Flashfloods Displace more than 300 Clans

MORE than 300 families in Iloilo City were evacuated over the weekend after incessant rains inundated six villages in the city.

Data from the Iloilo City Crisis Management Office showed that 75 families in Project 3, Brgy. Sooc, Arevalo district were rescued from waist-deep floodwaters.

A total of 95 families in Brgy. Lanit, Jaro were also affected by floods, 150 in Brgy. Desamparados and 50 in Brgy. Calubihan.

Several families were also displaced by heavy rains in Brgys. Calajunan, Mandurriao and Buntatala, Jaro.

The affected families were moved to the Jaro plaza gym which also served as Physical and Coordinating Center for emergency responders.

The Iloilo City Social Welfare and Development Office distributed relief goods to the evacuees who returned to their homes Sunday morning when the floodwaters subsided.

The city and provincial governments of Iloilo are continuously monitoring weather conditions as they prepare for flashfloods and other disasters.

Oil slick spotted in Visayan Sea

AN oil slick from the ill-fated M/V Asia Malaysia was monitored in the Visayan Sea near Negros Island.

According to Commodore Athelo Ybañez, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commander in Western Visayas, an aerial inspection Tuesday morning revealed that at least 200 meters of bunker fuel was seen along the coast of Manapla town, Negros Occidental.

The ship, which originally sank off the coast of Ajuy town in Iloilo province last Sunday morning, was swept away by the sea’s strong current towards the coastal water of Manapla.

Ybañez said the oil slick was quickly contained by PCG teams who sprayed dispersants. As of Tuesday afternoon, the oil slick was no longer visible.

PCG is trying to determine if the oil slick came from the fuel cargo area which contains 21,000 liters of fuel.

Ship-owner Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc. will deploy its privately-hired salvaging team to assess the leakage and how to remove the remaining fuel.

PCG also cordoned the area where the ship was found with oil spill booms to stop another oil leak from spreading.

Ybañez assured that PCG will be able to contain another leakage before it spreads into other parts of the Visayan Sea, which is considered to be a rich fishing ground.

All coastal areas in northern Iloilo, especially in the town of Ajuym are on alert for the possibility that bunker fuel may reach the shorelines.

On August 2006, Western Visayas was hit by the worst oil spill disaster in Philippine history. The more than 2 million liters of Petron bunker fuel from the sunken oil tanker M/T Solar 1 destroyed marine life in the provinces of Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental.

SHIP SINKS, OIL SPILL FEARED (M/V Asia Malaysia sinks off Ajuy waters, all 147 on-board rescued)

