tawag ay "magnanakaw" o "kawatan"

Pag mayaman ka, you're "eccentric"
Kung mahirap ka, "may toyo ka sa ulo" o "may topak" o "may sayad"

Kung mayaman ka at sumakit ang ulo mo, ikaw ay may "migraine"
Kung mahirap ka naman at sumakit ang ulo mo, ikaw ay "nalipasan ng gutom"

Kung mayaman ka, you are referred to as someone who is "scoliotic"
Pero kung mahirap ka, ikaw ay "kuba"

Kung ang señorita mo ay maitim, ang tawag ay "morena" o "kayumanggi"
Pero kung isa kang domestic na maitim, ikaw ay "ita" o "negrita" o "baluga" o "tsimay

Kung nasa high society ka at ikaw ay maliit, ang tawag sa iyo ay "petite"
Kung mahirap ka lang, ikaw ay "pandak" o "bansot" o "unano" o "jabbar"

Kung socialite ka, ikaw ay "pleasingly plump"
Kapag mahirap ka at ika'y mataba, "tabatsoy" o "lumba-lumba"... pagminamalas ka, "baboy"

Kung well-off ka at date ka rito, date ka roon, ang tawag sa iyo ay "game"
Kung mahirap ka, ikaw ay "pakawala" o "pam-pam"

Kung mayamang alembong ka, ang tawag sa iyo ay "liberated"
Pero kung isa kang dukha, ang tawag sa iyo "malandi"

Kung may pera ka, ang tawag sa iyo "single parent"
Pero kung wala kang trabaho, ang tawag sa iyo "disgrasyada"

Ang tawag sa mayayamang puro gulay ang kinakain, "vegetarian"
Habang kakaawa ang mahirap na " kumakain ng damo."

Sa exclusive school, "assertive" ang mga batang sumasagot sa mga guro
Pero pag ang mga mahihirap na bata ang sumasagot sa mga guro, ang tawag sa kanila ay "walang hiya"

Ang mayamang tumatanda, "are graduating gracefully into senior citizenhood"
Ang mga mahihirap ay "gumugurang"

Ang anak ng mayaman ay "slow learner"
Ang anak ng mahirap ay "bobo" o "gung-gong"

Kung mayaman ka at marami kang kumain, you flatter your host who says, "masarap kang kumain and I like you, you do justice to my cooking"
Kung ghastly peasant ka eating the same amount in the same house, your host will say to himself na ikaw ay "patay-gutom" o "hampaslupa" o "masiba"

Kung boss ka at binabasa mo ito sa PC mo, "okay lang"
Pero kung ikaw ay hamak na empleyado lamang, ikaw ay" nagbubulakbol"... kaya forward mo na agad ito dahil nasa likod mo ang boss mo!

HOME (Jacnet)