The dialogue, which was initiated through DOLE’s Bataan field office also served as a venue for workers to share their thoughts and insights, issues and concerns, and their plights in the workplace.

Some 22 union officers representing ten unions within the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) attended the dialogue. Representatives from AFAB were likewise present.

DOLE 3 Regional Director Leopoldo B. de Jesus cited the importance of negotiation in the lives of workers and discussed ways in effective negotiation to be able to protect the relationship of both management and workers.
He reminded everyone that in a negotiation, it is a must to assess the present situation and make decisions based on its effect to the future operation of the business.

De Jesus also reiterated the essence of communication in resolving issues in the workplace so it doesn’t escalate into disputes.

Bataan Industrial Peace Council (BIPC) Adviser Manuel Ambrosio, meanwhile, discussed on the impact and challenges of globalization, presenting statistics on the state of companies inside the AFAB.

Some of the issues raised during the open forum were problems arising from job contracting, adaptability of foreign supervisors or managers to the country’s culture, mode of training, manner of terminating and retrenchment of employees, non- remittances of SSS and other worker’s benefits under social legislation, and assessment tools used in measuring workers performance and productivity.

The forum was facilitated by Ms. Nely P. Punzalan, Head-DOLE Bataan Provincial Field Office.

–AMV/PIA Zambales

Source: http://punto.com.ph/News/Article/11113/Volume-5-No-9/Headlines/DOLE-Bataan-Freeport-workers-hold-dialogue

A French nuclear expert says that the Philippines should not use the French experience to justify the reactivation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Yves Marignac, a consultant on nuclear and energy issues and Executive Director of the energy-information agency, WISE-Paris. wrote his remarks in a July opinion piece for Cleantech Asia Online, an opinion site for cleantech in Asia.

In his oped, Marignac said that the French experience is a pretend success story. “While there is no clear benefit from rehabilitating the Philippine Bataan plant, the risks of doing so are real,” said Marignac.

Marignac said that as early as 1995, the French nuclear safety authority said that none of their existing 58 French reactors could be licensed to current standards, most especially the old ones, built at the same time as the Bataan plant and using a similar Westinghouse design, even if safety upgrades following the Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986) accidents were taken into account. He added that thirty years of ageing of all the reactor’s components make the upgrading effectiveness highly uncertain. Marignac says “it will be impossible to check all possible defects in concrete walls, metallic containments, electric wires, etc.”

He also cited concerns with nuclear waste disposal. Marignac said that waste fuel reprocessing results in a complex set of radioactive waste and nuclear materials like uranium and plutonium. “Should the Bataan spent fuel be reprocessed in France, the highly radioactive part, at least, of the waste would come back, needing the same kind of management scheme that is needed for spent fuel in the first place,” he said. According to Marignac, no country, including France, has yet implemented a final geological disposal for these highly active and long-lived materials.

“Moreover, it is unlikely that the recovered plutonium could be reused in the old-designed Bataan reactor, leaving the operator with the only option of paying another company to take it, like the Dutch company EPZ is doing in the same situation,” he said. He also cited concerns with cost escalation from original estimates. “The new French reactor
being built in Flamanville, for instance, was decided four years ago on the basis of a complete cost calculation by the Ministry of Industry of 28.4 €/MWh, giving it a narrow competitive margin. The operator, EDF, recently raised its estimate to 55 €/MWh, an increase of around 92% from the original estimate,” Marignac said.

Marignac has a wealth of experience in nuclear issues. He worked at the Paris-XI University, the French Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique) and the nuclear company Société des Techniques en Milieu Ionisant (STMI). Marignac has authored many publications on energy, nuclear and global environmental issues, and has acted as an expert for France’s Prime Minister’s services and the European Parliament. He is currently a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IFPM).

