SULU – Two ferries are expected to add to the growing number of passenger ships plying Zamboanga City to Sulu province and vice versa after Governor Totoh Tan announced that Negros Navigation Shipping Company will start its service this year as part of an expansion program in this part of the Philippines.
He said the roll-on/roll-off ships will each have a capacity of 650 passengers and can reach the capital town of Jolo from Zamboanga in 7 hours.
“This is a good development and (it) just shows that our economy is really improving – thanks to the peace and development efforts of the government and to the resilience of our people. We are slowly, but surely putting Sulu in the right place as far as trade and commerce is concerned,” Tan said.
He said dozens of passenger and cargo ships ply the Zamboanga-Sulu-Tawi-Tawi routes.
Tan said infrastructure projects are also continuing in the province to support the growing economy and population.
He said a public library, a school building and a modern day care center are now being planned by the provincial government for construction in Jolo town. He said the projects are estimated to reach at least P25-million and will benefit many students in the province.
Tan said the library will be equipped with the latest technological teaching materials and assorted reference handbooks and e-books, including Internet and desk top computers among others.
Duterte’s Order
Just recently, Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol travelled to Sulu – on the instructions of President Rodrigo Duterte – to personally see how the government could help more in the development of the province.
Piñol met with the governor and other stakeholders, including former Sulu Vice Governor Sakur Tan, who is actively involved in advocating fisheries and agricultural development in the province.
San Miguel Corporation invests in Sulu
He said food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is also putting up investments in Sulu and these include a 20-megawatt power plant, a medium-size feed mill facility using the corn and cassava produced by local farmers; and contract growing of poultry which could be exported to nearby Sabah in Malaysia.
Piñol said Ramon Ang – Vice-Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of SMC, and also Chairman of Cyber Bay Corporation and Eagle Cement Corporation – told him that while the investments may be considered risky by other entrepreneurs, he considers these interventions important contributions to Duterte’s peace efforts.
“Yes, we are willing to take the risks just so we could help President Duterte achieve peace and stability in the Southern Philippines, especially in the troubled island of Sulu,” Piñol quoted Ang as saying in a recent meeting with him.
Piñol said the President asked him personally to proceed to Sulu to assess the situation in the province and determine what could be done to improve the conditions of the people. He said his report to Duterte included the following findings which Piñol also discussed with Ang:
- The power supply is very expensive because the island’s electric cooperative SULECO uses diesel generator. In fact, a cold storage could not be operated because the power cost is greater than the earnings of preserving the fish catch in the cold storage;
- The province’s public school buildings are in a sad state of disrepair and school children are cramped in dark and small classrooms with loose ceilings posing constant danger;
- There is no air transport to the capital city of Jolo from Zamboanga City and the only means of transportation are slow moving boats or only one fast craft ;
- The hospitals are ill-equipped to handle major medical concerns with only the Army Station Hospital and the Level 1 Sulu Provincial Hospital equipped to undertake surgeries;
- Agriculture is in a doldrums with people producing only fruits, copra, seaweeds, cassava, white corn and fish; rice requirement is supplied by smugglers and no efforts have been made to develop rice farming;
- The province does not even produce enough chicken for its people’s consumption and the broiler chicken supply comes from as far as Davao City, General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga City.
Piñol said Ang after hearing his report has committed to put up a power plant capable of producing 20 megawatts for the main island; a fish ball factory to make use of the abundant fish catch of the local Tausugs and Samal or Badjao fishermen; a feed mill which would absorb the corn and cassava production of the Tausug farmers with the Department of Agriculture supplying the tractors and equipment, planting materials and seeds, fertilisers and technology for corn and cassava farming; and a poultry contract-growing scheme where Tausug farmers will be trained in raising broiler chickens which will be bought and processed by SMC into ready-to-eat roasted chicken.
Piñol said the SMC projects are expected to begin before the end of the year. He said he would also ask the Department of Energy to put up small solar farms that will benefit both farmers and residents in small island communities.
He said he assured Ang that the needed support equipment, services and training programs for the locals will be delivered immediately. Piñol said he also met with top officials of the Agricultural Training Institute under his department and directed them to work out an arrangement with the Hadji Butu School of Arts and Trade (HBSAT) in Sulu for a partnership.
“The ATI will help in the renovation of the dilapidated school buildings of HBSAT and transform the school into a training ground for tractor operators and mechanics and also for farmers and fishermen,” Piñol said, adding “the first step in transforming the troubled province of Sulu into a land of peace and opportunities has been made. It only needs a President who is determined to change the lives of the Filipinos for the better at all cost and by all means.”
The Tans and their political allies – the mayors down to the village chieftains – had supported Duterte’s campaign during the May presidential elections despite extreme pressure from the Liberal Party of President Benigno Aquino. (Mindanao Examiner)
Like Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow Us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
Read Our News on: http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com / http://mindanaoexaminernewspaper.blogspot.com/
Share Our News
Digital Archives: issuu.com/mindanaoexaminernewspaper
20
