P50 M port terminal construction on-going

Mayor Agustin Perdices yesterday said he is relieved that, despite the labor dispute at the port of Dumaguete City, the construction of the P50-million passenger terminal is going on.

It would have been a different story had the construction not started, because of the port scenario that has greatly affected the economy of both Dumaguete and the province of Negros Oriental, he said.

Perdices said that with the forming of a crisis committee to oversee the port conflict, he believes the solution will depend on the willingness of both parties to settle the problem during top level negotiations.

Operations at the port have been affected by the strike staged by workers belonging to the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines who are demanding that the Prudential Customs Brokerage Services, Inc., which assumed as the cargo handler last March 12, absorb all 118 of them and recognize their union as the collective bargaining agent.

This is still the subject of a pending court case and the ALU has vowed to take the matter all the way to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture in Region 7 turned over Wednesday, a check for P150,000 to the Dumaguete City farmers under the swine fattening program of the government.

The check was received by Teodoro Albina, president of the 300-member farmers federation in Dumaguete during the recent family farm congress in Cebu.

The amount is part of the budget for the swine fattening program with 33 identified beneficiaries.

Albina said this is not a dole-out program, as it is subject to a three-year repayment scheme without interest.*JG

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