Business

PVO photoAround P922,000 worth of chickens and poultry products were intercepted by the Provincial Veterinary Office last week.In its report from April 16 to 22, among those seized were 13,000 heads of day-old chicks from Bukidnon at a checkpoint in Kabankalan City.Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Renante Decena said the confiscated items were shipped back to their place of origin.Also among those confiscated were “balut” that were hand-carried by arriving passengers, the PVO report said.Also, gamefowls worth P10,000 from Bayawan City in Negros Oriental were confiscated. The owner allegedly slaughtered the live chickens after they were prevented from entering the Negros Occidental boundary, Decena said.Decena said that an executive order prohibits the entry of live chick...

Megaworld’s Jennifer Palmares-Fong and Harold Geronimo announce the construction of the firm’s smart condo tower, Herald Parksuites, at The Upper East township in Bacolod City.*A perspective of the Herald Parksuites that will be completed in 2028.*Property giant Megaworld is building a 12-storey “smart” condo tower inside its 34-hectare The Upper East township in Bacolod City.The Herald Parksuites will be the 4th residential tower in The Upper East offering 246 “smart home” units, Jennifer Palmares-Fong, Megaworld Bacolod vice president for sales and marketing, announced Friday, April 22.Megaworld is expected to generate P1.9 billion in sales from this new residential project, which will be completed by 2028, Harold Brian Geronimo, the firm’s senior assistant vice preside...

The public may now pay Mambukal Resort and Wildlife Sanctuary and Negros Residences booking fees to the Negros Occidental provincial government online, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said Wednesday, April 20.All they have to do is go to www.landbank.com and click on Link.BizPortal, which is now operational, he said.This is a collaborative project of the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Negros Occidental provincial government, he said.The Mambukal Resort opened to day visitors staring Wednesday, and will accept overnight guests staring May 1, Diaz said.*

Central Negros Electric Cooperative has announced that its average residential rate for April is P11.4318 per kWh, an increase of P0.5108 from last month’s rate of P10.9210.The P0.5108/kWh rate hike was attributed to the increase in generation, transmission and system loss charges caused by the surge in fuel rates, increase in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market WESM price and purchase and other pass through charges, CENECO announced.The Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) also announced a P0.3279 increase in its power rates from P12.6334 in March to P12.9613 8 in April.Northern Negros Electric Cooperative is also set to raise its power rates.The following is the NOCECO press statement:

Unioil Petroleum Philippines forecasts an increase in diesel and gasoline prices on Tuesday, April 19.The firm, on its Facebook page Saturday, April 16, said it expects fuel prices to go up next week, April 19-25.The price of diesel will increase by P1.70 to P1.80 per liter, and gasoline by P0.40 to P0.50 per liter.It advices the public to load up accordingly.*

The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) lashed out at Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica anew for stating that critics of the sugar importation program have politicized the issue.“That’s a very lame excuse he (Serafica) can come up with because he cannot justify the provisions in the proposed Sugar Order No. 4 that clearly favors the industrial users, particularly the bottling companies,” UNIFED president Manuel Lamata said in a press release Wednesday, April 13.“It is clear that Serafica is no longer capable of heading the Sugar Regulatory Administration. We are fighting for the survival of our industry and it is ironic that the regulating body that is supposed to protect our interest is instead out to destroy us. He has been working against us to protect ...

“There is nothing political about our stance, this is purely survival of the sugar industry.”This was the statement of sugar industry stakeholders in response to Sugar Regulatory Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica’s statement that the issue on sugar importation has become “very political” after his draft proposal of Sugar Order No. 4 was leaked to the public.Former SRA board member Dino Yulo said Serafica is “clearly missing the point. There is no politics involved in our opposition to SO 4, but the survival of the sugar industry.“Obviously amidst the prevailing circumstances wherein fertilizers and fuel costs are soaring, Serafica should not expect planters to take these sitting down especially when it is very clear that the new sugar order will benefit a particular sector, i...

There will be another fuel price roll back, Tuesday, April 12.The price of gasoline will be down P1 per liter and diesel P0.35 per liter, Flying V, SeaOil Shell, Petro Gazz, Petron, Phoenix and Caltex announced on Monday.The price of kerosene will also be down by P3 per liter, Caltex, Petron, Shell and SeaOil announced.*