Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. president Simplicio Palanca brushed aside the city government's proposed amount of increase in compensation to the city for the operation and management of the port, and maintained that they could pay only P1 million a year, to be adjusted every five years.

The city government had earlier said it will ask for P17.5 million annually, 21.5 times the original annual rental of P800,000. The amount was based on the gross income of the port from the records of the Philippine Ports Authority.

But Palanca said that, in five years, the increase should only be 25 percent of the P800,000 annual rental.

NAIA Terminal 3 to
open next month: exec

MANILA -- The Philippines plans a soft opening on March 31 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 which has been kept closed due to a dispute between the government and Germany's Fraport AG, an official said yesterday.

The $650-million terminal was supposed to open in 2002 but the government and Fraport fell out and the German airport operator then sought compensation after President Gloria Arroyo revoked its contract in 2003.

Liza Mascardo, planning and projects manager of Manila airport, said the terminal would have a "soft opening" on March 31 with a single Cebu Pacific flight to Hong Kong.

Labor dispute in
Neg. Occ. minimal: NLRC

The relationship between labor and management in Negros Occidental is harmonious, based on the low number of preventive mediation cases filed last year, National Labor Relations Commission mediator Joseph Llanto said.

The Philippine Information Agency said in a press release that only five cases were filed and four of these were settled. Two big companies awarded financial claims totaling to P14.5 million to more than 200 employees.

No notice of strike was filed before the NLRC-Negros Occidental office in 2005.

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