AN ILOILO-BOUND vessel of Trans-Asia Shipping Lines met its last voyage yesterday with 162 on-board the ill-fated trip from Cebu even as the Philippine Coast Guard is vigilant of a possible oil spill in northern Iloilo seas. Based on the official Master’s Oath of Safe Departure (MOSD), among the survivors was a 10-month old baby and 70-year old Eufemia Abonales , the youngest and oldest of the 107 passengers. There were also 35 crew members on board led by ship Captain Romualdo Geraldizo. Scheduled to arrive about 6am, M/V Asia Malaysia never made it to Iloilo Arrastre Port as distress calls were instead made starting 5am. According to Commodore Athelo Ybañez, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Western Visayas district commander, first to be alerted was the PCG in Bacolod. In minutes, more distress calls came as passengers managed to inform relatives by phone and text messages. Even Iloilo City-based radio stations received pleas for rescue. The ill-fated ship left Cebu Saturday evening and was a few miles off the coast of Calabasas Island in Ajuy town when the ship tilted more than 30 degrees to the right after being hit by successive strong waves. “At about that time (5am), M/V Asia Malaysia started to list on the right, by the starboard side. They were already in the vicinity of Calabasa Island off Ajuy, Iloilo or about 33 nautical miles to Iloilo City,” Ybañez said. “Immediately, rescue was launched with vessels nearby helping as well.” Based on initial findings, the ship was hit by strong waves and the ropes of the rolling cargo were also found to have broken apart, which resulted to the weight of the ship to further tilt to the right. Ybañez explained that the ship’s captain could no longer steer the ship back to a balance position. Due to the ship’s tilting, sea water penetrated the ship and it sank. First to arrive in the area, which is some 4 nautical miles to nearest shore, was Cokaliong Shipping’s Filipinas Cebu that was also en route to Iloilo City. Next to respond was motor tanker Fil-Visayas bound for Bacolod as fishermen in the vicinity also rushed to help. Ybañez further sought assistance of Bantay-Dagat patrol boats of the Iloilo Provincial Government as a PCG helicopter and vessel were also ordered to proceed to the area. Fil-Visayas rescued 92 passengers while MV Filipinas Cebu rescued 42. The Bantay Dagat team accounted for 28 survivors. Survivors on board MV Filipinas Cebu were given first aid by Iloilo City emergency responders while the municipal government of Ajuy took care of survivors who landed at Brgy. Culasi. Said PCG response units were temporary pulled out from a search and rescue mission in Masbate and will remain here for aerial and sea survey. “At about 6am, an order to abandon ship was made by the Captain with all of the passengers given life-jackets and transfer made to responding rescue vessels. The Ship Captain and nine others of the senior crew members stayed behind and were the last to abandon ship. By 8am we have gathered that a full rescue was made and by 8:50am, the vessel has totally sunk,” Commander Ybañez continued. M/V Asia Malaysia was acquired by Trans-Asia Shipping Lines in 1997 and served Cebu-Iloilo vice versa route. It was 71.6 meters in length with a 551 capacity. It was to be the first and last maritime incident for said vessel off to yesterday’s “Voyage 89.” Eighty-six of the rescued passengers were in the Economy Class while 18 were in the Tourist Class and three from Cabin Class. A Special Board of Marine Investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the incident, validate liability, if any, of the ship captain, officers and crew on board.Further still, the investigation will look into corrective measure to avert similar incidents in the future. PCG Western Visayas Deputy Commander, Captain Pedro Tinampay heads the probe body with three other PCG officers as members. The investigation is expected to start today which will hear the accounts of the survivors and crew. Radio accounts of survivors heard similar stories of fear in the last minutes on board the vessel yet “don’t panic” pleas were made from both crew members and their fellow passengers. Initially heard were concerns of survivors who had difficulty with the lifejackets given to them. “Indi kami kabalu magtakud dala na sang nerbyus namun. Ginbuligan lang kami sang crew kag buligay man kami nga mga pasahero (We didn’t know how to put it on because of our nervousness. The crew helped us and fellow passengers),” a survivor bound for San Joaquin, Iloilo said. While no official word has been released on the cause, it was believed that the listing was brought by the sudden imbalance of the vessel’s cargo. This as huge waves hit the vessel, caused it to list on the right side and the ropes that secured its cargo snapped. By then M/V Asia Malaysia failed to recover its position as sea water slowly overwhelmed the vessel. “We will look into the incident but for now we are grateful of full rescue of both the passengers and the crew,” Ybañez said. PCG called on the local Red Cross for assistance and treatment of the survivors who were brought back to Iloilo and Bacolod cities. Trans-Asia also owned the ill-fated MV Asia South Korea, which sank off the coast of Cebu on December 23, 1999. More than 50 people died in the Cebu-Iloilo bound ship. OIL SPILL The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is preparing for a possible oil spill from the ill-fated M/V Asia Malaysia. Commodore Ybañez said the passenger ship that sank off the coast of Ajuy town in northern Iloilo Sunday was carrying 21,000 liters of fuel oil. “We cannot discount the possibility of a rupture,” Ybañez said. While all 162 passengers and crew were safely rescued, maritime officials are turning their attention into the possibility that bunker fuel might have leaked into the Visayan Sea, which is considered as one of the country’s rich fishing grounds. Ybañez disclosed that an oil spill team composed of the PCG as well as a private oil spill combating firm hired by ship-owner by Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc. will be deployed to Ajuy as a mitigating measure. “We are ready to contain it,” Ybañez added. Coast guard officials will not discount the possibility of an oil spill as Western Visayas was hit by the worst oil spill disaster in Philippine history. On August 11, 2006, more than 2 million liters of Petron bunker fuel was spilled into Guimaras Straight after oil tanker M/T Solar 1 sank off the southern coast of the island province. The oil spill caused massive destruction in the marine life and fishing grounds in the towns of Nueva Valencia, San Lorenzo, Sibunag, Buenavista, and Jordan.

