China's billion dollar investment in PH

China's HBIS to invest in $4.4-billion steel project in Philippines


Reuters | ABS-CBN News
18 December 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands prior to their bilateral meetings at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 20, 2016. King Rodriguez, Malacañang Photo/File

BEIJING, China - HBIS Group, China's second-biggest steelmaker, has signed a memorandum of understanding on a $4.4 billion project in the Philippines that will eventually produce 8 million tons of steel per year, according to Chinese state media reports and a statement from the Department of Trade and Industry.

The so-called Philippine Iron and Steel Project will be the Southeast Asian country's first integrated steel complex and represents the biggest industrial investment from China in the Philippines to date, a Dec. 14 statement from the Department of Trade and Industry said.

The two-phase project, to be located in the province of Misamis Oriental on Mindanao island, will produce 4.5 million tons of hot-rolled coil and 600,000 tons of slab annually in the $3 billion first phase, according to the statement. 

Output capacity will reach 8 million tons through a second phase, with the overall construction and ramp-up period slated to span three-five years.

"This project is very important to our industrial development and will allow us to pursue President (Rodrigo) Duterte's vision of having a globally competitive integrated iron and steel industry," Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said in the statement, which said the project would also create over 20,000 job opportunities.

Jin Yuan, commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in the Philippines, described the project as an "important follow-up" to cooperation between the two countries as part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, according to the state-run China Metallurgical News.

HBIS, based in China's biggest steel province of Hebei, has been forced to look overseas for production growth as the Chinese government clamps down on new capacity in China for environmental reasons. 

Besides HBIS, private equity firm Huili Investment Fund, Philippine rebar producer Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp and the state-owned Phividec Industrial Authority were also signatories to the memorandum. 

The facilities in the complex will include sintering, coking, pelletizing and steel-rolling, according to the Philippine statement, producing basic iron and steel products for further processing.

Rare Philippine Orchid found

Rare plant species named in honor of 

Philippine wildlife expert

Philippine Daily Inquirer| 14 December 2018

RARE BLOOM, RARE HONOR “Medinilla theresae,” named after former environment official Theresa Mundita Lim, is a shrub that grows only on Mt. Redondo and Mt. Hamiguitan, both in Mindanao. A team of renowned taxonomists, professors and researchers from the University of the Philippines has been credited for the discovery of the species. —ASEAN CENTRE FOR BIODIVERSITY/EDWINO FERNANDO

KORONADAL CITY — A new plant species that grows on only two mountains in Mindanao has been named after wildlife advocate Theresa Mundita Lim.

To date, Medinilla theresae, which is endemic to areas of a specific soil type, is found only on Mt. Redondo, Dinagat Island, and on Mt. Hamiguitan in Davao Oriental.

The terrestrial, erect and cauliflorous shrub can grow to 1.5 meters high.

A team of renowned taxonomists, professors and researchers from the University of the Philippines were credited for the species’ discovery. It includes Edwino Fernando, Perry Ong, Peter Quakenbush and Edgardo Lillo.

“I am truly honored and grateful for this recognition,” said Lim, a former director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Vital step in conservation

She thanked the taxonomists, scientists and researchers for their hard work in discovering new species.

“I believe that taxonomy is a vital step in conservation simply because you cannot conserve what you do not know,” she said.

Lim, who is now executive director of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity, said the number of species waiting for discovery was far larger than those that had already been studied.

 1.7 million named species

She said millions of plant and animal species had yet to be studied and could hold tremendous potential as sources of food, medicine and other benefits to humans.

According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), taxonomists have identified only about 1.78 million species of animals, plants and microorganisms in 250 years of research out of more than 30 million species.

Army of scientists

It is estimated that only 10 percent of vertebrates have been described, but more than 50 percent of terrestrial arthropods (such as insect, spider and crustacean) and up to 95 percent of protozoa (single-celled organisms) have remained undescribed.

The sheer number of species that have yet to be discovered requires an army of scientists, each with his own area of expertise, to identify, name, classify and study the millions of species on earth, the CBD said.  —BONG S. SARMIENTO

PH in right direction

SWS: Pinoys believe PH in ‘right direction

Ralph Villanueva

Manila Times

27 October 2018

THREE of four Filipinos believe that the country is moving toward the “right direction,” a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found.

Market goers look for a cheaper goods at the Commonwealth Market. PHOTO BY RUY MARTINEZ

The survey, conducted from September 15 to 23, also found that 22 percent of Filipinos said the country is headed in the wrong direction.

The remaining 3 percent were undecided.

The 75 percent figure is 5 percent higher than June 2018’s mark.

All areas in the country had higher marks compared to last quarter’s numbers.

The survey showed that 89 percent of the people in southern Mindanao, from June’s 87 percent, believe that the country is in the right direction, the highest in the country.

The region is then followed by those in Balance Luzon at 73 percent, from June’s 68 percent; Visayas at 69 percent, from June’s 66 percent; and Metro Manila at 65 percent from June’s 57 percent.

The figure also rose by 4 points in overall rural areas, at 79 percent from June’s 75 percent and by 2 points in overall urban areas at 68 percent from June’s 66 percent..

Those who believe that the country is going in the right direction rose by 5 percent in class D, at 75 percent from last quarter’s 70 percent; and by 2 points in class E, which is at 72 percent, from last quarter’s 70 percent.

The figure, however, fell by 4 percent in Class A, B and C, currently at 80 percent, from June’s 84 percent figure.

The survey was welcomed by Malacañang.

In a statement released on Friday, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the survey shows that the people continue to trust President Rodrigo Duterte and his ways of steering the country.

“We view this as a reflection of our people’s continued trust and confidence in the President and an affirmation that the policies and programs of the current administration are on the right track.

President Duterte emphasized in numerous occasions that as government workers, we are here to serve the people. Our objective as public servants is thus being able to perform our respective duties well,” Panelo noted.

He said he hopes that results of the SWS survey would make more people support the administration.

“We hope this strong public appreciation, which is seen in the uptick of survey numbers in all geographic areas, would further engage our people in supporting this administration in building a nation where all Filipinos can experience comfortable and decent lives under a trustworthy government,” Panelo added.

“Together, let us work hand in hand to realize the President’s vision for the Philippines,” he said.

Those who believe the country is headed in the right direction gave Duterte a +72 net satisfaction rating, while those who say the Philippines is going in the wrong direction gave him a -3 net satisfaction rating.
The survey was conducted among 1,500 adults nationwide.

It had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.