Business

The Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA) has informed Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez that is has three bulk water proponents that are ready to supply its water needs.There are several groups that want to provide bulk water, my suggestion is for BACIWA to accept whoever comes in first, Benitez said on Monday, February 20.Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said without BACIWA availing of water supply from the bulk water project of the province, it will be less attractive for their proponents.The proponents will be happy if BACIWA joins because the volume of water Bacolod needs will make their operations profitable, Lacson said.The Capitol will have to think of ways to make it attractive for the bulk water proponents to invest in the province without BACIWA joi...

Jiangsu Fengchuen New Energy Power Technology Co. officials meet with Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (right).*Bacolod PIO photoA Chinese firm has submitted a proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the establishment of a plant that will manufacture public utility electric vehicles in Bacolod City, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said Monday, February 20.The city government is reviewing the MOU sent by Jiangsu Fengchuen New Energy Power Technology Co., Benitez said.The trend now is for vehicles to run on electricity, Bacolod might be the first local government in the Philippines to embrace this concept, he said.The MOU sent by Jiangsu Fengchuen New Energy Power Technology Co. is an offshoot of his meeting with its executives during President Ferdinand Marcos’ s...

Fuel prices are expected to slightly go up on Tuesday, February 21, Unioil Petroleum Philippines said Saturday, February 18.The price of diesel will increase by P0.70 to P0.80 per liter, and gasoline’s by P0.50 to 0.60 per liter, it said.The Department of Energy said oil companies have implemented a year-to-date per liter rollback of P2.20 for diesel as of February 14.Gasoline remains at a net increase of P5.10 per liter, the DOE added.*

Banned poultry and pork products worth P2,534,171 that were shipped into Negros Occidental from other parts of the country from January 1 to February 11 were seized, OIC Provincial Veterinarian Placeda Lemana said Friday, February 17.Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez have issued joint executive orders banning the entry of poultry and pork products from areas hit with Avian Influence and African swine fever.The bans were imposed to protect the local poultry and swine industries, they said.Lemana, in a report to the governor, said P1,773,590 worth of poultry and poultry related products were seized from February 4 to 10 at the BREDCO and Banago ports in Bacolod City and at animal quarantine checkpoints in Kabankalan City and Hin...

The residential rate of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) for February is down P0.2301 per kilowatt hour, while Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative’s (NOCECO) dropped by P1.8241/kWh.The CENECO average residential rate for February is P14.8756/kWh, a decrease of P0.2301/kWh, from last month’s rate of P15.1057/kWh, its acting general manager Arnel Lapore said Friday, February 17.Lapore attributed the decrease to the total net reduction in generation charges by 1.25 percent to the downward adjustment of about P2.3385/kWh in the average Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) price from P9.3732/kWh to P7.0347/kWh, and the decrease in Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) fuel cost from P9.03/kWh to P7.87/kWh.The PCPC gave a fuel discount of P0.30/kWh for the Janua...

The Sugar Regulatory Administration’s latest sugar importation order could lead to a further drop in sugar prices, leaders of two planters’ groups warned anew on Thursday, February 16.“We believe that the 440,000 mt volume is more than what is needed in the domestic market. This oversupply, coupled with the ill-timed arrival, of imported sugar will surely lead to a further downward slide of millgate sugar prices,” said Enrique D. Rojas, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) president, and Danilo A. Abelita, Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PANAYFED) president, in a press statement.The SRA on Wednesday released Sugar Order No. 6 Series of 2022-2023 dated February 6, titled “2nd sugar import program for crop year 2022-2023”.The sugar order establishes the sugar ...

A firm has submitted an unsolicited proposal for the reclamation and development of 621 hectares of coastline in barangays 1, 2 and Banago in Bacolod, City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. informed the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) Wednesday, February 15.Part of the requirements for “The Gateway Project” is for the city government to apply for the reclamation project before the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), Ting said.That is why Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez is asking the SP for authority for Bacolod City to apply for the project before the PRA, which will be tackled by the city council at its regular session next week, Councilor Al Victor Espino said.“The Gateway Project” firm is owned by a son of Bacolod Councilor Vladimir Gonzalez, Espino said.If the PRA give...

The 240,000 MT of imported sugar will serve as the country’s buffer stock*Sugar Order No. 6 granting the importation of 440,000 metric tons of sugar was signed Monday, February 13, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Board Member Pablo Luis “Paul” Azcona said Tuesday.The order has been sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for review prior to release, he said.The order was signed by members of the SRA Board and Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban as representative of the president, who is concurrent agriculture secretary, said Azcona, who represents the sugar planters.Other members of the board are SRA Administrator David John Thaddeus Alba and Ma. Mitzi Mangwag as representative of the sugar millers.All of the 440,000 MT will be coming into the country ...

Government’s planned importation of 450,000 metric tons of sugar “will not result to the greatest good of the greatest number of people”, Wennie Sancho, Save the Sugar Industry Movement(SAVE-SIM) lead convenor, warned on Sunday, February 12.“SAVE-SIM cannot remain silent in the midst of this impending economic disaster. We must fight,” Sancho, who is a labor leader, said in a press statement.“The winners in this sugar import liberalization scheme are the chosen few who were blessed by the powers-that-be, the compradors with connections, and influential intermediaries,” he said.The importation of the 450,000 metric tons of refined sugar is ill- timed, Sancho said.It is the stand of SAVE-SIM that the importation should be after the end of the milling season with the full acce...

Diesel prices are expected to further drop, but gasoline will have no price change, Unioil Petroleum Philippines announced on Saturday, February 11.Diesel should go down by P2 to P2.20 per liter starting Tuesday, February 14, to February 20, it said.However, other industry sources are projecting a P2.20-P2.60 per liter decrease in diesel prices, and a drop in gasoline prices by P0.10 to P0.20 per liter.On February 7 there was a gasoline price rollback by P2.10 per liter and P3 per liter on diesel.*