Drug Gang to Rescue Suspected Pusher?

THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) asked help from the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) to secure a suspected drug dealer who was wounded in a raid Tuesday morning.

PDEA legal counsel Ronnie Delicana confirmed that they requested the ICPO to send police officers to the hospital where Carlo “Jong-Jong” Balledos is confined to beef up his security.

Delicana said they taking extra caution in securing Balledos because of his status but belied reports that an illegal drug syndicate is either out to rescue or eliminate him in the hospital.

Balledos, who is the number 5 suspected drug dealer in Iloilo City, was wounded in a shootout with PDEA agents during a raid on his home at Zone 5, Brgy. Veterans Village, Iloilo City Proper the other day.

PDEA recovered 41 sachets of suspected shabu inside Balledos’ house and a caliber .45 pistol. They also arrested Soledad “Daday” Bayog, 26, and Febe Hilado who were inside the suspect’s house during the raid.

Supt. Giovanni Musico, ICPO deputy director for administration, said they received PDEA’s request Wednesday morning and was forwarded to the Operations Section for action.

Delicana said Balledos is on top of their list of alleged drug dealers because of the longevity and magnitude of his operations.

Alleged Pusher Wounded in PDEA Raid

A SUSPECTED drug pusher was wounded in a raid conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) at Zone 5, Brgy. Veterans Village, Iloilo City Proper Tuesday.

Carlo “Jong-Jong” Balledos, 41, was shot in his legs when he resisted members of the PDEA raiding team who served a search warrant issued against him.

Aside from Carlo, PDEA agents also arrested Soledad “Daday” Bayog, 26, and Febe Ilado.

The raiding team recovered from Carlo’s house 41 sachets of suspected shabu worth more or less P40,000, a Sig Sauer caliber .45 pistol with six live hollow point bullets and P1,630 cash.

Atty. Ronnie Delicana, PDEA legal officer, said Balledos has been in their watch list but it was only now that there were able to sting his operations.

Delicana said one of their operatives could have been wounded or killed in the operation after Balledos allegedly shot their group.

“If not for the railing of the stairwell, one of us could have fallen.

Prior to the raid, PDEA agents conducted a test buy operation which yielded a sachet of suspected shabu from Balledos.

PDEA also noticed a CCTV camera outside Balledos’ house, an indication that he is keeping watch of people approaching his home.

PDEA will file charges against Balledos, Bayog and Ilado for selling and possessing illegal drugs and maintaining and visiting a suspected drug den.

Delicana said frustrated murder charges will also be lodged against Balledos “because the bullets he used in his gun is an indication that he intended to kill the operatives.”

Earlier, the PNP said the special task force established at Veterans Village failed its mission to curb the illegal drug trade in the area.

The barangay’s labyrinthine or complicated topography is the main hindrance cited by the police.

But Punong Barangay John Eric David of Veterans Village said the presence of the police task force reduced the number of illegal drug users by 40%.

P1.5-M Agricultural Bi-Cable Tramline to Boost Patnongon Farmers’ Income

SAN JOSE, Antique – An agricultural bi-cable tramline was recently installed in Sitio Ventura, Barangay Igburi, Patnongon, Antique by the Department of Agriculture.

