UNCERTAIN TIMES Fishermen from Subic town in Zambales province lament that their fishing trips to the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea remain uncertain despite the country’s friendly ties with China. JOANNA AGLIBOT

SUBIC, ZAMBALES—During good weather, the shoreline of Calapandayan village in Subic town, Zambales province, bustles with fishermen fixing their boats.

Some haul their boats to shore after spending a week or two out at sea, while others prepare their vessels for a new fishing expedition by loading fishing gear and supplies.

But these fishermen also have to build up stamina for the long-standing maritime dispute and aggression by the Chinese Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea.

What used to be a rich fishing ground has been off-limits, or regulated by Chinese vessels, since 2012, said Leonido Moralde Sr., 57, a fisherman and boat owner.

China has been controlling the shoal, part of its supposed historic claim over most of the entire South China Sea, a claim junked by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in July 2016.

The PCA ruled in favor of the Philippines’ rights over the shoal, but the Duterte administration has set the decision aside in favor of bilateral talks with Beijing.

Empty-handed

“On several occasions, we were chased away from Panatag (also known as Scarborough Shoal) by patrolling Chinese Coast Guard,” Moralde said. “In extreme cases, Chinese vessels fired water cannons to intimidate us.”

Some fishermen also complained that members of the Chinese Coast Guard had boarded their boats and forcibly took their best catch.

Despite these troubles, most fishermen said they would continue to fight for the country’s sovereign rights even without government support.

But their resolve is being severely tested, as most of them usually return home nearly empty-handed after weeks out at sea.

The situation has buried some fishermen in debt, said a couple who finance their fishing trips.

“We provide them capital amounting to as much as P100,000 per fishing trip to cover fuel, ice, fishing gear and other provisions,” said the couple, who asked not to be named.

Because of Chinese restrictions, the couple could barely recover their investment.

Even alternative fishing grounds, among them the “payao” (artificial reefs), have yielded a lean catch.

“When we could still freely fish around the shoal, we could easily earn P30,000 each. Back then, we could pay back the capital we borrowed,” Moralde said.

Asserting rights

“Right now, some of our kids have quit studying. Life has been hard these days,” he added.

Leozar Coner, 37, of Barangay Calapandayan, said he and the other fishermen were always on the lookout for the Chinese Coast Guard.

“Every time we face the Chinese patrols, we would insist that we have the right to be there. But what can our words do? They’re armed,” Coner said.

Although some fishermen said they’re ready to sail back to the shoal despite the risk, many have opted to fish within municipal and provincial waters instead.

But even within 74 to 92.6 kilometers (40 to 50 nautical miles) from the shoreline of this town, fishermen have to deal with another adversary.

Fishermen from Vietnam have reportedly entered the waters of Zambales, poaching around the payao. They have also destroyed payao that cost P80,000 to build, Moralde said.

“These Vietnamese fishermen know that Filipinos own these payao but they continue to harvest from these. They engage in illegal fishing and use ‘superlights,’ which are not allowed,” he said.

“We never failed to report this to authorities but there was no action from them,” Moralde said.

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

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Photo Credit: metal-conveyor-belts.com

The 100-megawatt peak (MWp) Subic solar farm of Filipino firm Jobin-SQM, Inc. (JSI) has been authorized to connect and wheel its capacity to the Luzon grid via the 230-kilovolt (kV) substation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in Subic, Zambales.

The developer-firm JSI of the solar facility is a subsidiary of Emerging Power, Inc. (EPI), the power generation company of the Zamora group, which is also into mining and banking among other businesses.

The nature of approval rendered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) warrants the installation of a “dedicated point-to-point limited facilities to connect the 100MWp power project to the Luzon grid.”

It has been noted that by transmitting the solar facility’s electricity output, it will not only increase electricity supply to the grid but such will also support the government’s bid to hike the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix.

The total project cost had been pegged at P1.034 billion – comprising of the connection assets of JSI at P774.029 million; and the needed upgrade and modification of the NGCP Subic substation costing P260.439 million.

On ensuring the technical integrity of the connection facility, JSI has commissioned MN Electro Industrial Supply & Services as the third party entity that had undertaken system impact study “to determine the technical feasibility of connecting the 100MW solar power plant to the Luzon grid.”

The company has similarly engaged the services of S.L. Development Construction Corporation and Harty Inc. for the supply, construction and installation of the prescribed connection facilities.

In the ERC ruling, it specified that while the assets connected to the NGCP substation in Subic also serve other customers like the Subic-Enron power plant, such cannot be considered a dedicated point-to-point facility.

Nevertheless, the power industry regulator qualified that the facilities intended for the 100MWp solar plant of JSI can be single-handedly classified as dedicated point-to-point facility as underpinned by the provisions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

The ERC thus emphasized that “as to the assets connecting JSI’s 100 MWp solar power plant to NGCP’s Subic substation, these assets are dedicated point-to-point limited facilities qualified under Section 9 of EPIRA.”

The regulatory agency further decreed that “if these assets are removed or cut, only JSI will be disconnected since these are solely used by JSI’s generating facility.”

Source: business.mb.com.ph

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Subic Bay Freeport—In compliance with the national government directive, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority will outsource the services rendered by a significant chunk of its Contract of Service (COS) personnel starting February 2019.

According to lawyer Ramon Agregado, SBMA Senior Deputy Administrator for Support Services, a total of 307 personnel maintained by the agency under the COS scheme will be absorbed by outsourcing companies that will provide janitorial, ground maintenance, building security and housing security services to the SBMA.

Agregado announced this on Dec. 28 during a general assembly at the SBMA Gym, where agency officials discussed outsourcing and position reclassification procedures with concerned personnel. This was after the affected personnel were first notified in writing in April 2018.

