Rains trigger landslides, floods in Bicol areas
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 23:17:00 12/08/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—As monsoon rains continue to affect Southern Luzon, two fishermen were reported missing while roads have been made impassable by landslides and floods in the provinces of Catanduanes and Sorsogon, officials said.
The Bicol regional disaster coordinating council identified the two fishermen as Edwin Taopo, 40, and Cezar Soriano, 40, of the village of Batalay in Bato, Catanduanes. They were last seen Friday.
A landslide also occurred in the village of Paraiso in San Miguel, Catanduanes.
The Virac-Viga road in Catanduanes was already impassable, Bicol civil defense director Raffy Alejandro said in the RDCC report.
In Sorsogon province, a spillway in the village of San Rafael in Sta. Magdalena, Sorsogon was also impassable due to rising floods. Footpaths in the villages of San Roque, San Isidro in the same town were also flooded.
Some 40 families were already evacuated and are temporarily sheltered at the San Antonio Elementary school in Sta. Magdalena.
Alejandro said the RDCC already requested a chopper from the Philippine Air Force as requested by the Catanduanes provincial government, which intends to conduct an aerial survey of the affected areas.
Corazon Samar, chief meteorologist of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration in Legazpi City said heavy rains in Bicol are caused by the tail-end of the cold front affecting the region.
She said that there is currently a gale warning over Bicol and Southern Luzon, which means these areas will experience winds gusting up to 70 kilometers per hour as induced by the surge of the northeast monsoon.
A low pressure area was spotted in the Samar area Monday morning but Samar said it was an inactive low pressure area and just a remnant of the cold front.
She said the prevailing weather from November to February is expected to be wet in the eastern side of the country especially in the coastal areas.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Thursday, December 04, 2008
‘Reming’ survivors meet new aid heroes
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
TWO YEARS AFTER SUPERTYPHOON “REMING” sent lahar from Mayon Volcano crashing down villages in Albay, killing over a thousand people, new heroes have risen from the rubble to sustain what was started from scratch.
Many international relief agencies had ceased to operate in the province, but new institutions are now bringing long-term assistance to the survivors.
A defining moment confronted Gail Narramore, a 30-year-old South African, when she visited the ruins left by lahar in Barangay Maipon in Guinobatan town. A grade school teacher from London, Narramore flew to Manila and Albay in January last year to see for herself the magnitude of the disaster.
Dream
Since childhood, Narramore has dreamed of putting up her own orphanage to care for abandoned, abused and neglected children.
While reading the Bible on a four-hour train trip in London, Narramore said she met an old Christian minister who befriended her. The man, however, died five years later but he had willed that all proceeds from his funeral be given to Narramore so she could start her charity work.
The woman’s visit to Maipon village wrenched her heart. “Around 300 people ran after me the moment the villagers noticed my presence. Maybe they thought I was there to distribute food or clothing. There was deep despair in the eyes of the people,” she recalled.
“It was raining and flooded that day. I saw one house made of bamboo standing, but half of it was buried under sand,” she said.
But Narramore could not forget the face of a woman survivor named Nora. “She looked very happy and was smiling to me as she pointed to her half-buried house,” she said.
Nora was tending a “sari-sari” (retail) store near her house. “I wrote a sign ‘Business as Usual’ and posted it there,” Narramore said.
Despite the tragedy, she said she was “shocked at how these people kept on going.”
Free day care classes
Narramore went back to Manila to learn the legal requirements and ways of putting up a charity institution. In October last year, she started the Tiwala Kids and Communities in Albay.
Tiwala has been holding free day-care classes for poor children in the hilly Sitio Cawayan in Barangay Calayucay, Sto. Domingo town. The schools are far from the village, an hour-long walk down a craggy trail.
“Most of their parents are farmers. The livelihood of the people there were badly affected after Reming,” Narramore said.
Tiwala has also been feeding and educating street children in the capital city of Legazpi.
It has Filipino volunteers and a staff. Narramore and two staff members had been living with the community in a farm in Cawayan, a 45-minute trek from downtown.
Alleviating hunger
Another kind-hearted soul, businesswoman Mediatrix Villanueva has been actively involved in linking government and nongovernment organizations for relief missions.
Seeing thousands of children facing hunger in the aftermath of the supertyphoon, Villanueva, who hails from Daraga town, created the Dios Mabalos Foundation. “Dios Mabalos,” which means “May God bless you in return,” is used by Bicolanos to express gratitude.
Villanueva said her group had been working with the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation and the Pondo ng Pinoy to hold supplemental feeding programs in schools and parishes.
“Since livelihood was badly affected by the disaster, the standard of living of families dropped. Poverty left many children sickly and malnourished,” said Erlinda Samonte, Dios Mabalos project manager.
The foundation has already fed 47,875 children over six months under its daily nutrition program dubbed “Hapag-asa.” It serves rice porridge containing Vita-meal (lentil fortified with over 28 vitamins).
It has already expanded its operations to Aklan, where Villanueva’s mother comes from.
Recovery
The provincial government has created a task force to implement a socioeconomic recovery program called “Albay Mabuhay.”
Its coordinator, Emily Kare, said many of the relief agencies had already closed, but there was still the need to bring the people’s lives back to normal and uplift them.
Albay Mabuhay has been providing skills training, credit assistance for livelihood, and job referrals and placements to beneficiaries.
If there is one good thing that “Reming” had brought to Albay, it strengthened the collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies, Kare said. “We have learned to combine our strengths to help the victims of disaster,” she said.
She said, however, that more funds were needed to complete the recovery as displaced families were still living in “transit” shelters in relocation sites. The dwellings are rooms made of plywood and galvanized iron sheets.
Kare placed the shelter gap at still 5,862 in two cities and five towns in Albay alone. Each resettlement house costs around P150,000.
Legazpi City
TWO YEARS AFTER SUPERTYPHOON “REMING” sent lahar from Mayon Volcano crashing down villages in Albay, killing over a thousand people, new heroes have risen from the rubble to sustain what was started from scratch.
Many international relief agencies had ceased to operate in the province, but new institutions are now bringing long-term assistance to the survivors.
A defining moment confronted Gail Narramore, a 30-year-old South African, when she visited the ruins left by lahar in Barangay Maipon in Guinobatan town. A grade school teacher from London, Narramore flew to Manila and Albay in January last year to see for herself the magnitude of the disaster.
Dream
Since childhood, Narramore has dreamed of putting up her own orphanage to care for abandoned, abused and neglected children.
While reading the Bible on a four-hour train trip in London, Narramore said she met an old Christian minister who befriended her. The man, however, died five years later but he had willed that all proceeds from his funeral be given to Narramore so she could start her charity work.
The woman’s visit to Maipon village wrenched her heart. “Around 300 people ran after me the moment the villagers noticed my presence. Maybe they thought I was there to distribute food or clothing. There was deep despair in the eyes of the people,” she recalled.
“It was raining and flooded that day. I saw one house made of bamboo standing, but half of it was buried under sand,” she said.
But Narramore could not forget the face of a woman survivor named Nora. “She looked very happy and was smiling to me as she pointed to her half-buried house,” she said.
Nora was tending a “sari-sari” (retail) store near her house. “I wrote a sign ‘Business as Usual’ and posted it there,” Narramore said.
Despite the tragedy, she said she was “shocked at how these people kept on going.”
Free day care classes
Narramore went back to Manila to learn the legal requirements and ways of putting up a charity institution. In October last year, she started the Tiwala Kids and Communities in Albay.
Tiwala has been holding free day-care classes for poor children in the hilly Sitio Cawayan in Barangay Calayucay, Sto. Domingo town. The schools are far from the village, an hour-long walk down a craggy trail.
“Most of their parents are farmers. The livelihood of the people there were badly affected after Reming,” Narramore said.
Tiwala has also been feeding and educating street children in the capital city of Legazpi.
It has Filipino volunteers and a staff. Narramore and two staff members had been living with the community in a farm in Cawayan, a 45-minute trek from downtown.
Alleviating hunger
Another kind-hearted soul, businesswoman Mediatrix Villanueva has been actively involved in linking government and nongovernment organizations for relief missions.
Seeing thousands of children facing hunger in the aftermath of the supertyphoon, Villanueva, who hails from Daraga town, created the Dios Mabalos Foundation. “Dios Mabalos,” which means “May God bless you in return,” is used by Bicolanos to express gratitude.
Villanueva said her group had been working with the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation and the Pondo ng Pinoy to hold supplemental feeding programs in schools and parishes.
“Since livelihood was badly affected by the disaster, the standard of living of families dropped. Poverty left many children sickly and malnourished,” said Erlinda Samonte, Dios Mabalos project manager.
The foundation has already fed 47,875 children over six months under its daily nutrition program dubbed “Hapag-asa.” It serves rice porridge containing Vita-meal (lentil fortified with over 28 vitamins).
It has already expanded its operations to Aklan, where Villanueva’s mother comes from.
Recovery
The provincial government has created a task force to implement a socioeconomic recovery program called “Albay Mabuhay.”
Its coordinator, Emily Kare, said many of the relief agencies had already closed, but there was still the need to bring the people’s lives back to normal and uplift them.
