Madeira News Blog

(22nd September). Today’s main news headline : ‘Region Refuses To Pay President ‘Do MAR’ – Óscar Gonçalves went yesterday to complain to the Madeira executive, and to the representative of the republic’. It’s a new battle between Madeira and Lisbon. This time due to the International Shipping Register of Madeira (MAR), and the choice of Oscar Gonçalves to chair the MAR Technical Commission. Normally it is the role of the Government of the Republic to nominate the president of the Technical Commission of MAR, but obtaining the agreement of the Madeira government as a matter of unwritten protocol. However, Óscar is little known in the world of shipping, but a well known collaborator of the socialist party PS-Madeira, and the government (PSD) here complained that it had not been consulted about his appointment in May, as had been customary in the past. As a result the government here have refused to pay his salary, as well as restricted his movements outside of Madeira. They argue that he is not qualified to carry out inspections and surveys for vessels registered with MAR, which they say is one of the legal requirements. The matter is now in the hands of the appropriate authorities in Lisbon. MAR has 157 commercial vessels registered, 14 of which are passenger ships.

‘Robberies In Garajau And On The Levada Dos Tornos – Youths steal the cash register and have the police waiting when they arrive home. Couple robbed at knifepoint in Camacha’. The first story is about a Café / Bar called ‘Brites’ in Garajau, that was robbed at around 4 am yesterday morning, when 2 young men smashed the shop front glass window, and took the cash register, containing just some change. The two robbers, who were regular customers in the bar, took the till to a car park to open it, where they were caught on video camera in the act, along with the registration plate of their car. Police were able to identify the owner of the car, the mother of one of the men, and when they arrived home the police were there waiting. They were taken back to the crime scene, where they apologised to the owner, returned the stolen money, and offered to pay for the damage caused, which included the €400 cash till, the broken window, an aquarium, and a fridge. It is possible that that the same two men had also tried to break into a bar in Cristo Rei, hurling a rock at the front window, which didn’t shatter as it was double glazed, but caused around €200 worth of damage all the same. The sophistication of the crimes and the intelligence of the criminals of Madeira never ceases to amaze me, and once again the police do a great job in cleaning up the mess. I have no idea whether the men involved here were charged, but often an apology to the owner and the payment of the losses and damages suffices, showing the forgiving and kind hearted nature of people here. Personally I would have wanted them strung up if they had done that to me, but there again there are men who have committed far greater crimes but still legally walk our streets. PS Dare not mention who for fear of reprisals.

The other story sounds much more serious, as two German tourists were robbed at knifepoint on the Levada dos Tornos, in the zone of Vale Paraíso, Camacha. He surprised the couple, and demanded the valuables that they were carrying. He stole the rucksack and about €100, but apart from being shocked, the couple were unharmed. The rucksack was later recovered by police, less the money. The police have a description of the suspect and are conducting investigations. I hate doing these stories more than anything, as levadas are supposed to be such safe and peaceful places … and of course still are. The police normally catch these thugs, but it’s best to be aware that there are occasionally problems in just one or two places. How people will obtain such information after next week I don’t know, but I hope they can ask at hotels or go on accompanied tours, or at least find out about any risky areas from somewhere.

’36 From The Savoy Refute Dismissal – The case started yesterday in court’. The collective dismissal of staff from the now closed Savoy Hotel in Funchal is in court, with 36 workers challenging the SIET Savoy Group decision to dismiss them. Their aim is to reverse the decision, and guarantee themselves future employment. The trade union representing the workers said it was the only option open to them once negotiations with the employer had failed. Win and they have their jobs back, lose and they will be entitled to compensation based on length of service. Many of the 99 workers have already accepted the termination and compensation package offered, when the hotel closed to be demolished, to make way for a new Savoy Hotel.

After yesterday’s story about the school of in São Martinho (Funchal) that failed to be ready on time because of building problems, it seems that São Martinho kids are stricken with bad luck, or good luck depending on the point of view. ‘Lombada School in São Martinho Fails To Open At The Start Of The School Year – A lack of staff has left parents and students at the school gate’. They turned up, but that’s as far as they got, as the school remained closed when staff didn’t turn up. The situation caught some parents off guard, along with 250 kids, even though there had been some communications about potential problems. Teachers weren’t lacking, except for the maths teacher, but one cleaning lady was on holiday, one was transferred, and the other one remaining refused to work alone. The knock on from that is that the catering staff and auxiliaries didn’t then turn up for work for fear of being put on cleaning duties. According to the government Education Department the situation has been resolved and the school is now fully operational. It wouldn’t happen in the private sector for sure, and if I had been in charge I would have had those parents in scrubbing the floors and doing the cooking, and sent the non-teaching staff off to meet those ex-Savoy Hotel workers.