Posted in Features Tagged: bataan, bataan nuclear power plant, bnpp, inquirer.net, mariveles.com.ph ]]> http://zerokm.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/don%e2%80%99t-use-french-example-to-justify-bnpp-says-nuke-expert/feed/ 0 mariveles Inquirer.net http://zerokm.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/book-review-of-tears-in-the-darkness-the-story-of-the-bataan-death-march-and-its-aftermath/ http://zerokm.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/book-review-of-tears-in-the-darkness-the-story-of-the-bataan-death-march-and-its-aftermath/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:22:06 +0000 mariveles http://zerokm.wordpress.com/?p=499 Continue reading →]]> Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman

by John R. Guthrie

Excerpt:

Brutality, Heroism and Survival

In its more graphic passages, Tears In The Darkness (from the Japanese anrui, “tears in the darkness” or “hidden grief”) holds the same power to fascinate and repulse as does the carnage of a plane crash. Yet this book provides much more than the stories of the torture, starvation, and the mayhem visited on American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese. Michael and Elizabeth Norman repeatedly focus on the lives of individual participants, both American and Japanese, from junior enlisted men to commanding generals. This required an impressive feat of ressearch, both in the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines, research that took a full decade.

Read more at California Literary Review website.

“The Battling Bastards of Bataan

President Juan Ponce Enrile cited on Wednesday the urgent need for Congress to pass measures that would promote the welfare as well as provide more ample protection to Filipino seafarers, whom he hailed as among the best in the world, if not the very best.

Speaking before the graduates of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) at Kamaya Point, Alas-asin, Mariveles, Bataan, Enrile stressed that hand-in-hand with pro-seafarer initiatives, the government must also promote and revitalize the domestic shipping industry so that Filipino seafarers will also “have equally rewarding employment opportunities within our very shores.” Giving tribute to Filipino maritime workers, Enrile noted that over the years, “the Philippines has been considered as the number one manning nation in the world, with about 25 percent Filipinos manning tankers, passenger maritime vessels or luxury liners of every flag in the world fleet.” “It is evident that, despite the global economic crisis and the increasing competition from other labor-producing countries, there is still a huge demand for Filipino seafarers,” he said.

Enrile, however, said a seafarer’s life is not a picnic or a walk in the park.“It has been said, time and again, that a seafarer has one foot in the ship and the other foot in the grave because of the dangers and risks that they face every day in their workplace,” Enrile said.

“The risks to their health and security are numerous plenty and cannot be adequately compensated by the income that they earn. I am saddened by the plight of seafarers who are working in hazardous conditions and are being exploited by their employers, and duped by their recruiters,” he added.

He also noted that in a highly competitive field, the foreign shipowners’ substantial contribution to the training of Filipino seafarers through the MAAP is a testament to the value and competence of our seafarers.

“It also affirms their faith in the Filipino seafarers’ dedication, work ethic, and capability to man their ships and handle all tasks that will be assigned to them aboard the ships,” Enrile said.

He also commended the officers and members of the Associated Marine Officers and Seaman’s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP), led by Capt. Gregorio Oca, and the MAAP leadership, headed by Vice Admiral Eduardo Ma. R. Santos, AFP (Ret.), for making MAAP academy a Cradle of Destiny for these young men and women.

Today, we salute our dear seafarers Filipinos who have built a respectable reputation in the maritime industry, whose steps our young graduates today will soon follow. We salute their remarkable patience and good disposition even in the midst of loneliness and isolation from their families, Enrile said.

MARIVELES, Bataan, Philippines—Immediate relatives of the Filipino seafarer who was among the passengers of the ill-fated Air France Flight 447 will get benefits worth at least $80,000, an official from the Associated Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (Amosup) said Monday.

“They always have benefits,” said Amosup vice president retired vice admiral Eduardo Ma. Santos in an interview with INQUIRER.net after the convocation ceremony of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific in Kamaya Point, Mariveles, Bataan.

Santos said that relatives of Arden Jugueta will get the standard benefit of $80,000 for compensation for loss of life, as per international maritime regulations, if he is declared as one of the 228 passengers and crew members on board the doomed plane.