Albay Mabuhay has been providing skills training, credit assistance for livelihood, and job referrals and placements to beneficiaries.
If there is one good thing that “Reming” had brought to Albay, it strengthened the collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies, Kare said. “We have learned to combine our strengths to help the victims of disaster,” she said.
She said, however, that more funds were needed to complete the recovery as displaced families were still living in “transit” shelters in relocation sites. The dwellings are rooms made of plywood and galvanized iron sheets.
Kare placed the shelter gap at still 5,862 in two cities and five towns in Albay alone. Each resettlement house costs around P150,000.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Romblon's most wanted nabbed
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 23:02:00 11/27/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--Romblon’s most wanted fugitive, who is facing 20 counts of rape, was arrested in Mandaon town in Masbate, the provincial police reported on Thursday.
Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, identified the suspect as Apolonio Ramilo, 57, who had a P300,000 bounty for his capture.
Chief Inspector Ronaldo Fulo, group director of the 506th Provincial Police Mobile Group, said Ramilo was caught at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in a house in Barangay (village) Buri in a 20-hour pursuit operation.
Ramilo is now in the custody of the Mandaon police.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 23:02:00 11/27/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--Romblon’s most wanted fugitive, who is facing 20 counts of rape, was arrested in Mandaon town in Masbate, the provincial police reported on Thursday.
Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, identified the suspect as Apolonio Ramilo, 57, who had a P300,000 bounty for his capture.
Chief Inspector Ronaldo Fulo, group director of the 506th Provincial Police Mobile Group, said Ramilo was caught at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in a house in Barangay (village) Buri in a 20-hour pursuit operation.
Ramilo is now in the custody of the Mandaon police.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Unioil cuts prices of gasoline by P6/liter, diesel by P4/liter
By Ronnel W. Domingo and Inquirer Southern Luzon
UNIOIL PETROLEUM PHILIPPINES Inc. yesterday slashed prices of gasoline by P6 a liter and of diesel by P4 a liter as it trailed other oil firms in previous rounds of price cuts.
Unioil said that as of 2 p.m. yesterday, its suggested retail price for diesel was P34.97 per liter; unleaded gasoline, P38.49; and premium gasoline, P38.99.
The Big 3 (Petron, Shell and Chevron) and other oil firms that have moved pump rates in sync in previous rounds are mum about changing their current prices.
The last time most of the oil companies cut prices was on Saturday. They reduced prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene by P1 per liter.
The cuts brought pump rates in Metro Manila of unleaded gasoline to between P36.07 and P41.51 a liter, diesel to between P34.97 and P38.17 a liter, and kerosene to between P41.80 and P47.49 a liter.
The Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston), which yesterday led a transport strike in the Bicol region, acknowledged the Unioil rollback but said the group was asking for a rollback by the Big 3.
“If the small players, like Unioil, are able to cut prices, why not the giant companies?” said George San Mateo, Piston national secretary general.
He said the slight increase in the price of oil in the world market to $51 a barrel on Wednesday was “negligible” and did not diminish his group’s resolve on a cutback of P8 a liter.
Classes were suspended in all schools and universities in Sorsogon and Albay yesterday because of the transport strike.
Flying V lambasted Unioil for “using media to sensationalize announcements with deceiving numbers to advance (its) image and credibility.”
Joey Cruz, Flying V vice president for retail network operations, said the company was still evaluating its next move. But should it again cut prices, it would be by as much as P3 a liter for gasoline.
“For this month, Flying V has already announced price cuts totaling P3 per liter for gasoline and P4 per liter for diesel,” Cruz said. “To match Unioil’s changes, we only need to deduct these figures from their announced levels.”
On Tuesday, Seaoil Petroleum Corp. cut prices by P2 a liter for gasoline and P1 a liter for diesel.
Dubai crude down
Data from the Department of Energy show that prices of the regional benchmark Dubai have gone down by about $80 per barrel after peaking at $131.27 in July.
The price of Dubai crude stood at $54 a barrel as of Nov. 17.
The price of unleaded gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), benchmark for refined petroleum products fell to $54 a barrel, while the price of diesel stood at $78 a barrel.
Amid an increasingly deteriorating economic outlook, world oil prices continue to decline as traders worry about weaker demand for energy.
Overcharging
In Bicol, public transport workers, who are clamoring for an P8 cutback in diesel and gasoline prices, urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to use her power to prevent the “Big 3” oil companies from overcharging the public.
“That is if the President is not conniving with the giant oil companies. Her tolerance of the overpricing can be considered a betrayal of public trust,” said San Mateo.
San Mateo said that, with the P8 overprice, the three oil companies were earning almost P48 million daily in profits from jeepney drivers and P29 million from tricycle drivers.
The estimates were derived by multiplying P8 with 30 liters, the normal daily consumption of a jeepney, and with 200,000, the total number of public utility jeepneys nationwide.
The same formula was used for tricycles, which normally consume five liters daily. There are at least 650,000 tricycles in the country.
Paralyzed
Public transport was virtually paralyzed in Albay and about 70 percent of public transport was halted in Sorsogon.
San Mateo claimed that 70 percent of vehicular traffic was paralyzed in Naga City and 90 percent in Iriga City.
No strike took place in Catanduanes while a transport caravan was held in Masbate. Figures were still being gathered in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte provinces as of 11 a.m. yesterday.
Supt. Eliciar Bron, Bicol police spokesperson, said more than 10 government vehicles had been deployed to offer free rides to the public.
The PNP, Army, Air Force, Navy and local government units initiated a free-ride program.
Other drivers ply routes
In Sorsogon, the strike paralyzed the transport of passengers to the towns of Gubat, Juban, Magallanes, Irosin, Matnog and Bulan. But Mike Frayna, president of the Federated Association of Sorsogon Tricycle Operators and Drivers, said not all drivers joined the mass action.
Some drivers in other groups, who earlier said they would join the nationwide strike, did not do so and instead continued to fetch passengers.
Frayna particularly referred to Provincial Transport Alliance president Ding Bobis, who earlier said his group would lead the transport strike but was the “first” to continue carrying passengers bound for Legazpi City.
Bobis is one of the drivers of Filcab vans from Sorsogon to Legazpi.
Naga City officials said transport services continued unhampered even as members of Condor-Piston participated in the strike. They said a majority of the drivers from other transport groups continued plying their routes.
Lito del Rosario, chief of the Naga City Public Safety Office, said the overall situation of the transportation services in the city was normal as of early morning yesterday.
He announced that there was no need for the schools to suspend classes.
Short notice
Tyrone Jaucian, leader of the Federation of Trimobile Operators and Drivers in Naga Inc., complained that his group was not prepared to take part in the strike because it was informed at short notice.
Jaucian said the group only committed support to the strike.
Rafael Duque, president of the Federation of Transport Operators Drivers Association and Cooperatives (Fetrodaco), said nothing happened even as he committed on Tuesday the participation of his group in the regionwide strike.
Duque pledged that all the drivers and units of Fetrodaco, a province-wide transport organization, would stop plying their routes but cautioned that they could not guarantee a 100-percent transport paralysis because of the short notice.
Joel Ascutia, regional chair of the Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor)-Piston, said Shell, Chevron and Petron should implement a one-time big rollback since oil prices in the world market had dropped significantly.
San Mateo said a transport caravan would proceed to Metro Manila on Nov. 28 and visit the main offices of the Big 3. With reports from Ephraim Aguilar, Roy Gersalia and Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
UNIOIL PETROLEUM PHILIPPINES Inc. yesterday slashed prices of gasoline by P6 a liter and of diesel by P4 a liter as it trailed other oil firms in previous rounds of price cuts.
Unioil said that as of 2 p.m. yesterday, its suggested retail price for diesel was P34.97 per liter; unleaded gasoline, P38.49; and premium gasoline, P38.99.
The Big 3 (Petron, Shell and Chevron) and other oil firms that have moved pump rates in sync in previous rounds are mum about changing their current prices.
The last time most of the oil companies cut prices was on Saturday. They reduced prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene by P1 per liter.
The cuts brought pump rates in Metro Manila of unleaded gasoline to between P36.07 and P41.51 a liter, diesel to between P34.97 and P38.17 a liter, and kerosene to between P41.80 and P47.49 a liter.
The Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston), which yesterday led a transport strike in the Bicol region, acknowledged the Unioil rollback but said the group was asking for a rollback by the Big 3.
“If the small players, like Unioil, are able to cut prices, why not the giant companies?” said George San Mateo, Piston national secretary general.
He said the slight increase in the price of oil in the world market to $51 a barrel on Wednesday was “negligible” and did not diminish his group’s resolve on a cutback of P8 a liter.
Classes were suspended in all schools and universities in Sorsogon and Albay yesterday because of the transport strike.
Flying V lambasted Unioil for “using media to sensationalize announcements with deceiving numbers to advance (its) image and credibility.”
Joey Cruz, Flying V vice president for retail network operations, said the company was still evaluating its next move. But should it again cut prices, it would be by as much as P3 a liter for gasoline.
“For this month, Flying V has already announced price cuts totaling P3 per liter for gasoline and P4 per liter for diesel,” Cruz said. “To match Unioil’s changes, we only need to deduct these figures from their announced levels.”
