Diving Experience in Panglao, Bohol

A regional airline company will launch its maiden flight between Davao City and Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Sunday, Christmas Day, heeding the call of both local government units which passed their respective council resolution addressed to Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Zest Air.

Davao City tourism officer Jason C. Magnaye said the Cebu-based Midsea Express will utilize the 32-seater jetstream aircraft in flying three times weekly to both destinations.

“I think they are targeting the weekend by flying passengers there on Friday, then come back on Monday,” he said.

Magnaye said the next step is to craft a strategy on how to promote Davao City to Bohol because a number of them may not know much about the area or apprehensive about it being located in Mindanao.

He said the direct flight between Davao and Tagbilaran will take a little less than an hour. Just a bit longer than Davao and Cebu and the cost is quite affordable with an introductory airfare price of about P2,000.

At present, a tourist from Davao will have to fly to Cebu, then take a fastcraft to Tagbilaran. The whole trip will take nearly three hours, he said.

On the other hand, Arturo C. Boncato Jr., regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT) here, said domestic tourism remains the backbone of the tourism industry of the city.

“Davao City is fortunate to be connected to new destinations like Tagbilaran as it diversifies the city’s domestic mix with probable new markets,” he said.

Globe Telecom said it has expanded its mobile and landline service coverage to 49 key areas in the country.

The combined mobile and landline service is now available in Iloilo, Misamis Oriental, Ilocos Norte, Albay, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Aklan, Biliran, Compostela Valley, La Union, Occidental Mindoro, Saranggani and Sorsogon.

Globe DUO has also strengthened its coverage in Metro Manila, Cebu, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Pangasinan, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Antique, South Cotabato, rizal, Bohol, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Batangas, Quezon, Northern Samar, Davao del Sur, Pampanga, Isabela, Ilocos Sur, Zambales, Nueva Vizcaya, Palawan, Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Southern Leyte, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.

Globe is the first to offer unlimited calls to landline through Globe DUO in April 2009.

Further strengthening the service, Globe subsequently launched Globe SUPERDUO, which allowed subscribers to make unlimited calls to all local exchange landlines and all Globe DUO, Globelines as well as Globe and TM mobile phones nationwide.

“Globe DUO is an innovative service that has dramatically changed the way people communicate by providing subscribers with a more convenient and more affordable calling service. Globe is extremely proud to say that as Globe DUO expands to more areas nationwide, we are able to bridge more people and provide them with better value services,” Peter Bithos, Globe senior advisor for Consumer Business, said.

“Globe DUO has also effectively helped small and medium enterprises to grow and become more productive partners towards nation-building. And as we continually beef-up our network capacity, we also look forward to increasing coverage for both Globe DUO and Globe SUPERDUO across the Philippines,” he said.

Bithos said that Globe DUO was a testament of the company’s commitment to continuously provide our customers with the most affordable and most convenient ways of communication using only the latest wireless services.

“With Globe DUO, a subscriber enjoys the world’s first fully convergent solution that works across both fixed and mobile networks, using only one SIM, one phone and one billing statement,” he said.

by Angeline Valencia
The national highway along the landslide section in Sitio Liloan of Poblacion, Cortes has been closed starting January 17 while the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) undertakes the over P12-million long-term engineering interventions in the area for 120-150 days.

Engr. Ester Calacat of the DPWH on Tuesday said the contractor started with the excavation on the slope.

Governor Edgar Chatto and Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II had been pushing for the engineering interventions as long-term solution to the series of landslides in the area, that occurred at least three times during the rainy days in the first three months of 2011.

Upon the request of the local government unit of Cortes–the next from here, the engineering works commenced on January 17 right after the town fiesta celebration last Sunday.

Calacat said project contractor CCM Construction started bulldozing the upper portion to convert the cliff into a slope of safe angle.

“It would take time. After bulldozing the area to convert the cliff into a slope, we will widen the roadside and construct a seven-meter-high rip-rap. Then we will put coco net at the upper portion and we will plant bertiver plants to hold the soil in place,” Calacat explained.

She said the bertiver plant resembles a lemon grass but with more penetrating roots, thus, recommended to hold the soil and prevent landslide in the slope.

Calacat estimated the entire project would take 120 calendar days, but Engr. Duran of CCM Construction explained that it would take them 150 days to finish the project.

While bulldozing is ongoing, Calacat said the traffic has been re-routed to the SIP road which is at the other side of the elevation to keep motorists and travelling public safe by skipping the portion of the national highway where the land mass fell during the landslide.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR) 7 is preparing to conduct a cadastral survey of more than 73,000 hectares in Central Visayas this year, an official said.

DENR 7 Regional Executive Director Maximo O. Dichoso said the cadastral survey will cost more than P163 million and which will be implemented in selected towns in the region this year.

Dichoso said President Benigno S. Aquino lll has ordered the agency to hasten and complete the cadastral survey in support of the government’s various projects such as land titling, land use planning, taxation and internal revenue allotment (IRA) programs for the different municipalities nationwide.

Dichoso said reforms in the country’s land services are aimed at promoting productivity of idle lands in the country and help boost economic prosperity.

”The cadastral survey program is seriously pursued as it is instrumental in efficient patent distribution and accelerating countryside development,” he said.

Cadastral survey is one made on an extensive areas covering an entire municipality or city, consisting of several parcels of land, undertaken for the purpose of land registration.

In Cebu, the target for the survey is 25,710 hectares or 34.90 percent of the total project with a budget estimate of P49.879 million covering the municipalities of Minglanilla, Argao, Tuburan and Tabuelan.

In Negros Oriental, the project covers the municipalities of Manjuyod, Pamplona, Dauin and Zamboanguita with the biggest target survey area of 37,456 hectares or 50.85 percent and a budget of P87.99 million.

There are 5,158 hectares allocated for survey with a budget of P24.58 million covering municipalities of Tubigon, President Carlos Garcia and Danao in Bohol Province.

Second district’s development blueprint, now in the offing, and the barangay masterplan, focus on self-sufficiency in supply of power, water and food.

Rep. Erico Aumentado aims to equip the second district with enough facilities that will ease power supply shortage seen in the next 10 years.

Moreover, the foreseen development in Bohol would hike the demand for more electricity supply, aside from the fact that there were still many sub-villages in the province that have no power supply yet.

One of the solutions that Aumentado proposed is the Bohol NorthEast Basin Multi-Purpose Dam eyed in barangay Concepcion, Danao, which can produce 10-megawatt hydro-power supply and irrigate about 19,000 hectares of ricelands–1,353.95 hectares in Danao, 3,520.92 hectares in San Miguel, 5,945.59 hectares in Trinidad, 1,770.50 hectares in Dagohoy, 1,896.12 hectares in Bien Unido, and 4,530.20 hectares in Ubay.

Downstream of the dam, an Ayala-led firm and Sta. Clara Corp. started another project that can produce 7.2-8.2 megawatts of power.

Aumentado said he would further discuss irrigation and hydro-power projects on Jan. 24 in a meeting in Manila with Energy Sec. Jose Rene Almendras and NIA Administrator Tony Nangel, the country representative of KOICA, National Economic and Development authority (NEDA) Deputy Director General Rolando Tungpalan and representatives of Sun West Corp.

Irrigation and hydro-power projects would be significant in the development plan that would be drafted by the barangays with the help of NEDA, Department of Energy Regional Director Antonio Labios, PPA Manager Manuel Boholano, Agricultural Promotions Center Manager Eugene Cahiles, and local officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), PENRO Nestor Canda and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). – by Angeline Valencia