GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (PNA) — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has ordered distribution utility South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II) and power firm Sarangani Energy Corporation (SEC) to conduct more public consultations for its proposed power sales agreement.

Joseph Nocos, vice president for Administration of SEC’s mother firm Conal Holdings Corporation, said they received the ERC directive following an expository hearing conducted by the agency on Wednesday regarding the power deal that the company signed with Socoteco II last June.

Medical mission

ZAMBOANGA CITY (PNA) — Over 500 adults and children benefited from free medical and dental services in an outreach program Friday capping the week-long observance of Solidarity Week or Semana de Solidaridad na Ciudad de Zamboanga.

Mayor Celso Lobregat personally checked on the beneficiaries of the medical mission held at the City Health Office compound in Pettit Barracks where he also distributed toiletries to the children. The beneficiaries, who were referred by different urban poor groups, availed themselves of the various services offered for free by the team of doctors, dentists, registered nurses and pharmacists of the City Health Office.

Waterways cleanup

DAVAO CITY — Some 21 business industries and local government units (LGUs) here have committed to engage in clearing the waterways of the region following the signing of the "adopt-a-river" memorandum of agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources XI.

The agreement was one of the strategies adopted to encourage public and private sectors to participate in cleaning up Davao region's waterways. Under the agreement, the adopters such as the LGUs and business entities, commit themselves to assist the government agencies in the proper disposal of garbage generated in the areas they adopted. (Mick M. Basa)

New beneficiaries

ISABELA CITY, Basilan (PIA) — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has stepped up the registration process of new beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other neighboring regions in a bid to meet the program’s target enlistment of 1.3 million additional families for this year.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman told media that the agency is working for the inclusion before year-end of around 65,000 more families from the ARMM and other parts of Mindanao in the national government’s anti-poverty initiative.

Specialista program

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental (PIA) — The new program of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) is a strategy to respond to the challenge of ensuring employability of TESDA graduates and certified workers.

John Simborios, TESDA-10 Chief Technical Skills Development Specialist, said the TESDA Specialista Technopreneurship Program (TSTP) is a holistic approach to help TESDA-trained and certified workers to get into productive undertakings to help themselves and their immediate environment thereby creating employment opportunities. The program will develop a pool of trained and certified TESDA “Specialistas” who will respond to the demand of services by the households and their immediate communities.