Mike Banos
Mike Banos is a freelance journalist who contributes to the Mindanao Gold Star Daily newspaper. He is a member of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club, Inc., served in the Board of Directors for three terms and has been a journalist for over 20 years in the cities of Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. He is the content provider for Kagay-an.com, Online News from Cagayan de Oro and also contributes articles for national magazines.
Articles by Mike Banos
November 01, 2009
Filipino artists use the visual arts as a medium to surface issues involving trauma.
October 29, 2009
Senator Noynoy Aquino will barnstorm Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities on October 29-30, 2009.
October 11, 2009
The National Police Commission is leading a spiritual renewal of the Philippine National Police and it's beginning to show in increasing displays of selflessness among the ranks of the blue and the gray as they pursue their mandate "to serve and protect".
October 11, 2009
Planning for Cagayan de Oro's water future should involve not only the Cagayan de Oro City Water District or the Regional Development Council. It should be a bottoms-up, participatory process involving all stakeholders. With everyone having a stake in the plan, its chances for success would be manyfold multiplied.
October 08, 2009
By opening The Fair Trade Shop, we are sending a message to all consumers that they can make a difference. Fair Trade allows consumers to vote with their pesos each time they make a purchase. This is a powerful tool consumers have at their disposal to make a direct and meaningful impact- simply by making conscious, responsible choices about what they buy and how they spend. 32 producers observing internationally-recognized Fair Trade principles will supply The Fair Trade Shop with bakery items, roasted mountain coffee, jams, tablea, fashion accessories, home décor, paper and stationery and wellness products.
More than 4,000 urban and rural poor households will share in the sales generated by these producers, 23 of whom are from Northern Mindanao (Region 10).
October 08, 2009
El Circulo Zamboangueño de Cagayan de Oro celebra 53 años de fiesta honor de Nuestra Patrona, Sra. La Virgen del Pilar de Zaragosa.
September 30, 2009
The National Economic and Development Authority in Region X is building up the capabilities of local government units (LGUs) to raise revenues and attract investments.
September 29, 2009
Why the Philippines foremost political strategist is feared by his enemies.
September 29, 2009
A former congressional representative of Bukidnon province who is also an environmentalist believes Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon should join hands to manage and police the Cagayan River watershed and river basin.
September 29, 2009
An award-winning social enterprise that's also a half way house for trouble youth is in trouble. And badly needs your help to keep their "Arthouse."
September 27, 2009
Sen. Francis Escudero deserves the country's salute for giving potable drinking water the place it deserves in the nation´s radar screen by putting forward his advocacy for a state-run bulk water distribution system as the answer to the country´s water woes, however unfeasible such a scheme may prove to be eventually.
September 27, 2009
Under the stewardship of Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno, the oft maligned Bureau of Fire Protection is off to a new start with the passage of The Revised Fire Code of the Philippines which has laid the foundation for the long term sustainability of the agency's frequently postponed modernization program.
September 26, 2009
Korean dentists and hygienists from Duk-Young Dental Hospital in South Korea are back for a second round of dental missions in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental.
September 26, 2009
Supporters of the Noynoy Aquino-Mar Roxas tandem are urging true Filipinos to tie a yellow ribbon in their houses, offices and vehicles to show their support for a change of leadership in Malacañang.
September 21, 2009
The protection of a river system involves not only the people in its headwaters or delta but along its entire length, tributaries and other waterways. The water cycle ensures that an event in an area anywhere along this network of waterways would affect all people who depend on its to sustain life.
September 21, 2009
A sense of unease pervades the fragmented opposition's ranks with Lakas-CMD's selection of DILG Sec. Ronnie Puno as Defense Sec.Gilberto Teodoro's running mate for the 2010 Presidential Elections. Does this have to do with Puno's umblemished track record as campaign manager of Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo? Or apprehensions these victories were not secured without cost? We take a closer look at the man Sen. Edgardo Angara calls "the master strategist of his generation."
September 19, 2009
The author of House Bill No. 5908 on the proposed Cagayan River Basin Authority is open to enhancements of the draft bill which would be more in keeping with its trans-territorial nature and coverage.
September 19, 2009
Opposition presidential and vice presidentiable Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas are coming to Cagayan de Oro on September 27 to rally support from multi-sectoral organizations for their bid for Malacañang.
September 19, 2009
Increasing demand for potable water, decreasing groundwater supply and the proliferation of deep wells further depleting our aquifers, are coming together at a time when there´s no existing central authority capable of addressing these issues in a coordinated, comprehensive and rationale manner.
September 18, 2009
As a gesture of support and confidence, the Regional Development Council of Region X (RDC-X) is holding its 83rd Full Council Meeting at the project office of the Laguindingan Airport Development Project (LADP) in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental on September 24, 2009. RDC-X was instrumental in getting approval for the project and securing its financing from South Korea.
September 18, 2009
Planters Development Bank, the multi-awarded bank for Small and Medium Enterprises has extended its SME Advocacy Program to the fastest growing region in the Philippines through its SME Speaker Series.
Plantersbank brought in Anthony Pangilinan, acclaimed management trainer, motivational spe...
September 16, 2009
Either she's suffering the onset of Alzheimer's disease or just plain having one of her periodic attacks of selective amnesia but this lady senator's memory gaps are becoming a most convenient excuse for her to get away with words which would put the ordinary Juan de la Cruz in jail. Indeed, everyone is equal under the law, but some are definitely more equal than others.
September 14, 2009
The National Economic & Development Authority assures full transparency for all projects funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA).
September 13, 2009
Women's associations in ten municipalities spread through three regions of the Philippines are pioneering the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) One Village, One Fisheries Product (FOVOP)system to help bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and mitigate the over-fishing typical in population stressed areas.
September 13, 2009
Misamis Oriental, with a little help from Australia, is helping bring peace to previously inaccessible hamlets of the province through the basic expedient of building and maintaining roads which open up opportunities for advancement for impoverished residents.
September 09, 2009
Mayor Constantino Jaraula maintains the Office of the City Mayor has the final say on the proposed bioethanol project in Cagayan de Oro, regardless of what the DENR or Congress has to say about it.
September 09, 2009
The House Committee on Ecology's public hearing on the proposed bioethanol plant held Sept. 2 in Cagayan de Oro City again underscores the importance of groundwater in sustaining civilizations great and small regardless of how it benefits a certain sector of society to the detriment of the greater majority of its residents.
September 09, 2009
The Barangay Human Rights Program should be a logical starting point with which the Department of Interior and Local Government should work together with the Gising Barangay Movement to naturally complement each other to make it work.
September 09, 2009
"The House of Joshua" is making the dream for a shelter to minister to the needs of abandoned boys from aged five come true.
September 06, 2009
Four young artists from Cagayan de Oro explore doodling as an art form, courtesy of the Corporate Social Responsibility program of Spruce Designer Network, that trendy footwear and fashion accessories store at the 2nd Level of the Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City.
September 05, 2009
Northern Mindanao was the Philippines fastest growing regional economy in 2008. It maintained its status as the biggest regional economy in Mindanao for the fourth straight year, and ranked third nationwide in per capita GRDP. However, few are aware of the danger the untrammeled abstraction of ground water poses on the growth of its biggest city, the regional capital of Cagayan de Oro.
September 04, 2009
Apparent flaws in the study commissioned by the Department of Health on the people's health and environment of Sitio Camocaan merits further investigation into the methodology employed by its principals considering its negative implications on the future of the banana industry and the thousands who ...
September 01, 2009
Kudos to the Cagayan de Oro City Council for acting swiftly in response to the clear and present danger now facing the city's ground water supply.
September 01, 2009
A small independent petroleum product proces dares buck convention and start an industry trend as it rolls back its diesel and gasoline prices by P1.00 per liter at a time when other oil industry players are jacking up prices.
August 26, 2009
What seems to be causing Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago's "selective amnesia" of the Senate Economics Committee probe into alleged violations of Section 261 of the Election Code by some members of the executive branch? And why are the two biggest spenders in the Senate not included in her probe?
August 26, 2009
Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano says once the Laguindingan Airport is opened in 2010 as an international airport, Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao has the missing ingredient to make them the top tourism destinations in the Philippines.
August 24, 2009
When the curtains rang down on the 13th Kumbira 2009 on August 14, 2009, there was no doubt on anyone´s mind that it had earned its reputation as the best culinary show and competition outside Metro Manila.
Colin Mackay of Scotland, one of the four foreign judges in this year´s c...
August 17, 2009
Following the disastrous rains and floods which pummeled the region earlier this year, government agencies charged with coordinating disaster risk reduction came together in a forum as the culminating activity for National Disaster Consciousness Month with this year´s theme, "Pag Alerto, Malay...
August 17, 2009
Mahalaga is the title of one of the "classical" Original Pilipino Music (OPM) tunes during its Golden Age in the late 70´s when Hajji Alejandro, Basil Valdez, Rey Valera, Hotdog, and of course, the incomparable Rico "J". Puno held sway.
Composed by Louie Ocampo and sung by Rene Puno, Maha...
August 16, 2009
After years of drawing a line between the spiritual and the material, the church, the local government and civic society have finally agreed to put St. Augustine back as the center of the Kagay-an Festival, Cagayan de Oro´s fiesta festival.
The convergence will be evident when the new Halad sa ...
August 16, 2009
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. exhorted civil society and the Catholic Church to mobilize against the imminent passage of the controversial Reproductive Health Bill (Senate Bill No. 3122).
"You have to go to the Senate and the Lower House to show your numbers and visit your re...
