118,459
edits
Difference between revisions of "General Santos City News September 2011"
General Santos City News September 2011 (view source)
Revision as of 05:34, 5 February 2012
, 05:34, 5 February 2012→4 workers hurt in SM mall construction accident in General Santos City
| Line 36: | Line 36: | ||
<!--- DO NOT EDIT ABOVE THIS LINE ---> | <!--- DO NOT EDIT ABOVE THIS LINE ---> | ||
<!--- NEWS ARCHIVE GOES BELOW THIS LINE ---> | <!--- NEWS ARCHIVE GOES BELOW THIS LINE ---> | ||
==Army seeks release of P1-M aid for ex-rebels== | |||
*Source: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2011/09/30/army-seeks-release-of-p1-m-aid-for-ex-rebels/ | |||
*Friday| September 30, 2011 | |||
:by Allen V. Estabillo | |||
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/29 September) – Local Army officials are working for the release before yearend of some P1 million worth of seed assistance from the Department of Agriculture (DA) for rebel returnees and residents of areas previously influenced by the New People’s Army (NPA) in Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat. | |||
Lt. Col. Alex Noel Bravo, commander of the Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion, said they requested the seed grant from DA to help provide additional livelihood opportunities for residents of 11 upland villages in Columbio town. | |||
He said the grant’s beneficiaries include former NPA members and sympathizers of the communist-led rebel group in the area. | |||
Bravo said their unit is presently completing the requirements set by DA for the release of the assistance. | |||
“We’re targeting its release to the beneficiaries before the end of the year,” Bravo said. | |||
Under the DA’s seed assistance program, the official said the beneficiaries will receive vegetable, palay and corn seeds of different varieties, depending on the suitability of the crop in their area. | |||
He said the prospective beneficiaries will undergo a series of technical trainings on various agricultural production practices from the agency’s experts. | |||
Bravo said they will later undergo exposure trips to demonstration farms and model agricultural production areas. | |||
The official said they sought the help of DA for the seed grant following their consultations with local officials and residents of Columbio. | |||
Villages in the mountains of Columbio were previously known as hotbeds of the NPA, which operates two active guerilla fronts in the area. | |||
The NPA’s Front 72 reportedly operates within the boundaries of Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato provinces and the Front 71 within the Sarangani, Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato | |||
boundaries. | |||
Front 76, which was tagged as behind the string of attacks in Tampakan town two years ago, was earlier declared to have been dismantled by government troops in the area. | |||
“The armed groups were still visiting the area occasionally but their influence has already diminished after we cleared their local political structures,” Bravo said. | |||
He said most of the former NPA rebels and sympathizers in the area are now part of the Barangay Defense Systems or BDS that were organized by the 27th IB. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews) | |||
==After accident, LGU partially suspends work at SM-GenSan== | |||
*Source: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2011/09/27/after-accident-lgu-partially-suspends-work-at-sm-gensan/ | |||
*Tuesday| September 27, 2011 | |||
:by Edwin G. Espejo | |||
GENERAL SANTOS CITY(MindaNews/26 Sept) – The city government has ordered the “partial suspension” of the ongoing development works at SM City General Santos after a portion of the structure collapsed early Sunday and injured four construction workers. | |||
Engr. John Marc Reyes, acting city engineer, said they directed construction firm Monolith Construction and Development Corporation (MCDC) to temporarily stop the construction of SM’s elevated car park building pending an ongoing investigation and assessment by the local government. | |||
The MCDC was contracted by mall developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. to construct the P2.5-billion mall complex, which was initially set to open next year. | |||
“We temporarily suspended the building permit of the car park building until we determine whether it would be safe to continue with its construction or not,” Reyes said. | |||
The official said the fourth level of the mall’s car park building collapsed around 3 a.m. Sunday while workers were pouring cement at the structure. | |||
The collapsed structure, which spans around 300 square meters, reportedly crashed all the way down to the building’s second level. | |||
Sources said 40 people were working on the building’s fourth level and 23 more at the third level when the incident happened. The construction works at the mall complex were done on a 24-hour basis on different work shifts. | |||