This bi-cable, which cost a total of P1,573,873 million, is a first in the province of Antique. It is powered by a motor engine, a 4DR5, and can carry a load of about 350 kgs.

The construction of the cable came about because of the difficulty found by farmers in transporting their farm produce from their far-flung barangays of Sitio Ventura, Igburi to the poblacion of Patnongon itself.

The upland barangay has wide agricultural area and produces a variety of farm products but lacks the necessary facilities for marketing their goods in the mainland without spending so much for hauling expenses or sometimes causing their crops to be destroyed due to delay in bringing them to town proper.

Mayor Johnnyflores S. Bacongallo together with the Municipal Agricultural and Fisheries Council requested for a one unit of Agricultural Bi-Cable Tramline to DA head office through Director Larry Nacionales in Iloilo City.

The request was also approved by the Department of Agriculture (DA) Central Office and accordingly released the amount of P1,573,873. This project is purely DA financed and therefore the LGU of Patnongon has no counterpart whatsoever. It took three months for the bi-cable to be finished. The long stretch of wire is about 500 meters from bottom to the top and the location is about twelve kilometers from the cable site to the town proper.

MULTI-BILLION PESO INVESTMENTS IN LIMBO

BACOLOD City – The Twentieth Division of the Court of Appeals in Cebu City granted the 60-day Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) sought by SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SMPHI) against the Ayala Land Inc. purchase and lease of the Negros Occidental provincial government’s 7.7-hectare prime property.

The TRO came a day after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved the endorsement of the Committee on Awards and Disposal of Real Property (CADRP) of the provincial government awarding the sale and lease of the property to Ayala Land.

In its resolution dated July 20 signed by Associate Justices Victoria Isabel Paredes, Edgardo Delos Santos and Ramon Paul Hernando, the CA stated that “after a careful scrutiny of the record, the court finds petitioner’s prayer for a temporary restraining order to be meritorious.  Hence, so as to preserve the rights of the parties during the pendency of the instant petition, as well as to prevent the judgment that may be promulgated in this case from being rendered ineffectual, the application for the issuance of a TRO is granted.”

SMPHI filed the petition for certiorari with prayer for TRO and or writ of preliminary injunction against respondents Judge Estefanio Libutan Jr. in his capacity as Presiding Judge of Regional Trial Court Branch 50, Governor Alfredo Marañon  Jr. as chairman of  of the CADRP, CADRP members Patrick Lacson, Atty. Mary Ann Manayon-Lamis, Nelda Generoso, Lucille Chavez-Pines, Merlita Caelian, Enrique Pinongan, Ernie Mapa and SP members.

The CA further stated, “Consequently, respondents are required to file their comments on the petition (not a motion to dismiss), within ten 10 days from notice thereof, and to show cause why the writ of preliminary injunction prayed for by the petitioner should not be granted. Should the petition be given due course, the comments may be treated as the answer.  Petitioners may file its reply within five days from receipt of the comments.”

The TRO is effective for 60 days, unless sooner lifted, conditioned upon the posting of a bond in the amount of P50 million by the petitioner.

The CA enjoined all parties concerned to refrain from enforcing and/or implementing the July 14, 2011 ruling of the RTC denying the TRO application of SMPHI.

SMPHI claims that it won the July 7 competitive bidding for the 7.7-hectare property. Such bidding was declared a failure by the CADRP because the bid price of both SMPHI and Ayala Land fell below the floor price certified by the Commission on Audit.

Thereafter, CADRP held a negotiated bidding but only Ayala Land participated, thus it was declared winner by the committee.

Both Ayala and SMPHI envision multi-billion investments in the property with Ayala offering a more attractive development package and bigger capital exposure.

Ayala Land promised to pour in P6.6 billion to develop the property which is several billions bigger that what SMPHI offered.

