40,000 jobs threatened as fishing companies stop work

Their faces worried, their smile incomplete, their jobs threatened. Fishermen eagerly await for fishing schedules beside their vessels as a total of 14 fishing companies have finally stopped operations on Tuesday night ( 29Jul2008 ) in Zamboanga City, southern Philippines threatening some 40,000 jobs.

[Some smile as I approached them, but when I talked to them nobody talked back. I could see these workers were fearing for the worst.]

The Southern Philippines Deep Sea Fish Association Incorporated, having 14 companies as members with 450 fishing boats, halted fishing operations and asks assistance from the Philippine government to alleviate the high cost of diesel fuel they use to fish in the Sulu Sea.

Zamboanga City houses around 80% of the country’s sardine canning and fishing corporations for its proximity to the Sulu Sea which is an abundant fishing ground.

Sophil vice-president Eugene Yap said “its really a losing battle with now (regarding fuel costs).”

As early as Saturday ( 26July2008 ), some members of Sophil have already stopped their operations. “They cannot sustain the fishing boats with the high fuel costs,” Yap said, adding “the price of sardine raw material right now is only Php21 per kilo, the same price when diesel was only Php35.

According to Mega sardines president William Lim, “fishing supports the canning factories, if the fishing shuts down, naturally the canneries in the city will also close.”

Sophil proposes to increase the sardine raw material prices to Php25 per kilo, cut the extended value added tax on fuel, acquire post harvest facilities like fish storage, and financial assistance in terms of loans for expansion.

The increase of Php25 per kilo is equivalent to Php 0.63 per can.

“This will be enough to sustain the thousands of workforce we employ,” Lim addressed.

In Mega sardines company alone, 800 are fishermen, 200 landbased support, 150 sardine workers group and 700 cannery employees. Around 20,000 fishermen make up Sophil and the nine canning factories employ around 20,000 more.

Lim also announced that due to rising raw materials like tin can cost and tomato sauce, the Php11-canned sardines will have a two-stage increase. The first increase will be at Php1.10 in August and another Php0.80 increase will be in September if raw materials’ cost do not increase too.

The members of Sophil are Mega Fishing Corporation, Zamboanga Universal Fishing Corporation, YL Fishing Corporation, Oceanic Fishing Corporation, OLC Fishing Corporation, Jordan Fishing Corporation, ENL Fishing Corporation, Nancy Fishing Corporation, Century Fishing Corporation, Aljoy Fishing Corporation, AMR Trade and Industrial Dev’t Corporation, Lourdes Fishing Corporation, Top Rose Fishing Corporation and Fermel Fishing Corporation.

Victoria road collapses

We, me and Iroe, head out at around 6:30 a.m. to check out the stretch of road which collapsed yesterday (Jul29) at Barangay Victoria in Zamboanga City, southern Philippines. We passed by Roel’s place on the way.

A stretch of 60-meter long road along the Maria Clara Lobregat highway – the highway connecting the city to Ipil, started to crack at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. It had became impassable late in the afternoon causing thousands to be stranded.

When we arrived, the thousands of stranded people coming in and out of the city weren’t there already because the Department of Public Works and Highways had found a way to build a detour beside the collapsed road. The road workers managed to build a one lane dirt road so that vehicles arriving and leaving the city can take turns using.

I thought it was just a big crack on the road but it wasn’t.

I photographed some of the soldiers who were guarding the whole situation then climbed down the collapsed road to take more shots. I noticed that on the right side towards the city, there was a pond of water authorities think was the reason for the collapse. The water from the pond sipped under the road causing the foundation to soften and eventually slid.

We left the coverage at around 8:30am.

PGMA’s state of the nation address

2nd Regular Session of the 14th Congress
Republic of the Philippines
28 July 2008

Thank you, Speaker Nograles. Senate President Villar. Senators and Representatives. Vice President de Castro, President Ramos, Chief Justice Puno, members of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen:

I address you today at a crucial moment in world history.

Student protest dispersed

Students in Zamboanga City joined the nationwide protest against the Arroyo administration but were dispersed by a city official even before they have started.

Elmeir Apolinario, deputy city administrator, arrived with uniformed and plain clothes policemen, asked protesters belonging to the Suara Bangsamoro, Liga ng Kabataang Moro, Student Christian Movement and Gabriela, to vacate the area where they were holding the demonstration on Normal Road because they have no permit from the city government.

[All I thought that Apolinario will be amenable to giving the students a little time to hold their protest because they haven't officially started but negotiations failed, and he had the students vacate immediately. Apolinario even warned the driver of the jeepney the group rented that he'll impound the jeep if he sees it in the city.]

The students dispersed peacefully and proceeded to Barangay Arena Blanco where they conducted relief operations to the people who were affected by a recent fire. Suara Bangsamoro said they will also hold a protest in public markets.

Apolinario made it clear that the city government of Zamboanga holds a strict enforcement of the no permit, no rally policy.

Suara Bangsamoro said they were previously allowed to hold protests but not this time.

Breeze Cafe

Two weeks ago, as we traveled from the Fort Pilar – after lighting some candles at the shrine, we passed by the newly renovated side of the Lantaka Hotel by the Sea. The earthly colors of rust and fine architecture which were seen through the crystal glass walls, made it interesting. There was another cafe in town.

Last night finally, we found ourselves stopping by the newly opened – so we thought because there were people in it already – looked classy, cafe.

