Duterte signs Calaca, Batangas cityhood law
May 28, 2021 5:58 PM PHT
Tina Ganzon-Ozaeta
President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure converting the municipality of Calaca in Batangas into a component city.
Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11544 on May 26.
A plebiscite must be conducted in Calaca within 90 days from the approval of the law. Once the conversion is ratified through the plebiscite, Calaca will become the fifth city in Batangas, after Lipa, Tanauan, Batangas, and Sto. Tomas. Batangas is currently comprised of four cities and 30 municipalities.
Under the law, Calaca will remain under the jurisdiction of the 1st District of Batangas.
“Simply put, the AFP and Philippine National Police (PNP) had no solid, intelligent basis before launching massive operations in a rural sitio in Nasugbu, Batangas in April 2020."
Magnitude 5.8 Mindoro earthquake felt in capital bworldonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bworldonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
ADB declares coal exit in Asia Pacific, but gas remains in play
by Imelda Abano on 11 May 2021
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to exit financing coal, oil and natural gas exploration and extraction activities, according to its draft energy policy released May 7.
The bank says it also intends to deliver climate finance worth $80 billion between 2019 and 2030 to ensure that at least 75% of its projects address climate change issues.
While green groups have welcomed the transition, they note that the draft energy policy has a loophole by potentially allowing fossil gas investments.
ADB is set to release its final energy policy by October this year.
Published May 8, 2021, 6:00 AM
The consolidated net income of Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) significantly climbed by 93-percent to P2.3 billion within first quarter this year versus P1.2 billion in the same period last year.
On stream of revenues, that also surged by 27-percent for the company to P9.3 billion in the first three months of 2021 as against a leaner P7.3 billion within the same stretch last year.
The coal mining segment of SMPC’s operations, in particular, had posted 16-percent year on year uptrend, with revenues rising to P7.1 billion from a year-ago level of P6.1 billion.
The firm emphasized that its sales volume had been higher by 21-percent within January-March this year to 3.9 million metric tons (MMT) vis-à-vis 3.2 million MT in a parallel quarter last year.