Speakers says he will serve people of Finschhafen

Speaker and Finschhafen MP Theo Zurenuoc says his primary role is to serve the people of Finschhafen, and then his other role as Speaker.

He said this last Friday during his maiden official visit to Morobe province as the Speaker of the 9^th National Parliament, since his election on August 3.

Zurenuoc was welcomed by traditional dancers at Nadzab Airport before being driven to the Melanesian Hotel in Lae, where he had breakfast with Governor Kelly Naru, provincial administrator Kemas Tomala, and public servants.

Zurenuoc (centre) with Governor Kelly Naru (right) and provincial administrator Kemas Tomala at the Melanesian Hotel in Lae last Friday.-Picture by MALUM NALU

He was at home in Finschhafen at the weekend.

“I take my hat off to my beloved people of sweet Finschhafen for the confidence in my leadership and returning me for the second term as their leader,” he said.

“I will not allow my primary role as your elected Member of Parliament be absorbed or submerged into my other role as the Speaker.

“Brethren, stay assured that I will remain Member for Finschhafen, in the first instance, and then the Speaker of National Parliament.

“I will strive to deliver much-needed services to our people to improve their lives.”

Zurenuoc said he would remain neutral in performing his duties serving both the government and opposition, “thus leveling the playing for constructive debating of issues and proposed bills to ensure that Parliament, as a collective body, passes good laws for the benefit of our people”.

“Such practice, however, has been missing in our struggling democracy in the last decade and I will set out to restore some level of confidence in the office of the Speaker and National Parliament.

“This is because in order to meet the development aspirations of our people, I believe Parliament should function as a single functioning unit with a common vision whilst sharing views, experiences and ideas on development issues.”

Zurenuoc said his predecessor Jeffrey Nape had occasionally frustrated the opposition by preventing it from debating and asking questions of public importance.

“Therefore I, as the Speaker, also pledge to not only restore confidence in the office of the Speaker of National Parliament, but also to open up the highest decision-making house to our people,” he said.

“…I will continue to keep our people abreast with the developments and during my tenure, I am confident that our efforts will pave the way for a stronger and more-open Parliament in the days to come.”

Cebu City: your home-away-from-home

By MALUM NALU
 

Cebu City, where Air Niugini is commencing twice weekly flights, is the oldest city in the Philippines.

It is part of Cebu, a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands.

A well-kept Cebu street

Cebu is one of the most-developed provinces in the Philippines, with Cebu City as the main centre of commerce, trade, education and industry in the Visayas.

Condé Nast Traveler Magazine named Cebu the 7th best island destination in the Indian Ocean-Asia region in 2007, 8th best Asian-Pacific island destination in 2005, 7th in 2004 and in 2009.

 It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands.

A clean, well-kept and respected walkway in Cebu…lessons for PNG

 Cebu is a long narrow island stretching 225km from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighbouring, smaller islands, which include Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands.

Mactan-Cebu International Airport, where Air Niugini is flying to, is located in Mactan Island, and is the second busiest airport in the Philippines after Manila.

Business between the Philippines and Papua New Guinea is likely to increase with the introduction of the twice-weekly Air Niugini Boeing 737-700 flights between Port Moresby and Cebu.

The writer, Mel Oplimo,, video cameraman Tapusi Kone and a Filipino friend relaxing at a roadside café in Cebu

On Monday, July 16, I had the privilege of being invited to be on the inaugural Air Niugini flight to Cebu.

The four-and-a-half-hour flight left Port Moresby at 3pm PNG time and arrived in Cebu to a grand welcome at after 7.30pm (5.30pm Cebu time).

The inaugural flight to Cebu included senior government officials, private sector representatives, senior management and board members of the airline.representatives of travel agencies, and history-making commercial passengers.

VIPs included Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC) chairman Dr Thomas Webster, IPBC managing director Thomas Webster, and chief migration officer Mataio Rabura, among others.

We arrived in Cebu to a grand welcome at Mactan-Cebu Internattional Airport where we were accorded the full red carpet treatment, before being led to the VIP Lounge, where a reception was held.

A popular Filipino jeepney along a Cebu street

 Heavyweights in Cebu that night included president of RD Tuna Group Ritchie Rivera, managing director of Frabelle Fishing Francisco Tiulaurel Jr, Frabelle PNG Ltd president Augusto Natividad, owner of Kenmore Group of Companies Lucio Tan, chairman of Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority Manuel Roxas, Cebu City mayor Michael Rama, Lapu Lapu City mayor Paz Radaza. Mandaue City mayor Jonas Cortest, members of the House of Representatives, and PNG Ambasador to Philippines Chris Vihruri Jr.

All applauded the new Air Niugini flight, which apart from the Manila service, now makes it easier for the Filipinos involved in the LNG project, those in the fisheries sector and other businesses to fly direct to Cebu.

Air Niugini will have two direct flights from Port Moresby to Cebu every Tuesday and Friday.