On Tuesday, Seaoil Petroleum Corp. cut prices by P2 a liter for gasoline and P1 a liter for diesel.
Dubai crude down
Data from the Department of Energy show that prices of the regional benchmark Dubai have gone down by about $80 per barrel after peaking at $131.27 in July.
The price of Dubai crude stood at $54 a barrel as of Nov. 17.
The price of unleaded gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), benchmark for refined petroleum products fell to $54 a barrel, while the price of diesel stood at $78 a barrel.
Amid an increasingly deteriorating economic outlook, world oil prices continue to decline as traders worry about weaker demand for energy.
Overcharging
In Bicol, public transport workers, who are clamoring for an P8 cutback in diesel and gasoline prices, urged President Macapagal-Arroyo to use her power to prevent the “Big 3” oil companies from overcharging the public.
“That is if the President is not conniving with the giant oil companies. Her tolerance of the overpricing can be considered a betrayal of public trust,” said San Mateo.
San Mateo said that, with the P8 overprice, the three oil companies were earning almost P48 million daily in profits from jeepney drivers and P29 million from tricycle drivers.
The estimates were derived by multiplying P8 with 30 liters, the normal daily consumption of a jeepney, and with 200,000, the total number of public utility jeepneys nationwide.
The same formula was used for tricycles, which normally consume five liters daily. There are at least 650,000 tricycles in the country.
Paralyzed
Public transport was virtually paralyzed in Albay and about 70 percent of public transport was halted in Sorsogon.
San Mateo claimed that 70 percent of vehicular traffic was paralyzed in Naga City and 90 percent in Iriga City.
No strike took place in Catanduanes while a transport caravan was held in Masbate. Figures were still being gathered in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte provinces as of 11 a.m. yesterday.
Supt. Eliciar Bron, Bicol police spokesperson, said more than 10 government vehicles had been deployed to offer free rides to the public.
The PNP, Army, Air Force, Navy and local government units initiated a free-ride program.
Other drivers ply routes
In Sorsogon, the strike paralyzed the transport of passengers to the towns of Gubat, Juban, Magallanes, Irosin, Matnog and Bulan. But Mike Frayna, president of the Federated Association of Sorsogon Tricycle Operators and Drivers, said not all drivers joined the mass action.
Some drivers in other groups, who earlier said they would join the nationwide strike, did not do so and instead continued to fetch passengers.
Frayna particularly referred to Provincial Transport Alliance president Ding Bobis, who earlier said his group would lead the transport strike but was the “first” to continue carrying passengers bound for Legazpi City.
Bobis is one of the drivers of Filcab vans from Sorsogon to Legazpi.
Naga City officials said transport services continued unhampered even as members of Condor-Piston participated in the strike. They said a majority of the drivers from other transport groups continued plying their routes.
Lito del Rosario, chief of the Naga City Public Safety Office, said the overall situation of the transportation services in the city was normal as of early morning yesterday.
He announced that there was no need for the schools to suspend classes.
Short notice
Tyrone Jaucian, leader of the Federation of Trimobile Operators and Drivers in Naga Inc., complained that his group was not prepared to take part in the strike because it was informed at short notice.
Jaucian said the group only committed support to the strike.
Rafael Duque, president of the Federation of Transport Operators Drivers Association and Cooperatives (Fetrodaco), said nothing happened even as he committed on Tuesday the participation of his group in the regionwide strike.
Duque pledged that all the drivers and units of Fetrodaco, a province-wide transport organization, would stop plying their routes but cautioned that they could not guarantee a 100-percent transport paralysis because of the short notice.
Joel Ascutia, regional chair of the Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor)-Piston, said Shell, Chevron and Petron should implement a one-time big rollback since oil prices in the world market had dropped significantly.
San Mateo said a transport caravan would proceed to Metro Manila on Nov. 28 and visit the main offices of the Big 3. With reports from Ephraim Aguilar, Roy Gersalia and Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
Transport strike cripples Albay
By Ephraim Aguilar, Roy Gersalia, Juan Escandor Jr.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 04:48:00 11/27/2008
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Public transport was virtually paralyzed in Albay province and about 70 percent of public transport was halted in Sorsogon province.
George San Mateo, Piston secretary general, claimed that 70 percent of vehicular traffic was paralyzed in Naga City and 90 percent in Iriga City.
No strike took place in Catanduanes province while a transport caravan was held in Masbate province. Figures were still being gathered in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte provinces as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Supt. Eliciar Bron, Bicol police spokesperson, said more than 10 government vehicles had been deployed to offer free rides to the public.
The Philippine National Police, Army, Air Force, Navy and local government units initiated a free-ride program.
Other drivers ply routes
In Sorsogon, the strike paralyzed the transport of passengers to the towns of Gubat, Juban, Magallanes, Irosin, Matnog and Bulan.
But Mike Frayna, president of the Federated Association of Sorsogon Tricycle Operators and Drivers, said not all drivers joined the mass action.
Some drivers in other groups, who earlier said they would join the nationwide strike, did not do so and instead continued to fetch passengers.
Frayna particularly referred to Provincial Transport Alliance president Ding Bobis, who earlier said his group would lead the transport strike but was the “first” to continue carrying passengers bound for Legazpi City.
Bobis is one of the drivers of Filcab vans from Sorsogon to Legazpi.
Naga City officials said transport services continued unhampered even as members of Condor-Piston participated in the strike. They said a majority of the drivers from other transport groups continued plying their routes.
Lito del Rosario, chief of the Naga City Public Safety Office, said the overall situation of the transportation services in the city was normal as of early morning Wednesday.
He announced that there was no need for the schools to suspend classes.
Short notice
Tyrone Jaucian, leader of the Federation of Trimobile Operators and Drivers in Naga Inc., complained that his group was not prepared to take part in the strike because it was informed at short notice.
Jaucian said the group only committed support to the strike.
Rafael Duque, president of the Federation of Transport Operators Drivers Association and Cooperatives (Fetrodaco), said nothing happened even as he committed on Tuesday the participation of his group in the region-wide strike.
Duque pledged that all the drivers and units of Fetrodaco, a province-wide transport organization, would stop plying their routes but cautioned that they could not guarantee a 100-percent transport paralysis because of the short notice.
Joel Ascutia, regional chair of the Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor)-Piston, said Shell, Chevron and Petron should implement a one-time big rollback since oil prices in the world market had dropped significantly.
San Mateo said a transport caravan would proceed to Metro Manila on Nov. 28 and visit the main offices of the Big 3.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 04:48:00 11/27/2008
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Public transport was virtually paralyzed in Albay province and about 70 percent of public transport was halted in Sorsogon province.
George San Mateo, Piston secretary general, claimed that 70 percent of vehicular traffic was paralyzed in Naga City and 90 percent in Iriga City.
No strike took place in Catanduanes province while a transport caravan was held in Masbate province. Figures were still being gathered in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte provinces as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Supt. Eliciar Bron, Bicol police spokesperson, said more than 10 government vehicles had been deployed to offer free rides to the public.
The Philippine National Police, Army, Air Force, Navy and local government units initiated a free-ride program.
Other drivers ply routes
In Sorsogon, the strike paralyzed the transport of passengers to the towns of Gubat, Juban, Magallanes, Irosin, Matnog and Bulan.
But Mike Frayna, president of the Federated Association of Sorsogon Tricycle Operators and Drivers, said not all drivers joined the mass action.
Some drivers in other groups, who earlier said they would join the nationwide strike, did not do so and instead continued to fetch passengers.
Frayna particularly referred to Provincial Transport Alliance president Ding Bobis, who earlier said his group would lead the transport strike but was the “first” to continue carrying passengers bound for Legazpi City.
Bobis is one of the drivers of Filcab vans from Sorsogon to Legazpi.
Naga City officials said transport services continued unhampered even as members of Condor-Piston participated in the strike. They said a majority of the drivers from other transport groups continued plying their routes.
Lito del Rosario, chief of the Naga City Public Safety Office, said the overall situation of the transportation services in the city was normal as of early morning Wednesday.
He announced that there was no need for the schools to suspend classes.
Short notice
Tyrone Jaucian, leader of the Federation of Trimobile Operators and Drivers in Naga Inc., complained that his group was not prepared to take part in the strike because it was informed at short notice.
Jaucian said the group only committed support to the strike.
Rafael Duque, president of the Federation of Transport Operators Drivers Association and Cooperatives (Fetrodaco), said nothing happened even as he committed on Tuesday the participation of his group in the region-wide strike.
Duque pledged that all the drivers and units of Fetrodaco, a province-wide transport organization, would stop plying their routes but cautioned that they could not guarantee a 100-percent transport paralysis because of the short notice.
Joel Ascutia, regional chair of the Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor)-Piston, said Shell, Chevron and Petron should implement a one-time big rollback since oil prices in the world market had dropped significantly.
San Mateo said a transport caravan would proceed to Metro Manila on Nov. 28 and visit the main offices of the Big 3.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Bicol drivers to hold strike tomorrow for P8 oil price rollback
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY—A militant group of jeepney drivers yesterday announced a Bicol-wide strike tomorrow to press the top three oil companies to immediately bring down prices of diesel and gasoline by P8 per liter.