He added that on top of that, widows of Amosup members are also entitled to a survivor’s benefit worth P10,000 monthly for five years or until she remarries before the benefit expires.

The union will also pay in advance for the burial expenses of its members, Santos said.

However, Santos said he could not confirm whether Jugueta was a member of the Amosup saying that he has not yet checked with the union’s records.

Jugueta was reportedly onboard the Airbus A330-200 plane which took off from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil bound for Paris, France which went missing over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1.

Jugueta was supposed to take a connecting flight to Manila from Paris.

Authorities are still conducting an investigation as to what caused the plane to crash.

MARIVELES, Bataan—Despite the global economic slowdown, European and Japanese ship owners said they are committed to giving more funds to train more Filipino seafarers at least for the next few years.

Both the Japanese Seafarers’ Union, its manning counterpart, and the International Maritime Employers’ Committee (IMEC) said they will continue to support their hundreds of scholars at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP), one of the country’s maritime schools, owned by the country’s largest seafarers’ labor group.

“Japanese ship owners are committed to assist MAAP and our cadets as best as we can. . . the JSU-IMMAJ [International Manning Managers Association of Japan] campus is an example of such commitment,” said Takao Manji, chairman of IMMAJ, at a ceremony at the start of MAAP’s 2009-2010 school year on Monday.

No figures were given as to how much it has committed to give, but starting this year, there were additional 250 students on top of the about 300 existing students in varying levels.

Japanese ship owners also gave half of the P500 million worth of new building and equipment inside MAAP’s campus in Kamaya Point.

All of the students in MAAP are scholars of their respective ship owners, hoping that this will solve the current shortage of officers on ocean-going vessels. With this setup, the employers can mold their would-be employee starting when the student enters the campus.

Students, however, will have to work with the company immediately after graduation.

On the other hand, IMEC, an organization mainly composed of European ship owners, have also increased their students from just 30 a year to about 180 at the start of this year in a dedicated campus in MAAP.

At the same time, IMEC also has 50 scholars studying at the University of Cebu.

Bob Goodall, trustee of the International Manning Training Trust (IMTT) and vice president of IMEC, said they also plan to increase that number to 250 by next year, matching those of the Japanese scholars.

Goodall said they are spending about $4.1 million a year for all of its cadets, and the figure will increase by next year if they decide to add more scholars.

“We have no plans as of yet to decrease our attention on the training of our work force.”

About 70 percent of crew onboard Japanese-flagged fleet are Filipino seafarers, while IMEC employs about 66,000 Filipino seafarers, the single- biggest nationality among its fleet.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

SAN Miguel Corp. said yesterday it was considering unloading its 27-percent stake in Manila Electric Co. in favor of the Metro Pacific/PLDT Group, which is offering to swap its tollways and water holdings in exchange for obtaining clear majority control of Meralco.

“The [Meralco] stake is too small,” San Miguel president Ramon Ang told reporters during a lunch briefing.

Ang said Metro Pacific chairman Manuel Pangilinan had proposed the swap even before the Meralco shareholders’ meeting on May 26.

“MVP has offered shares-for-assets swap with NLEX [North Luzon Expressway] and Maynilad,” Ang said. “We are still in talks.”

Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. holds a 67.1-percent interest in Manila North Tollways Corp., the concession holder of the North Luzon Expressway, and another 46-percent stake in Tollways Management Corp., which maintains the multi-lane highway.

In addition, Metro Pacific also holds a 58-percent interest in DMCI-MPIC Water Co. Inc., the joint venture with DMCI Holdings Inc. that owns Maynilad Water Services Inc., which in turn provides water to half of Metro Manila.

Ang said San Miguel was willing to dispose of its Meralco shareholdings, but only at a “spectacular price.”

“Hypothetically, if given a spectacular offer of, say, P500 per share, I would be crazy if I do not recommend that to the board of San Miguel,” Ang said.

