Andy Alvarez photo

Negros needs more steam to produce electricity*

Political leaders need to take decisive action on the power shortage that is causing the almost daily brownouts in Negros Occidental and on the bid of the Philippine National Oil Corp.-Energy Development Corp. to enter the Mt. Kanlaon National Park buffer zone, business leader Roberto Montelibano said yesterday.

“Our politicians can press national officials to act on the matter,” said Montelibano, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Central Negros Electric Cooperative president.

“The business community is already up in arms” but CENECO and the National Transmission Commission only transmit power, he said.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, provincial police director, yesterday confirmed the relief of Senior Inspector Raymond Maningo as police chief of La Castellana effective Monday, in response to complaints aired against him.

The relief will take effect April 21, and seven other police non-commissioned officers have been transferred to other police units in Negros Occidental, police records show.

Franco said Maningo, who has served as La Castellana police chief for almost a year, will be replaced by Inspector Teddy Velez, deputy director of the 612nd Provincial Mobile Group.

A Bayan Negros official yesterday said the compliance by management with the October 2007 wage order implemented in Western Visayas is much lower than the findings of a Department of Labor and Employment partial survey.

Labor Regional Director Aida Estabillo Thursday said a recent survey conducted by the DOLE on 97 Western Visayas establishments shows a 72 percent compliance with the wage order implemented in October last year.

She said inspections are being conducted to ensure compliance with the wage order