Joel Ascutia, regional chair of the Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor)-Piston, yesterday said Shell, Chevron and Petron should implement a one-time-big-time rollback since oil prices in the world market had dropped more than three times already.
From the highest $147 a barrel, crude oil price has already gone down to a record low of $45.
The group expects more than 10,000 drivers of jeepneys and tricycles to join the strike from 1 a.m. till midnight and paralyze 95 percent of vehicular traffic.
Ascutia said the riding public should also benefit from the great plunge of world oil prices.
George San Mateo, secretary general of Condor-Piston, said that with the P8 overprice, the three oil companies were earning almost P48 million daily in profits from jeepney drivers and P29 million from tricycle drivers.
The estimates were derived by multiplying P8 with 30 liters, the normal consumption of one jeepney a day, and with 200,000, the total number of public utility jeepneys nationwide.
The same formula was used for tricycles, which normally consume five liters daily. There are at least 650,000 tricycles in the country.
Mateo said that although oil prices were legally deregulated, President Macapagal-Arroyo should exercise an oversight function through government agencies and task forces. “(Her) tolerance of the overpricing of giant oil firms is considered a betrayal of public trust, which is an impeachable offense,” he added.
Tessa Lopez, regional spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said the Big 3’s excess profits would reach at least P320 million daily, covering both public and private transportation.
Ascutia said Condor-Piston was calling for the lifting of the 12 percent value-added tax on oil, the scrapping of the oil deregulation law, the nationalization of oil exploration and production, and the abolition of the cartel system in the industry.
The group’s leaders also urged laborers and employees not to go to work, students and teachers not to attend classes, and poor families to hold a noise barrage during the strike.
In Manila, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board will hold a public hearing on a fare rollback on Dec. 3. Last month, it granted a 50-centavo probationary rollback but consumers are asking for P1 more with the further decreases in world oil prices. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—A militant group of jeepney drivers yesterday announced a Bicol-wide strike tomorrow to press the top three oil companies to immediately bring down prices of diesel and gasoline by P8 per liter.
Joel Ascutia, regional chair of the Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor)-Piston, yesterday said Shell, Chevron and Petron should implement a one-time-big-time rollback since oil prices in the world market had dropped more than three times already.
From the highest $147 a barrel, crude oil price has already gone down to a record low of $45.
The group expects more than 10,000 drivers of jeepneys and tricycles to join the strike from 1 a.m. till midnight and paralyze 95 percent of vehicular traffic.
Ascutia said the riding public should also benefit from the great plunge of world oil prices.
George San Mateo, secretary general of Condor-Piston, said that with the P8 overprice, the three oil companies were earning almost P48 million daily in profits from jeepney drivers and P29 million from tricycle drivers.
The estimates were derived by multiplying P8 with 30 liters, the normal consumption of one jeepney a day, and with 200,000, the total number of public utility jeepneys nationwide.
The same formula was used for tricycles, which normally consume five liters daily. There are at least 650,000 tricycles in the country.
Mateo said that although oil prices were legally deregulated, President Macapagal-Arroyo should exercise an oversight function through government agencies and task forces. “(Her) tolerance of the overpricing of giant oil firms is considered a betrayal of public trust, which is an impeachable offense,” he added.
Tessa Lopez, regional spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said the Big 3’s excess profits would reach at least P320 million daily, covering both public and private transportation.
Ascutia said Condor-Piston was calling for the lifting of the 12 percent value-added tax on oil, the scrapping of the oil deregulation law, the nationalization of oil exploration and production, and the abolition of the cartel system in the industry.
The group’s leaders also urged laborers and employees not to go to work, students and teachers not to attend classes, and poor families to hold a noise barrage during the strike.
In Manila, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board will hold a public hearing on a fare rollback on Dec. 3. Last month, it granted a 50-centavo probationary rollback but consumers are asking for P1 more with the further decreases in world oil prices. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
30,000 more teachers needed, says DepEd chief
LEGAZPI CITY—PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE country lack at least 30,000 teachers, a problem that can be addressed by investing more funds on the education sector despite the crisis, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said Monday.
Lapus, who was in Albay province for the formal turnover of school buildings donated by the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (Unicef), said the whole world is now focused on education as the best anti-poverty measure amid the global financial crisis.
“But I believe we are not that vulnerable to the crisis. We are far from the eye of the storm, so to speak” he said.
Lapus added that there are no indications of a declining trend in the amount of foreign aid pouring in for the education sector as the world crunch looms.
As proof, he cited the Safe Schools Project of the Unicef, which aims to build 60 classrooms in 49 schools and to rehabilitate 86 classrooms in 36 schools with funds of at least $321,000.
“I believe that our country is not so vulnerable to the crisis. We have a diversified economy and sources (of foreign aid),” Lapus said.
He added that there are countries, like Australia, that have increased their aid for the country’s education by as much as three to four times.
Lapus said the classroom gap is also gradually being bridged.
“We now generally have a 1-is-to-45-classroom-student ratio, which is what the law requires,” he said.
The Safe Schools Project aims to build elevated hazard-resilient classrooms that can also serve as safer evacuation centers in times of disasters. There are now 16 typhoon-proof school buildings in Bicol.
The buildings are made of concrete and steel while the roof is reinforced by concrete beams to withstand pressure. The floor line is built one meter above the ground. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Lapus, who was in Albay province for the formal turnover of school buildings donated by the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (Unicef), said the whole world is now focused on education as the best anti-poverty measure amid the global financial crisis.
“But I believe we are not that vulnerable to the crisis. We are far from the eye of the storm, so to speak” he said.
Lapus added that there are no indications of a declining trend in the amount of foreign aid pouring in for the education sector as the world crunch looms.
As proof, he cited the Safe Schools Project of the Unicef, which aims to build 60 classrooms in 49 schools and to rehabilitate 86 classrooms in 36 schools with funds of at least $321,000.
“I believe that our country is not so vulnerable to the crisis. We have a diversified economy and sources (of foreign aid),” Lapus said.
He added that there are countries, like Australia, that have increased their aid for the country’s education by as much as three to four times.
Lapus said the classroom gap is also gradually being bridged.
“We now generally have a 1-is-to-45-classroom-student ratio, which is what the law requires,” he said.
The Safe Schools Project aims to build elevated hazard-resilient classrooms that can also serve as safer evacuation centers in times of disasters. There are now 16 typhoon-proof school buildings in Bicol.
The buildings are made of concrete and steel while the roof is reinforced by concrete beams to withstand pressure. The floor line is built one meter above the ground. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Friday, November 14, 2008
Ill-fated ferry docked at illegal port
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:55:00 11/13/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—The port in Dimasalang, Masbate from where the ill-fated MB Don Dexter Cathlyn left on November 4 before the tragedy that killed at least 43 was found out to be an illegal private port.
Conducting a separate and independent investigation on the Masbate ferry tragedy, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) found out that the Dimasalang port has been a private docking facility of the owner of Don Dexter Cathlyn.
Dante Jimenez, VACC chair, said that according to the locals of Dimasalang town, the port has not been licensed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
"We are writing to the PPA officials in Manila to ask them how this port in Dimasalang came about. Can private ports be easily established anywhere in the country?" Jimenez said by phone.
He said the VACC was also questioning why public utility vessels were allowed to operate in a private docking facility.
He said there was no Coast Guard detachment at the private port, which was, naturally, not subject to government control.
Jimenez added that if there were many other unlicensed private ports in the country, the government could be losing huge revenues.
He said the ports could also be venues for smuggling activities.
The ongoing Special Board of Marine Inquiry in Masbate City is delving mainly on the alleged overloading of passengers and the sailing of the boat without due notice to the Coast Guard.
Captain Henry Caballero, Bicol Coast Guard commander, said the boat captain, Dante Bombales, did not inform the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan town before it left the port in Dimasalang town.
Cataingan is 30 kilometers away.
Lucita Madarang, Maritime Industry Authority director in Bicol, confirmed the VACC findings.
She said the PPA on Thursday furnished the Marina a copy of the cease and desist order issued to Gene Zuñiga, owner of the Dimasalang port and the Don Dexter Cathlyn.
The order disallowed operations of the private port, where five passenger vessels dock.
The PPA, in the document, said Zuñiga applied for a foreshore lease covering an area of 1,000 square meters for the establishment of a commercial port but it has not yet been approved.
The motorized boat was on its way from Dimasalang, Masbate, to Bulan, Sorsogon, when it was struck by a squall, which caused it to overturn and toss its passengers into the sea.
The official manifest registered 119 passengers but the Coast Guard list showed there were 156 aboard the ill-fated boat.
Marina documents showed it had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Madarang said that based on Marina's separate investigation, a total of 120 survivors signified claims on the financial aid extended by the
government on the tragedy victims.
If all the claimants are to be believed, this would mean 172 were aboard the motorboat.
"This is not to prejudice the ongoing inquiry. We will still validate these figures," Madarang said.
Rescuers have already retrieved 43 bodies, the latest of which was found floating on midsea.
The corpse was identified by relatives as that of Minda Velarmino, 54, of Barangay (Village) Cudolan in Dimasalang town, said Ensign Jeffrey Collado, operations officer of PCG-Bicol.