August 14, 2009
Water for drinking and irrigation will be a top priority in the Cabinet´s agenda for the next two quarters as the Philippines braces for its next El Niño episode.
A report from one of the nation´s top business dailies quotes deputy presidential spokesman Rolando Tungpalan as saying President Ar...
August 10, 2009
Effective and efficient communications to their constituents has always posed a challenge for good governance in the Philippines given the country´s archipelagic nature. It´s good to know government has been at the forefront of meeting this challenge thorough the newly created Commission...
August 09, 2009
Muslim and Christian advocates of the Muslim visionary Bediuzzaman Said Nursi converged on Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao, Philippines for a two-day symposium in July on the Risale-i Nur (Treatises of Light, commentary on the Qu´ran) with the theme "The Role of Justice for a Better World."
...
August 09, 2009
Former Senate President and Justice Secretary Franklin Drilon has slammed President Gloria Arroyo´s latest "attempt to undermine the independence of the judiciary" after she returned the list of nominees submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to fill up the two vacancies in the Suprem...
August 09, 2009
Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez vowed during a public hearing Thursday to render all arguments abut industrial activities within the Cagayan de Oro watershed moot and academic with the inevitable passage of a bill declaring it a protected area.
"We shall have no more illegal mining, no more logging, no...
August 05, 2009
Legislators may have a hard time passing the Magna Carta for Women´s Rights Bill in Congress but at least one government agency has taken the initiative towards pursuing its spirit to provide additional protection for women and children even before its passage into law.
The Department of ...
August 02, 2009
Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III warns Filipinos the A(H1N1) pandemic will get worse before it gets any better and prepare themselves for the worst.
July 29, 2009
The Capitol has confirmed the AH1N1 virus has affected nine people in Alubijid, Misamis Oriental. Tests have also been conducted on patients suffering flu-like symptoms in Naawan and Claveria.
July 29, 2009
The House of Representatives Ecology Committee will meet with the Kagayan Watershed Alliance (Kawal) to discuss the impact of the construction and operation of a bioethanol plant in two upland barangays of Cagayan de Oro City.
July 29, 2009
Northern Mindanao was the fastest growing regional economy in the Philippines in 2008, and retained its status as the biggest regional economy with the highest in terms of per capita GRDP in the island.
July 25, 2009
Upon his recent return from a trip to the United States which was the subject of much media speculation, Interior Secretary Ronaldo V. Puno moved quickly to quash rumors there was a sinister purpose behind his purported visit to join the wedding of his youngest daughter.
Puno said he had to take ...
July 23, 2009
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro begins his quest to clinch the presidential nomination of the ruling coalition as he takes his oath as member of Lakas-Kampi-CMD today (Friday, July 24, 2009 Philippine time).
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Lakas-Kampi-CMD President, will swear-in Teodoro ...
July 23, 2009
There´s this song from the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" called "This Jesus Must Die" whose lyrics I particularly like. This is the part where Caiaphas and Annas confer with their fellow high priests and Pharisees on what to do with Jesus Christ´s growing popularity with the people.
I find ...
July 19, 2009
Peace in southern Philippines is a key to the continued growth and development of the country, says presidential aspirant Gilberto Teodoro.
July 15, 2009
After attracting Standing Room Only (SRO) crowds night after night at the Clamshell 1 in History Town of Intramuros, the WOW Philippines Pasundayag sa Northern Mindanao seeks to raise the bar higher next year when it takes its colorful festival to the SM Mall of Asia.
"It´s a done deal," said C...
July 15, 2009
Two of the country´s senators who have declared their intention to run for the presidency in 2010 have both cited their willingness to have Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno as their vice presidential running mate.
Senator Richard Gordon said last week that if his plans to run for president push th...
July 15, 2009
The Department of Transportation and Communication is considering Laguindingan Airport for future international traffic following the expected upswing in international tourists come 2011.
Doroteo A. Reyes II, Undersecretary for civil aviation, said the DOTC is looking at Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Da...
July 15, 2009
Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Constantino G. Jarauala is not waiting for the results of a proposed study to convince him now is the time to act to save the continued depletion of the city´s aquifers.
Plans are underway for the city government to build a 1,000 cubic meter (m3) reservoir in a city go...
July 15, 2009
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will be conducting a workshop on the second week of this month to integrate the various aspects of the Mindanao Strategic Development Framework (MSDF).
The activity will be a follow-up activity to the MSDF workshop held June 30 at Cagayan d...
July 12, 2009
The Filipino-American daughter of a couple from Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental has been crowned Miss United States International 2009 and will represent the US in the 49th Miss International pageant to be held at the Venetian Macao Resort in Macau, China on November 7, 2009.
Aileen Jan "A.J....
June 25, 2009
Local government secretary Ronnie Puno has made an otherwise tepid race for the vice presidency interesting. Puno surprised a lot of people when he threw his hat in the ring for the country´s second highest seat as the official representative of the administration coalition Lakas-Kampi-CMD in the Ma...
June 07, 2009
Here´s a laudable initiative by the Bacolod City Council as reported recently in the online version of The Visayan Daily Star of Negros that the Cagayan de Oro City Council and Misamis Oriental Provincial Board should consider worth emulating.
The story by Chrysee Samillano said the SP passed a...
June 02, 2009
The Chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries has assured President Gloria Arroyo they are pushing through with their P2-billion shipyard project in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
The president and Hanjin chair Cho Nam Ho had a luncheon meeting at the Shilla Hotel in Jeju in the course of her recent four-...
May 31, 2009
Kagay-anons have been so blessed with the gift of abundant water not many of us have bothered to grant it the attention its proper use and development deserves.
Except perhaps for some instances in the past when the El Niño made us worry for a few months, we were never really anxious over the sta...
May 31, 2009
With the withdrawal of the other remaining bidder and the successful hurdling of the technical tests by the only qualified bidder, it looks like the country may still have its first automated national elections next year after all.
The consortium of AMA Group Holdings and Election Systems and Sof...
May 29, 2009
The teen-age old son of former a Kagay-anon television news personality has made a big splash in his comedic debut on May 9, 2009 at the M Studio in Mississauga, a city located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario, and part of the Greater Toronto Area.
"Jarrel Montes is a very promisin...
May 18, 2009
The bidding the Commission on Election´s poll automation projects enters its penultimate stages with the scheduled resolution today, May 19, 2009 (Philippine time) of all pending motions for reconsideration and clarification by previously disqualified bidders to be followed by the 26-point technical...
May 17, 2009
Environmental groups marched shoulder to shoulder with indigenous peoples and other citizens adversely affected by the mining industry to City Hall on May 13 asking for the local government´s endorsement of the Alternative Mining Bill (AMB).
The AMB which seeks the scrapping of Republic Act...
May 17, 2009
Despite threats of a "No-Election" scenario and legal action from losing bidders, the Commission on Elections official heading the bidding for the agency´s poll automation project remains confident elections will push through as scheduled and it will be fully automated.
"I am confident fully au...
May 17, 2009
Cagayan de Oro will soon host another coming out party when its first-ever high-rise condominium building complex goes up late this year at the Pueblo de Oro Township, adding another landmark to an increasingly impressive skyline.
Volt Flores, Pueblo de Oro Development Corp. (PODC) Product Mana...
May 17, 2009
Twelve young Filipino leaders screened from over a hundred applicants nationwide have been chosen to participate in a Filipino-American exchange program "Strengthening Leadership Through Innovative Jurisprudence and Responsive Citizenship."
"The US-RP Exchange Program is a project funded by the...
May 17, 2009
It´s ironic how things now stand with the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) and the eleven residential subdivisions in the city´s so-called "Uptown" area.
The COWD has borrowed funds from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) to construct a new pipeline running throu...
May 16, 2009
The Commission on Elections´ Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) finally brought the axe down on controversial Filipino-Israeli partnership F.F. Cruz-Gilat on May 16 as the bidding for its poll automation project entered its final stretch.
Although details of the disqualification have ...
May 15, 2009
All hands on deck, good governance advocates!
The public, and media most especially, should not let up its close scrutiny of the ongoing bidding for the Commission on Election´s (Comelec) P11-billion poll automation project. Comelec´s Special Bids & Awards Committee (SBAC) opens the t...
May 14, 2009
If it was up to the best legal minds in Cagayan de Oro, the concept of a constitutional court as pioneered by Germany in 1949 should be high on the list of possible constitutional amendments to be considered by the proposed constitutional convention of 2010.
"A separate court and independent co...
May 10, 2009
There´s a rising buzz in cyberspace about the Commission on Election´s (Comelec) seeming impropriety in allowing an Israeli defense company which specializes in defense satellites to bid for the automation of the 2010 elections.
The Israeli defense satellite company Gilat has teamed u...
May 09, 2009
I could hardly believe my eyes at this obviously public relations stunt of one of the country´s leading beverage companies which has the gall to present in mainstream media its public relations initiative in the guise of corporate social responsibility.
Published in one of the nation´...
May 09, 2009
I recently experienced what I could only properly term "boiler room" tactics by a reputable company selling financial securities. I was aghast, to say the least, that this firm would stoop that low just to push its product. Business must be really bad, I thought.
For those not familiar with what ...
May 09, 2009
Often, when I come home late evenings, I encounter jeepneys and even private vehicles cruising on the road without their headlights on. Not only their headlights, mind you, but all other lights inside and outside their vehicles as well.
Why these rolling invitations to disaster are allowed to con...
