Panay emerging as 5th economic giant in PHL

The island of Panay, consisting of the provinces of Aklan, Iloilo, Antique and Capiz, is now being considered the fifth preferred economic destination in the country and still continues to grow.

Thus said Diosdado P. Cadena Jr., provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry  (DTI) in Iloilo, in an interview with the BusinessMirror.

The top 5 economic-giant regions in the country are the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Central Visayas, Davao Region and Panay representing Western Visayas.

Cadena was here as guest of honor representing the DTI regional offices for the culminating exercise of 20 Mentor Me Program in the province. Cadena was former DTI provincial director
of Aklan.

“Panay Island is becoming an economic giant because of the infrastructure boom in Iloilo being the center of trade and education, while Aklan complements economic growth because of Boracay Island. We expect more investors to come,” he said.

Maricar Iturralde, currently the DTI-Aklan provincial director, said she has a high hopes for the 20 Mentor Me fellows who graduated.

“The 20 Mentor Me fellows came from different sectors in the 17 municipalities of Aklan. They underwent trainings on business management, hoping to become upgraded entrepreneurs to further help the economy,” she said.

Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores in his state of the province address said the province continues to become a billionaire province.

“We also anticipate the entrance of big new investors, such as the joint-venture agreement with Mabuhay Maritime Express Transport Inc. for the Kalibo Reclamation and Development Project and the signed memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the cruise-ship hub in Caticlan,” he said.

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Aklan eyes developing ICT industry in province

The Aklan provincial government is converting its twin thrusts of agriculture and tourism into the development of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry.

In a weekly Kapehan media forum here, former Vice Gov.  Gabrielle Calizo-Quimpo, who now chairs the ICT-Aklan,  said the provincial government is bullish in embracing the ICT industry in the province.

“We are currently looking for locators who would be investing in a business-process outsourcing [BPO] to focus on tourism. I have also attended a training on precision agriculture recently in Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore,” she said last Saturday.

The weekly Kapehan sa Aklan is held at the ABMC Building at Northwestern Visayan College here.

Marsh Bernabe, ICT Council secretariat, said as part of the campaign to promote Aklan is its hosting a Victor (Visayas ICT Organization) Conference in 2018, adding several ICT organizations from government and non-governmental organizations will be invited to join the summit.

Among those to be discussed are the different challenges and concerns ICT firms are facing in the Visayas.

“Aklan province is unique in terms of opening up to the ICT industry, which the provincial government is funding through the council,” he said.

As the province starts its ICT industry, Gov. Florencio Miraflores approved the construction of  a new P1.5-million ICT building. “In the budget, costs of facilities are not yet included. The building has at least 16 workstations,” he said.

Part of the ICT program of the province is to train an initial 500 participants to engage in the BPO industry.

“We are actually targeting around 3,000 recruits. Currently, we are looking for a locator who will invest in a travel BPO in the province,” he said.

Guidon de la Cruz, secretary of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Aklan, said the business community is supporting the plan to open an ICT industry.

“We anticipate economic growth. More investors and more employees could benefit, among others,” said de la Cruz, who is also a member of the ICT Council.

Hiring

Aklan’s power supply sufficient to continue lighting up Boracay

The supply of electricity in the province of Aklan is sufficient to continuously light up Boracay despite the power shortage still being felt in the entire Visayas area.

Engr. Alexis Regalado, general manager of the Aklan Electric Cooperative (Akelco) said last Saturday that Boracay Island and the entire province of Aklan is not affected by the intermittent power interruptions in the Visayas.

This was part of Regalado’s message during the 34th Akelco General Assembly  held at the ABL Sports Complex at the Aklan Provincial Capitol. The event was participated by around 13,500 member-consumers from Aklan, including consumers in nearby Antique.

“We were only required by the Department of Energy to contribute at least 1 percent of our overall total energy supply to the Visayas grid. Because of this, we have to do intermittent load shedding from time to time but our member consumers are not largely affected,” Regalado said.

He added they have attained sufficient energy by recently commissioning the new Nabas 10MVA Substation Capacity Project.

