AS FISSURES GROW
Escalante gov’t readies
permanent relocation site
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Mayor Melecio Yap yesterday said the Escalante City government will purchase a permanent relocation site for residents of Sitio Baluk in Barangays Malasibog and Paitan, who were ordered to evacuate this week after earth movement and growing fissures were noted in their area.

Yap said the city hopes to find a relocation site for the evacuees in a safer area in Malasibog near their former residences so they will be closer to their farming areas.

There are 29 families from Malasibog with 129 members who have evacuated to the Malasibog Elementary School and the “Diyos Amahan” chapel, Escalante city social welfare officer, Lea Juntarsiego, said.

Negros business groups are opposing a petition for a P97 wage hike in Western Visayas  and a move to increase port service charges amid rising fuel rates with a warning that it will cause the prices of goods to skyrocket.

Frank Carbon, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry, yesterday said that this will be on top of the increase in business taxes in Bacolod City  this year.

The rise in fuel prices is also expected to trigger a rise in power, transportation and water rates, he added.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday signed into law City Ordinance No. 576, or an ordinance creating the Bacolod City Chinatown Center, in the presence of Sangguniang members and officers of Filipino-Chinese community at the Bacolod City Government Center.

The ordinance said “The Bacolod City Chinatown Center will be established at the Capitol Shopping Center, a once prime commercial district of the city, which presently needs to be afforded attention and concern by the city government as it was once the proud business center of our Tsinoy brothers and would be future tourist destination for the city.”

Leonardia said “We can say that, upon signing of this ordinance, we hit the ground running, and we thank the Tsinoy community for their support. After all, this is a government-private sector partnership,” he added.