April 10, 2009
Balingasag, Misamis Oriental - If its early success is an indication, the exports of coconut sugar produced in this municipality would soon make it the "Coconut Sugar Capital of Misamis Oriental".
With a sympathetic partner from Manila and industrious workers in Balingasag, the CocoNatura brand o...
April 09, 2009
As the fallout from the global financial meltdown kicks in, people everywhere are looking at how to improve or maintain their quality of life for less.
Foremost among the saving tips most often mentioned anywhere is the people´s drinking habits- of water, that is. The website www.SmartMoney.com r...
April 08, 2009
American software executive Todd Grannis visited Cagayan de Oro two years ago for a vacation with his wife Malissa, but never expected he´d one day be considering making it a base for his international operations.
Grannis is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Visp.net, based in Oregon, ...
April 01, 2009
An imposing lineup of speakers led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno awaits delegates to the Full Gospel Fellowship International´s 27th National Convention at the Grand Caprice Convention Hall at Limketkai Center.
Puno is the main speaker for the opening banquet and is expected t...
March 29, 2009
Authorities seized cellphones worth over P1-million in an operation conducted over a week ago from a store near the Cogon market.
The joint operation of the Criminal and Investigation Detection Group of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) and National Telecommunications Commission Reg...
March 29, 2009
The Laguindingan Airport Development Project (LADP) may be a decade late but it´s dead on target to pump prime the Northern Mindanao economy just as the effects of the global economic malaise start to be felt locally.
Photo: Engr. Della P. Capicenio, LADP project manager, updates media on the pro...
March 29, 2009
March 22 was World Water Day. The UN designated this date as such in 1992 to call attention to the critical global shortage of safe drinking water. The theme for this year´s event was "Shared Water-Shared Opportunity" and focuses on water management and sharing of water resources across boundaries o...
March 29, 2009
The kamikaze were the Japanese suicide pilots of the Second World War who crashed their planes directly into American ships in a desperate bid to stop the inevitable invasion of their homeland. Many of them were young, unskilled Japanese youth flying obsolete planes who did not think twice about giv...
March 21, 2009
I can count in the fingers of either hand the number of times I´ve had the privilege to hobnob with that late, great Filipino from Mindanao, Fr. Miguel Anselmo Bernad y Azcona of the Society of Jesus. He passed on last Sunday noon from cardiac failure. It was almost as if his passing on was sc...
March 15, 2009
One of the champions of the "Kaya Natin" movement says the youth are capable of making a big difference in the 2010 elections, calling them "The Hope and Saviors of the Philippines."
Isabela Gov. Ma. Grace Cielo Padaca said the youth is the more tractable of the two main groups of voters whic...
March 14, 2009
The graduates of Class 2009 probably face the most daunting job market in decades when they step out of their classrooms and into the real world.
The Philippine National Census shows that of Mindanao´s 13.192-million labor population as of January 2008, some five percent is unemployed and...
March 14, 2009
Friday the 13th may hardly be considered an auspicious day to start an advocacy but the 48 pilgrim farmers of the Lupang Hinirang, Lupang Hinarang arrived in Cagayan de Oro early Friday morning to resume their campaign for the extension of the country´s agrarian reform program with genuine reforms (...
March 02, 2009
Government is upbeat on the prospects of the country´s economy weathering the global financial meltdown and one of the reasons oft cited is the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. Even with IT related jobs being cut in the mainland United States, government remains optimistic prospects for ...
February 26, 2009
The present administration for Malacañang will be pump-priming the Philippine economy to stymie the fallout from the global financial meltdown. In typical Keynesian fashion, the multiplier of the increased government spending is expected to perk things up and put the local economy back on track.
...
February 26, 2009
Like other Kagay-anons, I wish our local officials get their acts together in addressing issues concerning the recent floods which devastated the city.
Take the matter of dredging the Cagayan River, for instance.
Just days after the team from the University of the Philippines National Inst...
March 08, 2009
Most graduating students taking information technology courses aim to pursue careers in IT upon their graduation. At least in four schools offering IT courses, that is.
This is the gist of the findings of LetIThelp, the corporate social responsibility arm of Syntactics, Inc., one of Cagayan de Or...
March 02, 2009
Contrary to the growing sense of gloom and doom pervading the global economy, a veteran executive of one of the country´s agro-industry pioneers believes the world´s fortunes will shortly turn a corner.
"With all the joint efforts of world geo-political groupings and leaders- and enhanced by mo...
February 24, 2009
Geologists from the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Sciences (Nigs) have recommended that further real estate developments should be shifted to higher elevations away from the threat of floods similar to those which devastated the city last month.
This and other p...
February 22, 2009
Dredging the Cagayan River will not prevent further floods, a team of experts from the University of the Philippines said Thursday.
The team from the National Institute of Geological Sciences (Nigs) of U.P. Diliman was headed by Prof. Fernando Siringan, Prof. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay and Prof. Emerit...
February 08, 2009
With the motion for reconsideration filed by the supporters of the aerial spray ban ordinance in Davao City, the issue´s march to the High Court is on. However, one crucial issue which may have affected the proponent´s position in the Court of Appeals decision declaring the ban unconstit...
February 08, 2009
I wish our good friend Vic dela Victoria of Rural Transit Mindanao, Inc. (RTMI) has a good explanation why it takes their aircon buses a good seven to eight hours to go from Cagayan de Oro to Dipolog.
Granted, that´s a distance of over 300 kilometers, but some 28% of that travel time is spe...
February 08, 2009
A friend of mine who must remain unnamed for obvious reasons was on the phone the other week, trying to persuade me to forget my stance about Coca Cola. Let´s see, what was I saying?
Three things essentially: first, for Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. to maybe change their current ad campai...
February 08, 2009
I´m not sure if Cagayan de Oro City has a Watershed Code like Davao, but if it doesn´t, I believe it´s high time it gets one. Scanning the news alerts I´ve placed in my gmail, I´m struck by the similarities facing the two cities in questions with regard to their respect...
January 31, 2009
There's a new restaurant at Limketkai Center's Rosario Strip which boasts of Cagayan de Oro's first ever master chef from Europe, and a lot of other new things besides.
La Vetta (Italian for the peak of the mountain) serves French Mediterranean cuisine at very affordable prices, considering what ...
January 31, 2009
Most residents of the calamity stricken Cagayan de Oro City remained blissfully aware they narrowly avoided another water catastrophe thanks the foresight of some of the city's fathers to set up a bulk water supply.
The only clue residents had of the near catastrophe was the low water pressure ex...
January 31, 2009
It's high time Coca Cola Bottlers Phils. Inc. does a more rigid evaluation of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) , especially when it concerns its loyal customers who've stood by its products for decades now despite increasing competition from Pepsi, Cosmos, 7Up and now Virgin Cola.
T...
January 31, 2009
My good friend Elson Elizaga recently posted to our email group an observation, or insight if you will, regarding the recent flood which inundated a good portion of Cagayan de Oro.
Seems this was not the first time this has happened, and he quoted to us a portion of the XU Grade School textbook o...
January 31, 2009
When siblings Fara and Emily got together with their mom Mercedes Tan Vda de Pacana to conceptualize their dream restaurant, they wanted it in an old Kagay-anon house. For besides showcasing its cuisine, they would remind residents of the genteel days of the old Cagayan de Misamis when almost every ...
January 31, 2009
I got an early morning phone call from Rep. Rufus Rodriguez two days ago. He wanted to clear up some misconceptions about the Priority Development Assistance Fund (or PDAF, better known as the pork barrel) which had been aired in media by vocal oppositors of the proposal.
Seems there were objecti...
December 25, 2008
Mercedes Pelaez-Mejia of Cagayan de Oro-based SLERS Industries, Inc. has been cited as one of "The Ten Outstanding Entrepreneurs of 2008" by Entrepreneur Philippines, a Summit publication.
"These intrepid men and women pursued a single well-thought-out idea to gain a foothold in their respecti...
December 25, 2008
I am perplexed why the Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (MAAS) keeps on presenting the Archbishop of Davao as a supporter for its cause despite a Pastoral Statement dated October 5, 2006 (that's over two years ago!) from Archbishop Fernando R. Capalla denying this.
The Pastoral Statement unequiv...
December 25, 2008
One of the first areas I was brought to in the course of a recent tour of the banana plantations of Davao City to have a first hand look at how the aerial spray was affecting the people, flora and fauna was the two hectare banana farm of Moises Torrentira, Sr.
Mr. Torrentira was once a flagman. H...
December 09, 2008
Some 180,000 poor Mindanaoans will receive free beef during the Islamic Festival of Eid'ul Adha from December 8-10, 2008 courtesy of Muslim students in Turkey and Germany.
Muhammad Rizal Dalkilic, president of the Risale-i Nur Instutute of the Philippines(Studies on Risale-i Nur and Christian Mus...
December 09, 2008
Besides its internal sources, the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) also sources potable water externally by purchasing some 40,000 cubic meters (cu.m.) of treated potable water daily from the bulk water supply system set up by the Rio Verde Water Consortium Inc. (RVWCI) in Bgy. Pualas, Baun...
December 09, 2008
The recent outbreak of suspected cholera in nearby Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental has prompted government officials in the province and nearby Cagayan de Oro to call on all providers of drinking water to regularly test their water sources for bacterial contamination.
Residents and transients in Cag...
December 09, 2008
Cagayan de Oro City's premier hotel took two giant steps Thursday to gain back its pre-eminent status as the city's best hotel.
As the crème de la crème of the city looked on, VIP Hotel inaugurated its Christmas Village in the hotel lobby, followed by the blessing of its New Casa Real fine dini...
