Business news Southern Leyte Times

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Business census to start this April

The National Statistics Office (NSO) in Southern Leyte will start distributing the questionnaires for its 2012 Census of Philippine Business firms in the province this April 1. The 2012 census is a nationwide undertaking that aims to collect information on the levels, structure, performance and trends of the business enterprises in the country for 2012.

Its result will be used to (1) measure economic growth in regions and provinces ( 2) determine the performance of Micro and Small, Medium Enterprises (3) provide benchmark data on services and for (4) government planners and policy makers.

NSO is mandated by law as the sole agency to undertake economic census which are kept Strictly Confidential and cannot be used as evidence in court for purposes of taxation, regulation or investigation.

An estimated 1,118 business establishments in Southern Leyte will be given questionnaires corresponding to their economic activities.

All information collected in the survey will refer to calendar year 2012.

NSO trained interviewers will personally deliver the questionnaires starting this April 1. The collection of these questionnaires will start ten days after its distribution. (Source NSO Maasin, Southern Leyte)

Sogod Mega-Bridge opens

SOGOD, SOUTHERN LEYTE – The Subang Daku Mega-Bridge linking Sogod town to Panaon Island was officially opened in a simple ceremony attended by local and regional officials.

This ultra-modern bridge and its road component which cost over 115 million pesos will cut travel time to Panaon and Pacific town by 30 minutes and greatly reduce vehicular fuel and operating costs significantly.

Among the VIPs who attended the inauguration were Congressman Roger G. Mercado, Governor Damian G. Mercado, Reverend Pepito Generan, DPWH Regional Director Rolando Asis, District Engineer Carlos Veloso, Provincial Board Member Daisy Gamale and other local officials of Sogod who witnessed the bridge’s opening.

City Hall to help local businessmen

MAASIN CITY – Here’s encouraging news for the beleaguered local business community which have complained they were being treated like second class citizens by the city administration. A city councilor, who requested anonymity, told SLT that the city council is preparing a resolution that would provide incentives to local businesses here which have performed well despite the world economic recession.

When we asked if this would include tax incentives and quicker processing of business permits, he said it would cover these and other matters like parking space, pesky sidewalk vendors, and better basic infrastructures for small local enterprises at the reclamation area which have no cement roads and only a few toilets. “Our allotted space at the Reclamation area is like the German concentration camps for Jews during the World war II holocaust.

It’s like the Sahara desert during the dry season and like Venice when it rains,” said a thoroughly flabbergasted stall owner selling the same product as his neighbor and the whole row of rice and dry goods vendors there.

“We have to pay for our stall rentals on a daily basis while big companies like Metro-Gaisano and Brodeth have freebies for five years,” said one stall owner.

Bid for airport to begin

METRO MANILA - The Department of Transportation and Communications will start evaluating proposals from construction firms that will submit the lowest bids for the rehabilitation of the Maasin City Domestic Airport project in an auction this July 16 said a DOTC official.

According to Transportation Undersecretary Jose Perpetua Lotilla who is also the DOTC Chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee the lowest bidders' proposals will be evaluated after the bidding.

"The financial proposals will be evaluated based on the financial proposal they have submitted" said Lotilla. He added that the process could take a few weeks.

"We will check if the things the bidders were saying in their bids are true, and this would involve site evaluation and company background checks."

Should the lowest bid fail our evaluation Lotilla said the department would consider the second lowest bidder.

The Maasin Airport development project is estimated to cost P43.4 million and involves the construction of a runway extension and the removal of the hill blocking the airport runway.

The auction for the airport rehabilitation project was supposed to have been held last July 5.

SEAIR and Cebu Pacific have expressed interest in starting commercial flights from the airport to Manila and Cebu. (By RUEVIVAR "WOWIE" REYES)