As we entered, it had a quiet ambiance. The cake rack greeted us with delicious pastries. I didn’t see any of the cream puffs which I know Lantaka was also known for, so I just told my wife, Angel, that I would be having brewed coffee. She ordered my coffee and california makis for her brother Iroe and we proceeded to look for our table.

It had a quiet ambiance because there were no music. It was quiet for a long while but sooner, chavacano music started to fill the cozy cafe. But I think, they should not be tied up to the Chavacano songs. I mean, its great to hear but when it gets to the part where the cd jumps, you get that “what happedned” kinda feeling. Chavacano classical or lounge Spanish or even just lounge music be can good to relax to, also.

The couches looked good but I felt it was very far from the table. But hey, we could have always moved it closer – hay.

Because the area (old Zamboanga) had a classic feel, the cafe’s look is a convergence of the classic and modern which was accentuated by dark wood and the rust (earth) paint gave it a bold design. It’s kinda like dancing swing with a pop-rap music. At the right side facing the cake rack was the view of the sea – I know it will be very nice there during the day too. I was just concerned about the glass walls. They were not tinted (yet, i think), so when vehicles park at night, customers will get to be spotlighted with the glare from the vehicle’s headlamps. A nice design tint will be a great addition to the glass walls.

The cafe is a wifi hotspot. Free? I did not ask.

What about the waiters? They were very courteous and kind. The one I talked to had a very long working experience at the hotel. Courtesy and efficiency is not a question. But, there were times that I had to go to the counter to look for them. Understaff? Nah, maybe it’s just late at night already. And yeah, I think table napkins should be readily at the table – we were not given any.

Overall. It’s a nice place to relax and the food was great (Angel ordered a superb seafood pasta).

Military rewards NPA informant

The Western Mindanao Command gave out a total of Php1,000,000 for information on the capture of two New People’s Army leaders last year.

After a brief introduction, a short man wearing a ski mask with heavily tinted sunglasses, went out of his holding area and proceeded in front of the media to be rewarded by Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga, with the sum of Php500,000. His dark shades caused him not to see the hands of the commander when he was congratulated. Another, of the same height as the former, also went out and got the remaining sum.

The duo were informants that led to the capture of Antoni Anding and Gideon Galleposo, top leaders of the New People’s Army based in northern Mindanao. Anding was collared in Barangay Balua in Cagayan de Oro City on August 17, 2007 by elements of the military intelligence and infantry soldiers. Galleposo was captured on December 28, 2007 in Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay province.

Allaga assures any information given to the military to quell lawlessness and terrorists will be recognized appropriately.

US generals’ visit

Two US military generals visited the Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City on Saturday ( 26July2008 ) to visit US troops assisting Philippine soldiers in the south.

US Pacific Command director for intelligence Rear Admiral Michael Roger together with US Southern Command deputy for operations Major General Salvatore Cambria paid a visit to the commander of the Philippine Western Mindanao Command Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga before heading off to see the troops encamped inside Camp Navarro.

After a brief picture taking, members of the local media were asked to leave the receiving room for the conduct of the military briefing the Philippine general gave.

Allaga said the visit was a routine visit to check on the troops helping the Filipino soldiers in the southern Philippines.

A ten-day tactical warfare simulation system exercises involving US and Philippine Marines is currently ongoing at the Naval Forces Western Mindanao headquarters, also in the city (see full story).

Mock ARMM Elections

On Tuesday, July 22, 2008, the Commission on Elections tested the election automation using the optical mark reader (OMR) and the direct recording electronic (DRE) during a mock election across the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. I was able to cover the OMR test at the Basilan National High School in Basilan province.

The Comelec conducted two mock elections in Basilan province. One is in the municipality of Lamitan and the other, in Isabela City. Since the most of the automation systems will be in Isabela City, I chose it for my coverage.

Participants coming from Comelec, DepEd, local government units and non-government organizations had fun during the mock elections as they voted for popular hollywood movie actors in the gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial race while local actors were made legislators.

The conduct of the mock elections was swift, as the election officer made clear instructions to participants before voting.

The automated counting machine can count 100 ballots per minute and in seconds, votes can be transmitted to the provincial, municipal and regional board of canvassers using the satellite. The machine scans for the votes as well as for security features of the ballots. When no security feature has been found or has been tampered with, the machine will not count it. Also, if the machine finds irregularities in the markings of votes, the system will hold counting for election officials to verify.

And, it did all that. The counting machine was that fast and stopped when it read a contestable ballot, in seconds it transmitted the numbers to the municipal canvasser and in minutes, the number of votes were received in the provincial level and gradually making it to the regional canvassers.

After a chitchat with some of the participants, I found out that they were glad that these automation will be enforced in the coming elections. One said, it will lessen the workload for the teachers who counted manually in the past elections. With this, they will not find themselves burning the midnight candle just to finish counting everything – more so, face the danger of attacks in hotspots. But my questions was, would this automation quell election fraud? Participants said that there will still be avenues on how to cheat in the elections. Unless there will be biometrics which will safeguard each voter’s ballots, the new system being tested is not fool proof. One said it will now be easier to cheat if the elections will not be well guarded.

I must say that the best option is a direct recording machine that lets a registered voter vote only after his biometrics are accepted as his password. That way, the only way to cheat the elections is to cut off everybody’s thumbs.