‘Erasmus’ Sent Away 117 Madeiran Students In 6 Years’. The programme, according to funding available, allows students at Madeira University to study abroad. The scheme is growing in popularity, but as there is no specific funding for the purpose, applications depend on the general funding of UMa being able to support the applications received. The programme has proved particularly popular for students in physical education and in languages, with the countries most selected being Slovenia (23), Spain (32) and the Czech Republic (32).

Bit of a school theme going today, so here’s another : ‘Gripe A : Teachers “are not a priority risk group”. Contingency plans against the H1N1 swine flu virus in schools caught the attention of the Teachers Union of Madeira, this week. Coordinator Marilia Azevedo regretted the fact that the infection prevention plans have been made only with students in mind. A spokesman for the matter (I have no idea where from), said that the health services and Regional Secretary for Education and Culture had been working together for some time, “[teachers] are not a priority risk group in particular, as the groups that are in contact with the sick are health professionals. I do not see that there needs to be a special scenario for teachers”. What gobsmacking incompetence, as infected teachers are as much of a problem as infected children to start with, but absent teachers cause a different problem altogether, and without them to control the children, the risk of cross infection is highly elevated. Just imagine if one infected teacher in the weekly staff meeting infects the whole teaching staff group … chaos!

’224 Citizens Of Funchal Try Out The Services Of Horários do Funchal For Free – Bruno Pereira, vice-president of Funchal Council will be one of the participants’. The famous yellow bus company of Funchal wants to attract new customers to its regular services of public transport. With this objective in mind the company yesterday started the week with a promotional project ‘Ad personam’. Under the initiative, which is part of a wider European action called ‘Intelligent Energy of Europe’, over 224 people aged between 18 and 60 years can travel free for a week on the bus network of Horários. The lucky 224 were selected from 805 respondents to a survey undertaken in May, and addition to this weeks freebie, will be able to obtain discounted bus travel for the rest of the year through a monthly pass.

The headline I thought I would never see : ‘Marina At Lugar de Baixo Reopens – It will open, but not for boats to moor there’. No firm date has been set, but it is virtually certain that the marina infrastructure will reopen to the public sometime this year, with boats allowed back in shortly after the Winter. Clean up work is still ongoing, including partial clearing of a cliff face. The badly damaged car park has been demolished, and will not be rebuilt, but other parking is available. I can hardly wait for Uncle Bertie’s reinauguration (right!), and to go and enjoy the swimming pool and tennis court, or even just taking a coffee there. I have never tried hard-hat swimming before, but I presume I will need a strap-on-version, as well chastity-belt type swimming trunks. As for the coffee, will the café staff be trained to ask “will it be one lump or two?”

The sport / football headline : ‘Cup Takes Marítimo To The Azores’. Our team travels to Santa Clara to play on the 18th October, in the 3rd round of the Portugal Cup. Nacional will go to the north of Portugal to take on Varzim. Both opponents play in the Liga Honra (the 2nd highest level), and so should not in theory present too much of a challenge. There are still other teams from Madeira left in the cup, but as there are no big name opponents involved, I will leave it there.

Work on the new cemetery in Caniçal has been halted for three weeks. A digger started work, but after a couple of days was taken away. The main problem is with expropriations, or compulsory land purchases. The €1m project wasn’t in the council work programme for the current mandate, but the decision was made to proceed urgently because the existing cemetery is absolutely full. Aside from the purchase of land, how can a cemetery cost anything like €1 million to build? Aside from some ground levelling and boundary walls, what else is there. Will it be fully equipped with ready-to-wear tombs and blank gravestones, or am I just out of touch with today’s cemetery construction prices?

