GMA opens MassKara today,
breaks ground for P1.5B road
BY CARLA GOMEZ


President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will open the MassKara Festival in Bacolod City and lead the groundbreaking of the P1.58 billion New Bacolod Silay Airport Access Road this morning.

Tropical storm Pablo caused the cancellation of her trip to Eastern Samar yesterday, but her Bacolod visit, as of press time last night, was still on.

The president is scheduled to arrive at the New Bacolod Silay Airport at 10 a.m. today and join the groundbreaking of the airport access road at Barangay Bagtic, Silay City.

The 10.12-kilometer P1,558,041,767 access road will shorten travel time from Bacolod to the airport in Silay to about 15 minutes, Engineer Sanny Boy Oropel of the First Engineering District said.

Construction of the road by Persan Construction Inc. will begin on November 2008 and it is expected to be completed on May 2010 before the end of the president’s term, he added.

The president will then proceed to the Bacolod public plaza where she will join Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia and other city officials at the opening of the MassKara Festival.

She will then cut the ribbon at the opening of Convergys in Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City. The newest call center in the city now has 700 employees that are expected to increase to 1,000 by the end of the year.

The President is also scheduled to meet with sugar industry representatives this afternoon and have dinner with the Negros Island congressmen, Gov. Isidro Zayco and the mayors in the evening, Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod) said.

Expected to be discussed by the sugar industry representatives with the president is the request for the tariff retention on imported sugar beyond 2010, and the bid of some cooperatives for the cancellation of Value Added Tax on refined sugar.

Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ., 3rd district) and Rep. Ignacio Arroyo (Neg. Occ., 5th district) also said sugar industry concerns were also likely to be taken up by the congressmen with the president.

Zayco said he would also raise with the president the call for the retention of tariff on imported sugar beyond 2010.

Meanwhile, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Negros has denounced the statement of Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, Bacolod police director, that he will impose a “No Permit, No Rally” policy at the Bacolod public plaza during the visit of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this morning.

Its secretary general, Felipe Levy Gelle Jr., said yesterday that the police cannot stop the people from expressing their sentiments and presenting their demands.

He said that what Quebrar is imposing violates the constitutional provisions that allow the people to freely express their grievances.

Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco, Negros Occidental police director, said the police will exercise maximum tolerance with the protestors.*CPG