Saturday, February 6, 2021
Lalaki pinatay sa loob ng bahay sa QC
Patay ang isang lalaki matapos pagbabarilin sa loob ng kaniyang bahay sa Batasan Hills, Quezon City, Biyernes ng gabi.
Nakilala ang biktima na si si Luis Valero.
Sa kuwento ng asawa ng biktima na si Tessie, natutulog sila bandang alas-11 ng gabi sa ikalawang palapag ng kanilang bahay sa may Presidential Road nang biglang pumasok ang tatlong lalaki at ginising ang kaniyang mister.
Nakita niya na kinaladkad ng mga lalaki ang kaniyang mister pababa ng bahay. Makalipas ng ilang minuto, nakarinig na siya ng maraming putok ng baril.
Pagbaba niya ng bahay, patay na ang mister.
Ayon sa kaniya, walang kaaway ang mister at lumalabas lang ng bahay para magtrabaho kung saan-saan para may makain lang sila.
Ayon naman sa kapatid ng biktima na sa Regina Abrigo, dati nang nakulong ang biktima dahil sa droga. Pero hindi naman daw totoo ang paratang dahil planted lang ang droga noon. Wala daw kinalaman ang kapatid niya sa kahit anong ilegal na gawain.
Inaalam na ng pulis ang pagkakakilanlan ng mga suspek at kung ano ang motibo sa krimen.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/06/21/lalaki-pinatay-sa-loob-ng-bahay-sa-qc
Friday, February 5, 2021
MRT-7 North Ave. to Sacred Heart, Caloocan seen running by Dec.
THE Transportation department said the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT-7), which is being built by San Miguel Corp. (SMC), is expected to be ready for partial operations between North Avenue Station in Quezon City and Sacred Heart Station in Caloocan City by December.
“Partial operations by Dec. 2021: North Avenue Station to Sacred Heart Station,” Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddes Hope O. Libiran told BusinessWorld by phone message Thursday.
MRT-7’s depot along Quirino Highway in Barangay Lagro, Quezon City is also expected to be operational by December, she added.
According to its website, the Public-Private Partnership Center (PPP Center) said the P63-billion project involves the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the 23-kilometer elevated railway line, with 14 stations between San Jose del Monte, Bulacan and MRT-3 North Avenue in Quezon City.
It also covers the construction of a 22-kilometer road from the Bocaue Interchange of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) to the intermodal terminal in Tala, Quezon City.
“The road component will divert northern provincial buses operation to San Jose del Monte, thereby decongesting EDSA,” the PPP Center said.
SMC announced in December that it had injected P147.81 million more in its infrastructure unit to support the project.
SMC Mass Rail Transit 7, Inc. is undertaking the project along with the Transportation department.
SMC shares closed 0.70% higher at P128.90 Thursday. — Arjay L. Balinbin
https://www.bworldonline.com/mrt-7-north-ave-to-sacred-heart-caloocan-seen-running-by-dec/
Thursday, February 4, 2021
Binondo-Intramuros Bridge seen completed within 2021
By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora
The construction of a China-funded bridge connecting Binondo and Intramuros is expected to be completed within 2021, the Chinese Embassy in Manila said Thursday.
The flagship project under the “Build, Build, Build” program would offer a two-way, four-lane bridge over the Pasig River.
Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian and Public Works and Highways chief Mark Villar visited on Thursday the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge site project to check on the construction's progress.
"The main bridge of the project is so far 90 percent completed and is expected to open within this year. By then, it will serve over 30,000 vehicles per day and substantially relieve the traffic congestion along the river," the embassy said in a statement.
The initiative was one of the first China-granted infrastructure projects in Metro Manila constructed under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
Iconic landscape
Villar said the China-funded bridge will become a new iconic landscape of the country.
“By September 2021, this attractive design of the arch bridge that symbolizes the friendly cooperation between China and the Philippines will become a new iconic landscape connecting the Binondo and Intramuros districts of Manila,” he said in a statement.
He said the project, with a total cost of PHP3.39 billion, employed many advanced construction methods shared by Chinese to the Filipino workers such as the steel arch bridge assembly, pushing method and the bottom construction method of the boxed cofferdam and building a solid piling foundation.
DPWH Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations Emil Sadain said the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge involves the construction of four-lane, basket-handle tied steel arch bridge.
It will have a total length of 680 lineal meters connecting the District of Intramuros at Solana Street and Riverside Drive and District of Binondo at Rentas Street/Plaza Del Conde Street and Muelle dela Industria having a viaduct structure over Estero de Binondo, he added.
It is designed with the new seismic specifications and taking into consideration the impact of climate change.
Another China-funded project, the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge linking Makati and Mandaluyong is now also 79 percent done and on track for an opening date in the first half of 2021.
The embassy said three priority bridges funded by China "just concluded the commercial contracts last December and is expected to kick off by June this year."
Citing Huang, the embassy noted that the government-to-government cooperation projects between Manila and Beijing have now entered into a new stage of implementation.
"With the joint efforts of both sides, 11 projects have been completed and 12 projects are being implemented or are about to be implemented," it said.
Among these infrastructure projects are the Philippine-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology-Technical Cooperation Program Phase III and the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project both expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
There are also 10 more projects under active negotiation, the embassy said. (With reports of Ferdinand Patinio)
Monday, February 1, 2021
Mag-asawa patay sa pamamaril sa Taguig
Isang mag-asawa ang patay matapos sila pagbabarilin sa Central Bicutan, Taguig City Lunes ng hapon.