The flight on Tuesday leaves Port Moresby at 5.50pm and arrives in Cebu at 8.20pm.

The flight on Thursday also has the same departure and arrival times.”

The commencement of this flight now brings to 10 international destinations, Air Niugini now operates to whilst it also marks Air Niugini’s second destination in the Philippines after the capital, Manila.

Cebu IT Park, which is well known for its cafes, restaurants and shops, as well as Wifi

Other international destinations include Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, Honiara in Solomon Islands, Nadi in Fiji, Tokyo in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.”

Air Niugini chief executive officer Wasantha Kumarasi said in Cebu that night that the regular flights would boost business opportunities between the two countries.

“The Cebu route ensures convenience for the hundreds of Filipinos involved in the multi-billion dollar LNG project in Papua New Guinea, as well as those Filipinos in the fisheries sector and other industries,” he said.

“I am happy to see the president of RD Tuna Group, president of Frabelle PNG Ltd, and owner of Kenmore Group of Companies this evening.”

After that, we checked into the five-star Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, after which we had the chance to sample the nightlife of Cebu, a city that never sleeps.

Next morning, I had the chance to meet my good Facebook friend Mel Oplimo, whom I have talked with on the social network site but have never met personally.

He is a-Cebu businessman, who has business links with PNG, and was more than happy to show us around the city.

Several things struck me about Cebu, first and foremost that despite being home to many millions of people, the streets are so clean.

Cafes and restaurants are everywhere.

The shopping is excellent.

Interior of the Ayala Shopping Mall, one of the biggest in the Philippines.

Wifi is just about everywhere in the city, meaning free internet access, so I carried my laptop around with me and filed my stories and pictures from the streets of Cebu.

Oplimo says Air Niugini cannot go wrong as Cebu is the business and tourism hub of the Phillipines.

“We enjoy the splendor and beauty of Cebu,”he tells me.

Video cameraman Tapusi Kone, Malum Nalu and Mek Oplimo outside the busy Ayala Shopping Mall in Cebu

“Cebu is known for its semi-conductor industry, furniture industry, shipping, travel and tourism.

“Cebu is known as a rest and recreation area and most entrepreneurs and Chinese tycoons come from Cebu.

“Cebu is known as a tourism hub.

“It has been declared as one of the best destinations for tourism in Asia because of its pristine white beaches and hotel services.”

As much as I would have loved to stay on for a bit more, I could not do so, and had to travel back to Port Moresby on the return flight on Wednesday, July 25.

However, given my new-found friends in Cebu, such as Oplimo, his family and business associates, I can now feel very much at home going there.

Cebu is, indeed, my new home-away-from-home.

For further details on how to travel to Cebu, contact Air Niugini or your travel agent.

New book tells the story of the nameless warriors of PNG

By MALUM NALU
 

A new book, Nameless Warriors, launched on Remembrance Day on July 23 by former PNG Defence Force Commander and now PNG Ambassador to Indonesia, Peter Ilau, tells the story of the “nameless warriors” for fought for PNG during World War 11.

Nameless Warriors, written by Lahui Ako, describes the life of one of PNG’s last remaining WW11 veterans, Ben Moide.

Nameless Warriors: The Ben Moide Story is selling for K80 at UPNG Bookshop.

Fitting, it was launched on the 7^0th anniversary of the first engagement by PNG and Australian forces against the invading Japanese in WWII.

Out of the chaos and death that followed came the enduring heroism of the Kokoda Trail, and the special relationship that has bound PNG and Australia ever since.

One of the bloodiest campaigns of the Second World War began 70 years ago, on July 23, 1942

And it has forever sealed the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea.

It was on this day, in 1942, that Japanese troops landed on the northern coast of New Guinea and unexpectedly began to march over the Owen Stanley Ranges with the intent of capturing Port Moresby.

Had they succeeded, the mainland of Australia would have come under dire threat.

July 23 - Remembrance Day - marks the 70th anniversary of the first engagement between the opposing troops on July 23, 1942, and from that engagement, as the Australian force was progressively outnumbered, began the long fighting withdrawal over the Owen Stanley Range.

“We fought, but according to the bulk of the taubadas (white men), we remained nameless, we were just the native scout or the Papua guide to them,” Moide says in the book.

“Still, to the gallant few who addressed us by name, I owe them my undying gratitude for treating us as mates.

“But the fact remains, without the help of all those nameless warriors and carriers, who braved the sickness, rain, mud, hunger and despair and enemy of the campaign, all would have surely been lost.”

Moide ran away from home to join the Papuan Infantry Battalion at the age of 16 in 1940.

In July 1942, he was part of the PIB platoon that ambushed the Japanese at Awala.

The taubadas’s order to fire on the advancing enemy, and the ensuing action, propelled these mostly nameless warriors into the annuls of PNG history.

From Awala, from Kokoda to Deniki, to the Opi and Warriors rivers, and the Scarlet Beach landings, Ben Moide beat a busy track with his comrades before returning home in 1944 to act as a PIB instructor and final demob in 1945.

