Photo Credit: canadianinquirer.net

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Senior Superintendent Benjamin Sembrano was recently appointed new police chief of Olongapo City.

Sembrano is a member of the Philppine National Police Academy Patnubay Class of 1995 who was previously assigned at the PNP Directorate for Logistics.

He replaced Sr. Supt. Melchor Cabalza as Olongapo City police chief.

A simple turn-over ceremony was held last week at the Olongapo City Police Office Headquarters.

Chief Supt. Leonardo Cesneros, Central Luzon deputy regional director for administration, led the turn-over rite.

Source: news.mb.com.ph

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A representative of Verde Soko Philippines declined to discuss why the shipped items were wrongly declared.

MANILA, Philippines — Tons of garbage from South Korea were reportedly shipped to the Philippines.

According to a November 10 report by ABS-CBN News, a trash-loaded ship from South Korea arrived at Mindanao International Container Terminal last July.

Based on documents obtained by Customs officials, South Korean company Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corporation was the consignee of the shipment, which was incorrectly declared as “plastic synthetic flakes.”

A representative of Verde Soko Philippines declined to discuss why the shipped items were wrongly declared.

In 2013, Valenzuela-based company Chronic Plastics Inc. imported more than 50 containers with waste from Canada, worrying environment groups who fear that the shipment might contain toxic materials.

More than half or 29 of the containers with trash were dumped in a landfill in Tarlac.

In 2017, the Bureau of Customs has also called on a South Korean shipper to take back some 5,000 metric tons of suspected garbage that was dumped in Mandaue City in Cebu. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral

Source: philstar.com

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Two consortium groups submitted bids for the operations and maintenance contract of Clark International Airport’s passenger terminal and the new one that will rise in 2020.

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority and the Transportation Department confirmed during the opening of bids Friday that the X-Droid Consortium and the North Luzon Airport Consortium tendered their bids.

X-Droid Consortium is a four-company group comprising of Indonesian airport management firm Angkasa Pura II, local company Globalport 900, capital solutions provider Mazy’s Capital Inc. and Desco Inc.

North Luzon, meanwhile, is composed of Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc., Philippine Airport Ground Support Solutions Inc. and Changi Airport Philippines Pte. Ltd.

BCDA vice president for business development and operations Joshua Bingcang said the bids would be subject to technical and financial assessment before the announcement of the winning party by the special bids and awards committee.

The O&M contract is expected to be awarded next month.

“We want the O&M to be on board to avoid problem in interface with the engineering, procurement and construction provider,” Bingcang said.

The O&M concessionaire will finance, design and complete all fit-out for the existing and new passenger terminals.

The Clark International Airport is set to be the country’s next premier gateway to Asia.

The airport’s new terminal building is the first of the hybrid infrastructure projects and complements other high-impact projects in Central Luzon, such as New Clark City and the Subic-Clark Railway.

Megawide Construction Corp. is building a new terminal in Clark. But the company said earlier it was carefully evaluating plans to bid for Clark’s O&M contract, citing that the viability could be affected by San Miguel Corp.’s planned Bulacan airport and the rehabilitation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Megawide president and chief executive Edgar Saavedra said earlier the Clark O&M project could no longer be that attractive because of the proposed rehabilitation of Naia and the implementation of the Bulacan airport project.

“The numbers could be challenging because of the award of original proponent status to San Miguel’s Bulacan airport and the Naia rehabilitation plan, which could potentially cannibalize the market,” Saavedra said.
He said the ongoing Clark International Airport terminal expansion, which Megawide was currently building, involved the construction of a new passenger terminal capable handling twice the size of Terminal 2 of Cebu Mactan International Airport.

Clark is currently handling 1.5 million passengers.

“The size of [Clark Airport] terminal we are building right now is twice the size of Terminal 2 of Cebu because the plan last year was to close down Naia eventually. So the traffic will go to Clark and they wanted to build a bigger terminal even though traffic is currently only at 1.5 million passengers,” Saavedra said.

“Then suddenly there have been changes in the plan with the Bulacan airport and Naia rehabilitation plans. So it will be challenging and it may no longer be that attractive,” he said.

Source: manilastandard.net

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Photo Credit: bataan.gov.ph

The physical and socioeconomic benefits of tourism will form part of the exhibits of Central Luzon at the North Philippines (NorthPhil) Tourism and Travel Expo slated at the SM City Clark on Nov. 16 to 18.

The exhibits will highlight tourism worthiness as the ultimate manifestation of good governance, which all the local government units in NorthPhil can aspire for, according to the Association of Tour Officers of Central Luzon, which is anticipating the rise of new Clark and Subic cities on the tide of massive infrastructure development on the back of the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program alongside private investments.