Ayon sa mga awtoridad, tinambangan sina Marcelo at Zener Tomas ng mga di pa kilalang salarin sa San Diego St. ala 1:10 ng hapon.
Dead on the spot ang dalawa dahil sa tama ng bala.
Nagsasagawa na ng follow-up operation ang Taguig PNP sa mga salarin na agad tumakas. Inaalam pa ang motibo sa pamamaril.
Ayon sa pulisya, parehong call center agent ang mag-asawa.--Ulat ni Jeck Batallones
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/01/21/mag-asawa-patay-sa-pamamaril-sa-taguig
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Thursday, January 28, 2021
SMC says right-of-way issues delaying road linking Skyway 3 to NLEx
Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said a 1.2 kilometer road linking its Skyway Stage 3 project to the NLEx Connector project is facing delays because of right-of-way issues.
The NLEx Connector project is set to be finished in 2022. Being built by a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., the project is a second elevated tollroad after the Skyway Stage 3 that would link the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) in Metro Manila.
SMC said the 1.2-km road link is part of the detailed engineering design of the Skyway Stage 3, which was inaugurated by President Rodrigo Duterte last Jan. 14. It is also a vital project since it connects two major road infrastructure projects in Metro Manila.
SMC, however, said it is currently facing right-of-way problems at the Nagtahan to Sta. Mesa areas in Manila.
SMC president Ramon S. Ang said in a statement that the conglomerate planned to finish the road within 24 months after right-of-way issues are settled.
The acquisition of right-of-way for major infrastructure projects is typically handled by the government. But Ang said SMC was also allocating funds to hasten the buy out of land along the road’s alignment.
“We’re already mobilizing our contractors to start work in areas that are unobstructed, where we’re permitted to work,” Ang said. “We’re also already committing the funds needed to buy the ROW properties, so hopefully, these issues will be resolved the soonest,” he added.
Right-of-way acquisition is a perennial cause of delay for big-ticket infrastructure projects. Ang said it was also the “single biggest constraint” for the Skyway Stage 3, whose groundbreaking ceremony was held in 2014.
“The alignment for this connection to the NLEx connector project, which the Metro Pacific Tollways Group is building, was supposed to be built together with Section 2 of Skyway 3 in the Nagtahan to Sta. Mesa area,” Ang said.
“However, about two years since we first worked on workable areas for Skyway 3, the ROW issue in section 2 threatened to stall the project,” he added.
Ang said these issues also caused the company to revise the alignment of the Skyway Stage 3 “so that the project could be completed faster and provide a solution to traffic.”
Work on Skyway 3-NLEX connector project link begins
San Miguel Corporation has started work on a 1.2-kilometer road that will connect the 18-km Skyway Stage 3 to the ongoing 8-km. NLEX connector project, a second elevated expressway that will further link the northern and southern parts of Metro Manila.
The expressway project runs from C3 road all the way to Santa Mesa in Manila.
This, despite the pending right-of-way acquisition (ROW) negotiations that have delayed the construction of the vital link.
In a news release Thursday, SMC President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon Ang said the company is “working on what’s workable,” in order to mitigate delays in ROW acquisition for the connection, located at the Nagtahan to Sta. Mesa areas in Manila.
The connection, part of the detailed engineering design of the Skyway 3 project, can be completed within 24 months or less soon as the ROW issues with the landowners are resolved, Ang said.
“This connection is vital because it will link two major expressways, Skyway Stage 3 and the Metro Pacific Tollways’ connector road project -- making accessibility, interoperability, and ease of travel even better for the public,” Ang said.
"We’re already mobilizing our contractors to start work in areas that are unobstructed, where we’re permitted to work. We’re also already committing the funds needed to buy the ROW properties, so hopefully, these issues will be resolved the soonest," he added.
The ROW acquisition was the single biggest constraint to the Skyway Stage 3 project, Ang said. While advance work was started in 2014, actual work on the main sections 1-4 only started in 2015, because of ROW issues.
The company mitigated the delays by starting construction in “available” areas, to improve the chances of completing the project soonest and immediately address the worsening traffic in Metro Manila.
However, even then, a lot of ROW issues remained unsettled, prompting numerous realignments and redesigns. The SMC also paid for all the ROW properties and spent for the transfer of vital utilities as well as the reconstruction of three bridges, in order to complete Skyway 3.
“The alignment for this connection to the NLEX connector project, which the Metro Pacific Tollways Group is building, was supposed to be built together with Section 2 of Skyway 3 in the Nagtahan to Sta. Mesa area. However, about two years since we first worked on workable areas for Skyway 3, the ROW issue in section 2 threatened to stall the project. That is why we proposed to realign Skyway 3 along the San Juan River, so that the project could be completed faster and provide a solution to traffic—not cause more of it,” Ang said.
He added: “To show our commitment to complete the connection, even if the main alignment was already moved to San Juan River, we signed a memorandum of agreement with the Toll Regulatory Board and Department of Public Works and Highways. We basically already committed the budget for the ROW acquisition--we will pay for it--and we will complete this section within 24 months.”
Ideally, the connection would be complete before or by the time the NLEX connector road is completed.
Ang said even as the company negotiates for the settlement of ROW issues, it has already started work on available areas and has employed a "just-in-time" sequence, anticipating the timely delivery of the ROW.
“Originally, this was supposed to be delivered December 2020, but it’s now pushed back. But we want to assure the public and government that we will do everything to complete it in less than 24 months, once we get the ROW,” Ang said.