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| 01 JUNE 2008 | . | |
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| 01 JUNE 2008 | . | |
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PGMA inaugurates P207M Aklan bridge tomorrow |
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Tawi-Tawi coastal dwellers seen to cash in on mariculture project |
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Bunye: Three Es Central to Tawi-Tawi development under PGMA program |
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| PGMA inaugurates P207M Aklan bridge tomorrow |
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IBAJAY, Aklan – President Gloria Macapagal-Arrroyo will inaugurate the
Ibajay bridge when she visits Aklan Monday (June 2). She will be joined at the inaugural ceremonies by British Ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham, Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, Aklan Gov. Carlito Marquez, Aklan Lone District Rep. Florencio Miraflores, Ibajay Mayor Ma. Lourdes Miraflores, and Vice Mayor Nelson Sta. Maria. The new span, which was built at a total cost of more than P207 million, is one of the 242 steel bridges nationwide provided by the United Kingdom under an agreement with the Philippines. After the unveiling of the bridge’s marker, the President will conduct a ceremonial windshield inspection of the structure and formally open the 246 linear meter span to the public. The new bridge is a vital link to the Caticlan Jetty Port where commercial ships and small boats dock to load and unload assorted food items and merchandise from nearby islands as well as tourists. A vital link to the Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH), the bridge provides an alternative route for vehicles bound for other southern provinces such as Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro. It also serves as a jump-off point to the world-renowned tourist destination – Boracay Island. Of the total project cost of P207 million, P138.6 million was put up by the national government for civil works, while the British government provided P68.7 million worth of steel bridge materials. The new span replaces the old, crumbling Ibajay bridge built way back in the 1930s. After the opening of the new bridge, President Arroyo will inspect the nearby Ibajay public market which was destroyed by fire only last April. The three-hour blaze destroyed an estimated P20 million worth of properties, including 100 market stalls and a new two-storey market building funded by government-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP). Fire investigators blamed the fire on faulty electrical wiring. |
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| Tawi-Tawi coastal dwellers seen to cash in on mariculture project |
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SIBUTU, Tawi-Tawi – There’s light at the end of the tunnel for the hardy
residents of this impoverished island province, with the bright economic
flare expected to come from the Tawi-Tawi Modified Mariculture Development
Project. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched here last Thursday the Tawi-Tawi leg of the country’s Mariculture Highway, a fisheries development program that seeks to transform poor coastal communities into centers of prosperity and growth. A major component of the President’s Super Regions development strategy to disperse the gains of economic reforms to the countryside, especially the poorest of the poor, the mariculture project is designed to optimize the culture and development of high-value fish species that command premium prices in the markets in the country, but especially abroad. Tawi-Tawi is the poorest province of the Philippines, but it also happens to be richer than most provinces in high-value fish species. The top-of-the-line species include groupers, sea urchins, abalone, crabs, shrimp, sea cucumber and the Napoleon wrasse or “mameng.” A gourmet fish, mameng sells for up to P5,000 a kilo in specialty Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. Mameng is a protected fish specie that mariculturists are trying to preserve and propagate. In her speech at the unveiling of the marker to the Tawi-Tawi Modified Mariculture Development Project, the President said that the more than 50,000 coastal dwellers of Tawi-Tawi are on track to earn an estimated P100 million per of the 75-hectare mariculture project. Rep. Nur Jaafar of the lone district of Tawi-Tawi was even more optimistic about the prospects of the project. In a year’s time, he said, the project could generate more than P200 million in additional taxes for the province, and up to P400 million in four years. The Philippines now has a network of 31 mariculture parks, with the Tawi-Tawi project hugging the western seaboard of the Mariculture Superhighway. Director Malcolm Sarmiento of the Bureau of Fisheries and Acquatic Resources (BFAR) described Tawi-Tawi as an ideal site for a mariculture project. The province, he said, is peaceful and mariculture production could be conducted throughout the year because of the island’s prestine waters, conducive climate, and rich and diverse fishery resources. |
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| Bunye: Three Es Central to Tawi-Tawi development under PGMA program |
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President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is focusing on the three Es in developing Tawi-Tawi, one of the 20 poorest provinces in the country. The three Es -- economy, environment and education -- constitute the President’s three-pronged approach to fight poverty arising from lack of jobs, investments and infrastructure. She has pointed out that poverty and unemployment are related to each other, and that the best thing to fight poverty is to create jobs and to have new jobs, there must be investments, and for more investments to be made, the needed infrastructure must be available. Thus, in her visit to this island province last week, the President inaugurated several projects that would propel development. Outgoing Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye, in his column “View From the Palace,” discussed the President’s visit to Tawi-Tawi and the projects that would ensure economic development in the area. “As part of the President’s Super Regions comprehensive plan, which includes the creation of five major regions, including agribusiness Mindanao to spread development away from an inequitable concentration in Metro Manila, the President launched the Tawi-Tawi Modified Mariculture Development Project in Sibutu, Tawi-Tawi last week. The project aims to benefit not only the fisherfolk in the area, but also pearl farmers, and those who harvest agar-agar or seaweed,” Bunye said. “The project will harness the scientific knowledge and methods derived from the research of scientists at Mindanao State University, Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography,” he added. Bunye said that the President also launched the P324-million Tawi-Tawi Bridge-Road Partnership Project connecting the five towns of the mainland to Bongao and funded by GEM-USAID, the DPWH, and the ARMM government. He said the government’s investment in the development of Tawi-Tawi is complemented by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “The Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the Philippines Mohammed Ameen Wali told the President that Saudi Arabia is willing to provide another $18 million loan aside from its previous P20 million loan to fund government priority projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM),” Bunye said. “Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, DepEd Commissioner Nina Ricafort, and Presidential daughter Luli Arroyo, have been asked by the President to help prepare and submit proposals for funding by the Saudi loan. Luli is the policy officer of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is heavily involved in protecting the Coral Triangle. Bunye said the Department of Agriculture will look after the implementation of the four phases of the mariculture project, while DepEd will concentrate on doubling the enrolment of scholars in agriculture and fisheries. WWF, on the other hand, can assist by proposing ways to ensure sustainable fisheries in the ARMM, he said. Bunye recalled that former President Diosdado Macapagal, then an assistant secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in 1948, was instrumental in negotiating the return to the Philippines of the Turtle Islands which also belong to the Coral Triangle, from the jurisdiction of Malaysia. Tawi-Tawi is the southernmost part of the country and share sea borders with the Malaysian State of Sabah and the Indonesian Kalimantan province. Tawi-Tawi also covers some islands in the Sulu Sea to the northwest, the Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi Island and the Turtle Islands. |
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