San Miguel acquired its 27-percent interest in Meralco early this year from state pension fund Government Service Insurance System for P90 a share, payable in three years.

Meralco closed yesterday at P124.

Pangilinan’s group holds another 30.2-percent stake, while the Lopez family, which has been managing the power retailer since the 1960s except during the Marcos’ Martial Law years until 1986, holds 13.4 percent.

That 13.4-percent block is also being wooed by the Metro Pacific and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. combine.

Ang also said that San Miguel was no longer interested in acquiring the Indonesian coal miner PT Adaro Energy from investment bank Goldman Sachs.

San Miguel also expected to complete the acquisition of a Mariveles, Bataan, grains terminal “probably within the month,” Ang said. With Agence France Presse

By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:28:00 06/04/2009

MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel Corp. continues its diversifying tack as it reports that it is close to sealing a deal to acquire the Mariveles Grains Terminal, a major gateway for bulk grains handling in Bataan.

Also, it has made an offer to buy out other minority shareholders in dormant Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc., which it plans to use as its vehicle for its foray into the highly competitive telecommunications business.

San Miguel president Ramon Ang told reporters Thursday that the conglomerate was keen on investing in Mariveles Grains, in partnership with trading giant Toyota Tsusho Corp.

The grains terminal is an important port for bulk grains and commodities handling.

He said the Mariveles investment may be finalized in a month’s time. He said lease and labor related issues in the Mariveles terminal would have to be settled before San Miguel and Toyota Tsusho’s entry.

San Miguel earlier agreed to acquire a stake in the Mariveles Grains Terminal from Asian Terminals Inc. for P1.6 billion. The investment is expected to be split into a 60-40-percent ownership in favor of San Miguel.

The conglomerate has been eyeing the Bataan port since 2003 to boost its logistics network, improve agribusiness operations and cut distribution costs.

The Toyota Tsusho Group is one of the biggest trading groups in the world. Its main business is to support Toyota Motor’s automobile business and other Toyota group firms. It is involved in sales of a broad range of products such as metals, machinery and electronics, automotive components, energy and chemicals, foodstuff and consumer products.

Ang also said yesterday that the food and beverage conglomerate was keen on pursuing its acquisition of another telco, Express Telecommunications Co. (Extelcom).

However, he said this had not been finalized yet because there were “too many issues” to be resolved.

For now, he said, San Miguel would work on the business plan for Liberty Telecoms.

“We will not avoid a tender offer in Liberty,” Ang said. “It’s not an issue. It’s just a small amount.”

This is in reaction to concerns from some stockbrokers that the recent buy-in structure approved by its board of directors may have been meant to circumvent a requirement to make a tender offer to minority shareholders.

Under local rules on tender offering, any group acquiring at least 35 percent of a publicly listed company must offer to buy out other minority shareholders for the same price per share.

The San Miguel board recently approved the purchase of approximately 32.7 percent of Liberty from existing stockholders for an estimated amount of P2.2 billion. It will also pursue the acquisition of the balance of the investment in coordination with its joint venture partner Qatar Telecom QSC (Q-Tel).

Qtel, the sole telecommunications provider in Qatar, has earlier acquired a 27.12-percent stake in LTHI through subsidiary wi-Tribe Asia Ltd.

San Miguel has been eyeing LTHI, which has been moribund since 2005, because of the unused frequencies in the congressional franchise of subsidiary Liberty Broadcasting.

As for Indonesia’s most valuable coal miner Adaro Energy, Ang said San Miguel was no longer in talks for the acquisition of a stake in the firm. He said the stake in Adaro earlier offered by American investment banking giant Goldman Sachs presented very little value for San Miguel.

Posted in News Tagged: bataan, bataan port, inquirer.net, mariveles, mariveles grains terminal, mariveles.com.ph, san miguel corp ]]> http://zerokm.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/san-miguel-continues-buying-spree/feed/ 0 mariveles Inquirer.net