Tag: Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

ENVIRONMENT protection group Oceana Philippines said that it detected illegal fishing activity in the Visayan Sea during the three-month closed fishing season between November and February.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), on Tuesday said it will issue cease-and-desist orders (CDOs) against five establishments, as the government continues to crack down on businesses said to be polluting Manila Bay.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will commission a corn demonstration farm using a P3.5-million solar-powered irrigation system (SPIS) in Bukidnon next month, Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Tuesday.

GETZ Healthcare Philippines is focusing on growing its health care business in the country this year, after divesting from the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business.

THE removal of the National Food Authority’s (NFA) ability to intervene in the rice market may encourage further cartelization in the industry to manipulate prices of the key staple, a former Agriculture Secretary said.

THE Philippine Maize Federation (PhilMaize) said the abandonment of the policy goal of rice-self-sufficiency does not reflect reality, with Filipinos still favoring rice over other staple carbohydrates.

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte signed into law the rice tariffication bill on the last possible day he could have signed or vetoed the measure, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III told reporters, as confirmed by television reports.

AYALA Land Inc (ALI) said that it set a capital expediture (capex) budget of P130 billion this year, up from P110.1 billion a year earlier with the largest portion of the capex funding its residential projects.

ROXAS Holdings Inc (RHI) said that it will continue to pursue further options to expand its operations in Batangas and Negros after the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) rejected the proposed sale of its Nasugbu sugar mill to Universal Robina Corp, (URC).

AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol warned against heavy reliance on imported rice amid plans to liberalize imports and doubled down on his earlier support for rice self-sufficiency.

PRODUCTION of abaca, coconut, coffee, rubber, and tobacco increased while sugarcane production decreased during the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

TIME is needed to prepare rice farmers for the adjustment to heightened competition to be brought by rice tariffication, the head of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.

BANANA, mango and pineapple production rose in the fourth quarter of 2018, while calamansi production declined during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday.

SINGAPORE’s Agriculture and Veterinary Agency (AVA) has begun its 10-day on-site inspection of farms in the Philippines which it might tap to supply the small island republic with vegetables, fruit, hogs, poultry and eggs, agriculture officials said.

THE sugar industry is batting for the revival of the Philippine Sugar Corp. (Philsucor), a government company abolished by President Rodrigo R. Duterte last year.

THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reduced its estimate for sugar production for the crop year 2018-2019 to 2.079 million metric tons (MMT) from 2.225 MMT previously, with gross tonnage declining while favorable weather produced higher yields.

THE International Potato Center (CIP) said the sweet potato industry in the Philippines is not pushing out processing technology to the farm level and in many cases has insufficient linkages between the producers and markets.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) indicated that Malacañang will be open to changes to the rice tariffication bill that will benefit rice farmers in the country, Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said.

ISRAELI agro-industrial firm LR Group is set to submit a P44 billion proposal to the Philippine government this month to fund the deployment of 6,200 Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS).

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is set to ban pork imports from Japan due to the discovery there of African Swine Fever (ASF), Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Sunday.

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) has clarified what items are exempt from the liquid ban it has imposed on the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT3), allowing some liquid products provided these have clearances from security officers and police assigned at the train stations.

THE COUNTRY’S rice stocks totalled 2.55 million metric tons (MT) as of Jan. 1, up by 11.40% from the previous year’s level of 2.29 million MT, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.

THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) aims to tap the unexplored markets of Russia for possible export of coconut oil, banana and shrimps, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Friday.

MORE establishments near Manila Bay have been cited for violations of pollution laws, according to authorities.

ASIAN Terminal Inc (ATI) on Friday said it is planning to launch new projects such as off-dock container yards and empty container depots, as it seeks to expand beyond its port operations in Batangas and Manila.

UNIVERSAL Corp. on Thursday said its subsidiary is increasing sales of leaf tobaccos in the Philippines as it signed a new leaf supply agreement with Philip Morris International Management SA (PMIMSA).

THE Provincial Farmers’ Action Council (PFAC) of Bulacan said that the reduced role of the National Food Authority (NFA) when rice tariffication is implemented is detrimental to small farmers and will favor big business.

THE US EMBASSY in Manila, through the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), awarded P23.8 million in grant money to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to fund technical assistance in implementing the National Broadband Network Project.

THE National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) proposed on Thursday to rehabilitate degraded mining sites by deploying microbes into the soil, a process called bioremediation.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is in discussions with businessmen Ramon S. Ang and Lucio C. Tan, Sr. for possible cooperation in river clean-ups around Metro Manila to support the government’s Manila Bay rehabilitation program.

THE Department of Agriculture warned air travelers not to violate quarantine rules against the import of fresh fruit, plants and meat, citing the threat to the hog and banana industries in particular.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is expecting a rebound in rice production this year, projecting a harvest of 20 million metric tons (MT), Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said.

PALAY average farmgate price went down by 0.30% to P19.79 per kilogram in the third week of January from P19.85 per kg in the second week, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Monday.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking to establish a drone technology center with the help of universities, in order to map disaster-prone areas and facilitate faster field validation of damage caused to agriculture by calamities.

THE Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Independent State of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) National Fisheries Authority (NFA) to develop stronger fisheries ties between the two countries.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Thursday that it created four City Environment and Natural Resources Offices (CENROs) in Metro Manila to strengthen the implementation of environmental laws in the region.

THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has filed a resolution asserting its legal authority to regulate sugar imports amid proposals to liberalize the import rules governing the commodity modeled after rice tariffication.

THE Department of Finance (DoF) said that its office along Roxas Boulevard in Manila has commissioned and launched a P2.8 million state-of-the-art sewage treatment facility, in line with the government’s efforts to rehabilitate the Manila Bay.

ENVIRONMENT protection group Oceana Philippines is urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to implement a temporary ban on fishing for tawilis in Taal Lake after the species was classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

THE National Food Authority (NFA) said 258,854.80 metric tons (MT) or about 53.77% of the 500,000 MT of rice contracted for import has arrived in the Philippines as of Jan. 29.

East-West Seed topped the 2019 South and Southeast Asia (SSEA) Seed Index, which evaluates seed companies in terms of their accessibility, especially to small farmers.

OFFICIALS from Bukidnon province filed a resolution urging the national government not to liberalize the sugar industry, noting that the province accounts for 72% of the land planted to sugar in Mindanao and 75% of the island’s output production.

MOST rice farmers in the Philippines still prefer inbred seed instead of hybrid varieties despite the latter’s higher yields, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said.

THE Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCAARRD) said it launched a soybean research and development (R&D) program with the aim of increasing farmers’ incomes by boosting production and lowering post-harvest losses.

THREE technology demonstration centers will be set up in Camarines Sur, Leyte and Davao this year by the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PHilMech).