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Category: Environment

The bridges of Antique and climate change

Photo by Bombo Radyo

While browsing Facebook on Monday, I saw the Paliwan Bridge in Bugasong, Antique had collapsed. Its approaches were washed away so the bridge is now in the middle of a river- a scene that brings back childhood memories of my dangerous and arduous journey through raging rivers during the rainy season.

I called up my niece in Guisijan, a barrio in the town of Laua-an next to Bugasong, just a few kilometers from Paliwan Bridge. Our conversation was brief because electricity had not been restored and her power bank was draining. Nobody could cross the rampaging waters of Paliwan River, she said.

The distance between San Jose de Buenavista, the capital town of Antique – one of the four provinces (Antique, Iloilo, Capiz and Aklan) in Panay island – and Guisijan is about 50 kilometers, crossing at least five rivers. I’m not sure about the exact number of rivers. Some may only be brooks (sapa) but they are all spanned by bridges, some short and others long.

The folly of tampering with nature

Dolomite sand-covered beach front of the Manila Bay to impress visitors but waters are not safe for swimming.Photo by George Calvelo of ABS-CBN News.

Pictures indeed speak a thousand words.

The government opened its showcase Manila Bay white beach Saturday to impress the public with the beautification that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had done to the historic harbor.

What we saw were hypocrisy and inconsistency.

Why do supermarkets charge for plastic bags

When I complained about the removal of water stations where customers can have free water in SM Food Courts, another issue was raised by UP Professor Roland Simbulan about mall giant SM: plastic bags being sold in supermarkets.

Simbulan said: “The SM Supermarkets have actually made more money out of the ban on the use of plastic bags. They have been selling plastic bags to customers for two pesos each, whereas before the ban on plastic bags, these were given free to customers. We cannot also say that Robinson’s supermarkets are any better for they have also been selling plastic bags.”

SM Hypermart plastic grocery bag

Simbulan’s comment generated a number of reactions which simply shows that taking care of our environment which is being subjected to so much abuse (disposal of plastic products has become a major problem) is an emotional issue.

Here are some of the letters I got:

What the Chinese ship did in Benham Rise

Xiang Yang Hong 03, the research vessel that conducted a survey in Benham Rise last year docked in Xiamen.Photo from China Ocean News.
Xiang Yang Hong 03, the research vessel that conducted a survey in Benham Rise last year docked in Xiamen.Photo from China Ocean News.

Benham Rise, a 13-million-hectare undersea region off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora which the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) approved in 2009 as part of the Philippine’s extended continental shelf (350 nautical miles from the shores), came into the consciousness of many Filipinos recently with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana disclosed early March that Chinese ships had been spotted in the area last year for about three months.

China did not deny it. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said their “vessels for marine research did sail across relevant waters to the northeast of Luzon, the Philippines last year, exercising navigation freedoms and the right to innocent passage only, without conducting any other activities or operations.”

Last week, a Chinese newsletter, China Ocean News, carried a news item about what was accomplished by its survey ship, Xiang yang hong 03. It belied what the Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the ship’s activity was limited to innocent passage.

Justice Carpio’s Benham Rise 101

Where is Benham Rise ? From the video of Oceana Philippines
Where is Benham Rise ? From the video of Oceana Philippines

The notes of Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio on Benham Rise is very useful as the 13-million-hectare undersea region east of Luzon is in the news with the disclosure last week by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that Chinese survey ships have been spotted in the area last year.

Filipinos are familiar with Scarborough o Panatag Shoal , Pag-asa island and other features in the disputed Spratlys in the South China Sea but, Benham Rise?

It seems that even President Duterte is not familiar with Benham Rise based on his answer to GMATV’s Joseph Morong’s question last Monday night.

Out of DFA, Yasay has difficulty renewing passport

Life is like a wheel. One moment you are up and the next moment you can be down.

That is happening to Perfecto Yasay Jr, foreign secretary since the start of the Duterte administration last July 2016 until last Wednesday, March 8.

Former Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr and President Duterte when details of his citizenship were not yet exposed.
Former Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr and President Duterte when details of his citizenship were not yet exposed.

When Yasay was foreign secretary, his office was swamped with requests from relatives, friends and friends of relatives and friends to facilitate their application and renewal of passports.

And Yasay’s office always was willing to help, even if it was just a band-aid solution to the serious problem in its passport processing.

Why Gina Lopez says she has no caldero?

Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte chooses anti-mining advocate Gina Lopez as environment secretary.
Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte chooses anti-mining advocate Gina Lopez as environment secretary.
A video of the exchange between Gina Lopez, incoming President Rodrigo Duterte’s choice as secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, and a pro-mining advocate is going the rounds of social media.

Lopez was asking the man to choose between food and minerals because she argued that mining that extracts minerals from underneath the ground destroys the land where man produce food. Apparently Lopez has not heard of responsible mining.

Apparently also, the pro-mining man mentioned the things that we use in our daily lives that came from mining such as toothpaste.
Here’s the exchange that followed:

DENR, the Church and the nickel ore stockpile in Manicani

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje
Has the government relinquished its duty of regulating the mining industry to the Catholic Church?

That’s the question I asked Environment Secretary Ramon Paje when he said that Hinatuan Mining Corporation (HMC) has to get the approval of the church to their request to remove the 1.1 million metric tons nickel ore stockpile in Manicani which poses risk to the environment minerals pose this rainy season.

Way back 2003 (the Environment secretary then was Heherson Alvarez), the Mines and Geoscience Bureau and Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources investigated and evaluated the impacts of mining operations in Manicani and Homonhon islands in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and the recommendation on the stockpile was, “while the operations of Hinatuan remains suspended, all available ore materials stockpiled form shipment must be disposed of immediately as these materials may cause siltation and water pollution along the seashore subject, however, to compliance with the other requirements of the DENR, MGB and EMB, as well as with the pertinent laws, rules and regulations.”

Make Christmas meaningful by reducing E-waste

This Christmas, one of the most welcome gifts is a cellphone or a Tablet. Not only for adults but also for children who are now tech-savvy.

Ban Toxics, a group that goes by the motto that “The only world worth passing to our children is toxic- free” advises all of us to go slow on new gadgets.

E-Waste. From European Commission website
E-Waste. From European Commission website
Ban Toxics says Electronic Waste or E-Waste is the bane of the today’s Electronic Age. Discarded computers, office electronic equipment, entertainment device electronics, mobile phones, television sets, and refrigerators are all considered e-waste. Many of these devices contain toxic metals (lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium) and can stream into our environment if not managed properly.

Toxic materials poison the land, the waters and the air. That is poison we imbibe.

Ban Toxics says “Toxic metals, such as mercury, bio-accumulates in living organisms and can cause neurological and respiratory problems.”

Protecting El Nido’s coral reefs

Cadlao mountain island, the highest in El Nido.
Cadlao mountain island, the highest in El Nido.

When God blessed the earth, he must have been standing near and facing Palawan because the province is so rich in natural resources and possesses spectacular sceneries – on the ground, underground, on the water, underwater.

In the northern part of Palawan is El Nido, a municipality of almost 40,000 in an area covering 92,326 hectares. The town is named after Swiflets (local name is Balinsasayaw) nests made from the bird’s saliva found in the crevices of the limestone’s cliffs in the area.

The mountain islands of El Nido are simply breathtaking. They are towers of stone so high they almost kiss the clouds.They come in all shapes and forms, depending on your imagination.