Life after the war proved difficult as the PIB veterans struggled to find their feet in a society that had passed them by.

But Moide perserveres and starts a family and legacy that saw him drive Administrator Murray for a while before he became Dr Gunther’s drives to the Waigani Swamp to spy out land for a learning institute.

Moide was a member of the Hanuabada rugby league build-up in the 1950s, was a member of the mighty Magani outfit in 1961-1962, and was employed with San Miguel and SP Brewery before retiring in 1991.

Nameless Warriors is one of the very few books written by Papua New Guineans on PNG wartime history, and should be embraced by everyone, especially this generation which continues to take their freedom for granted.

Author Lahu Ako, hailed from the large Motuan village of Hanuabada, in the Naational Capital District.

This is his third book.

His first was Upstream: Through Endless Sands of Blessing (2007), which was followed closely by A Logohu in China (2007).

Nameless Warriors: The Ben Moide Story. By Lahui Ako. University of PNG Press. Port Moresby, 2012. 246 pages. K80 from University of PNG Bookshop.

O'Neill elected as PNG prime minister by overwhelming majority

Peter O'Neill has just been elected as prime minister of Papua New Guinea by an overwhelming majority.
O'Neill collected 94 votes with only 12 against.
Earlier, Finschhafen MP Theodore Zurenuoc was elected as speaker.
O'Neill has been rushed off to Government House to be sworn as prime minister by Governor General Sir Michael Ogio.

Peter O'Neill to be invited to form government

Peter O'Neill and his political entourage arrive in Port Moresby by 2pm today and head off to attend the Return of Writs Ceremony at Government House starting at 3pm.
Thereafter he will formally receive his invitation to form government.

PNG LNG Project drilling starts at Hides

Esso Highlands Ltd has commenced drilling operations for the PNG LNG Project at the Hides natural gas field, located in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.  

Rig 702 at Hides.-Picture courtesy of ESSO HIGHLANDS

The drill wells will produce approximately 9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the life of the project.  

“The PNG LNG Project is unique and important for Papua New Guinea.

“The start of our drilling programme is a key step in meeting our goal of first LNG deliveries in 2014,” said drilling manager Jim McDermott. 

 The specially-designed Nabors Rig 702 is being used to drill the initial well, the first of several natural gas production wells at Hides.

The rig has incorporated best-in-class features to help safely and effectively drill PNG’s world-class resource.

 It has been designed to withstand earthquakes and includes containment equipment and facilities to protect the environment.  

A second rig to be used in the PNG LNG Project drilling programme has arrived in PNG and is currently being transported to the Hides area.

“We have an exceptional team, including Papua New Guinean drilling engineers who recently returned from Melbourne, Australia, where they spent a year-and-a-half learning about ExxonMobil’s drilling operations.

 “They are now putting their training into practice,” McDermott said.

InterOil to farm-in PNG interest

InterOil Press Release

 InterOil Corporation has executed a farm-in agreement and related documents with Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp relating to its acquisition of a 10% net (12.9 percent gross) participating interest in Petroleum Prospecting License 237 ("PPL 237") onshore Papua New Guinea, including the Triceratops structure and exploration acreage located within that license.

This announcement is made further to the company's announcement on April 30, 2012 that it had entered into a heads of agreement ("HOA") with PRE and the terms are materially the same as those previously announced.

Execution of the farm-In agreement accomplishes one of the milestones contemplated to complete the farm-in transaction.

Completion of the farm-in transaction remains subject to satisfaction of additional conditions within 18 months, including execution of joint venture operating agreements with PRE, and PNG government approval.

Additionally, PRE has the option to terminate the farm-in agreement at various stages of the work programme and to be reimbursed up to US$96 million of the $116 million initial cash payment, which does not include carried costs, out of future upstream production proceeds.

Pacific LNG Operations Ltd,  an affiliate of Clarion Finanz AG,  and its affiliates ("PacLNG") are participating on a 25% beneficial equity basis in the portion of the farm-in transaction relating to the Triceratops structure, by reducing PacLNG's indirect participating interest in the Triceratops structure.

As a result, PacLNG will receive 25% of the payments PRE makes under the farm-in transaction relating to the Triceratops structure.

PacLNG will also receive a commission fee of 2.5%of cash payments made by Pacific Rubiales other than carry.

Certain other indirect participating interest holders may also participate in the farm-in transaction.

"InterOil and its partners are pleased to have completed execution of the farm-In agreement with Pacific Rubiales, a company with a track record of successful exploration and production development," said Phil Mulacek, chief executive officer of InterOil.

 "We look forward to completing the Pacific Rubiales farm-in, and to accelerating appraisal and development of the Triceratops gas and condensate field in Papua New Guinea."

Ronald Pantin, chief executive officer of Pacific Rubiales, commented: "We are very pleased to be partnered with InterOil and its management on what we believe to be a world class gas and condensate trend and which provides us with the strategic opportunity for early stage large resource capture on the doorstep of the world's fastest growing primary energy markets."