The affected workers, he said, are security, janitorial, and ground maintenance personnel whose positions have been recommended for outsourcing by the Department of Budget and Management as early as September 2013.

“This is a requirement of the government?of the DBM. We are simply complying with the requirement,” Agregado explained.

“Please bear in mind that we are doing our best in order for you to keep your jobs,” he assured workers.

At the same time, Agregado said the SBMA would retain a total of 655 COS workers until June 2019, but possibly until Dec. 31, 2020, the new deadline set under a joint circular from DBM, Civil Service Commission, and Commission on Audit.

He said the SBMA hopes to hire the remaining qualified personnel for plantilla positions once the agency’s proposed restructuring plan gets approved by the DBM.

In the meantime, the SBMA has begun reclassifying COS positions and salary grades so that these workers may eventually fit into the new organizational structure, assuming they obtain the requisite eligibility, Agregado added.

The outsourcing and position reclassification procedures, SBMA officials said, actually serve as safety nets to avert financial ruin for workers affected by the order to end contractualization in government service.

SBMA Deputy Administrator for Administration Ruel John Kabigting noted that the SBMA had previously been called out at the House of Representatives for employing the most number of COS workers among government agencies.

He added that other free ports like Clark and Bataan had since outsourced their personnel.

Kabigting recalled that under Joint Circular No. 1 issued on June 15, 2017 by the CSC, COA and DBM, government agencies were allowed to renew contracts of service or job orders only until Dec. 31, 2018.

While another joint circular dated Nov. 9, 2018 extended the deadline for compliance to Dec. 31, 2020, he said the DBM had directed the SBMA in a September 2013 memorandum to refrain from hiring personnel under contract of service and instead fill up its regular plantilla positions “to have semblance of continuity in service.”

In 2015, the Office of the President likewise required the SBMA to reduce its manpower complement from contract of service to 3% per annum.

Finally in October 2016, the DBM directed the SBMA that “as a matter of policy, the janitorial and security services shall be outsourced, subject to existing budgeting, accounting, auditing, and other applicable laws, rules and regulations,” Kabigting said.

From there, the outsourcing scheme was approved by the SBMA Board of Directors on April 12, 2018 and underwent the processes of notification, bidding and endorsement until the contract was awarded to winning service providers early this month.

According to the SBMA Human Resources Management Department, the outsourcing scheme will provide job security in the private sector to the affected workers, as well as holiday pay, 13th month pay, overtime pay, and benefits from Social Security System, Pag-Ibig and Philhealth that they don’t otherwise enjoy as COS workers of the government.

Source: manilastandard.net

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THE Department of Health Region (DOH)-Central Luzon reported a significant drop in firecracker-related injuries during this year’s holiday celebrations, compared to that in 2017.

Based on the records of the DOH-Central Luzon, 54 individuals were reportedly victims of firecracker mishaps from December 21, 2018 to January 1, 2019, which decreased to 85.67 percent compared to 377 incidents reported in the same holiday period in 2017.

Among the recorded incidents, the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan registered the highest numbers of incidents with 15 each, followed by Zambales with 10, Tarlac with seven, and Bataan and Aurora with single incident each.

Seven individuals among the victims in the region sustained eye injuries, while four required amputation of different body parts due to the severity of injuries they sustained, the DOH-Central Luzon further reported.

The health agency also noted that most of the victims of firecracker-related injuries were boys whose age ranged from 10 to 20 years old.

Meanwhile, the DOH-Central Luzon disclosed that 18 of the 54 incidents were caused by “kwitis,” which is the highest among other types of firecrackers, followed by five star, piccolo, and luces.

Source: sunstar.com.ph

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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday ordered six Petron stations to explain why they implemented the second round of fuel tax increases for 2019 as early as Jan. 2.

These gas stations are located in San Juan, Concepcion, Tarlac; Barangay Mangan Vaca, Subic, Zambales; MacArthur Highway, San Matias, Sto. Tomas, Pampanga; MacArthur Highway, Dakila, Malolos, Bulacan; Olongapo-Gapan Road, Sta. Ana, Pampanga and Barangay Prado Siongco, Lubao, Pampanga.

“On the average, (the implementation of the additional excise tax) can be in the middle of the month, it can be the end of the month. But there are gas stations reporting to us that they are already implementing the same,” DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said in a press briefing yesterday.

The DOE had earlier directed all oil firms to finish their 2018 oil inventories before applying the second tranche of excise tax increases on petroleum products, which took effect on Jan. 1.

DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the second round of excise tax increases on petroleum products is not for old stock.

The DOE requires oil companies to have a minimum inventory of 15 days. Depending on the location of the gas stations, this means some gas stations may have already used up their 2018 inventory while others still have old stocks available.

“We consider the factors like fast turnover and the size of their storage facilities,” Fuentebella said.

The DOE has given oil firms until Jan. 8 to submit daily and monthly inventory reports as well as their annual inventory report for the closing of 2018 to properly monitor the implementation of the second tranche of fuel excise tax increases under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.

Fuentebella said the six Petron gas stations submitted a report saying they have raised prices due to the additional excise tax.

“We are asking them to explain. We have this twin approach, the show cause order, and the inspection team,” he said.

Petron said these gas stations have low-capacity storage and are directly supplied by its Bataan refinery.

“Petron is one with DOE in ensuring fair and correct implementation of the second tranche of TRAIN 1. We reported to DOE the list of Petron stations that implemented the additional excise taxes on Jan. 2. These included stations with low storage capacity which reflected the new prices after their old inventories were depleted,” the oil firm said.

“These stations are being supplied from our refinery in Bataan, where the collection of new excise taxes by the government started at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1,” it added.

Source: philstar.com

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