He also reported that in summer of this year, the power cooperative recorded a record breaking 61 megawatt (MW) of usage from member-consumers.

He also cited the contribution of the member-consumers of Boracay, where Akelco got 98.98-percent collection efficiency rate.

Currently, Akelco gets its electricity from the Green Core Geothermal Inc. (18 MW); Panay Energy Development Corp. (12 MW); Panay Power Corp. (5 MW); SPC Island Power Corp. (4 MW); and the Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (7 MW). Akelco also frequently get its power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, if needed.

Elena Panado, treasurer of the Board of Directors of Akelco, said the power cooperative is also financially healthy.

Earlier, Engr. Joel Martinez, chief of the Akelco Operations Division, however, said that Boracay may still experience fewer incidents of power failures because they are upgrading their current distribution facilities in Boracay.

“Boracay consumers have been complaining of frequent brownouts. Among the causes were the flying kites that touch the electrical wires, lizards, birds and snakes. Strong winds and climate change also contribute to these. To address this problem, we are now starting this year the upgrading of our system in Boracay,” Martinez said.

Akelco is initially allocating P19 million for these upgrade. They had already submitted the intent to the Energy Regulatory Commission for the project’s capital expenditure.

“We hope to finish upgrading our Boracay distribution system this year,” he added.

Trike E solutions

Boracay tourists face drug charges

Drug charges have been lodged against three Taiwanese and a Chinese national who were once tourists at world-famous Boracay Island in Malay town.

The accused are Shau Wei Hu, Chia Hui Sun, Honghua Zhou, and Wei Chieh Weng.

Zhou is a Chinese citizen while the rest are Taiwanese.

The four were part of the group that was arrested in Boracay last year for running a cyber crime group and a drug den.

Initially, the four were charged for only visiting a drug den and have been detained at a jail in Kalibo town.

Over the weekend, the Aklan Police Provincial Office served another warrant of arrest signed by Judge Jemena Arbis of Regional Trial Court -Branch 6.

Inspector Angelito De Jose said it is for drug possession.

It was laearned that police had to wait for almost a year as results of the tablets seized from the suspects had to be confirmed.

Boracay photographers urged to get NBI clearance

 Officers and members of the Boracay Photographers Association (BPA) are now being required to obtain a clearance from National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before applying for a business permit here.

Ernesto Cruz, president of the BPA, said that the move is to ensure that working photographers in this resort island are free from the practices of illegal drugs and terrorism.

"We support this new scheme. However, photographers still should go to Roxas City and Iloilo City as there is no NBI Office in Aklan," Cruz said on Friday.

The BPA has around 250 active members. Their business is to shoot photos on weddings and events. Before, a BPA member is only required to have a barangay and police clearance.

It was gathered that each person engaging into photography in this resort island has to pay around PHP5,000 worth of government permits. Also, they are required to pay another PHP5,000 as BPA membership.

Jimmy Maming, executive assistant to the Malay mayor, said that the BPA is the sole recognized photographers' association in this resort island.

"For event photographers outside Boracay, the event organizers are required to include their photographers in the permitting section with an assurance that photographers are not engaging into terrorism and illegal drugs," Maming said.

DENR mandates waste segregation in Boracay

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has ordered the residents, hotel and restaurant owners in this resort island to practice waste segregation effective immediately.

DENR Regional Director Jim Sampulna said Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has issued a directive to rid Boracay of garbage by July 17.

“The DENR will be filing a case against the local government of [the municipality of] Malay and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan if the order was not properly acted upon. Tourists must also be warned against littering while in Boracay,” Sampulna told the BusinessMirror in an interview last week.

In 2015 the local government of Malay failed to bid the hauling of the garbage from the Boracay Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Barangay Manoc Manoc, resulting in the piling up of garbage that were gathered at the MRF.

Solid waste from households and business establishments are brought to the MRF for segregation and recycling. Those not fit for recycling are brought to the sanitary landfill.