Atocel president Michael Palispis said LGUs in Central Luzon would have to level up to keep astride with and cash in on the benefits of such developments.

“Tourism worthiness encompasses, not just infrastructure and tourist attractions, but also all the qualities of good governance that includes safety and security, economic productivity, cultural values, social behavior and attitudes, a healthy business and natural environment, a well-educated populace, transport and telecommunications connectivity, and many other factors that define a CL visitor’s experience,” Palispis said.

“The goal for the LGUs in CL and the rest of NorthPhil is to attain a level of certainty that they won’t miss out on the benefits and opportunities from tourism, whose uptrend is projected to continue despite all the fuel price hikes,” Palispis said.

Constituting Central Luzon are the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales, with an aggregate 2017 tourist volume of 3.42 million comprising 2.91 million domestic, 481,436 foreign, and 14,254 overseas Filipino workers, according to the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc.

The inbound tourist volume in Central Luzon, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority, grew by 9.3 percent in 2017 when tourism contributed 12.2 percent to the economy from 8.6 percent in 2016 as measured by the share of tourism direct gross value added in the gross domestic product.

“The TDGVA amounted to P1,929 .3 billion [P1.93 trillion] at current prices in 2017. This is higher by 24.2 percent than the previous year’s P1,553.7 billion [P1.55 trillion],” the PSA report stated, citing a 43.9-percent rise in 2017 inbound tourist spend.

Also on the upsurge was domestic tourist spend, up by 25.5 percent to P2.645 trillion in 2017 from P2.1 trillion in 2016.

The share of tourism in total national employment in 2017 was placed by the PSA at 13.1 percent.

On the other hand, total contribution to GDP is projected by the World Travel & Tourism Council to rise by 5.3 percent yearly to $108.2 billion (P5.134 trillion) at 20.7 percent of the GDP in 2027.

“Thus, our LGUs shouldn’t miss out on that golden opportunity from tourism, which we strive to showcase at the NorthPhil Expo in Clark,” Palispis said of Central Luzon’s unique exhibits and the presentation of the new digital and official website of the DOT office in the region.

Central Luzon lies in the immediate north of Metro Manila and spans the full breadth of this part of the archipelago from the coastal provinces of Pangasinan, Zambales and Bataan at the West Philippine Sea to Aurora province at the Pacific Ocean
The Central Luzon exhibits are among those displayed in 104 booths featuring all tourism sectors in North Philippines and other parts of the archipelago, including Asia.

Co-organized by the Association of Travel Operators of Central Luzon and managed by the Philippine Exhibits and Trade Corp., the expo is supported by the Department of Tourism, the Angeles City government, the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales, Clark Development Corp., Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Tourism Infrastructure & Enterprise Zone Authority, and Cebu Pacific Air as sponsors.

Source: manilastandard.net

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Olongapo City?Twenty teams participated in the 3rd ArtCycle, an environmental, educational, recycling art competition organized by Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. at SM Olongapo Riverwalk on Friday.

The teams were composed of students with their respective advisers from the different elementary and high schools in Olongapo City, Castillejos, and Subic, Zambales.

This year’s winning team in high school division is Nagyantok High School with their Collage Portrait of Mother Earth made with different recyclable pieces. The entry of Sta. Rita Elementary School is Recyclable Can Stove with Blower and Paper Charcoal won first place in the grade school division.

“Besides teaching them how to upcycle, we are teaching kids how to be problem solvers. With the right amount of support, and a healthy dose of competition, they can make a difference,” said Jason Gavina, Corporate Social Responsibility head of RP Energy.

“I am inspired by the creativity of these young people. We hope that they take this beyond the competition and sustain their projects to help the environment,” said RP Energy VP for Construction Avin Maharaj.

The artworks were judged based on functionality, creative use of materials, replicability, and design.

Judges came from partner organizations that included Lando Garcia from Department of Environment and Natural Resources-CENRO Olongapo, SBMA Ecology Center Protected Area Division Chief Lilia Alcazar, Umicore EHS Coordinator Jofelson Ruiz, Subic Enerzone Reputation Enhancement Specialist Jeff Steve, and JCI Olongapo VP for Community Paulo Mayo.

The art pieces were also auctioned out to the public. Proceeds from these bids went to the school. One art piece got sold for P5,500.

Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc. is a consortium composed of MERALCO PowerGen Corporation, Aboitiz Power Corporation, and Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation.

It is the developer of an environment-friendly and state-of-the-art 2×300-megawatt coal-fired power plant at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The plant is expected boost the power supply in the Luzon grid when it starts commercial operations.

Source: manilastandard.net

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