Negros quest for power
facing another setback
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The building of hydroelectric power plants in Negros Occidental continues to be stalled by service contracts granted by the Department of Energy in 2009 for almost all the rivers of the province to firms that had not even touched base with local officials, Jose Ma. Valencia, chief of staff of Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., said yesterday.

This leaves no immediate solution to the 93 megawatts projected power deficit of Negros Occidental by 2015.

Global Business Power Corp. president  Arthur Aguilar  also announced on Friday that they have not found a suitable site for a coal plant in Negros Occidental, while the Northern Negros  Geothermal Power Plant in Bago City  targeted to produce 40 megawatts has downsized to 5 to 10 megawatts.

Bacolod City, that has won the Most Business-Friendly City award from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry three times in the past, is once again a finalist this year.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he was informed of this by PCCI chairman Miguel Varela.

He said Varela also requested for a presentation on the local government’s initiatives in the five award/criteria: quality customer service, public-private sector partnership, investment promotion, MSME (Medium Small Micro Enterprise) development and quality management and innovation.

The person tagged as “public enemy number 1” of Kabankalan City in Negros Occidental, is now dead.

Ex-convict Joy Voluntate, who was able to escape after killing Police Officer 2 Rafael Gemoto, 45, on Monday, was found dead yesterday at a sugarcane field in Coloso Extension, Brgy. 6, Kabankalan City, police said.

However, the 9mm pistol he had used in trading shots with Gemoto was nowhere to be found, said Supt. Calixto Mabugat, who had re-assumed the Kabankalan police force command, when the incident took place.