Ayala Land plans to build hotels, buildings for the business process outsourcing industry, and other commercial and business infrastructures in the area.

Workforce Optimization Solutions

We know workforce optimization solutions can help in creating a more efficient process when dealing with workloads and scheduling, but what exactly constitutes workforce optimizations?

Workforce optimization is getting the best out of the available resources taking into account all parameters (labor regulations, staff flexibility, incoming workload, call load patterns, outbound volumes, customer expectations etc.) and this on an easy, flexible and manageable way with the usage of different technologies. Contact center workforce optimization (WFO) combines technologies from many previously sifted functional domains, such as workforce management, call recording, quality and performance management. It can be extended to include capabilities such as IVR based call surveys, together with e-learning and coaching applications. Managing the staff scheduling to the anticipated demand in the most cost effective way, to maximize profit/customer service, at an affordable price and with schedules that are attractive enough to employees.

 

At one time optimization was considered synonymous with efficient call routing. That the customer was efficiently linked to the right agent was enough. But times have changed optimization means much more than connectivity. In my view the goal of workforce optimization must be to instill “pride in workmanship” and “pride in colleagues’ workmanship” so that the customer consistently gets the best possible service . It follows that so-called optimization systems which are based upon monitoring individual performance and hitting targets have to be replaced with those that achieve improved customer satisfaction. Measuring such satisfaction is difficult but customer opinions provide the only valid basis for deciding if an intervention has improved, and so helped optimize, a system.

 

 

Taking your resources and making them as fully perfect, functional or effective as possible – if you are to take the dictionary stance on what optimization means. This, to our organization, means looking at our culture, tools, processes and people and making them work together efficiently. This is done by setting up our processes first, taking a look at what is broken, fixing it and then implementing technology around it. Technology does not drive efficiency, people and processes do. In order to have an optimized workforce, you need buy in from the very resources that are going to be using your processes and tools along with well explained expectations and information on how you are going to measure each process is successful. Without these in place, you have chaos.

 

Workforce optimization (WFO) is a unified suite of solutions for addressing critical customer service functions across the enterprise, including quality monitoring and recording, speech analytics and data analytics, customer feedback surveys, workforce management and strategic planning, performance management, e-Learning and coaching. With WFO, organizations can open new windows into customer intelligence, workforce performance and root cause analytics to gain visibility across the customer service delivery chain. In addition, it helps place focus on the three key areas of performance, efficiency and quality.

By delivering greater insight into customer interactions and processes, WFO provides a closed-loop system for continuous, enterprise performance improvement and long-term ROI. It helps drive service improvement, productivity gains, cost reduction, revenue generation, quality assurance and compliance, customer retention, performance enhancement, competitive advantage and customer satisfaction, which can have a direct impact on the bottom line of any organization.

Winning Back Customers

Winning back customers is not a direct task, especially in today’s world of consumer choice. The starting point should always be to actually know which lapsed customers are actually worth seeking to win back.

The Actual Data
The key is to take all available customer data, to fully understand the individual behavior and then apply that information to inform the targeting, the message and the offer in the communications. And the appropriate data to enable this is a transactional data, which can indicate when buying patterns are changing. Other data, such as customer satisfaction data, can be used, but it is not the most credible or reliable information to use. It is necessary to have a full view that takes in all of the knowledge a company has about the customer to really understand a customer’s behavior and relationship with a product or a supplier. The best way to achieve this is by setting up a Single Customer View (SCV) database that brings together data from all departments including orders, marketing, deliveries, customer services, CRM, etc, and holding it in one place.

Single Customer View
This ensures marketers are operating with current information and are not sending conflicting messages from different parts of the company. For instance, without an SCV database, one part of an organization might contact an ex-customer that it wants to win back and treat them like a new customer, rather than acknowledging the fact they used to be a customer. Instead an SCV can help inform a fresh approach to get the customer to come back.

