by Misael | May 23, 2008 | Tourism
TACKLING heated deliberations on power and mediating the controversial spat between Manila Electric Company and state-run insurance system deserve cooling moments and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo precisely did just that, few minutes after her Bohol Cabinet meeting May 20.
“She was excited, even with limited visibility due to the fast sunset. By the looks of it, she is coming back,” a resort staff revealed as the president briefly came to the island after the dive.
Balicasag Resort resident manager Maria Elena Go said the president was excited when she narrated her experience even with limited visibility.
After the Cabinet meeting, the president, accompanied by Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and navy divers immediately motored to Alona Beach in Panglao, about two hours later than scheduled to hop to Balicasag Island.
Squeezing into a black wet-suit and putting on a transparent plastic mask, on the diveboat before transferring to the flat boat in front of the resort, she momentarily left the world of politics for the underwater wonders of the famous dive-island in Panglao.
Earlier, Representative Edgar Chatto, in a radio interview told listeners that the president wants to see for herself why Japanese divers rate Balicasag as the third most beautiful dive site in the world.
Go, in an interview confessed she was worried about the delay for it was almost dark and visibility is reduced.
For lack of time, the dive briefing, which was set at 2:00 pm in the resort happened 2 hours later, and on the boat instead.
An entourage of Navy divers and underwater photographers documenting the event accompanied the president and Secretary Yap as both descended into the famed Royal Garden.
Immersing themselves first on the north side of the island, the dive point of interest are thick corals that form a kaleidoscopic multi-colored reef teeming with tropical fish. The site, simply named the Royal Garden, is also what most divers refer to the entire marine ecosystem of Balicasag.
From there, the President and her party of divers proceeded to the thrill of swimming though the black coral forest or simply Black Forest, Balicasag resident dive master said.
The dive, he said offers a rare opportunity of swimming through black coral that teems at surpsingly shallow 30 meter depths. Black corals are seldom found above 50 meters.
Speculations bare that the island’s shadow combined with the coolness and nutrients provided by currents and upwellings “deceive” the coral into thinking it’s at greater depth.
Apart from the black corals, schools of tropical fish-such as moorfish idols, batfish and lionfish – along with assorted nudibranches, including Spanish dancers are there, Balicasag website states.
Other Balicasag points of interest, which the President’s party missed are the Cathedral Wall, Divers’ Haven, Turtle Point and the Marine Sanctuary dives, all ringing the 25 hectare island off Panglao.
After an hour of diving exploration, the divers dropped by the island for light snacks of fried banana and pancit while the President indulged in rare photo opportunities for the community. (rachiu/PIA)
by Misael | May 23, 2008 | Headlines
Anticipating the boom and the ripple effect of the soaring tourism in Central Philippines, especially in Bohol, President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo told Boholanos about a threatening power crunch here upon the full operation of the Panglao Bohol International Airport (PBIA).
The President personally led the capsule-laying of another government legacy project: the multi-billion peso airport in Panglao May 20, 2008.
The airport, designed to be upgradeable to international capacity lumps an integrated transport support facility, which would need additional 20 megawatts of power, would further reduce Bohol’s depleted reserves when it becomes operational by April 2010.
In her speech during a brief program after the ground-breaking ceremonies, the President relayed her concern of the need to add more power to Bohol to sustain its industries.
Again in her speech before the opening of the Cabinet Meeting an hour later, PGMA reiterated her call as she revealed the plan to review the expansion of generating facilities and transmission lines to get Visayan regions through an electricity crunch expected next year and establish adequate reserves in 2010.
But even before the president identified Bohol’s looming power crisis, development planners and local leaders have endorsed to the Central Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) a proposal to uprate the current 100 megawatts supplied by the Tongonan Leyte-Bohol Power Interconnection Project (LBPIP).
The RDC has recently endorsed to the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) to make a feasibility study and asked it to fund an additional 100 megawatts from LBPIP.
According to sources from local power companies, Bohol’s current peak power demand is about 65 megawatts while the present Leyte-Bohol Power Interconnection Project delivers only 100 megawatts leaving only 35 megawatts of reserves.
Over this, President Arroyo cited a present 6% raise in annual demand for power here in the last three years.
The RDC endorsed the proposal of increasing the LBIP load to ensure adequate and reliable power supply here while effectively putting up support for various local agro-industrial establishments which require additional short-term power supply.
The Transco however has not released any official action on the proposal.
Over all these, the president underscored the pressing need to increase Bohol power demand as quickly to add to Bohol power reserves.
To get the government to formally act on the matter, the President said that provision of adequate and reliable but cheap power to the Visayas and the country was one of the agenda for the NEDA Cluster Cabinet meeting, which the president is heading immediately after the airport ceremonies. (rachiu/PIA)
by Misael | May 23, 2008 | National News
Member-countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to sign a multilateral air agreement among themselves together with China, India, Japan and Korea, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Leandro Mendoza said.
Mendoza, together with Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi, issued the statement during the interview at the Bohol Beach Club in Panglao.
The President is set in lead the capsule-laying ceremony for the proposed Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
Mendoza said the Philippines and other ASEAN countries have agreed in principle to liberalize their skies with the possible signing of a “common air agreement” in December this year. Mendoza said ASEAN countries have also discussed with China, India, Japan and Korea the possibility of their joining in the regional air services grouping.
Cusi said ASEAN’s adoption of an open skies policy would ultimately lead to the creation of a single aviation market in the region by 2015, wherein the Philippines needs to further develop its air transport policy as well as upgrade existing facilities.
Mendoza and Cusi said that member-countries that include Malaysia and Thailand have already been developing airports with multiple runways to accommodate bigger traffic while the Philippines still has to develop one. (PIA/Bohol)
by Misael | May 23, 2008 | National News
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has named Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita to be her new spokesman in a concurrent capacity when Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye officially leaves Malacanang on July 3.
The President revealed this at the Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa where the Cabinet meeting was also held earlier in the day.
The President arrived in Bohol to lead the capsule laying ceremony of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
Bunye, concurrent Presidential Spokesman, has already been appointed to the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) effective July 3.
Ermita has long been conducting his weekly media briefing in Malacanang. (PIA/Bohol)
by Misael | May 23, 2008 | Headlines
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stressed the importance of a long-lasting peace and a secured community in attaining economic growth.
In her message at the Local Peace and Security Assembly (LPSA) of Western Visayas (Region 6) held in Bacolod City, the President took note that the Western Visayas Region has vastly improved in its security problems that economic progress is well on its way for the region.
“We have achieved a great deal. Western Visayas is vastly improved in terms of security and economic growth. The current agreement with the RPM-RPA is making things better” the President said.
The President said a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Proletarian Army (RPA) would “bring a new era of economic development, enumerating the areas Cauayan, Hinobaan,Ilog,Candoni, Kabankalan and Sipalay or C.H.I.C.K.S. that would benefit from a peace pact.
The peace pact, coupled with the government’s thrust to invest in the people would propel economic development, the President said.
Peace not through the barrel of the gun, but through economic development was first noted in the Bohol peace initiatives. The first LPSA was also held in Bohol. (PIA/Bohol)
