An ordinance for the Development of the Information and Communication Technology Industry in the City of Bacolod was recently passed by the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod.

The ordinance authored by Councilors Jocelle Batapa-Sigue and Lyndon Caña, said the Information and Communication Technology industry is a relatively young industry in Bacolod City, with a huge promise for investment and employment.

While ordinarily, business is governed by the principle of free enterprise, experience of the other local government units have shown that it is impossible for the industry to succeed without adequate protective measures in place, it said. On the other hand, the City Council of Bacolod is also fully cognizant of the balancing principles of the Constitutional guarantee and protection against restraint of trade, free enterprise, equal opportunity and full employment, the ordinance said.

E-jeeps set to be
unveiled in Bacolod

ILOILO CITY-The use of renewable sources of energy in the country will get a big boost with the introduction this month of electric-powered jeepneys, according to a company which pioneered solar energy technology.

Robert Puckett, president of the Solar Electric Company Inc. (Solarco), said the 50 electric jeepneys (E-jeeps) will serve as mobile billboards in the promotion of cleaner energy at a time when there is growing concern over the impact of global warming resulting from worsening pollution.

Solarco, the sole distributor and marketer of the E-jeeps, will pilot the units this month with the presentation of two units in Makati City on July 4 and the rest of the 50 units in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental later this month.

More bank mergers could lead
to massive lay-offs: labor group

The heightened merger and acquisition activities in the Philippine banking industry can lead to massive labor retrenchments, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines warned yesterday.

TUCP spokesperson Alex Aguilar, in a statement he issued, appealed to the banks concerned to go slow in laying off workers, if not totally avoid temporary or permanent loss of employment and income on the part of affected bank staff. He urged the surviving entities in the mergers "to unconditionally honor all existing labor contracts or collective bargaining agreements with existing unions.

Banco de Oro Universal Bank and Equitable PCIBank Inc. recently merged, but Aguilar said EPCIBank's rank-and-file labor union "is having issues with the new management" of the surviving entity, BDO, the statement added. China Banking Corp. had declared that it is acquiring 87.51 percent of Manila Banking Corp. for P1.8 billion.

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