(21st September). ‘Return To School : Quality Is Higher With Less Students’. This is an interview with the regional secretary for education and culture, Francisco Fernandes, who says that with less students this year, the quality of teaching will improve. He also talks about the 37 projects of construction, improvement and expansion (individually listed) in higher education in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Two challenges being faced are the extension of full time schooling to 100%, as some children still have to ‘work shifts’ due to limited teaching resources, and the extension of compulsory education until the age of 18, something eased by a reduction generally in student numbers. 40,230 children and youngsters return to school today, although 2,941 will in truth be attending for the first time. They will be full time in school, apart from some small deviations in Funchal, Calheta, and Câmara de Lobos. 173 schools will be involved in the education of our children, one more than last year. Teaching staff have increased in number from 6,867 to 7,621, including 1,402 on temporary contracts. Non teaching staff have diminished slightly from 3,231 to 3,226.

Staying on the subject of schools : ‘School Ready In April – Government was counting on having the infrastructure enlarged for a thousand extra students this year’. The new basic and secondary school in São Martinho is not ready in time for this new academic year, as was targeted, due to a series of problems has put the completion target back to April 2010. The main problem arose when large storm drainage pipes were detected in the foundations of the new structure, which needed diverting at an additional cost of nearly €400,000. Funny time to be announcing it on the first day of the new school year?

’13 Already Died On The Roads This Year – A nasty accident on the via rápida, in the early hours of yesterday, was fatal for a 34 year old man’. The car lost control and hit the central barrier in the area of Magi Reis, close to the Caniço junction. It seems likely that the dead man was not wearing his seat belt. A woman in the car was also hurt, with a suspected fracture, and suffering from shock and bruising. The same night another serious injury was inflicted in Santo da Serra, when a car hit a wall at speed, and the driver had to be freed from the vehicle. It was a black weekend on Madeira’s roads, after a 79 year old man was run over and killed on the Estrada do Aeroporto, in Abegoaria, Caniço. 22 people died on Madeira’s roads in 2008 (but that does not include those who died later in hospital under strange counting rules).

‘Tourism Nationally Distinguishes João Borges’. The state is to officially award João for his services in tourism and promoting Madeira, and Bernardo Trindade, secretary of state for tourism will present him with the gold merit medal. Known around the world as ‘Mr. Madeira’, he assumed the role of public relations for our island, and was a key figure in the consolidation of tourism here as former Regional Director of Tourism. A medal of merit is also to be given to the Museum of Sacred Art for the provision of services relevant to the satisfaction of tourism, and enriching the tourism experience. The Secretary of State for Tourism, feels that the museum exhibits one of the finest collections of Flemish art in Portugal, and even in Europe, and for that is the most visited museum on Madeira. Much of the collection was assembled through past generations producing and exchanging sugar in exchange for Flemish art.

‘Day Without Cars’ On Porto Santo Will Have Free To Use Bicycles – Companies on the island join in with the challenge : "Improve the environment in the city". Tomorrow Porto Santo joins in with the European initiative ‘Day Without Cars’. The main road ER120 will be controlled between 8 am and 4pm to take the pressure off of traffic in the city, and bicycles will be loaned free of charge.

A photo from yesterdays’ football epic, Nacional v Marítimo, has most of today’s front page : ‘Race And Efficiency Make The Difference – Edgar doubled up in the first victory for Nacional in the Portuguese Premier League’. Edgar scored twice to give Nacional the three points, and spoil the 99th birthday part of Marítimo, who failed to take advantage in the second half of a 10 man Nacional side. ‘After the game, Marítimo’s Bruno forced his way into the changing rooms, resulting in the involvement of the police’.

‘African Association wants to know the size of the community’. One hundred members of the African community in Madeira were present yesterday at the taking on of the social body of the Cultural and Recreational Association of Africans in Madeira (ACRAM). After several years of low activity, the association wants to undertake work from scratch. The new president Augusto Mané wants to carry out a survey about the community on Madeira. Mané admits to not knowing the number of African immigrants on the island and their needs, and wants to address this. Regardless of the outcome of the survey, Augusto Mané assures commitment to social and economic issues. "The biggest problem in the community is legalization [in immigration]," notes the president of ACRAM. "In second place we are concerned about housing and employment". The regional secretary for Human Resources, Brazão de Castro, attended the event. The politician stressed the attitude of the Regional Government on immigration as "responsible and serious", stressing the openness to dialogue, especially since 2003, when the it supported the establishment of the headquarters of ACRAM in the neighbourhood of Nazaré.

‘Robbed Three Times In A Month And A Half – A robbery in Gaula, in the early hours of yesterday, yielded over a thousand Euros to the thieves’. The bar of Alexandre Caldeira has been robbed again, with the robbers entering through the toilet window, and breaking into several machines with cashboxes, and causing a lot of damage in the process.