December 05, 2008
Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan will honor ten of its finest with the XU@75 Outstanding Alumni Award on the occasion of its Diamond Jubilee (75 years since the founding of the school as Ateneo de Cagayan) and Golden Jubilee since becoming the first university in Mindanao and the first Jesuit uni...
December 05, 2008
While serving the rural barangays for the City Health Department as medical officers in the early nineties, Dr. Meneleo "Loloi" R. Navarro and his colleagues was struck by the extreme poverty of most people in the area who couldn't even afford basic medical care.
"When we gave them a prescript...
Dire Husi: Interconnecting Indigenous Young Artisans and Young Urban Fashionistas through Fair Trade
December 01, 2008
A home-grown initiative seeking to link indigenous youth artisans and affluent youth consumers in Manila and Mindanao has been recognized as one of the three winners in the I Am A Changemaker Competition of British Council Philippines.
Rhyan Casiño's Dire Husi: Interconnecting Indigenous Young...
December 01, 2008
There's merit in Kagawad Bong Lao's proposal to use river water for fighting fires and watering plants to help bring down the "ballooning expenses" of the Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD).
Actually, what Kag. Lao presented in his special report during the City Council's regular session l...
December 01, 2008
The onset of the rainy season has brought it with outbreaks of water-borne diseases all over the islands. In Barangay Bitaog in Lawaan, Eastern Samar, 47 residents so far have been infected by typhoid fever. Further north in the towns of Infanta and Real in Quezon province, over 100 people have been...
November 25, 2008
A local initiative started by Misamis Oriental is now supported by a global movement: last October 15, 2008, millions of children in 20 countries across five continents joined hands for the first ever Global Handwashing Day.
The Philippine initiative started over a year ago in Misamis Oriental wh...
November 20, 2008
DigitalFilipino.com Club has cited a local software company for the second straight year as having the Best Corporate/Professional website in the Philippines.
Syntactics Inc. is a Cagayan de Oro city based start-up software development company set up by partners Stephanie Rosalind P. Caragos and...
November 08, 2008
The Cagayan de Oro Press Club links up with the Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao as a "Corruption Prevention Unit" to add teeth to its Journalists Against Corruption Network (JACNet).
November 02, 2008
WBO Asia Pacific Minimumweight Champion Milan Melindo and WBO Asia Pacific Youth Lightweight Champion give their home city something to brag about
October 29, 2008
World Class Championship Boxing returns to Cagayan de Oro City at the Limketkai Center Atrium, the Mandalay Bay of Mindanao.
October 29, 2008
Civil society in Cagayan de Oro must be celebrating the victory of their non-violent demonstration last week to pressure authorities in replacing BIR Director Muss Gandarosa. As a traditional opposition hotbed, the "City of Golden Friendship" has proven it can be unfriendly to those whom they believ...
October 29, 2008
Gov. Oscar Moreno of Misamis Oriental is undertaking a long-term development program for boxing in his province not only to project to the world that Mindanao is a safe and peaceful place where people live in harmony, but also to help bring up a new breed of boxers in the post-Manny Pacquiao era.
...
October 29, 2008
Former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. expects the economy to take a downturn before it eventually recovers.
"It will get worse before it gets better," Cuisia told local media in a press conference over the weekend. "But it will get better eventually."
The Philippine s...
October 11, 2008
The Cagayan de Oro City Water District (COWD) is highly profitable but is now encountering issues as a result of "gross mismanagement."
This was the gist of a presentation made Thursday, October 2, 2008 by Isagani Daba, vice chairman of the First Community Credit Cooperative (FICCO) and chief ope...
October 11, 2008
A memorandum of agreement signed between the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) and a locally based anti-corruption group has given the latter sweeping powers to the latter to pro-actively carry the fight against corruption at all levels of government.
"CDO Good Governance Inc. (CDO-GGI) is now accred...
October 11, 2008
Bayan Telecommunications, Inc. (BAYAN) has expanded its Bayan Wireless Landline (BWL) service to Barangay Bugo following the commissioning of a new Bayan Tower Station (BTS) and aims to extend the services to neighboring barangays and municipalities in the coming months.
"They have just recently ...
October 11, 2008
Of all the booming urban centers in the Philippines, only Cagayan de Oro can assure investors of water security until 2015.
In a recent speech, Senator Bong Revilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Works, bared that seven hundred sixty three (763) towns and cities all over the Philippi...
September 13, 2008
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro is facilitating links between civil society and the Office of the Ombudsman to bring the fight against corruption to the next level.
"We may not be seen but together we can be heard in our initiatives to promote good governance within our region," ...
September 13, 2008
During the past two weeks, I had the pleasure of the company of a media colleague for Germany. Although he's no longer active in mainstream media, having branched off into a related field, he still can write, and I'm sure he will (hopefully in German so it don't get scattered into the internet), wha...
August 30, 2008
Upgrading a cottage industry to global standards is no mean feat
August 05, 2008
We have sunk to a new low by letting our penchant for the video karaoke tarnish our prayers to the Almighty. I am by nature a patient person and there are few things which can instantly get my rage up and have blood rushing to my head but turning our prayers into a video karaoke is one of those.
...
August 03, 2008
The congressional representative from Cagayan de Oro has filed a bill in the Lower House to ban the use of mobile phones inside schools. However, the potential health hazards of heavy mobile phone use may pose an even greater danger to school children than the reasons sited by the congressman for his bill.
August 03, 2008
Six water districts in Bukidnon have come together to oppose the setting up of another agricultural plantation which could be a potential hazard to groundwater supplies.
July 23, 2008
Three Christians are brought together and the result is the inspiring "Washing of the Feet" by Anita Magsaysay-Ho. Here's how the famous painting came to be, a gift of sacrifice from three true Christians.
July 23, 2008
The archbishops of the Roman Catholic Church and the Congressmen of the Lower House have locked horns in a media war for the hearts and minds of the people over the controversial reproductive health bills which have failed to make it into law over the past four Congresses.
July 23, 2008
Already, kingmakers and would be pretenders to the throne are cutting up Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro as if they've already won the 2010 local elections. Not if the new breed of transpartisan politics and good governance ministry backed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro can help it.
July 23, 2008
Cagayan de Oro should count itself lucky that for the moment at least, it won't be facing the specter of water insecurity like practically all metropolitan cities in the Philippines now do. This should give it an incomparable advantage in competitiveness no survey results of investor perceptions can belittle.
July 23, 2008
The provincial government of Misamis Oriental and the Protected Areas Management Board of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is putting in a new attraction at the Initao National Park better known as the "Lasang."
July 04, 2008
The Cagayan de Oro City Council is pulling out all stops to seek a quick resolution of the tax row between the Cagayan de Oro City Water District and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
July 03, 2008
Medical personnel from Daly City,California and from around the Philippines build a bridge of friendship and compassion across the seas in a medical, surgical and dental outreach mission for the indigent of Baungon, Bukidnon.
June 24, 2008
Tamna University of South Korea and Liceo de Cagayan University of Cagayan de Oro,Philippines sign a ground breaking agreement on student exchanges between the two institutions that's seen to increase tourism, cultural and economic interaction between South Korea and the Philippines.
June 19, 2008
The Office of the Ombudsman strengthens the Resident Ombudsmen Program in Government Agencies as one the lynchpins in its campaign varsus corruption in the bureaucracy.
June 19, 2008
Rep.Rufus B. Rodriguez of the 2nd Congressional District of Cagayan de Oro City continues his drive to push education among the less privileged.
June 19, 2008
The Office of the Ombudsman and the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro join hands to lead the fight versus corruption with two new private-public initiatives.
June 04, 2008
After five long years, I finally had the opportunity to visit my hometown of Zamboanga, formerly known as "La Bella Ciudad de Flores (or The City of Flowers)" and recently repackaged as "Asia's Latin City."
The last time I was in the city was December of 2003 when I joined my college batch '78 in...
June 04, 2008
Searching for the Truth, in order to share it with others. That is the theme of the 26th Anniversary of Cagayan de Oro Press Freedom Week, "Pagpangita sa kamatuoran, alang sa pagsangyaw sa tanan" which we marked last week.
This year's theme was inspired by Pope Benedict XVI's theme for this year'...
May 25, 2008
Officials of a Korean company now undertaking the construction of the PhP 7.853 billion Laguindingan airport in Misamis Oriental were all praises for the conduct of the local government units (LGUs) they have been dealing with so far.
"Everybody fully supported our project, especially the LGUs, e...
May 23, 2008
Barring any more new obstacles, the suspended shipyard project of Korean conglomerate Hanjin is pushing through at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental.
May 23, 2008
The people of Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines don't realize how lucky they are to have a guaranteed water security through the next decade.
May 23, 2008
The Philippines needs a quantum leap in its rice production urgently, immediately....and only fertilizer can address the problem.
May 23, 2008
The Bishops-Businessmen's Conference is holding a series of regional consultation to restore the links between the two influential groups with an eye on joint undertakings.
May 23, 2008
Philippine Broadcast Industry Pioneer Henry R. Canoy passed away in Cheyenne, Wyoming May 16, 2008. His life and times as father and founder of Radio Mindanao Network is an inspiration not only to his family and friends but to every Kagay-anon and Filipino.
April 29, 2008
Christian pastors in Laguna join their baptized brethren in the indigenous peoples of Bukidnon in celebrating God through tribal rituals reminiscent of the Old Testament.
