Hundreds of farmers representing the different People’s Organizations from Bayawan City,
Bindoy, Valencia and Bacong gathered in Dumaguete City to join the festivities marking the 20th
Anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with the theme CARP at 20 towards
Food Security Celebrating ARBs Growth and Success”. The farmers presented folk
dances after the ceremonial ribbon cutting led by Agrarian officials of the booths participating
in the Agri Trade Fair.
Internet cafes evading taxes? Did you notice that most internet cafes do not issue official receipts every time
you pay them after surfing the web? It is for this reason that the Bureau of
Internal Revenue is now focusing its attention on this thriving industry.
It is estimated that an internet café with 20 units for rent at P20 an hour for at least 15 hours a day can
easily gross between P
3,000 to P 6,000 a day assuming
a full house. Conservatively,
an internet
café should earn no less
than P 2,000 a day or P
60,000 a month minimum.
This is a meteoric improvement
of the sari-sari store
which grosses P 1,000 a day
or P 30,000 pesos a month,
less expenses.
Dumaguete City predictably hosts the most
number of internet cafes owing
to the presence of thousands of
students and young adults who
use the web for their school
works and in pursuit of their
hobby in computer games.
Anytime soon, the owners
and operators of these entertainment
joints will be summoned
to meet with officials of the
Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The agency claims that tax payments
received from the internet
cafes have been negligible.
Drivers to ask dads for P8.50 basic fare
Just a few weeks after the city council gave its nod for a P 7.50 basic fare rate as
requested by the drivers and operators of motorcabs-for-hire, the latter are
again pushing for an additional P 1.00 fare rate adjustment as soon as possible.
Federation of
Dumaguete City Operators
and Drivers Association
(FEDOMCODA)
President Glendo Selim
would have wanted to
present the request for the
fare rate adjustment before
the city councilors during
last week’s regular session.
However, his request was
not entertained because of
the presence of some visitors from Korea.
The association said that
the prices of gasoline have continued
to rise and are now within
the Php 60.00 per liter range
thus in accordance with the Fare
Rate Adjustment Scheme approved
earlier by the city government,
the basic fare rate
should now be at P 8.50.
But, the riding public reacted
sharply to this plan and
appealed to the drivers and operators
to also be considerate
because they are also trying to
cope with the rising cost of gasoline.
They also pointed out that
many of the city drivers are collecting
P 8.00 already by claiming
that they don’t have .25
centavos, plus, they also do not
even honor the 20 percent discount
for the students and the
elderly.
Bayawan to tidy coastal highway from shanties
After demolishing and resettling some 300 families to the Gawad Kalinga Village,
the city government of Bayawan is set to resettle another 300 families
currently occupying hundreds of shanties along the Coastal Diversion Road
popularly known as the city’s version of the Dumaguete Rizal Boulevard.
The undertaking spearheaded by Councilor Mark “Abay Dan” Aurelia is meant to clear the newly
proclaimed “wholesome
tourism destination” for local
and foreign guests from
such “eyesores.’
He explains that the city
government has been working
to demolish the shanties located
along the four lane coastal road
and relocate the affected families
to the GK Village which has
decent available units for occupancy.
Aurelia, Chair of the city
council’s Committee on Tourism,
assures the visitors that the
vendors have been taught proper
food handling consistent with
the standards set by the city
government before they are issued
permits to ply their trade
along the coastal road.
Those wishing to visit the
site from 5:00 – 8:00 am will
see fish vendors while tocino
vendors take over the side
streets from 5:00pm to 2:00 am.
But no permanent structures
can be seen in between those
hours.
Army: Rains disband activists’ protest rally
Heavy rains were said to be the cause for the untimely break-up of the Wednesday
rally organized by various cause-oriented groups to denounce the Army’s
supposed human rights abuses in the hinterland villages of Guihulngan City.
11th Infantry Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Nemesio Gacal said that the rally broke up at around
4:30 pm primarily because
of the rains and not after
his soldiers allegedly intimidated
the demonstrators.
He also denied using
military checkpoints to
block hundreds of farmers
who were reportedly on their
way to join their fellow
KAUGMAON members.
Gacal admitted setting up
checkpoints but it was in response
to a report that some of
the rally participants are carrying
firearms. He added that
KAUGMAON members were
not held for long but were allowed
to proceed to the rally
site after the search.
Military and cause-oriented groups are now quite busy organizing rallies and counter
demonstrations in Guihulngan City, Sta. Catalina and Siaton in what is believed to be
part of the continuing propaganda war to win public sympathy. This photo was taken
during an anti-communist rally attended by hundreds of residents in Guihulngan
proper organized by the military. A few days after, cause-oriented groups countered
with its own show of strength.