Two Coast Guard vessels are still perusing the seawaters of Dimasalang in search for bodies.
The Don Dexter Cathlyn sinking came just four months after that of Sulpicio Lines' MV Princess of the Stars off Romblon at the height of a typhoon last June 21, drowning about 800 passengers and crewmen.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:55:00 11/13/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—The port in Dimasalang, Masbate from where the ill-fated MB Don Dexter Cathlyn left on November 4 before the tragedy that killed at least 43 was found out to be an illegal private port.
Conducting a separate and independent investigation on the Masbate ferry tragedy, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) found out that the Dimasalang port has been a private docking facility of the owner of Don Dexter Cathlyn.
Dante Jimenez, VACC chair, said that according to the locals of Dimasalang town, the port has not been licensed by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).
"We are writing to the PPA officials in Manila to ask them how this port in Dimasalang came about. Can private ports be easily established anywhere in the country?" Jimenez said by phone.
He said the VACC was also questioning why public utility vessels were allowed to operate in a private docking facility.
He said there was no Coast Guard detachment at the private port, which was, naturally, not subject to government control.
Jimenez added that if there were many other unlicensed private ports in the country, the government could be losing huge revenues.
He said the ports could also be venues for smuggling activities.
The ongoing Special Board of Marine Inquiry in Masbate City is delving mainly on the alleged overloading of passengers and the sailing of the boat without due notice to the Coast Guard.
Captain Henry Caballero, Bicol Coast Guard commander, said the boat captain, Dante Bombales, did not inform the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan town before it left the port in Dimasalang town.
Cataingan is 30 kilometers away.
Lucita Madarang, Maritime Industry Authority director in Bicol, confirmed the VACC findings.
She said the PPA on Thursday furnished the Marina a copy of the cease and desist order issued to Gene Zuñiga, owner of the Dimasalang port and the Don Dexter Cathlyn.
The order disallowed operations of the private port, where five passenger vessels dock.
The PPA, in the document, said Zuñiga applied for a foreshore lease covering an area of 1,000 square meters for the establishment of a commercial port but it has not yet been approved.
The motorized boat was on its way from Dimasalang, Masbate, to Bulan, Sorsogon, when it was struck by a squall, which caused it to overturn and toss its passengers into the sea.
The official manifest registered 119 passengers but the Coast Guard list showed there were 156 aboard the ill-fated boat.
Marina documents showed it had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Madarang said that based on Marina's separate investigation, a total of 120 survivors signified claims on the financial aid extended by the
government on the tragedy victims.
If all the claimants are to be believed, this would mean 172 were aboard the motorboat.
"This is not to prejudice the ongoing inquiry. We will still validate these figures," Madarang said.
Rescuers have already retrieved 43 bodies, the latest of which was found floating on midsea.
The corpse was identified by relatives as that of Minda Velarmino, 54, of Barangay (Village) Cudolan in Dimasalang town, said Ensign Jeffrey Collado, operations officer of PCG-Bicol.
Two Coast Guard vessels are still perusing the seawaters of Dimasalang in search for bodies.
The Don Dexter Cathlyn sinking came just four months after that of Sulpicio Lines' MV Princess of the Stars off Romblon at the height of a typhoon last June 21, drowning about 800 passengers and crewmen.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Masbate Coast Guard exec axed
LEGAZPI CITY—A MASBATE COAST guard station commander was relieved from office to make way for a fair investigation on the cause of the MB Don Dexter sea tragedy that killed at least 42 people, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.
Capt. Henry Caballero, Bicol Coast Guard commander, said Capt. Reynaldo Fabico, Masbate Coast Guard station commander, was temporarily relieved from office before the conduct of formal investigation.
The Special Board Marine inquiry will start today in Masbate City and is expected to delve on the alleged overloading of passengers and the sailing of the motorized boat without due notice to the Coast Guard.
Caballero said the boat captain, Dante Bombales, did not inform the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan town before it left the port in Dimasalang town.
“We do not have a Coast Guard detachment in Dimasalang. The captain should have sent a radio message to the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan, which is 30 kilometers away,” Caballero said.
The motor boat was ferrying passengers from Dimasalang to Bulan, Sorsogon when it capsized after a sudden squall struck it five kilometers off the shoreline.
Apprentice seaman Jecosalem Berces of PCG-Bicol said that as of Sunday, 42 were reported dead, 10 missing, and 105 survivors.
The official manifest registered 119 passengers but the Coast Guard list showed there were 156 aboard the ill-fated ferry.
Documents from the Maritime Industry Authority showed that the MB Don Dexter had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Two Coast Guard vessels are still perusing the seawaters of Dimasalang in search for missing corpses. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon (ATN)
Capt. Henry Caballero, Bicol Coast Guard commander, said Capt. Reynaldo Fabico, Masbate Coast Guard station commander, was temporarily relieved from office before the conduct of formal investigation.
The Special Board Marine inquiry will start today in Masbate City and is expected to delve on the alleged overloading of passengers and the sailing of the motorized boat without due notice to the Coast Guard.
Caballero said the boat captain, Dante Bombales, did not inform the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan town before it left the port in Dimasalang town.
“We do not have a Coast Guard detachment in Dimasalang. The captain should have sent a radio message to the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan, which is 30 kilometers away,” Caballero said.
The motor boat was ferrying passengers from Dimasalang to Bulan, Sorsogon when it capsized after a sudden squall struck it five kilometers off the shoreline.
Apprentice seaman Jecosalem Berces of PCG-Bicol said that as of Sunday, 42 were reported dead, 10 missing, and 105 survivors.
The official manifest registered 119 passengers but the Coast Guard list showed there were 156 aboard the ill-fated ferry.
Documents from the Maritime Industry Authority showed that the MB Don Dexter had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Two Coast Guard vessels are still perusing the seawaters of Dimasalang in search for missing corpses. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon (ATN)
Sunday, November 09, 2008
OVER BOAT SINKING
Masbate Coast Guard chief relieved
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:08:00 11/09/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--A Masbate Coast Guard station commander was relieved to make way for a fair investigation on the cause of the MB Don Dexter sea tragedy that killed at least 42 people, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.
Capt. Henry Caballero, Bicol Coast Guard commander, said Capt.
Reynaldo Fabico, Masbate coast guard station commander, was temporarily relieved before the holding of a formal investigation.
The Special Board Marine inquiry will start Monday in Masbate City and is expected delve into the alleged overloading of passengers and the sailing of the motorized boat without due notice to the Coast Guard.
Caballero said the boat captain, who was identified as Dante Bombales, did not inform the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan town before it left the port in Dimasalang town, both in Masbate province.
"We do not have a Coast Guard detachment in Dimasalang. The captain should have sent a radio message to the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan, which is 30 kilometers away," Caballero said.
The motor boat was ferrying passengers from Dimasalang to Bulan, Sorsogon when it capsized after a sudden squall struck it five kilometers off the shoreline.
Apprentice Seaman Jecosalem Berces of PCG-Bicol said that as of
Sunday, 42 have been confirmed dead, 10 remained missing, and 105 survived.
The official manifest registered 119 passengers but the Coast Guard list showed there were 156 aboard the ill-fated ferry.
Documents from the Maritime Industry Authority showed that the Don Dexter Cathlyn had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Two Coast Guard vessels are still perusing the seawaters of Dimasalang in search for bodies. All bodies earlier retrieved have already been claimed by their relatives, said Dimasalang Mayor Dempha Du Naga by phone.
The Don Dexter sinking came just four months after that of Sulpicio Lines' MV Princes of the Stars off Romblon at the height of a typhoon last June 21, drowning about 800 passengers and crew.
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:08:00 11/09/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--A Masbate Coast Guard station commander was relieved to make way for a fair investigation on the cause of the MB Don Dexter sea tragedy that killed at least 42 people, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.
Capt. Henry Caballero, Bicol Coast Guard commander, said Capt.
Reynaldo Fabico, Masbate coast guard station commander, was temporarily relieved before the holding of a formal investigation.
The Special Board Marine inquiry will start Monday in Masbate City and is expected delve into the alleged overloading of passengers and the sailing of the motorized boat without due notice to the Coast Guard.
Caballero said the boat captain, who was identified as Dante Bombales, did not inform the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan town before it left the port in Dimasalang town, both in Masbate province.
"We do not have a Coast Guard detachment in Dimasalang. The captain should have sent a radio message to the Coast Guard detachment in Cataingan, which is 30 kilometers away," Caballero said.
The motor boat was ferrying passengers from Dimasalang to Bulan, Sorsogon when it capsized after a sudden squall struck it five kilometers off the shoreline.
Apprentice Seaman Jecosalem Berces of PCG-Bicol said that as of
Sunday, 42 have been confirmed dead, 10 remained missing, and 105 survived.
The official manifest registered 119 passengers but the Coast Guard list showed there were 156 aboard the ill-fated ferry.
Documents from the Maritime Industry Authority showed that the Don Dexter Cathlyn had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Two Coast Guard vessels are still perusing the seawaters of Dimasalang in search for bodies. All bodies earlier retrieved have already been claimed by their relatives, said Dimasalang Mayor Dempha Du Naga by phone.