April 16, 2008
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) filed a petition for a P100 across-the-board wage hike in Northern Mindanao before the Regional Tripartite Wages & Productivity Board (RTWPB) early Tuesday afternoon (April 15).
"We are asking only P100 increase in the daily minimum wage," said N...
April 16, 2008
Sitio Lantad, Bgy. Kibanban, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental - Gasoline is slowly but surely supplanting forage in this former stronghold of the New People's Army (NPA) as the favored fuel for the transportation of its residents.
A convoy of the Misamis Oriental provincial government and the Departm...
April 16, 2008
Sooner than you thought possible, Limketkai Center would have completed a missing link in its menu of offerings to make it truly a "ity within a city that never sleeps."
The new cluster would address the market niche of night owls and early birds who are looking for a place to serve their varied ...
April 14, 2008
The Lagiuindingan Airport Development Project (LADP) now under construction in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental will be needing some 3,000 workers at its peak.
Engr. Della L. Capicenio, LADP project manager, said in a media briefing held April 11, 2008 in Cagayan de Oro, that figure would be the ma...
April 14, 2008
A year and two months ago the City of Golden Friendship hosted the Mindanao launch of the 2007 National Arts Month with a cultural song and dance extravaganza at the Limketkai Center Atrium.
On April 29th this year, the city bids to outdo itself when it hosts a four-day palabas for the national ...
Operation: Tunay na Kulturang Pinoy - DOT helps LGUs restore cultural heritage in regional festivals
April 14, 2008
Director R. Romulo A. de los Reyes of the Department of Tourism´s Office of Special Projects is on a mission to restore the Filipinos´ cultural heritage in regional festivals to arrest the increasing homogeneity of Filipino fiestas.
"All festivals are becoming like Ati-Atihan or Sinul...
April 14, 2008
The airport now under construction in Laguindingan will have an international standard runway but will operate as a domestic trunkline airport, and not an international airport as many (many government officials included) people still believe.
Engr. Della Capicenio, project manager for the Laguin...
April 08, 2008
Extreme sports aficionados from all over the Philippines and around the world just how unique an experience trail riding up the hills of Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon truly is.
March 19, 2008
The Cagayan de Oro Horsemen are pushing to bring trail riding on horseback right up there with white water rafting and spelunking in the Philippines Adventure Sports Capital.
March 16, 2008
The Zamboanga that Cesar Lee reminisces about, from 1932 when he was born, to his departure for Tucson, Arizona in 1951, is far removed from the Zamboanga I knew as a child and adolescent, growing up there from 1958 to 1981 when I moved away for good to Cagayan de Oro. Yet having both spent our youth there, albeit two decades and a half apart, we still share many of the same memories growing up in this extraordinary place we both deep in our hearts shall forever know as home.
March 16, 2008
Or how a rural bank focused on Small and Medium Enterprises has managed to reconcile the often conflicting objectives of corporate profit and social amelioration with its "Double Bottom Line."
March 16, 2008
Residents of the host communities of a Korean shipbuilding complex in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental welcome the project but lash out at the Phividec Industrial Authority for its alleged failure to keep commitments made to displaced residents on previous projects.
March 16, 2008
Contrary to what most city officials have been saying, a top banking executive says ecozones can actually increase, not decrease, a city's tax revenues.
March 03, 2008
You don't stop people from doing what they want by withholding information from them. But in teaching them how to deal with adolescent problems honestly, we are teaching them to separate fact from opinion and keep their integrity.
March 03, 2008
The Cagayan de Oro City Govenment, Department of Energy and Cagayan Electric Power & Light Co. have signed a Memorandum of Agreement to make the city the first in the country to adopt the DOE's Roadway Lighting Guidelines.
March 03, 2008
South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin needs 40,000 welders, plumbers and electricians for its new shipbuilding facility at the Phividec Industrial Estate-Misamis Oriental.
February 10, 2008
There's again a move to upgrade Cagayan de Oro's Lumbia Airport to international standards with the imminent start of civil works on the Laguindingan Airport Development Project. But an earlie study says there's just no way the Intenational Civil Aviation Organization would certify Lumbia Airport for international flights.
February 09, 2008
Pro-Life groups in the Philippines are pondering mass actions to press their petition to ban the airing of ads for condoms and contraceptives over mass media.
February 08, 2008
The intrepid band of doctors serving the poor of Cagayan de Oro has just added a new and bigger pharmacy, radiology department, diabetes clinic and new and expanded medical clinics to better serve their clientle.
February 08, 2008
The Philippine affiliate of Red V Industries, Fiesta Brands, Inc. will be closing down its offices and plant at Medina, Misamis Oriental by February 15 due to the unfavorable exchange rates which have advesely affected its coconut product exports.
January 22, 2008
Tangub City has been instrumental in making Misamis Occidental the second ranked tourism destination in the Philippines after Cebu, and Northern Mindanao third among the regions.
January 22, 2008
Why Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao remain your best bet for business in 2008 in Southern Philippines, bar none....
January 22, 2008
66 Filipino-American health professionals are now in Cagayan de Oro City to conduct a surgico-medical mission at the Capitol University gymnatorium and the CU Medical City in Gusa.
January 18, 2008
Opposition presidentiable Sen.Loren Legarda is uperturbed about former president Joseph Estrada's invitation to Vice President Noli de Castro to join the opposition.
January 17, 2008
Civil Society meets Among Ed,the Trailblazing governor of Pampanga in a series of meetings in Cagayan de Oro.
November 09, 2007
Salay Handmade Paper Industries Inc. (Shapii) was recently feted by no less than the prestigious British retail chain Marks & Spencer (M&S) in Newcastle and Durham City, United Kingdom (UK).
Also known as M&S, Marks and Sparks, and Marks, the chain has 760 stores in over 30 countries. It is one o...
June 14, 2007
June 6, 2007- the world remembers the 63rd anniversary of the Liberation of Europe, better known as D-Day, — the day on which the Battle of Normandy began — commencing the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during the Second World War.
In the spring of 1944, th...
June 14, 2007
That was an interesting conversation I had the other week with stalwarts of the Enterprise Works Foundation, Inc., an NGO dedicated to make public economic enterprises better.
Being weaned on the tenets of Adam Smith and laissez faire, I though it a little strange that people could actually be en...
April 26, 2007
Northern Mindanao's first integrated palm oil and plantation has started operations in the municipality of Impasug-ong, Bukidnon, aiming to help develop Mindanao as a priority investment area and attract Malaysian investors seeking cheaper lands and labor to develop critically needed palm oil planta...
April 26, 2007
Civil society groups advocacies for an enlightened electoral took a big step forward Wednesday as residents packed the Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) gymnasium to join the city's first ever Candidates Forum.
A crowd estimated at 6,000 persons sat through the four hour long forum which feat...
April 26, 2007
Saturday, March 31st, 2007 marked the biggest ever trail ride in recent history over the highlands of Bukidnon by horsemen from Southern Philippines.
They gathered from all points of the island and some from across the sea, all 64 riders from Cebu, Davao, Malaybalay, Impasug-ong, Quezon and Caga...
April 26, 2007
In the center of Wadhu's Quality Store stands a 1931 NCR cash register, bought by the store's founder by mail order from Sears & Roebuck in the United States 71 years ago. During the world war two, the owner wrapped it in grease and buried it in his backyard. After the war, he dug it up and it still...
April 14, 2007
After identifying coconut sugar as its One-Town, One Product (OTOP) with the help of the Department of Trade and Industry, this municipality has also turned its development focus seaward with the proposed establishment of Northern Mindanao's first mariculture park, this time with the assistance of t...
April 14, 2007
Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBEs) will again be the focus of the 2nd BMBE Conference to be hosted by the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc. (Oro Chamber) in this city this coming May 3, 2007.
A highlight of the bi-annual conference is the midterm evaluat...
March 31, 2007
A growing number of extreme sports enthusiasts are trooping down south to test their wits and wills against the growing rep of the white water of the Cagayan de Oro River. As the country's first and only year round white water rafting destination, perhaps it's only appropriate that this city and the...
March 30, 2007
Asian and German academics and professionals are now undergoing an international summer school at the South East Asian Rural Social Leadership Institute (SEARSOLIN) to study urbanization and the "drivers" which propel this phenomenon.
The Southeast Asian-German Forum for Urban Futures (ForUm) was...
March 30, 2007
Is there still a 'women vote' in Philippine politics? A women's party list which had two previous stints in the Lower House before losing their seat in the 2004 elections aims to find out.
The 'Women's Party-list' group Abanse! Pinay is seeking another stint in the Lower House in the coming May e...
March 22, 2007
When Rosalinda Linda Picardal-Caragos set up her pawnshop business in 1988, she didn't realize at the time it would eventually evolve into an enterprise that would showcase her family's love affair with and tradition of fine jewelry.
"I put up the business as a hedge against my husband's impendi...
March 22, 2007
A federation of cooperatives is undertaking the development of a hydro-electric power plant in Bukidnon using a development model that could skirt obstacles now facing similar power projects in Mindanao.
Cereal C. Donggay, consultant and project director of the Bulanog-Batang Hydroelectric Projec...
March 22, 2007
Ofelia "Fely" Cosin Pelaez started making her famous "SLERS" Ham in 1969 at their backyard in Camp Phillips of the Del Monte Plantation, Bukidnon where hubby Raul Pelaez, Sr. was a department head with Del Monte, then known as Phil. Packing Corp.
The brand name SLERS is an acronym of the names of...
