The region’s employment rate in January 2023 decreased to 96.2 percent, from 97.0 percent in October 2022.

The 96.2 percent employment rate translates to about 2 million employed persons out of the 2.08 million persons in the labor force in January 2023.

This number was lower by about 31,000 employed persons compared with the 2.03 million employed persons reported in October 2022. However, the number of employed persons in January 2023 was higher by around 257,000 persons than the estimated 1.74 million employed persons in January 2022.

Eastern Visayas registered a Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) of 63.7 percent in January 2023. This placed the region’s labor force at 2.08 million persons who were either employed or unemployed out of the estimated 3.26 million population 15 years old and over.

The 63.7 percent LFPR was lower by 0.6 percentage point than the 64.3 percent LFPR recorded in October 2022. However, this figure was higher by
5.7 percentage points compared with the 58.0 LFPR in January 2022.

Eastern Visayas’ unemployment rate was estimated at 3.8 percent in January 2023, higher by 0.8 percentage point than the 3.0 percent unemployment rate in October 2022.
The 3.8 percent unemployment rate was equivalent to around 79,000 persons in the labor force who were unemployed in January 2023, higher by about 16,000 unemployed persons compared with the 63,000 unemployed persons in October 2022.

However, the 3.8 percent unemployment rate in January 2023 was better compared with the 7.0 percent unemployment rate in January 2022 which was equivalent to 132,000 unemployed persons.

The underemployment rate in January 2023 was posted at 18.8 percent or about 375,000 persons out of around 2.00 million employed persons registered during the month. This was 3.6 percentage points lower than the rate in October 2022 at 22.4 percent.
This was also lower by 0.9 percentage point compared with the 19.7 percent underemployment rate registered in January 2022. (PR)

CALBAYOG CITY– A regular member of Yunit Militia, widely known as New People’s Army (NPA) recently surrendered to Police Major Marval Diaz, the officer-in-charge of the First Samar Provincial Mobile Force Company (1st SPMFC) based in Barangay Palanas Cara, this city.

The former rebel, identified as “Van” who is from Gandara, Samar, also surrendered a magnum 357 revolver.

Van was convinced by his elder sibling alias Ben to the armed movement in 2012 under Team Uno, Squad Uno, Angel Platoon, front committee-6 of the sub-regional committee browser (SRCB) of the NPA.

His group operates in remote villages of Sta. Margarita, Gandara, and Matuguinao and even attend rallies in Tacloban City.

“I want to go back to my normal life, hence, I surrendered to Police Major Diaz. I am already exhausted because the government forces intensified their offensive operations against our group”, the former rebel said, citing his reason for giving up the armed rebellion.

Police Major Diaz said that Van is the 14th NPA member who denounced the revolutionary movement through voluntary submission to 1st SMPFC and the second surrenderer under his stint as commander of the unit.

“We admire Van’s courage to leave the terrorist group in his desire to live peacefully with his family again. Since Van identified 36 NPA squad members and 2 commanders, we urge his fellows to lay down their arms and we will gladly welcome them along with the 14 surrenderers”, Diaz concluded.

Upon compliance of necessary documentary requirements, Van and 13 other surrenderers will be availing the privileges of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-CLIP), enshrined under Executive Order No. 70 also known as the whole-of-nation approach, an anti-terrorism program of the Philippine government.
(LEVIRESA ATIS GETIGAN)

NGCP continues to improve the performance of the power grid since taking over as the country’s transmission service provider in 2009.

NGCP’s overall performance in operating the grid from 2009 to 2022 was significantly better as indicated by improved performance indicators compared to when the grid was run by the government from 2000 to 2008.

Among the key indicators is the Frequency of Tripping (FOT) which measures the number of times high-voltage transmission lines tripped or experienced forced outages for every 100 circuit kilometers (ckm). NGCP’s performance shows a significant decrease in tripping incidents across all three major island grids. In Luzon, the average FOT has gone down from 6.4732 in 2000-2008 to 1.3386 in 2009-2022, from 6.6530 to 0.9508 in Visayas, and from 8.0788 to 1.3285 for Mindanao.

NGCP also improved the capability of the grid to mitigate the impact of power interruptions to overall grid operations, which are measured by the System Availability (SA) indicator and System Interruption Severity Index (SISI).

With NGCP at the helm, System Availability for Luzon is at 99.3160%, Visayas at 99.6538%, and Mindanao at 99.7206%. For the SISI, Luzon only averaged 10.7236 system minutes of interruptions in 2009-2022 compared to 13.8978 from 2000-2008; in Visayas, 47.3318 system minutes of interruption during NGCP time from an average of 176.3350 system minutes pre-privatization; and 9.124 system minutes from 10.434 in Mindanao.
“These indicators are the most tangible proof of our performance felt by end-users. Our improved numbers are attributed to the continuous upgrading and expansion projects such as wood pole replacement, substation additions, capacitor bank projects, and new transmission lines, effectively reinforcing the stability and reliability of the grid,” NGCP said.
All three grids have significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated, violations on frequency and voltage limits.

The average Voltage Limit Compliance (VLC) improved across all three grids, while Frequency Limit Compliance (FLC) improved in both Luzon and Visayas, generally ensuring stability of the transmission grid.

“Since NGCP took over transmission operations in 2009, we performed over and above our targets year-on-year. This is a result of the company’s commitment to deliver on our mandate to provide quality transmission services. We assure our stakeholders that NGCP’s ongoing projects and programs seek only to further improve our services,” the company added.

NGCP’s performance indicator ratings are the basis of its incentives, as indicated in the Performance Incentive Scheme (PIS) which is reviewed and approved every regulatory period by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). (PR)