It can also help marketers avoid viewing customer behavior in isolation. Taking home shopping as an example, viewing a customer purely as a catalog customer and not viewing all interactions the customer has with the organization could result in the customer’s online activity being ignored. As a result, marketers could fail to communicate with the customer in the best possible way that maximizes ROI. For instance, a customer might be very happy ordering through a catalog or over the phone, but finds online ordering not very user friendly. Viewed purely as an online customer a marketer might ignore them as being of little value but by viewing the customer’s entire interactions with the firm it might be discovered that, with a little help and encouragement, they could turn into a very profitable online customer.

An SCV database can also aid organizations to avoid making assumptions about customers and, instead, provide a detailed picture of every customer. It is too easy for marketers to make expectations about customer behavior based on demographic profiles – something that was highlighted in our recently published Online Retail Index report, which showed that typically loyal middle-aged home shoppers who tend to be very loyal to their catalogs are actually more promiscuous when they shop online. Since the greatest growth in online shopping activity was found to be coming from 35 to 54-year olds this sort of information is invaluable in informing marketing strategies. Having a single and secure database also makes data safer and easier to manage, with a team overseeing what data can be used and what cannot.

When to Start a Win-Back Activity
Aside from identifying customers for win-back operation it is also essential to establish the point at which win-back activity should be initiated. Data on recency and frequency of purchase is crucial for managing retention and switching customers to win-back. If a customer is on a contract that is coming to an end changes in their behavior can highlight a risk of churn. Repeat transactions is needed start to look different. Some firms still tally customers in their customer base even if they haven’t made a purchase for three years. Mainly because of the impact it would have on internal reporting – classing a customer as lapsed or churned would reduce the volume of the customer base and not make a good impression on the board.

Instead, firms should start a 6-month pending lapsed stream to account for customers whose change in behavior suggests they might be about to jump ship. These customers can then be aimed with communications and offers designed to keep them spending rather than looking for better deals elsewhere.

The Pre-emptive Strike
Associate analysis can help identify points in the customer journey where pre-emptive action can be initiated. By taking customers who have joined in the last week and comparing them to customer who joined in another week, the customer journey can be mapped to provide a view of what is likely to happen 2, 3 or 6 months on. For example, a telecoms provider has invited people to switch to them. Analysis of the customer journey shows that some get cold feet after they receive the welcome pack, regret the decision to switch and cancel the contract. Others cancel after receiving the first bill when it transpires they aren’t getting exactly what was promised. As churn or a drop in activity is shown to occur at particular times the telecoms provider can pinpoint steps in the customer journey that need attention.

The most important thing for firms to remember when embarking upon win-back campaigns is to carefully analyze customer data and look beyond top-line conclusions in order to be able to communicate with ex-customers, or those who look likely to lapse, in a personalized and targeted fashion based on purchasing histories and other available data.

SEO Team Focusing on Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the efficient systems to bring visitors to websites, and has become one of the best methods for online marketing as it gives wonderful results. It is already playing a key role in online marketing and will play an even greater role in the future. With video marketing we can get our message out to thousands of people worldwide, to promote our company and services. Online marketers are utilizing the effectiveness of video marketing as an outstanding tool to introduce different products, services or promotions to potential customers, and also to build a solid relationship with clients.

It is an impressive and effective way to make your business known by your targeted audiences, furthermore, this mode of online marketing can give true results. By creating business videos with attractive and effective content, combining a video with subtitles or a detailed article about the subject of the video will make a more successful campaign. This shows how you can enhance other marketing tools by adding business video marketing to them and get better results.

Business video marketing is a very cost effective approach. The only thing you need to invest is sufficient time to make efforts of making your video visible on the internet. Mostly, this type of marketing involves business owners using videos to enlarge their customer base, particularly in their metropolitan areas. We all know that one picture can say far more than a thousand words; therefore, using this advertising tool to get your message across is certainly more potent than content based messages/articles.