‘Lacked Fruit And Money – Business was poor for the farmers and traders who went to Ponta do Pargo’. The Festa do Pêro ought to be at the beginning of the month when people have more money, suggested one farmer, who was disappointed with the level of trade. "This year is worse. They come, they look and go away. They do not buy hardly anything", she said. In ‘food and drink’ things did not go any better. Manuel Costa gambled in taking "one hundred and something kilos" of meat. "This is worse", he said, still hoping that he might sell half of what he sold last year. Did anyone go? I am curious to know what the fruit is, as what I always thought was the ‘Pear Festival’ is in fact technically sweet apples, as the word for pears is PÊRA.

I expect a few people, like me, saw this ship bombing along the south coast yesterday, and wondered what it was. It is the sail boat ‘Cisne Branco’ (White Swan), that has just finished the ‘Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge’, where it finished first in its class and second overall. It is now travelling between Europe and Brazil. It belongs to the Brazilian Navy, and was built 10 years ago for the purpose of representing Brazil in commemorative events and tall ship races.

From yesterday’s Jornal da Madeira : ‘€300 Million For Improvement In Water – Madeira will have a strong investment in the water sector in the next six years’. The president of IGA, the new water management company, says that there are in hand new investment programmes of renovation and reform of the main water pipes and ducts, public distribution networks, and agricultural watering, that will run through to 2015. The investments will address the problems of water loss through leakage, and provide for the storage of large quantities of surface water from Winter rain, as well as improve the treatment of residual waters and water for recycling. The measures will also provide contingency for reduced rainfall through climate change. The article doesn’t actually say where this €300m is going to come from, but presumably there are grants and European funding up for grabs, although the article does mention that water services are very cheap for the public, which does suggest that one source of expected revenue raising could be from us. €300m works out at €1,200 for every man, woman, and child on Madeira, so maybe it would be cheaper all round to import it and deliver bottled water to our homes.

That’s just about it from everything in the Diário, except ‘politics’, and I will be back with that and today’s main headline later.

(19th September). Today’s main news headline : ’65% Without ‘Morals’ – Each time there are less students signed up for the option of Religious & Moral Education. There are less than 10 thousand between the 5th and 9th grades, and just 37 in the secondary school’. The older they get, the less interested the students are in the discipline, and now religious education has been selected by just 35% of children for the new academic year, that starts on Monday. The religious classes are optional for students under the law of religious freedom.

‘Sentence Annulled – António Henriques, condemned for the crime of active corruption in sport, won his appeal’. A court in Porto annulled the suspended sentence of 28 months in prison for the man who was tried after a game between Marítimo and Nacional, in the 2003 – 2004 season, that secured a place for Marítimo in the UEFA Cup. The referee in the game was also convicted at the trial last November, and given a suspended prison sentence of 20 months. Unreliable evidence and unclear facts helped clear the former vice president of the Refereeing Council, for his alleged part in the ‘golden whistle’ game, which became known as the game ‘well robbed’. No doubt destined for a career in Politics now. Uncle Bertie is probably on the phone to him right now, especially as the alleged act thrusted his favourite team into Europe that year.

’50 Students In A Basement – Paralysed works in the school of Lombo de São João oblige the controversial transfer to the basic school of Ribeira Brava’. Families of around 50 pre-school students demand real classrooms in the return to school. The usual school in São João is undergoing improvement works, that were promised to be completed in January this year, but the works were suspended for 6 months due to the contact being transferred to another company, due to insolvency. Meanwhile the kids occupy two basement rooms at the Basic School of Ribeira Brava, where the temperatures are high, and there is very little natural light.

‘Officers On Waiting List – The regional command of the Public Security Police is going to receive 23 new Madeiran officers, but there are 79 transfer requests still unanswered’. The ‘green light’ has been given by the PSP nationally to transfer the 23 officers to Madeira to strengthen the regional command. But there is no shortage of further candidates, with 79 officers on the mainland asking for transfers to Madeira. Some are desperate to come here, and join the region of Portugal that has the lowest ratio of police to population, just 3 officers per thousand inhabitants. The last influx was in January 2008 when 15 officers were transferred from Portugal. The new recruits are due to start duty next month, and will take the PSP numbers up to around 750 officers. The trade union spokesman for the police said that he had not been informed of the transfers, and preferred to wait and see before commenting, but did say that 23 recruits was not enough to provide the total contingent needed.

