travel, hotel and booking Information

Hotel Booking An environmental lawsuit filed by a Philippine province against Placer Dome Inc., Canada's second- largest gold producer, may not damp overseas investments in Philippines mining industry, a government official said.

You could not do much better than volunteering in the Philippines for your overseas travels or your gap year in the Philippines, whether you choose to work with street children in the Philippines or help orphans in the Phiippines. It is still very much an off the beaten track kind of place, but it can be easily reached from Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand. Take a look at our Philippines volunteer section for rmation and inspiration.

Travel Agency Marinduque provincial Governor Carmencita Reyes last week asked a Las Vegas, Nevada court to order Placer Dome to compensate the province for economic and health damage to people living around a mine run by Marcopper Mining Corp., which was 39.9 percent owned by Placer Dome from 1964 to 1997. Placer Dome said it had helped plug the spill and lessen its impact and will contest the claim.

By choosing to volunteer as you travel the Philippines, you will help to support and educate some of the country’s most underprivileged children. When you volunteer in the Philippines you’ll also get to see a side of the country that most backpackers who travel the Philippines never get to see, you’ll live and work alongside local people and return home with a fuller and more complete picture of this stunning archipelago.

Cheap Hotel ``We definitely want investors to come in,'' Mining Secretary Michael Defensor said today in an interview at the Sixth Asia Pacific Mining Conference in Manila.

Calling the Philippines Long Distance The Philippines is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the United States; however, the Philippines does not participate in Daylight Saving Time. So, during Daylight Saving Time in the U.S., the Philippines is only 12 hours ahead of the eastern U.S. When calling the Philippines internationally, begin with the country calling code, 63. 7 digits. For domestic long distance calls, you do not need the country code, but be sure to dial a 0 before you dial the area code. Not surprisingly, digit subscriber number. Find a full list of Philippines city codes here.

Flight Booking ``Mine operators who are responsible shouldn't be scared'' of investing in the Philippines.

Although travel agents have access to all of the same outlets you would use when looking to book travel, they also have access to exclusive pricing and package deals that are most times not available to the public. Your travel agent also has more leverage in helping out in situations such as hotels claiming to be booked, when in fact they may still have rooms available that are on hold for travel agents reservations. So when everyone else is telling you “No” your travel agent can help turn that to a “Yes.”

Travel Agent The Philippines expects economic growth this year to miss the 5.3 percent target, and is counting on mining to help boost expansion to as much as 6.3 percent next year. The Supreme Court in December affirmed a law that helps overseas investors skirt constitutional restrictions on owning and operating local mines.
The lawsuit, filed Oct. 4 in Nevada state court, says Placer Dome ``dominated'' Marcopper mining, dumped 220 million tons of refuse from mining operations containing toxic chemicals on the island, and botched cleanup efforts.

Travel agents obtain some of their information from the same sources as online booking sites such as Orbitz and Travelocity. They also receive daily emails and faxes with new specials from resorts and hotels that may not be published on the internet. Travel agents can also call a place directly to see if they can work out other kinds of special deals for you, something an online site can’t do.

Hotel Chicago The government supports the Marinduque province's actions, Defensor said. ``We are pushing for Marcopper to rectify the problem, we don't want this kind of incident to happen again.''

Online Booking More Spending

Travel Health Insurance Mining companies such as BHP Billiton are spending more as rising Chinese demand helped push prices of copper and iron ore to record levels this year. The Philippines expects mining to account for 15 percent of gross domestic product in fie years from 1.6 percent in 2003, Defensor said in March.

Hotel Reservation ``This can happen anywhere in the world especially in the countries where there is a thriving mining industry,'' Philip Romualdez, president of Benguet Corp. and Philippines Chamber of Mines, said in an interview at the conference. ``This is a part of doing business. There is nothing unusual about this case.''

London Hotel Booking Placer Dome is the second North American mining company to face an environmental lawsuit this year in Southeast Asia, a region that includes some of the world's biggest deposits of copper and gold. Newmont Mining Corp, the world's biggest gold miner, is standing trial in Indonesia on criminal charges of polluting the sea with mine waste. Newmont denies any wrongdoing.

Discount Travel Foreign investment in Philippines' mining, including expansion at existing mines, has reached $700 million so far this year, Defensor said. ``We hope it will reach $1 billion by the end of the year,'' he said.

Orlando Hotel So far, it is hard to tell which country will emerge as the dominant investor in the Philippine mining industry, Romualdez said. ``The expression of interest has been pretty evenly distributed among the Japanese, Koreans, Canadians, Australians, Chinese and the British.''

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]