March 22, 2007
As a humble housekeeper, Mrs. Rosie Bilog never dreamed that she'd one day be rubbing shoulders and making small talk with the highest representative to her country of the most powerful nation in the world today.
Like many of her neighbors, Mrs. Bilog of Bgy. Lumbia processes cashew nuts in he...
March 22, 2007
Donor countries have a soft spot in their hearts for small and medium industries. From manufacturing garments, to weaving crafts and making paper, molding pottery, baking bread, pastries and sweets, or processing meat products, Philippine small and medium enterprises may not be the biggest contribu...
March 22, 2007
Already reeling from increasing demand and decreasing production, authorities fear the full implementation of the bio-fuels law and new sunrise products could exert tremendous pressure on the country’s coconut production and raise prices of raw materials, eroding the country’s competitiveness in the...
March 12, 2007
There’s another tempest in a teapot again brewing over the rising volume of “non-revenue water” incurred by the Cagayan de Oro City Water District.” Seems the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) had already recognized the problem when it instructed the COWD to organize a specific program to ...
March 06, 2007
Mindanao will play a key role in the country's bid to increase the use of biofuels but an energy department official says the Philippines has a long way to go to match other countries performance in the field.
"Although the Bio-fuels law mandates the use of bio-ethanol and coco-diesel, we are sti...
March 06, 2007
The Government Peace Panel for Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has brought something new to the negotiating table in a bid to restart the stalled talks with the country’s largest insurgent group.
Speaking at the opening night of the ‘Young Moro Leaders Forum and Leadership Training’ ...
February 15, 2007
My wife and I made sure we were at Limketkai Center’s Atrium Monday evening for the pre-valentine concert of American songwriting greats Paul Williams and Dennis Lambert. We’re both huge fans of both, and I got a kick earlier in the day when I got to meet them in person during the brief presscon hos...
February 15, 2007
That’s the title of Paul Williams latest double CD and carrier single written by the man himself and Kenny Ascher, but it could well be what everyone who attended his back-to-back concert last Monday with another songwriting legend, Dennis Lambert (whom I initially thought was black because of his s...
February 11, 2007
Since the time she took the unheard of leap into the macho man's world that is business in the Philippines, there isn't much that LCG Group of Companies Chair and President Betty Uy Lu hasn't touched which didn't turn into gold.
"When I was still in college at Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan...
February 11, 2007
There's a bit of torrent coming up in the booming white water rafting industry of This City of Golden Friendship, and its name is cut-throat competition.
Started over 12 years ago by members of the Northern Mindanao Mountaineering Society (NORMMS, now the NORMMS Ecological Foundation, Inc.) it ...
February 05, 2007
Bitter rivals in the academics and athletic hard courts, two institutions have linked up to harness the tremendous potential of the famed Ateneo – De La Salle rivalry for more constructive purposes: pushing geomatics capability building and its application in sustainable development by local governm...
January 22, 2007
Since its inception, critics of the RISE Foundation have been waiting for it to fold, believing it wouldn't last. Sixteen years later, the innovative financial intermediary had not only defied its pundits, but had already outlived its parent bank by eight years.
RISE (Resource Innovation for Smal...
January 22, 2007
Philippine Airlines continues to dominate the Cagayan de Oro-Manila Air Route but recent data indicates its market share is slipping in one of the country’s busiest trunk line air routes.
Data compiled by the Air Transportation Area IX office based in Lumbia Airport, this city, show PAL (PR) stil...
January 22, 2007
The Food Technology Department of Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan) College of Agriculture (XUCA) has successfully conducted a pilot batch processing of some common fruits into sweet wines which are now available for commercial or village-level production to interested parties.
“We have condu...
January 16, 2007
The Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) is inviting more young lawyers to answer the vocation of people’s lawyering to help them address the increasing number of human rights violations in Mindanao.
Atty. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate, UPLM secretary general, said the UPLM was “born in answer...
January 16, 2007
A clause in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 is keeping foreign investments in the power sector from coming into Mindanao by artificially keeping power rates in the Mindanao grid low with the operation of the Agus and Pulangi hydro-electric power complexes.
Rep. Alipio Badelles (1...
January 09, 2007
Majority and minority shareholders of Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) are ready to support the call of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for additional power sector investments in Mindanao.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla, who stood in as guest and honor at the inauguration of the Mindanao Coa...
January 06, 2007
Mindanao’s first ever coal-fired power plant will be inaugurated on January 8, stabilizing an otherwise shaky power situation in the country’s second largest island which is home to a fourth of the nation’s population.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will sound the “biggest ever” ceremonial go...
January 06, 2007
Our friends from Steag State Power Inc. in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental are throwing the Mother of All Parties today to mark the formal inauguration of their 210MW coal-fired power plant.
While we take off our hats to them for finishing this critically needed power infrastructure in record time,...
December 29, 2006
The Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental was originally conceptualized to maximize Northern Mindanao's potential as the Philippines' gateway to the Land of Promise (and vice versa), catalyzing Northern Mindanao's role as domestic food basket...
December 29, 2006
Bad news for the call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries and heavy users of the internet and long-distance voice lines.
It's going to take cable ships some two to three weeks to repair massive submarine cables damaged by the intensity 7.1 quake which shook southern Taiwan la...
December 29, 2006
The Regional Development Council for Region 10 (RDC-10) has endorsed for national government funding through the Super Region Development Fund an infrastructure support package for the ethanol biofuel plant now under construction in the Kibawe Industrial Zone in Barangay Labuagon, two kilometers fro...
December 25, 2006
There’s a ray of hope shining over six provinces in Mindanao following the signing of two key agreements last December 19, 2006 between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Mindanao (Revolutionary Workers’ Party of Mindanao or RPM-...
December 25, 2006
The late actor Fernando Poe, Jr. went by the moniker “Da King” due to his seemingly indefatigable “hatak sa takilya”. Too bad he listened to those around him who saw nothing in taking advantage of his goodness of heart to further their political ends. He was a good man led astray by the bad eggs in ...
December 25, 2006
Northern Mindanao's investment performance for the first three quarters of 2006 was once again anchored by the venerable coconut which also accounted for the biggest share of its export pie.
The PhP21.5 billion investment figure presented by the Department of Trade and Industry Region 10 office ...
December 20, 2006
Teachers in the MSU-System of High Schools and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have what EduQuest, Inc. general manager Teresita Medado calls a “happy problem”. They don’t have enough computers and peripherals to integrate computers and the internet into classroom instruction.
Dur...
December 19, 2006
Exports from Northern Mindanao during the third quarter of 2006 totaled US$ 188-million, up 34% compared to the same period last year.
Figures presented by the Department of Trade and Industry Region 10 office during the Quarterly Regional Economic Situationer (QRES) round table hosted by the Na...
December 19, 2006
A recent news item in a national broadsheet says the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration or Pagasa believes FM radio stations in the Philippines are generally to blame for giving out inaccurate time, further fanning embers for Pinoys already in the hot seat f...
December 11, 2006
After attending the graduation of Batch 42 of the South East Asia Rural Social Leadership Institute (Searsolin) last Friday, I was looking out to the city from the 3rd floor of Searsolin’s main building and marveled at how much this part of the city has changed so much in so short a time.
But eve...
November 29, 2006
For over 65 years now, STEAG Aktiengesselschaft (Steag AG), Germany’s fifth largest power producer, has successfully planned and operated power plants as an independent power producer for other companies.
As a measure of its commitment to generate reliable, cost-effective and environmentally saf...
November 29, 2006
The lack of a cheap and reliable source of electricity could leave a South Korean smelter project no other choice but to proceed with its planned establishment in Vietnam.
A recent trade mission led by City Mayor Vicente Emano and Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation, Inc. ...
November 29, 2006
WHY is the entire city hall up in arms over the setting up of two auto gas LPG stations? Although two hardly accounts for a population that can properly be called ‘‘mushrooming’’ as some reports are wont to exaggerate, you could die laughing at how some of our honorable legislators pontificate about...
November 28, 2006
Plant officials from the country’s leading cement company assured Friday its co-processing of oil contaminated debris from Guimaras at its cement plant in Luga-it, Misamis Oriental is environmentally safe and there is nothing underhand in its deal with Petron.
Plant officials of Holcim Philippine...
November 25, 2006
My colleague in the PNP Press Corps Ed Montalvan hit the nail in the head when he said this of outgoing PNP Police Regional Office 10 Regional Director Chief Supt. Florante "Egay" Baguio: he is the only one among a long line of police generals who gave us in media our due as a co-equals and partners...
November 25, 2006
MUCH as I hate washing dirty linen in public, as the famous cliché goes, somebody has to shoot the picture.
A friend of mine just sent me the following email:
One of our foreign clients apparently didn’t have a good experience during his almost two weeks stay here in CDO. It happens that a new...
November 19, 2006
One of the first things Pinoy boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao did after he dusted (in Tagalog, pinaspasan) Erik Morales last Sunday was announce he was relinquishing the earlier deal he struck with Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to renew his contract with Bob Arum and Top Rank Productions....
November 14, 2006
Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar M. Moreno says the Laguindingan Airport development project (LAPD) is proceeding as scheduled and there is no reason to believe it will not meet its target operational date of August, 2010.
“All things considered, the project is on time and on budget,” Moreno said ...
November 13, 2006
The Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry “Diamond” Division retains its full capability to deal with any internal security threat.
Brig. Gen. Artemio R. Arugay, assistant division commander, told media in a press conference last week that the 4th division’s 404th Infantry Brigade with five battalions ...