After Ciceron Cawaling was elected mayor of Malay in 2016 he ordered the hauling of garbage from the MRF and transferred to the sanitary landfill in Malay through a barge.

With the coming weather disturbances, unavailable transportation and lack of manpower, the local government is having difficulty in cleaning up the garbage at the MRF. To date, around 20,000 kilograms to 30,000 kg of garbage are yet to be hauled.

On July 3 the DENR, together with its attached agencies, the Environmental Management Board, Mines and GeoSciences Bureau, as well as the provincial offices of DENR on Panay Island, has started a monthlong house-to-house campaign for recycling.

The first week of the campaign was held in the front beach, where hotels, restaurants and other businesses thrive. DENR personnel inspected the waste-management practices of each establishment.

The stakeholders were also advised by a representative of the local government that by July 15 the ban in the use of plastics and Styrofoam materials will be implemented.

Belle Cabesa, representing the Waste Management Department of DENR’s Central Office, said the DENR will soon be sending equipment to Boracay to help in the recycling of garbage on the resort island. For his part, Cawaling said the local government has already come up with a 10-year waste-management plan to rid Boracay of garbage.

Environmental ‘martial law’

The Department of Tourism (DOT)-Western Visayas recommended to Cimatu to declare an environmental “martial law” on this resort island.

Helen Catalbas, DOT regional director, said the proposed environmental martial law is meant to enforce that will ensure the sustainability of the resort island.

Ivene Reyes of Aklan Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office said the DENR is awaiting full details from the DOT on how the proposed martial law would be implemented.

“The DOT, however, is committed to withdraw its accreditation to hotels and restaurants that are not practicing proper segregation scheme,” he said.

Reyes also revealed that the DENR would start this year a study on the carrying capacity of Boracay for tourists, infrastructures and residents.

In the 1980s the DENR has undertaken a study on the carrying capacity of Boracay but the basis then was the amount of available water supply for residents and tourists.

“The DENR needs to update its data on Boracay,” Reyes said.

Environment summit

Maylynn Aguirre-Graf, the newly elected president of the Boracay Foundation Inc. (BFI), said the business group is planning to organize an environment summit soon in order to address various issues.

“The BFI has already conducted four meetings on the planned environment summit. In our recent meeting, we had invited Dr. Miguel Fortes to discuss with us his proposed environmental management plan for Boracay,” said Graf, who is also a councilor and the chairman of the committee on environment in the Sanguniang Bayan of Malay.

Fortes serves as the project manager of the Coastal Ecosystems Conservation and Adaptive Management. He is also a professor of the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute.

“Fortes has updated us on the environment master plan for Boracay. He submitted to the local government his report in 2015 but it was not implemented. During the proposed environment summit, the master plan will be presented to the stakeholders” to inform them of its content, Graf said.

Graf has been pursuing an environment summit months prior to the 2016 election.

She is also proposing a P25 additional environment fee for tourists, on top of the P75 environmental fee being charged to tourists visiting Boracay.

DENR ‘tokhang’ in Boracay

Taking the cue from the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has launched its own version of “tokhang” (Bisaya for “knock and plead”) in Boracay Island, Aklan.

DENR Regional Director Jim Sampulna told Manila Bulletin that his office is launching on Monday “Dalaw-Turo,” a grassroots campaign to curb degradation of the country’s number one beach destination.

Teams from DENR-Aklan, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will visit Boracay’s hotels, resorts, restaurants, shops, and households to ask stakeholders and residents to do their part in preserving what is left of Boracay.

Last month, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu said Boracay is DENR’s top priority in Western Visayas.

Cimatu is calling for solutions to recurring environmental problems blamed on the island’s tourism industry. The issues include garbage management, wastewater treatment, ensuring safe water quality, and regulated development.

The Malay town government, which has jurisdiction over Boracay, is proposing to raise the environmental fee charged tourists from P75 to P100.

Councilor Nenette Aguirre-Graf said the additional P25 will be used to buy reusable  canvass bags for the trash discarded by tourists.

The DENR is giving the Malay government until July 17 to remove an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 kilos of trash from Boracay.