The Don Dexter sinking came just four months after that of Sulpicio Lines' MV Princes of the Stars off Romblon at the height of a typhoon last June 21, drowning about 800 passengers and crew.
Friday, November 07, 2008
‘Quinta’ stops retrieval operations for ferry victims
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
and Alcuin Papa, A6
INQUIRER.net
STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS brought by Tropical Depression “Quinta” prompted authorities to suspend retrieval operations of nine more missing passengers of the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn.
The death toll stood at 42 while there were 101 survivors as of Thursday afternoon, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Bicol.
The motorized boat was on its way from Dimasalang, Masbate, to Bulan, Sorsogon, on Tuesday afternoon, when it was struck by a sudden squall, which caused it to overturn and toss its passengers into the sea.
Transportation Undersecretary Elena Bautista visited Dimasalang town with PCG officials to start the preliminary investigation of the sea tragedy.
Bautista questioned the boat owner about the cause of the tragedy.
A special Board of Marine Inquiry will determine whether force majeure or human error caused the sinking, and look into reports that the boat was overloaded when it left Dimasalang, Masbate.
Commodore Cecil Chen will head the special Board of Marine Inquiry, according to PCG spokesperson Capt. Enrico Evangelista.
Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, earlier said 119 passengers were officially recorded. But a list sent to the Inquirer by Capt. Henry Caballero of PCG-Bicol showed there were 42 dead, nine missing and 100 survivors, for a total of 151.
Due to bad weather, President Macapagal-Arroyo’s scheduled visit to Dimasalang town on Thursday afternoon was canceled.
From the Local Peace and Security Assembly (LPSA) in Clark Zone, Pampanga, Ms Arroyo was expected to arrive in Dimasalang town to console victims of the tragedy and give them financial aid.
Raffy Alejandro, civil defense director in Bicol, said the retrieval operations were called off after Masbate province was placed under Storm Signal No. 1.
Signal No. 1 was also raised over Mindoro island, the northern part of Palawan, Romblon, Camiguin, Biliran Island, Western Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Antique, and Guimaras Island.
The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers.
Quinta is expected to bring gloomy weather to Metro Manila with high chances of rain in the coming days, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday.
Lots of rain
“It is a weak typhoon but the weak ones bring lots of rain,” Nathaniel Cruz, Pagasa weather bureau chief, told the Inquirer.
Rains could become widespread over the eastern section of the country and may cause flash floods and landslides.
Quinta started as a low pressure area affecting Mindanao but developed into a tropical depression as it moved toward the Visayas, according to Cruz.
Cruz said the storm was moving toward Central Visayas as it was spotted 40 kilometers northeast of Mactan, Cebu. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 45 kph near the center.
Quinta is forecast to move northwestward at 19 kph. It is expected to move toward northern Palawan before it exits the South China Sea.
Cuyo Island
By Friday morning, Quinta is predicted to be 80 km north of Cuyo Island or 90 km South of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
It is expected to be 440 km west of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, by Saturday morning and 830 km west of Metro Manila by Sunday afternoon.
Because of the storm, two ships of the Philippine Navy were withdrawn from the vicinity of the capsized boat off the coast of Masbate, said Lt. Junior Grade German Acido, Naval Forces Southern Luzon spokesperson.
Authorities prohibited sea vessels from sailing to and from Masbate island.
Stranded
At least 126 passengers, 15 motorized boats, seven sea vessels, six trucks, and four cars were stranded in the ports of Masbate City and Pilar, Sorsogon.
Alejandro said families of the victims of the sea tragedy already received P3,000-burial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and P5,000 from the Masbate provincial government.
This does not include the financial assistance to be given by the President.
Registered owner
Alejandro said survivors of the tragedy complained against the boat owner’s nonchalance. Quoting the irate victims, Alejandro said the boat owner’s office was closed prompting police to search for her.
Documents from the Maritime Industry Authority showed the Don Dexter Cathlyn was registered to a certain Amiel Tamayo but a certain Gennie Zuñiga was reported as its owner.
The Inquirer tried to call Gennie Zuñiga but a woman who picked up the call said she was not there.
Princess of the Stars
In Sibuyan, Harbor Star, the private salvor recovering bodies inside the MV Princess of the Stars, suspended the retrieval operation yesterday.
In a statement, the company said divers managed to recover three bodies from Deck B, putting the total retrieved cadavers at 166.
Due to the bad weather, the tugs and the barge that are being used in the retrieval operation sailed from Sibuyan Island to Romblon for shelter, the company said.
Harbor Star is expected to wrap up the retrieval operations this weekend. It will then transfer the bodies to Cebu City, where the National Bureau of Investigation will process DNA samples to identify the victims.
The Princess of the Stars, which is owned by Sulpicio Lines, capsized in Sibuyan Sea in June when it sailed into the eye of Typhoon “Frank.” Only 57 out of the 850 passengers survived the tragedy. With a report from Kristine L. Alave
Inquirer Southern Luzon
and Alcuin Papa, A6
INQUIRER.net
STRONG WINDS AND HEAVY RAINS brought by Tropical Depression “Quinta” prompted authorities to suspend retrieval operations of nine more missing passengers of the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn.
The death toll stood at 42 while there were 101 survivors as of Thursday afternoon, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Bicol.
The motorized boat was on its way from Dimasalang, Masbate, to Bulan, Sorsogon, on Tuesday afternoon, when it was struck by a sudden squall, which caused it to overturn and toss its passengers into the sea.
Transportation Undersecretary Elena Bautista visited Dimasalang town with PCG officials to start the preliminary investigation of the sea tragedy.
Bautista questioned the boat owner about the cause of the tragedy.
A special Board of Marine Inquiry will determine whether force majeure or human error caused the sinking, and look into reports that the boat was overloaded when it left Dimasalang, Masbate.
Commodore Cecil Chen will head the special Board of Marine Inquiry, according to PCG spokesperson Capt. Enrico Evangelista.
Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, earlier said 119 passengers were officially recorded. But a list sent to the Inquirer by Capt. Henry Caballero of PCG-Bicol showed there were 42 dead, nine missing and 100 survivors, for a total of 151.
Due to bad weather, President Macapagal-Arroyo’s scheduled visit to Dimasalang town on Thursday afternoon was canceled.
From the Local Peace and Security Assembly (LPSA) in Clark Zone, Pampanga, Ms Arroyo was expected to arrive in Dimasalang town to console victims of the tragedy and give them financial aid.
Raffy Alejandro, civil defense director in Bicol, said the retrieval operations were called off after Masbate province was placed under Storm Signal No. 1.
Signal No. 1 was also raised over Mindoro island, the northern part of Palawan, Romblon, Camiguin, Biliran Island, Western Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, Antique, and Guimaras Island.
The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers.
Quinta is expected to bring gloomy weather to Metro Manila with high chances of rain in the coming days, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday.
Lots of rain
“It is a weak typhoon but the weak ones bring lots of rain,” Nathaniel Cruz, Pagasa weather bureau chief, told the Inquirer.
Rains could become widespread over the eastern section of the country and may cause flash floods and landslides.
Quinta started as a low pressure area affecting Mindanao but developed into a tropical depression as it moved toward the Visayas, according to Cruz.
Cruz said the storm was moving toward Central Visayas as it was spotted 40 kilometers northeast of Mactan, Cebu. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 45 kph near the center.
Quinta is forecast to move northwestward at 19 kph. It is expected to move toward northern Palawan before it exits the South China Sea.
Cuyo Island
By Friday morning, Quinta is predicted to be 80 km north of Cuyo Island or 90 km South of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.
It is expected to be 440 km west of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, by Saturday morning and 830 km west of Metro Manila by Sunday afternoon.
Because of the storm, two ships of the Philippine Navy were withdrawn from the vicinity of the capsized boat off the coast of Masbate, said Lt. Junior Grade German Acido, Naval Forces Southern Luzon spokesperson.
Authorities prohibited sea vessels from sailing to and from Masbate island.
Stranded
At least 126 passengers, 15 motorized boats, seven sea vessels, six trucks, and four cars were stranded in the ports of Masbate City and Pilar, Sorsogon.
Alejandro said families of the victims of the sea tragedy already received P3,000-burial assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and P5,000 from the Masbate provincial government.
This does not include the financial assistance to be given by the President.
Registered owner
Alejandro said survivors of the tragedy complained against the boat owner’s nonchalance. Quoting the irate victims, Alejandro said the boat owner’s office was closed prompting police to search for her.
Documents from the Maritime Industry Authority showed the Don Dexter Cathlyn was registered to a certain Amiel Tamayo but a certain Gennie Zuñiga was reported as its owner.
The Inquirer tried to call Gennie Zuñiga but a woman who picked up the call said she was not there.
Princess of the Stars
In Sibuyan, Harbor Star, the private salvor recovering bodies inside the MV Princess of the Stars, suspended the retrieval operation yesterday.
In a statement, the company said divers managed to recover three bodies from Deck B, putting the total retrieved cadavers at 166.
Due to the bad weather, the tugs and the barge that are being used in the retrieval operation sailed from Sibuyan Island to Romblon for shelter, the company said.