‘PSP Seize Arms In Machico – Domestic violence triggered a search’. 7 fire arms were seized, various forms of rifles, along with around a thousand rounds of differing calibres of ammunition. Police managed to obtain a warrant for a search of domestic premises, and were seized on the basis of elevated risk in a case of domestic violence, which applies even if the firearms are legally held.

‘All The Schools Now have Contingency Plans For Gripe A – Rui Anacleto says that self-control is needed’. All schools will start the new academic year on Monday with a swine flu contingency plan. The regional director of education guaranteed yesterday that all schools are prepared and ready to deal with the H1N1 virus, but only in terms of procedures and prevention in the spread of the virus, with the reinforcement of hygiene requirements. Disinfectant products, masks, and isolation rooms form part of the plans. Anacleto said that everything was being done to minimise the situation, and asked all involved to show self-control. He said he did not want "to transform the pandemic of Gripe A into a pandemic of fear".

Monday will see the official presentation of the Monte Train Project. Funchal Council will reveal the project ‘Comboio do Monte’ on Monday afternoon, that will provide a route by rail between Largo da Fonte, in Monte, to Terreiro da Luta.

The Festa do Pêro is tomorrow in Ponta do Pargo, Calheta. President Jardim will be there around 1 pm to make a speech to the farmers. On Monday he will be performing inaugurations at two schools, one new, the other enlarged.  

Police (PJ / Judicial Police) are warning people to ignore emails that are seemingly coming from them. The emails have been sent to many on Madeira, advising them to install a Microsoft security programme, that in fact is a virus. The emails seem to be coming from South America, and the exact source is being investigated.

A young man, who has had an arrest warrant outstanding for over a year, was finally captured yesterday in Nazaré, Funchal. The arrest was made after a routine check in the area. The man is wanted in connection with of thefts and robberies in Funchal going back over several years.

‘Albuquerque promises better quality of life – Centre of São Martinho is enhanced with a garden overlooking the sea’. A new garden was opened yesterday in São Martinho, Funchal. The garden, with sea views, is located at the Centro de São Martinho. The president of Funchal Council who was at the inauguration, promised more such urban open spaces that offer the population "more quality of life". The new garden occupies a site of nearly five thousand square metres, and was transformed at a cost of €450 thousand. It has 145 trees of 60 different species, seat, litter bins, and play equipment for children.

This weekend’s football : Only one football match worth watching on Madeira this weekend … the local derby. Nacional v Marítimo Sunday 6 pm, on SportTV 1.

Petrol and diesel prices drop 1 cêntimo on Monday. Petrol will be around €1.19 a litre, and diesel €0.93.

UPDATES :

‘Registered Unemployed Rose 50% In August, Compared To 2008 – In August 2008 there were 8,209, one year on there are 12,315. But there are 74 less than in July’. The registered unemployment on Madeira and Porto Santo continues to show signs of improvement, for the second month running. However, August is normally the best month of the year for job offers.

‘Another Fine Mess – Madeira was involved in another case that shakes the country, this time the bugging of the Presidency of the Republic’. The scandal is believed to have connections or even origins on Madeira, after information about bugging the President’s office in Belém was revealed by an aide of Cavaco Silva. First it was the free ride in the car of the regional government to the national leader of the PSD, and her presence at inaugurations, then it was the "**** ****" of president Jardim, and now the listening device(s) in the office of the President of the Republic. Several controversial episodes, separated by just a few days, and in one form or another, they all have Madeira in the middle. Madeira and the PSD that is. It was on the front page of the Daily News of Lisbon yesterday, that the principle aide of Cavaco Silva had revealed there had been a possible interception of information through monitoring of the President’s team. The news is full of this story, but Cavaco Silva himself has refused to discuss the matter publically, as he thinks it is better to wait until after the elections.

In the latest poll by SIC, the PS socialists have moved ahead of their only real rivals, the PSD social democrats, in the race for seats in The Assembly of the Republic, due to be contested a week tomorrow. The poll indicates that the ruling PS have increased their vote share from 33.6% to 34.9%, whilst the PSD have fallen back to 31.6%, a difference of 3.3%. The BE Left Block has remained steady in third place with 9.6%, whist the CDU communists have fallen back 1% to 8.4%. 15% of those involved in the poll said they were still undecided on which way to vote.