But in a press conference, MCDC project engineer Jeston Mananguete cited that only four workers were injured during the incident. | |||
He identified the victims as Henry Gallaza, Rogelio Buban, Cesar John Rense and Allan Salkoretes, who were being treated at a private hospital here. | |||
“We’re assuring their families of full medical assistance and we will fully cooperate with the City Engineer’s Office for the investigation,” Mananguete said. | |||
He said they could not yet say what caused the accident pending a full investigation on the matter. | |||
Mananguete said the area is being secured by the firm properly to give way for the local government’s investigation. | |||
Debbie Go, SM regional operations manager for Mindanao, said they will wait for the results of the investigation before giving out a statement on the cause of the accident. | |||
“We don’t want to speculate on our side about what really happened,” she said. Go said they decided to hold the press conference to clarify supposed reports that several workers were seriously injured or were killed as a result of the incident. | |||
Reyes, who initially inspected the collapsed structure along with the City Engineer’s Office’s engineering team Sunday morning, said they did not proceed further with their investigation due to safety concerns. | |||
He said they will wait for the scheduled arrival of MCDC’s structural and safety engineers on Monday before conducting a thorough inspection of the site. | |||
“We initially instructed them to secure the area and make sure that no workers would enter the accident area until their structural engineers will arrive,” Reyes said. | |||
SM Prime Holdings recently turned over to the city government an additional two lanes along the San Miguel Street here, where the 150,000-sq.m. mall is located. | |||
SM also installed a P53-million drainage system, which would benefit a section of the city at the side of the SM mall in Barangay Lagao. SM officials said it would hire some 8,000 workers from the area for the upcoming operations of the mall, which is bigger than the SM malls in Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City. (Allen V. Estabillo / MindaNews) | |||
==City engineer suspends construction of SM mall car park in GenSan== | |||
*Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/65457/city-engineer-suspends-construction-of-sm-mall-car-park-in-gensan | |||
*4:27 pm | Monday, September 26th, 2011 | |||
:by Aquiles Z. Zonio | |||
Inquirer Mindanao | |||
GENERAL SANTOS City, Philippines—The City Engineer’s Office has ordered the temporary suspension of the construction of the multi-story car park building of SM mall here in the wake of an accident that left four workers injured on Sunday. | |||
John March Reyes, acting city engineer, said he issued the order on Monday. | |||
The structural engineer of the project of retail giant SM was to arrive Tuesday to inspect and investigate, he added. | |||
“The company has hired the services of private construction firms and we are just a regulatory body,” Reyes explained. | |||
He said work on the car park should remain suspended until the structural engineer completes his investigation or submits a new building plan and design. | |||
Reyes said that if the structural engineer certifies the safety of the building, their office would issue them a new building permit. | |||
He said the accident occurred in a separate building designed as a car park on the seven-hectare lot leased by SM for 25 years. | |||
A portion of the building’s third floor collapsed while workers were pouring cement on Sunday, Reyes said. SM management hastily called for a press conference on the same day but officials of the construction firm refused to answer questions. | |||
==4 workers hurt in SM mall construction accident in General Santos City== | ==4 workers hurt in SM mall construction accident in General Santos City== | ||
*Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/64979/4-workers-hurt-in-sm-mall-construction-accident-in-general-santos-city | *Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/64979/4-workers-hurt-in-sm-mall-construction-accident-in-general-santos-city | ||
| Line 50: | Line 140: | ||
The construction of SM City here, the biggest among the SM branches in Mindanao, is ongoing and the management is targeting to open the department store by December. | The construction of SM City here, the biggest among the SM branches in Mindanao, is ongoing and the management is targeting to open the department store by December. | ||
In a press conference hastily called by SM here Sunday afternoon, it clarified that only four workers were injured in the accident around 4 a.m. Sunday. | In a press conference hastily called by SM here Sunday afternoon, it clarified that only four workers were injured in the accident around 4 a.m. Sunday. | ||
==A 'tuna-rrific experience' in GenSan== | ==A 'tuna-rrific experience' in GenSan== | ||