Harbor Star is expected to wrap up the retrieval operations this weekend. It will then transfer the bodies to Cebu City, where the National Bureau of Investigation will process DNA samples to identify the victims.
The Princess of the Stars, which is owned by Sulpicio Lines, capsized in Sibuyan Sea in June when it sailed into the eye of Typhoon “Frank.” Only 57 out of the 850 passengers survived the tragedy. With a report from Kristine L. Alave
Thursday, November 06, 2008
British tourists warned vs RP sea travel
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 13:28:00 11/06/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- The sea tragedy involving the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, which capsized Tuesday off Masbate province killing at least 42, has prompted the British embassy to issue a travel advisory warning its tourists of inter-island travel risks in the country.
"Inter-island travel by small boats can be dangerous as storms appear quickly," the advisory posted on the embassy's website Wednesday night said.
The same advisory underscored "terrorism in Mindanao and a high incidence of piracy and armed robbery against ships in and around the Philippine waters."
The motorized boat was on its way to Bulan, Sorsogon, when struck by a sudden squall which caused it to overturn and toss its passengers into the sea.
Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, had said that 119 passengers were officially recorded. But a list sent to Philippine Daily Inquirer Southern Luzon by Captain Henry Caballero of the Coast Guard in Bicol showed that there were 42 dead, nine missing, and 100 survivors, for a total of 151.
"You should be aware that maritime rescue services in the Philippines may not be as comprehensive as they might be in the UK," the advisory added.
Authorities are investigating if the motorized boat was overloaded as claimed by survivors and as shown in the discrepancy between the PCG list and the passenger manifest.
Coast Guard officials said transportation undersecretary Elena Bautista was in Masbate Thursday morning meeting with the boat owner and concerned government agencies.
Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism director, said foreign embassies would normally issue travel advisories but these were not seen to affect tourist arrivals.
She said small vessels like MB Don Dexter Cathlyn were not the facilities for tourists.
"We have bigger passenger ferries and roll on-roll off [ro-ro] port facilities, we advise tourists to take them instead," Ravanilla said by phone.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 13:28:00 11/06/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- The sea tragedy involving the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, which capsized Tuesday off Masbate province killing at least 42, has prompted the British embassy to issue a travel advisory warning its tourists of inter-island travel risks in the country.
"Inter-island travel by small boats can be dangerous as storms appear quickly," the advisory posted on the embassy's website Wednesday night said.
The same advisory underscored "terrorism in Mindanao and a high incidence of piracy and armed robbery against ships in and around the Philippine waters."
The motorized boat was on its way to Bulan, Sorsogon, when struck by a sudden squall which caused it to overturn and toss its passengers into the sea.
Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, had said that 119 passengers were officially recorded. But a list sent to Philippine Daily Inquirer Southern Luzon by Captain Henry Caballero of the Coast Guard in Bicol showed that there were 42 dead, nine missing, and 100 survivors, for a total of 151.
"You should be aware that maritime rescue services in the Philippines may not be as comprehensive as they might be in the UK," the advisory added.
Authorities are investigating if the motorized boat was overloaded as claimed by survivors and as shown in the discrepancy between the PCG list and the passenger manifest.
Coast Guard officials said transportation undersecretary Elena Bautista was in Masbate Thursday morning meeting with the boat owner and concerned government agencies.
Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism director, said foreign embassies would normally issue travel advisories but these were not seen to affect tourist arrivals.
She said small vessels like MB Don Dexter Cathlyn were not the facilities for tourists.
"We have bigger passenger ferries and roll on-roll off [ro-ro] port facilities, we advise tourists to take them instead," Ravanilla said by phone.
Quake rocks Bicol, Samar areas
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 11:06:00 11/06/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- A magnitude-5 earthquake rocked Bicol and Samar provinces 9:04 a.m. Thursday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Manila reported.
Phivilcs said the tectonic earthquake was felt in varying intensities in Sorsogon City; Legazpi City; Catarman, Samar; Virac, Catanduanes; and Easter Samar.
No damages were reported or aftershocks expected, state seismologists said.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 11:06:00 11/06/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- A magnitude-5 earthquake rocked Bicol and Samar provinces 9:04 a.m. Thursday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Manila reported.
Phivilcs said the tectonic earthquake was felt in varying intensities in Sorsogon City; Legazpi City; Catarman, Samar; Virac, Catanduanes; and Easter Samar.
No damages were reported or aftershocks expected, state seismologists said.
Militants decry ‘VIP treatment’ for Bolante
LEGAZPI CITY—MILITANT groups in the Bicol region on Tuesday decried what they said was the VIP treatment being received by former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante while a peasant leader continues to languish in jail on suspicion of rebellion.
Felix Paz, national council member of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and concurrent chairman of its Bicol chapter, said Randall Echanis, deputy secretary general of the KMP, is now in jail despite suffering from Bell’s palsy and chronic hypertension.
Echanis was arrested Jan. 28 this year by suspected military and police agents in ski masks and civilian clothes, at the Builders Training Center in Barangay Calumangan, Bago City, Negros Occidental.
He was at a conference in preparation for the National Rural Congress (NRC) being called for by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Echanis was accused of membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines central committee. Along with CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, he was accused of 15 counts of multiple murder in connection with the so-called Hilongos, Leyte mass graves.
“While Joc-joc is being pampered in St. Luke’s Hospital, many peasants are wasting in jail for crimes they did not commit,” Paz said.
Bolante is the alleged architect of the so-called fertilizer fund scam, which involves the supposed diversion of P728-million in Department of Agriculture funds to the 2004 campaign of President Macapagal-Arroyo.
Bolante returned to the country last week after being deported from the United States. He was served a Senate arrest order immediately upon arrival but remains confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center, where he is considered under the chamber’s custody.
Paz said Echanis was instrumental in gathering data from farmers when the KMP testified in the Senate probe of the fertilizer fund scam.
“It is sad to note that many peasant leaders and a journalist who bared the scam have been killed or abducted like Marlene Esperat, Perla Rodriguez and Nilo Arado, and then we see Joc-joc as if he is a lamb that has to be protected,” Paz said. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
Felix Paz, national council member of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and concurrent chairman of its Bicol chapter, said Randall Echanis, deputy secretary general of the KMP, is now in jail despite suffering from Bell’s palsy and chronic hypertension.
Echanis was arrested Jan. 28 this year by suspected military and police agents in ski masks and civilian clothes, at the Builders Training Center in Barangay Calumangan, Bago City, Negros Occidental.
He was at a conference in preparation for the National Rural Congress (NRC) being called for by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
Echanis was accused of membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines central committee. Along with CPP founder Jose Ma. Sison and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, he was accused of 15 counts of multiple murder in connection with the so-called Hilongos, Leyte mass graves.
“While Joc-joc is being pampered in St. Luke’s Hospital, many peasants are wasting in jail for crimes they did not commit,” Paz said.
Bolante is the alleged architect of the so-called fertilizer fund scam, which involves the supposed diversion of P728-million in Department of Agriculture funds to the 2004 campaign of President Macapagal-Arroyo.
Bolante returned to the country last week after being deported from the United States. He was served a Senate arrest order immediately upon arrival but remains confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center, where he is considered under the chamber’s custody.
Paz said Echanis was instrumental in gathering data from farmers when the KMP testified in the Senate probe of the fertilizer fund scam.
“It is sad to note that many peasant leaders and a journalist who bared the scam have been killed or abducted like Marlene Esperat, Perla Rodriguez and Nilo Arado, and then we see Joc-joc as if he is a lamb that has to be protected,” Paz said. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
Death toll in ferry tragedy rises to 42
By Ephraim Aguilar, A1
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—THE DEATH TOLL IN the sea tragedy involving the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn has climbed to 42, and the Philippine Coast Guard is preparing to launch an investigation.
Capt. Enrico Evangelista, spokesperson of the Coast Guard, told the Inquirer in Manila that a special Board of Marine Inquiry would determine whether force majeure or human error had caused the tragedy, and look into reports that the boat was overloaded when it left Dimasalang, Masbate, on Tuesday afternoon.
The motorized boat was on its way to Bulan, Sorsogon, when a sudden strong wind struck it and caused it to overturn, tossing its passengers into the sea.
Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, had earlier said 119 passengers were officially recorded. But a list sent to Inquirer Southern Luzon by Capt. Henry Caballero of the Coast Guard in Bicol showed that as of noon yesterday, there were 42 dead, nine missing and 100 survivors, for a total of 151.
President Macapagal-Arroyo will fly to Masbate tomorrow afternoon to deliver insurance money to the families of the victims, according to Lucita Madarang of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) in Bicol.
Madarang said the President would hand out P200,000 for every casualty. She said the excess passengers, or those not included in the manifest, were not covered by insurance.
For 100 only
Marina documents showed that the wooden Don Dexter Cathlyn had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Late on Tuesday, survivor Pedro Bultron of Palanas, Masbate, said: “We were crowded inside. Some passengers were already standing. Maybe the boat lost its balance.”
PO3 Isagani Princesa, assistant detachment commander of the Coast Guard in Cataingan, Masbate, said it was “standard operating procedure for a departing vessel to give notice on the number of its passengers before [setting sail].”
