|
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Bad weather stops Arroyo's Mt. Apo visit
By Carlo P. Mallo, Ben O. Tesiorna and Malu C. Manar
DAVAO CITY –- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday cancelled her visit to the geothermal exploration project located on Mt. Apo in Barangay Ilomavis in Kidapawan City due to bad weather.
Arriving fresh from Sydney, Australia where she joined 20 other world leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, Arroyo Monday flew directly to Davao City.
Is former President Joseph Estrada guilty or not guilty of plunder charges? Post your comments here.
She landed at Davao International Airport at around 3 a.m., where she was welcomed by local officials and top officials of the military and the police.
Undersecretary Jose Capadocio of the Office of the Press Secretary said the President proceeded directly to Marco Polo Hotel for a breakfast.
At around 9 a.m., she was ready to leave Davao City for the groundbreaking of another geothermal well at the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC)-Energy Development Corporation's Mindanao Geothermal Exploration Field in Barangay Ilomavis when airport officials told her that the presidential helicopter can not take off due to zero visibility in the air.
All preparations made by the corporation, Presidential Security Guard, Philippine Army, police, and local government units were put to naught after the visit was cancelled at around 10 a.m.
Hundreds of police and military personnel were deployed in and around the Mt. Apo geothermal plant to secure the presidential visit.
Employees of the corporation and media practitioners, who woke up early for the supposed visit, expressed disappointment over the cancellation.
Mt. Apo was virtually covered with heavy clouds the whole day Monday.
Arroyo was also set to sign an executive order, in her visit to the PNOC geothermal site, creating the industrial economic zones in areas near a geothermal plant in the Philippines.
The order, dubbed as Generating Investments in Geothermal Areas (Giga), aims to provide cheaper energy and promote the development of industries in the countryside by turning geothermal areas into special economic zones.
Giga was instead signed by the President at the Prayer Mountain of the religious congregation of Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy, Jesus Christ, the Name Above Every Name.
Arroyo graced the congregation's 22nd anniversary celebration Monday.
The weather was bad not just in Kidapawan City but also in Davao City. The President was forced to travel by land on her way to the Prayer Mountain of Pastor Quiboloy in Tamayong, Calinan.
"Apart from cheap energy, there would also be other incentives that we would be providing to companies that would invest in these economic zones," Arroyo said in a news briefing after the signing of Giga.
"Kahit na malayo ang mga areas (even if the areas are far), the cost of travel would be compensated with the cheap energy available in the area," she said.
She added the reason for cheap energy is from the royalty that the municipalities are earning from the geothermal plants.
"Some municipalities are even already paying for the power consumption of their constituents, yet their bank accounts continue to swell with the royalties they receive," Arroyo added.
Mt. Apo is one of the country's major sources of geothermal power and it provides clean and renewable energy source.
Arroyo was set to grace Monday the groundbreaking of another geothermal well at the Mindanao Geothermal Exploration Field in Barangay Ilomavis.
The project includes the development of a 50-mw geothermal field and construction of a 50-mw geothermal power plant and a transmission line that will connect to the lines of National Transmission Corporation.
Capadocio said the geothermal project could be a potential source of power for Mindanao.
The Mindanao Geothermal Production Field of the corporation includes two power plants with a total installed capacity of 106 MW utilizing geothermal sources from Mindanao area.
The power plant was made possible through a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project-financing scheme where a consortium financed the construction of the power plants.
Electricity generated from the power plants will be supplied to the Mindanao grid via high-voltage overhead transmission lines.
The corporation was established in 1976 to undertake the exploration and development of geothermal energy sources in the country.
It was responsible for making the Philippines the second largest producer of geothermal steam and user of wet steam technology for energy production.
To date, the corporation operates nine geothermal steam fields with an aggregate capacity of 1,145 megawatts accounting for about 60 percent of the country's total installed geothermal capacity.
Since its venture into the power generation business in 1997, it has significantly increased its contribution to the country's overall power generation.
The corporation presently operates four power plants, which were built through the BOT scheme. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (September 11, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
‘Vigilante’ attacks, crime stats affect Cebu annual rating