November 13, 2006
It’s a pity almost nobody noticed the connection between the toast of the town and the toast of the Malay Race. Ronato “Ronnie Calamba” Alcano comes from the same humble home town of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.
Like Rizal, the country’s latest ‘national hero’ evokes the many virtues of the...
November 11, 2006
There’s this famous line in a text joke where the kid gets back at his teacher and says, “You got the wrong answer, but I like the way you think.”
I couldn’t find a better or more appropriate line that suits an advocacy imploring our local government officials to exercise more compassion and rest...
November 10, 2006
The Philippines third largest private electric utility is looking to “distributed generation” of renewable energy sources to ensure a steady power supply for its franchise area in the face of an imminent power crisis in Mindanao.
At a recent forum on the power crisis hosted by the Xavier Universi...
November 08, 2006
Synergy is adding one to one and getting three. That’s the kind of benefit two pioneers in carbon sequestration in Southern Philippines area aiming for by working together to complement each other’s benefit to the atmosphere.
For over half a century, E. Peleaz Ranch, Inc. (EPRI) has sought to tra...
November 08, 2006
The Cagayan de Oro Press Club, Inc. (COPC) turns 55 today. One of the oldest in the country, it is also one of the few with a truly professional organization in the sense that it has a working board of directors, assets which allow it to undertake projects and employ a full-time staff, albeit on a s...
October 24, 2006
I was honored to receive late last week an invitation from NEDA-10 RD Myra Balandra to join a two-day Regional Research Utilization Forum at a local hotel.
The forum is one of the activities marking National Statistics Month and will have the theme “Empowering Consumers Through Responsive Energ...
October 11, 2006
VILLANUEVA, Misamis Oriental – The globalization of this small town in the eastern coastline of Misamis Oriental started a long-time ago when it was once upon a time an unnamed place located between the two municipalities of Jasaan and Tagoloan. Christened “Nueva Villa” (new village) by the Spaniard...
September 16, 2006
Northern Mindanao (Region 10) has the highest Per Capita Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in the Visayas and Mindanao area, and remains to be the biggest regional economy in Mindanao, latest GRDP figures from 2005 released by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Region 10 office ...
September 13, 2006
We have lost our edge.
From third overall and first in Mindanao in 2003, Cagayan de Oro has slid in rank on urban competitiveness, according to the 2005 edition of the Asian Institute of Management’s (AIM) Policy Center “Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project” (PCCRP).
The AIM web...
September 13, 2006
The world’s media attention today would be focused on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack on New York’s Twin Towers, the first time in centuries foreign invaders successfully engineered a massive attack on the continental United States.
Hopefully, Filipinos would not forget this date as...
September 04, 2006
The "Liquor War" for control of the country's alcohol market has found a new battleground in the province of Misamis Oriental.
Bitter corporate rivals Tanduay Distillers Inc. (Tanduay) and Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI) are both putting up new plants in this Northern Mindanao province to consoli...
September 04, 2006
I had a lively discussion last Friday with two of my colleagues, Mindanao Current Editor-in-Chief Ed Montalvan and SunStar Cagayan de Oro Editor-in-Chief Stephen Capillas. The topic was the proposal to turn over the management of the City Fiesta to the private sector.
Tsada Kagayan 2006 Fiesta Ex...
August 05, 2006
It has been a constant plaint of businessmen and government officials, both here and in Imperial Manila, that media has been unduly harsh in its reportage of the daily state of the nation, to the point that our stories are scaring away investors who could have brought in much-needed jobs for our une...
August 05, 2006
Eight kilometers from Cagayan de Oro's St. Augustine Cathedral is a promontory overlooking Cagayan River. Named Huluga, it is an archaeological site consisting of three caves and an “Open Site”. The latter is possibly the venue of a prehistoric village -- one of the original settlements in Cagayan d...
August 05, 2006
I know this is a little late for our 108th Independence Day celebration but bear with me and my slipping memory for having maybe too much in my mind lately that I made the cardinal sin of forgetting it!
Like my advocacy to return the maya as the Philippines national bird, the addition of another ...
August 03, 2006
THAT might well be the battle cry of every US expeditionary force which has ever sallied forth to conquer foreign shores like Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or Bosnia. Every soldier in the US military, no matter how low in rank, has to be accounted for, dead or alive, before his comrades return to their...
July 31, 2006
Following the latest milestone in the Laguindingan Airport Development Project (LADP) , the nay sayers are again out in force, saying to all and sundry who would lend them an ear, I told you so - we would never see a plane land or take off from it during our lifetime!
There's no denying the much ...
July 27, 2006
Philippine National Police Deputy Director General for Operations Sr. Supt. Isidro S. Lapena today hailed President Arroyo's recent issuance of Executive Order No. 546 which gives the PNP a more active and not just a support role in internal security operations.
"I strongly feel this is the best...
July 26, 2006
They sacrificed the comforts of home and family to bring home the bacon from a far-off land but instead, overseas Filipino workers Charina Flores-Buton and Maygelyn Lopez Taron-Enero came back hungry, penniless and frightened but thankfully in one piece from Lebanon.
Charina Flores-Buton, 29, of ...
July 26, 2006
Many people were baffled when President Gloria Arroyo publicly cited Mayor Vicente Emano during her sixth state-of-the-nation address (Sona) for the decrease in bribes given for public sector contracts in Cagayan de Oro in 2006 compared to last year.
The President said : "Progress demands good go...
July 24, 2006
Planners of the new airport planned for Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental can relax. It's not really the lack of cargo capacity in the aircraft now serving Lumbia airport which keep farmers from sending more of their produce by air or routed them to Davao airport because of its bigger and all-freight s...
July 24, 2006
Competitors of Philippine Airlines in the Cagayan de Oro-Manila air route have tried everything from giving away prizes in-flight to giveaway fare rates and fielding bigger aircraft, but the flag carrier has not only kept its dominance in terms of market share, but has actually succeeded in increasi...
July 24, 2006
The Iligan City Police Office (ICPO) nabbed a notorious Kidnap-for-Ransom (KFR) gang leader Friday, 21 July 2006 around 10:00AM while he was aboard a jeepney at 1st Rosario Heights, Bgy. Tubod, Iligan City.
P/Chief Supt. Florante Baguio, PRO-10 regional director, identified the suspect as Elias M...
July 22, 2006
I READ with great interest an article posted last Sunday by our good friend and former Gold Star Daily editor AJ Corral in his newsblog Zamboanga Journal entitled "AFP Losing Propaganda War In Mindanao."
AJ notes that both the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, ...
July 17, 2006
From the time he was born in 1947 at Sitio Lantad, Barangay Kibanban, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, former communist guerrilla and now barangay councilman Bruno Lindahay never dreamed he’d live to see the day that electricity would come to this former enclave of the New People’s Army.
Although La...
July 17, 2006
Like most of his neighbors, Bruno Lindahay was born in this hamlet located 890 meters above sea level and 18 kilometers from the national highway linking Balingasag to the rest of the province and the Caraga region.
Also, like 95 percent of the 400-odd residents of Lantad, Lindahay is an ethnic ...
July 16, 2006
Communist insurgents ambushed yesterday morning a vehicle of government troopers securing the road to the site of some shallow graves where remains of victims of alleged summary executions were to be identified by a forensics team from Manila.
Major Samuel Sagun, public affairs officer of the Phi...
July 13, 2006
Mindanao Economic Development Council Chair Romy Serra was in town recently to inspire participants at the recent launch of the 5th ICT Congress Cagayan de Oro will be hosting this coming September.
One of the salient points of his talk was his exhortation to all present to support Mindanao-One, ...
July 11, 2006
We doff our hats off to the military establishment in Region 10 for giving local governments the lead in dealing with the communist insurgency. I share Gov. Oca Moreno´s sentiments when he says, "Daghang salamat!" for respecting the constitutional mandate of the supremacy of civilian authority...
July 09, 2006
The Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental will be operational by 2010, or four years from now, the Department of Transportation and Communications said today following the signing of a memorandum of agreement for the second phase of the airport's relocation site project.
"Based on our presen...
July 09, 2006
Fifty one down, twenty seven to go.
The Black and White Movement is focusing on getting the twenty seven more signatures they need to secure from congressmen to enable the House Committee on Justice to begin hearings on the new impeachment complaint against the President.
In an anti-Cha Cha ra...
July 09, 2006
Nineteen years after reaching its nadir as the center of the communist insurgency in Northern Mindanao, government was officially restored to Sitio Lantad, Barangay Kibanban in the Municipality of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental with the re-opening of the Kibanban-Lantad provincial road Saturday, July ...
July 08, 2006
The free online resource Answers.com defines Culture Vulture as an “an individual with a consuming or excessive interest in the arts. For example, A relentless culture vulture, she dragged her children to every museum in town. This slangy term may have been originated by Ogden Nash, who wrote: “Ther...
July 08, 2006
What better way could one wish for to end the celebration of ICT Month in Cagayan de Oro than with the launching of the city's "Official Website?" With that symbolic gesture, the efforts of a dedicated band of professionals in government, business and the academe have been given an exclamation point...
July 05, 2006
Lack of awareness and professionalism are keeping the software development industry from riding the wave of growth now sweeping Northern Mindanao.
This was the gist of the presentation of Stephanie Rosalind P. Caragos, president of the Cagayan de Oro Software Developers Association, during the 1...
July 03, 2006
If the state of graft and corruption in the country was gauged by the number of cases filed with the Ombudsman, Mindanao would be the "least corrupt" region in the entire Philippines.
"When I started my term seven years ago, we had 1,500 pending cases," said Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Antonio...
