Business

Banana Plantation Workers Struggle to Save Jobs

One of the biggest banana companies in Mindanao recently fired 196 workers. The welfare of their families on the line, the aggrieved workers decided to take to the streets. They?re still there.

FBAC workers picket the AMS offices. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)

By Alberto P. Egot Jr.
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — “Trabaho ipadayon, dili separation pay!” At daytime, the red flag bearing these words is waved high, to call attention and action. But when evening comes, this piece of cloth keeps the weary backs of workers from the cold and damp.

Just outside the offices of the AMS Group of Companies along F. Torres Street, on a strip of a roadside dirtpath, workers of a banana plantation in Compostela town, Compostela Valley, have been staying 24 hours a day for more than a week now.

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Big Chinese Mining Firms Set Eyes on Mindanao

davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan
China’s ambassador to the Philippines Li Jinjun (left) receives a briefing kit from Medco officer in charge Undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana (center) and Secretary Jess Dureza during an investment briefing on Tuesday. (davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan)

By Germelina A. Lacorte
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — Three big mining companies in China, including the largest state-owned JinChuan Group Ltd., are now aggressively pursuing talks with Philippine-based companies for possible investments in the country?s mining industry.

Li Jinjun, ambassador to the Philippines of the People?s Republic of China (PROC), said Tuesday that the JinChuan Group is seriously pursuing talks with Philnico Industrial Corporation, which used to operate the shuttered Nonoc plant in Surigao while ZTE Corporation, which is based in Shenzhen, China, is talking with members of the Filipino-Chinese community for the possibility of joint-venture arrangements in mining.

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In Davao and Mindanao, Jeers Meet Arroyo SONA

Cultural workers depict the plight of the poor. (Barry Ohaylan/davaotoday.com)
Cultural activists depict the plight of the poor during the anti-Arroyo protest in the city on Monday. (Click here to view more pictures.) davaotoday.com photo by Barry Ohaylan

In Davao City and across Mindanao, many are not happy with Arroyo?s promises.

By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY ? Except for the brief moment when Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s name was mentioned, loud applause was hardly heard at the City Council building where city employees watched on a widescreen President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s sixth State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday afternoon.

Business leaders, when sought for comment right after the president’s speech, appeared not so pleased either. In her speech, Arroyo said her administration now has the money to finance government projects.

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Medical Transcription Comes to Davao

Davao-based entrepreneurs are eyeing medical transcription as another potential industry to generate much-needed jobs. If only they can surmount the challenge posed by voice-recognition softeware.

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By Germelina A. Lacorte
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY — Will medical transcription give hope to the country?s jobless? Yes, according to two entrepreneurs trying to attract students to enroll in a course on medical transcription here.

Defined as a process of typing out on a computer what a doctor dictates to a recorder, medical transcription is considered the second wave of job outsourcing available in the country after the call-center industry, according to officials of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

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