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Difference between revisions of "Sultan Kudarat News"
→Major irrigation system in South Cotabato undergoes major repair starting May 1
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==CIDG-12 enlists 400 professionals as ‘agents’== | |||
*Source: http://www.soccsksargen.com/cidg-12-enlists-400-professionals-as-agents/ | |||
*Apr 19th, 2012 | |||
:by News Flash. | |||
GENERAL SANTOS CITY The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Region 12 or the Soccsksargen Region has tapped the services of various local professionals to assist its operations in the area. | |||
Senior Supt. Noli Romana, CIDG Region 12 director, said some 400 professionals took their oaths recently to become part of the agencys community investigative support or CIS unit in the region. | |||
Region 12 covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato. | |||
The CIS unit is composed of former police and military officers, lawyers, doctors, engineers and other professionals who have volunteered to share information and their expertise to assist our operations, he said. | |||
Romana said the CIS members will also serve as force multiplier in the conduct of police operations as well as in the gathering of intelligence and investigative information. | |||
CIDG launched the CIS program last year to involve the services of professionals in its special investigative work. | |||
The agency initially targeted to recruit around 1,000 professionals throughout the country and train them to become CIS agents. | |||
The CIS was conceptualized within the context of the Philippine National Police Letter of Instruction Bayanihan, which mainly aims to curb criminality and maintain peace and order with the participation of the community. | |||
The CIS will serve as the CIDGs citizen investigative network whose function is to help in information and evidence gathering, pre-empt crimes and to solve cases, a project briefer said. | |||
It said the CIS members will become legitimate agents of the CIDG as they were clothed legally with the power to arrest lawless elements, issued with the CIDGs badge and identification cards and are on the official roster of the CIDG. (PNA) | |||
LAP/FFC/AVE/HST | |||
==Lift Tampakan open-pit mining ban’== | |||
*Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/2012/04/18/lift-tampakan-open-pit-mining-ban/ | |||
*Wednesday, 18 April, 2012 | |||
:by Othel V. Campos | |||
DAVAO DEL SUR —- Kiblawan Mayor Marivic Diamante and two fellow executives said the open-pit mining prohibition in South Cotabato spells certain doom unless lifted before irreversible damage is done to their economy. | |||
“We are talking about an investment that promises to bring an economic push that we badly need; the open-pit ban puts everything in jeopardy,” she said. | |||
Kiblawan is a second class municipality northeast of Tampakan which hosts the biggest copper-gold mine site in the Southeast Asia West Pacific Region. | |||
Diamante said the town’s stake in the $5.9 billion venture includes the construction of infrastructure, concentrator, fresh water dam, and a waste rock storage facility, with potential revenue from property and operational taxes for expanding services to communities. | |||
“This is an economic impact that we will protect and we will fight for even if we have to go to the courts,” she said. | |||
A lawyer, Diamante said she has aligned with Tampakan Mayor Leonardo Escobillo, and Columbio Mayor Datu Amirh Musali of Sultan Kudarat to oppose the ban and press for its lifting. | |||
“We have agreed to exhaust all administrative means.” | |||
Diamante said they have sent manifestations to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Malacañang, including signatures of their constituents pushing for the mining project. | |||
“In the spirit of public-private sector partnership, we will fight for this investment,” she said. | |||
“The unconstitutionality of the South Cotabato provincial ban on open-pit mining is very clear in the face of an existing national law on mining,” she noted, referring to the 1995 Philippine Mining Act and its intent to open up business, trade and industry outside urban centers. | |||
“We don’t want to unfairly burden a private sector investor who is willing to bring sustainable development to a remote municipality such as Kiblawan.” | |||
==Major irrigation system to shutdown for three months== | |||
*Source: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2012/04/17/major-irrigation-system-to-shutdown-for-three-months/ | |||
*Tuesday| April 17, 2012 | |||
:by Bong S. Sarmiento | |||
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/16 April)—A major repair of an irrigation system that serves thousands of hectares of palay farms in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat will push next month, an official said. | |||
Ramon A. Bugacia, National Irrigation Administration manager for South Cotabato, said the Allah River Irrigation System (ARIS) will be shut down to restore the dam’s efficiency. | |||
“From the original four months, we have reduced the repair work schedule to three months to minimize its impact on palay farmers because when their livelihood is affected, it also has effects on the [local] economy,” he told reporters recently. | |||
The major repair works include two dams that have not undergone major rehabilitation works since they were commissioned in the early 1970s. | |||
Some P138 million has been allocated to cover the rehabilitation of the dams and line canals. | |||
“This is the biggest annual budget that we have gotten so far since previously we were only getting P30 million to P40 million a year, and this is because of the target of the Aquino government for food self-sufficiency and to stop rice importation by 2013,” Bugacia earlier said. | |||
Reynaldo H. Legaste, South Cotabato chief agriculture officer, earlier said the closure of the dams would affect an estimated 7,000 hectares of rice farms in South Cotabato and another 2,000 hectares in neighboring Sultan Kudarat. | |||
For the estimated 7,000 hectares of palay farms in South Cotabato that would be hit by the irrigation repair works, the yield would be equivalent to 28,000 tons or 28 million kilograms, Legaste said. | |||
“That is enough to feed the population of South Cotabato for three months,” he stressed. | |||
Based on the 2007 census, South Cotabato has a population of nearly 770,000 people. | |||
The estimated rice production loss in the province is equivalent to 30%, which normally is the surplus per cropping cycle that is brought to other neighboring regions like Davao. | |||
Legaste said this may lead to an artificial shortage in neighboring regions that would lead to price increases, as the demand would overwhelm the supply. | |||
He failed to state though the possible price adjustment in the looming rice shortage projected to hit the area. | |||
In 2008, prices of rice almost doubled to P50 per kilo in Mindanao due to scarce global rice supply, sending a long queue of people in stores buying cheaper rice from the National Food Authority at a controlled volume. | |||
Today’s prices of premium commercial rice in South Cotabato range between P34 and P37 from between P30 and P35 per kilo a few months ago. | |||
Legaste said that farmers affected by the shutdown of the irrigation system would get subsidies if they resort to other crops. | |||
Also, they would still have an income since they would be hired as laborers in the irrigation system’s rehabilitation works, he said. (Bong Sarmiento/MindaNews) | |||
==Major irrigation system in South Cotabato undergoes major repair starting May 1== | ==Major irrigation system in South Cotabato undergoes major repair starting May 1== | ||
*Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=419680 | *Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=419680 | ||
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Also, they would still have an income since they would be hired as laborers in the irrigation system’s rehabilitation works, he said. | Also, they would still have an income since they would be hired as laborers in the irrigation system’s rehabilitation works, he said. | ||
==Major irrigation system to shut down for 3 months== | ==Major irrigation system to shut down for 3 months== | ||