July 01, 2006
U.S. Embassy officials in Manila led by Ambassador Kristie Anne Kenney may have committed a diplomatic breach of protocol when they gave away a $500,000 bounty the other week to two witnesses for providing information which led to the capture of suspected terrorist Hilario del Rosario Santos III, al...
June 30, 2006
As a humble housekeeper, Mrs. Rosie Bilog never dreamed that she'd one day be rubbing shoulders and making small talk with the highest representative to her country of the most powerful nation in the world today.
Like many of her neighbors, Mrs. Bilog of Bgy. Lumbia processes cashew nuts in her ...
June 30, 2006
In a strong bid to stop the further erosion of its subscriber base and give its competitors a taste of their own medicine, the Misamis Oriental Telephone System, Inc. (MISORTEL) is bringing in affordable high-speed data services to its furthest service areas.
Misamis Oriental Governor and MISORT...
June 30, 2006
The Laguindingan site is not only the best but also the only site available on which airport facilities can be developed to adequately meet the objective of improved, international standard air service for Northern Mindanao, including the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor (CIC).
Steven Doerr, senior...
June 29, 2006
Not too long ago, former Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza was the guest of honor at a news forum which was among the festivities marking the Miss Mindanao beauty pageant in Davao City hosted by Mindanao Gold Star Daily (GSD).
Dureza remarked that Gold Star Daily was very much like...
June 05, 2006
The Janitor Fish infestation which has plagued Marikina River and Laguna de Bay has also spread to Mindanao , and is now threatening to run amok on the delicately balanced ecosystem of Asia's largest marshland, the Agusan Marsh in Agusan del Sur.
There are currently two species of the "janitor fis...
June 05, 2006
The Regional Information Technology and E-Commerce Committee (RITECC) of Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) kicked off its month-long celebration of June as ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Month with a press conference yesterday trumpeting its major accomplishment so far: making Cagayan...
May 28, 2006
Taxpayers could end up footing the bill for expensive power they don't yet need if the country's power development plan is implemented as scheduled.
Economist and power industry expert Maitet Diokno-Pascual claims in a study for WWF's power switch campaign that the Department of Energy's (DoE) pow...
May 23, 2006
Saltwater fishing for subsistence, commercial, scientific and recreational generates over $1 billion worldwide in direct expenditures every year. The fishing industry in the Philippines contributes 4% of the country’s GNP with an average turnover of PhP50 billion annually, based on an annual produc...
May 22, 2006
Of the five known cetacean areas in the Philippines, one of the most promising is the Bohol-Camiguin-Siquijor Triangle just off the north coast of Mindanao. Around Camiguin island alone, sightings of four species of dolphins and four species of whales have been confirmed.
However, aside from thes...
May 01, 2006
A multi-awarded quilter from Gusa, Cagayan de Oro held high the Philippine flag by winning first prize in her category at the 2006 AQS Quilt Show & Contest held April 26-29, 2006 at the Paducah Expo Center in Paducah, Kentucky, U.S.A. which was dominated by entries from the U.S. and Japan.
Myr...
April 28, 2006
How indeed? Culture and the arts, especially in the provinces, or regions, as modern government bureauspeak so quaintly puts it, have almost exclusively been the purview of the academe. Schools, colleges and universities often are the only institutions around in the boondocks with the size, faciliti...
April 24, 2006
It?s disturbing to note how two of our local media stations have failed to significantly cover the closure last week of Radio Mindanao Network?s radio station DxVR in Valencia City by its own mayor Jose Galario, Jr.
These two stations lack of enthusiasm in this issue is significant, not only beca...
April 22, 2006
By October 10 this year, it will be seven years since the Region 10 Tourism Council passed a resolution asking the national government to rename Northern Mindanao as the "Misamis" region.
The motion was passed following a presentation by Commissioner Antonio J. Montalvan II of the Cagay...
April 19, 2006
There?s not too many people left who care about our late great National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Oh, sure they know who he is, what he did, but do they give a hoot about the ideals he lived and died for? The youth know the comic character Mulawin who is now on TV, better than Rizal.
At this point in ...
April 16, 2006
Any remaining doubts the U.S. and its allies, or the rest of the world for that matter, may have had about President George W. Bush?s real intentions in the Middle East have been effectively dispelled with his Man Friday?s insistence the War in Iraq has successfully quashed post-9/11 terrorist attac...
April 14, 2006
The National Telecommunications Commission?s recent initiative asking cellphone service providers to suspend the transmission of unsolicited text messages to subscribers I believe is a text, err?.step in the right direction towards rationalizing the further development of the industry. Globe, Smart,...
April 13, 2006
March 15, 2006, was the sixth anniversary of the infamous invasion of Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Even before that, there was already considerable saber rattling on both sides. After burning a Super 5 passenger bus and taking three employees hostages, Moro ...
April 12, 2006
Last Thursday, internet cafes all over town from the usually bustling hole-in-the-walls in Divisoria to the greater Battle Stations at Limketkai and other malls were eerily silent. The grapevine was afire with rumors that Optical Media Board (OMB) officials and their authorized enforcers were going ...
April 11, 2006
Tourism has often been touted as an acceptable alternative to development aggression sweeping the regions and dissipating the national patrimony in the name of Gross National Product and the War Against Poverty.
It is labor-intensive, makes quaint village technology a paying proposition by making ...
April 08, 2006
Local government should rally behind new Agriculture Sec. Domingo Panganiban?s strategy to address the country?s perennial rice shortage. Rather than import rice and deplete the country?s precious dollar reserves, the new DA head honcho instead advocates increased production of white corn.
Conside...
April 05, 2006
Northern Mindanao (Region 10) continues to accelerate as the island?s biggest and fastest growing regional economy. From 5.06% in 2003, it grew 6.04% in 2004, contributing 27.17% to Mindanao?s total production with the highest share of the island?s gross domestic product. Besides having the highest ...
April 04, 2006
There's a big chance former cop turned city councilor Reynaldo Advincula could sincerely believe he's doing his constituents a favor by calling for a probe on the businesses of Indians in Cagayan de Oro to make sure they're not breaking any laws, evading taxation and overstaying.
Fine, but why sin...
April 03, 2006
Local government units (LGUs) would do well to recall the celebrated controversy regarding the awarding of the bid for the operation of the Subic Bay containerized port to the second highest bidder some ten years ago.
The highest bidder which would have given the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority ...
March 27, 2006
The Manila Times reported some time ago that nearly half of Filipino families are going hungry. Reporter Darwin G. Amojelar quoted a report from Gallup International?s Voice of the People 2005 survey which says that nearly half of all Filipino households have not had enough to eat in the last 12 mon...
March 27, 2006
An increasing number of Pinoy webmasters are finding the advantages of positioning their sites in lucrative U.S. markets in cyberspace. Of course, the advantage of being an English-speaking country is obviously one of the main reasons for that, although the quality of fresh graduates spoken and writ...
March 16, 2006
Many of my friends find it hard to believe that our family of five adults use less than ten cubic meters of water a month. We only pay the minimum rate for 10 cubic meters of water per month to the water district despite doing all our cooking, washing and bathing almost 100% in-house.
That?s why I...
March 09, 2006
Although it remains little known to this day, Misamis was the only region which actively joined the Katipunan revolt against Spain. On September 29, 1896, 350 revolucionarios overwhelmed the Spanish garrison and raided the armory of the Fuerza Real de Nueva Victoria in Calaganan, found ...
March 04, 2006
Although there are many matters which merit our attention, perhaps none should have a bigger impact on the economy of Mindanao and the lifestyle of its residents than this shocker from National Transmission Corp. (Transco) District 3 Area Manager Emy Abellanosa.
According to Kuya Bong (as he is k...
March 02, 2006
The Philippines? biggest Internet chain operator is asking government to create a censorship body similar to the Movies Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to counter the proliferation of pornography on the Internet and provide guidelines for the compliance of Internet service provide...
March 01, 2006
In the parlance of the National Transmission Corporation (Transco), a red alert exists when available reserves on a power grid drops below the minimum allowable standard. That?s 13.2% of peak power demand per the Open Access Transmission System (OATS) used by Transco and the National Power Corp. ...
February 28, 2006
The Maya, not the Philippine Eagle, should be the Philippine's National Bird, because it is a national symbol that truly befits the Filipino and is a faithful reflection of his creed and ideals, and not just a pathetic copycat of a former colonial master.
February 28, 2006
Cult fanatics of Frank Herbert?s Dune trilogy know the Fremen well: natives of the arid planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, they are the displaced lumads of their own homeland which becomes the battleground between the warring clans of the Harkonnen and Atreides, galactic oligarchs who would contro...
February 25, 2006
Two weeks ago to the day, the Consumers Union and Free Press in the United States endorsed U.S. Senator George Allen's (R-VA) Wireless Innovation Act of 2006 (WINN Act) that aims to bring affordable broadband to all Americans by freeing unused spectrum within the broadcast frequency for use by provi...
February 24, 2006
Someone hasn?t told Sen. Nene Pimentel the low down behind government?s long term objective to privatize all generating assets of the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and the National Power Corporation (Napocor), especially the geothermal and hydroelectric plants which ostensibly form part of ...
February 24, 2006
Asiong Aksaya was a creation of the late dean of Philippine cartoonists Larry Alcala. Appearing in almost all Philippine dailies and magazines from 1979-84 at the height of the energy crisis, Asiong Aksaya (which means wasteful in Pilipino) embodied the profligate , reckless spendthrift Filipino ...