UP Ibalon Bicol: Aboitiz

Showing posts with label Aboitiz. Show all posts

Ferry capsizes in Southern Philippines; 9 drowned, 63 missing

9/07/2009 | Posted by Anonymous | Edit Post

Super Ferry 9 with about 1,000 people on board sank in in Siocon Bay in Zamboanga, Southern Mindanao on Sunday, September 6, 2009. As of latest report 9 passengers died and 63 were declared missing. 925 pnicked passengers were rescued from the ferry which tilted for hours before it keeled and went down the sea.

So far only two fatalities were identified: 2 year-old James Patrick Galero and 45 year-old Fernando Estrada. According to the Coast Guard, the survivors were taken to vessels who responded to the emergency---265 were rescued by MV Ocean Integrity, 446 in MV Myriad, 170 in a Philippine Navy vessels, 26 and 19 in fishing boats Sierra and Julius respectively.

The immediate cause of the mishap was unclear. Coast Guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said the ship left General Santos City at 8:45 a.m. Saturday and was heading for Iloilo when it began having problems with its generator. The ferry was abandoned at 4:40 early Sunday morning.

Owned by the Aboitiz Transport System Corporation, the ill-fated ship had history of engine troubles. The last incident was in May 2009 when its travel was interrupted for 12 hours in Camiguin Province because of mechanical trouble.

This recent sea tragedy is another mishap that isn’t unexpected. The Philippines has a very poor record of maritime safety (see related blogs). In June 2008, Princess of the Stars sank off Romblon during Typhoon Fengshen claiming the lives of more than 800 passengers. In 1987, greater thn 4,000 people were lost in a fiery collision between the ferry Dona Paz and an oil tanker near Mindoro Island, the worst in memory.

In spite of the outrage and calls by concerned citizens to step up safety and regulations to avert deaths, nothing seems to have improved. The governmet seems helpless in preventing the sea disasters. Souces: GMA.newsTV; Guardian.co.uk (Photo Credit: Reuters) =0=

RELATED BLOGS: RP’s maritime disasters: a harvest of blame and shame Posted by mesiamd at 11/08/2008; "Ferry boat sinks in Masbate killing 40" Posted by mesiamd at 11/04/2008; "Boat mishap in Iloilo, 9 dead" Posted by mesiamd at 01/06/2008; "The need for witnesses in the Princess of the Stars toxic chemical recovery" Posted by mesiamd at 9/25/2008; "Endosulfan safely retrieved: where are the other toxic chemicals?" Posted by mesiamd at 10/07/2008 ; "Toxic Cargo" Posted by mesiamd at 6/28/2008.

===============================================================

Labels: Aboitiz, Aboitiz Transport System, Coast Guard, Dona Paz, maritime disasters, mishap, Princess of the Stars, ship capsizes, ship sunk, Super Ferry 9, SuperFerry, Totie Mesia, Zamboanga

Aboitiz is Coming To Bicol

11/04/2008 | Posted by myty555 | Edit Post

Recently, PSALM (Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corp.), the arm of the Philippine government in the privatization of its power-generation facilities, bid out the Tiwi and Mak-Bak (Makiling-Banahaw) geothermal power plants. The power firm Abolitiz Power Corporation (APC) won the bidding by submitting the highest bid of $446.88M for the two geothermal plants, beating the Lopez-controlled First Luzon Geothermal Energy Corporation's bid by nearly $80M.

The Tiwi Geothermal Plant has an installed production capacity of 289 megawatts (MW) and it is the first geothermal power plant in Bicol. It is situated on the northeast corner of Mount Malinao, an active volcano, and its turbines are located in the barrio of Cale, in the town of Tiwi, the northwesternmost town of Albay. Bicol's other geothermal plant is the Bacon-Manito Geothermal Plant which is located on the boundary of Albay and Sorsogon between the former town of Bacon in Sorsogon and the southeasternmost town of Albay which is Manito. It is situated on the Pocdol volcanic range which divides Sorsogon from Albay.

Aboitiz Power Corporation's buy-out of the Philippine government's stake in the Tiwi Geothermal Plant marks the entry of the Aboitiz group, which is based in Cebu, to Bicol. The Aboitiz group has been on the foray lately in acquiring power plants all over the Philippines, marking its shift in its core business focus. To fuel this shift, their holding company, the Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) recently sold Aboitiz Transport System (ATS) lock, stock and barrel to a Netherlands-based Kuwaiti group for $100M. ATS controls the country's biggest shipping company, the SuperFerry and it also controls SuperCat, Cebu Ferries and the express courier company 2GO.

The Aboitiz group has long been in the power business. It could be said that it is the Meralco of the South (the Visayas-Mindanao areas) though it would probably resent the term. AEV controls the electricity distribution companies in the metropolitan areas of Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

As with new entries in the region, Bicol will again hope that the group will contribute to the development of Bicol and not just take profits out. The Aboitiz group certain can, if it can be persuaded. It certainly has the capability having presence in banking (Union Bank), food (flour manufacturing), marine (shipbuilding, maintenance and management), real estate, construction, transportation aside from power (generation and distribution).

Labels: Aboitiz, Aboitiz Transport, AEV, Bacon-Manito, geothermal, Lopez, Mak-Ban, Mount Malinao, Pocdol, PSALM, Tiwi

UP Ibalon Bicol

Ferry capsizes in Southern Philippines; 9 drowned, 63 missing

Aboitiz is Coming To Bicol

Blog Archive

About Me

UP Ibalon Newsmakers

Topics/Categories

Feedjit Live Blog Stats

Topics/Categories

Featured

Ateneo de Naga HS Batch 74

ABS-CBN News

Recent Posts

GMA News.tv

Philippine Commentary

Inquirer Breaking News