But this was not done because the Coast Guard office is located in Cataingan, which is about 30 kilometers from the Dimasalang port, he said.
Princesa said the Don Dexter Cathlyn was only a small craft with a gross tonnage of 13.7 and net tonnage of 9.3.
The owner of the boat is Amiel Tamayo of Dimasalang, and not Edward Yap, as earlier reported.
Tamayo is the owner of the Don Dexter Sea transport, Princesa said. He identified the captain of the capsized boat as Dante Bombales.
A team from the local government of Bulan was to have helped in the search-and-rescue operations in Dimasalang yesterday, but heavy waves prevented it from traveling to the site.
Breaches in procedure
Bombales is now in the custody of the Coast Guard in Masbate.
Evangelista said Bombales would be investigated for not informing the Coast Guard that the boat was sailing, and for failing to submit a required document known as the master’s oath of safe departure.
The document serves as a captain’s sworn statement that his boat is seaworthy.
Marina has sent a show-cause order to Bombales and to boat owner Tamayo. The two men have been told to reply within 10 days.
Repeated calls by the Inquirer to Tamayo went unanswered.
The fine imposed on an operator of an overloaded passenger vessel weighing up to 50 tons is P2,000 (for first offense), according to Marina development specialist Emelita Miranda.
She said the permit to operate could be canceled if the operator was proved liable for a tragedy.
The planned investigation is the second to be undertaken by the Coast Guard this year.
In June, the MV Princess of the Stars owned and operated by Sulpicio Lines Inc. sank off the coast of Romblon. Only 56 of the 864 people aboard survived.
The Board of Marine Inquiry that investigated the tragedy blamed the vessel’s captain for sailing to Cebu from Manila despite the bad weather, and Sulpicio Lines for allowing the ship to leave port.
Isolated thunderstorm
Corazon Samar, chief meteorologist of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in Legazpi City, said an isolated thunderstorm could have caused the Tuesday tragedy.
“There was no recorded tropical depression but only an intertropical convergence zone, causing strong winds mainly in the northern and northeastern coasts,” Samar said on the phone.
“There is no way of predicting isolated thunderstorms, and they happen only within a span of one to two hours,” she said. With reports from Kristine L. Alave in Manila; Roy Gersalia, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—THE DEATH TOLL IN the sea tragedy involving the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn has climbed to 42, and the Philippine Coast Guard is preparing to launch an investigation.
Capt. Enrico Evangelista, spokesperson of the Coast Guard, told the Inquirer in Manila that a special Board of Marine Inquiry would determine whether force majeure or human error had caused the tragedy, and look into reports that the boat was overloaded when it left Dimasalang, Masbate, on Tuesday afternoon.
The motorized boat was on its way to Bulan, Sorsogon, when a sudden strong wind struck it and caused it to overturn, tossing its passengers into the sea.
Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, had earlier said 119 passengers were officially recorded. But a list sent to Inquirer Southern Luzon by Capt. Henry Caballero of the Coast Guard in Bicol showed that as of noon yesterday, there were 42 dead, nine missing and 100 survivors, for a total of 151.
President Macapagal-Arroyo will fly to Masbate tomorrow afternoon to deliver insurance money to the families of the victims, according to Lucita Madarang of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) in Bicol.
Madarang said the President would hand out P200,000 for every casualty. She said the excess passengers, or those not included in the manifest, were not covered by insurance.
For 100 only
Marina documents showed that the wooden Don Dexter Cathlyn had a passenger capacity of only 100.
Late on Tuesday, survivor Pedro Bultron of Palanas, Masbate, said: “We were crowded inside. Some passengers were already standing. Maybe the boat lost its balance.”
PO3 Isagani Princesa, assistant detachment commander of the Coast Guard in Cataingan, Masbate, said it was “standard operating procedure for a departing vessel to give notice on the number of its passengers before [setting sail].”
But this was not done because the Coast Guard office is located in Cataingan, which is about 30 kilometers from the Dimasalang port, he said.
Princesa said the Don Dexter Cathlyn was only a small craft with a gross tonnage of 13.7 and net tonnage of 9.3.
The owner of the boat is Amiel Tamayo of Dimasalang, and not Edward Yap, as earlier reported.
Tamayo is the owner of the Don Dexter Sea transport, Princesa said. He identified the captain of the capsized boat as Dante Bombales.
A team from the local government of Bulan was to have helped in the search-and-rescue operations in Dimasalang yesterday, but heavy waves prevented it from traveling to the site.
Breaches in procedure
Bombales is now in the custody of the Coast Guard in Masbate.
Evangelista said Bombales would be investigated for not informing the Coast Guard that the boat was sailing, and for failing to submit a required document known as the master’s oath of safe departure.
The document serves as a captain’s sworn statement that his boat is seaworthy.
Marina has sent a show-cause order to Bombales and to boat owner Tamayo. The two men have been told to reply within 10 days.
Repeated calls by the Inquirer to Tamayo went unanswered.
The fine imposed on an operator of an overloaded passenger vessel weighing up to 50 tons is P2,000 (for first offense), according to Marina development specialist Emelita Miranda.
She said the permit to operate could be canceled if the operator was proved liable for a tragedy.
The planned investigation is the second to be undertaken by the Coast Guard this year.
In June, the MV Princess of the Stars owned and operated by Sulpicio Lines Inc. sank off the coast of Romblon. Only 56 of the 864 people aboard survived.
The Board of Marine Inquiry that investigated the tragedy blamed the vessel’s captain for sailing to Cebu from Manila despite the bad weather, and Sulpicio Lines for allowing the ship to leave port.
Isolated thunderstorm
Corazon Samar, chief meteorologist of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in Legazpi City, said an isolated thunderstorm could have caused the Tuesday tragedy.
“There was no recorded tropical depression but only an intertropical convergence zone, causing strong winds mainly in the northern and northeastern coasts,” Samar said on the phone.
“There is no way of predicting isolated thunderstorms, and they happen only within a span of one to two hours,” she said. With reports from Kristine L. Alave in Manila; Roy Gersalia, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Arroyo to give aid to sea mishap victims
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:59:00 11/05/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to visit Masbate province Thursday afternoon to award insurance money to the families of the victims of the ill-fated MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, an official of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) said.
The motor boat was ferrying passengers from Dimasalang, Masbate to Bulan, Sorsogon when it capsized.
Lucita Madarang, Marina-Bicol director, said Arroyo will hand out P200,000 for every casualty.
The presidential chopper is expected to land in Masbate at 2 p.m. Thursday, Madarang told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
She said the excess passengers, or those not included in the manifest, are not covered by the insurance.
A total of 119 passengers were officially recorded said Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, but the Philippine Coast Guard in Bicol accounted 151 passengers—including those who died, survived, and are still missing.
In a list sent to the Inquirer, Captain Henry Caballero, PCG-Bicol said there were 42 dead, nine missing, and 100 survivors as of Wednesday noon.
Documents from the Marina showed that the wooden 13.73-ton MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, owned by a certain Amiel Tamayo, only had a passenger capacity of 100.
Recalling the tragedy, survivor Pedro Bultron of Palanas, Masbate said a sudden strong wind struck the boat causing it to capsize.
"We were crowded inside," Bultron told the Inquirer by phone. "Some passengers were already standing. Maybe the boat lost its balance," he said.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:59:00 11/05/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to visit Masbate province Thursday afternoon to award insurance money to the families of the victims of the ill-fated MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, an official of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) said.
The motor boat was ferrying passengers from Dimasalang, Masbate to Bulan, Sorsogon when it capsized.
Lucita Madarang, Marina-Bicol director, said Arroyo will hand out P200,000 for every casualty.
The presidential chopper is expected to land in Masbate at 2 p.m. Thursday, Madarang told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.
She said the excess passengers, or those not included in the manifest, are not covered by the insurance.
A total of 119 passengers were officially recorded said Senior Superintendent Reuben Sindac, Masbate police director, but the Philippine Coast Guard in Bicol accounted 151 passengers—including those who died, survived, and are still missing.
In a list sent to the Inquirer, Captain Henry Caballero, PCG-Bicol said there were 42 dead, nine missing, and 100 survivors as of Wednesday noon.
Documents from the Marina showed that the wooden 13.73-ton MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, owned by a certain Amiel Tamayo, only had a passenger capacity of 100.
Recalling the tragedy, survivor Pedro Bultron of Palanas, Masbate said a sudden strong wind struck the boat causing it to capsize.
"We were crowded inside," Bultron told the Inquirer by phone. "Some passengers were already standing. Maybe the boat lost its balance," he said.
Ferry capsizes off Masbate; 40 dead
By Ephraim Aguilar, A1
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—A SUDDEN strong wind yesterday caused an interisland ferry to capsize off Masbate province, killing at least 40 passengers.
Of the 119 passengers aboard the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, 76 survived, said the Masbate police director, Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac. The survivors are in the custody of the provincial police.
Three others on the manifest have yet to be accounted for. Police and rescue crews also have yet to account for the vessel’s crew.
“We were not able to determine how many crewmen there were... You know how it is in boats—the arrangement is very informal,” Sindac told the Inquirer in Manila in a text message.
Rescuers said no more survivors could be seen around the boat, which overturned 5 kilometers off the coast of Barangay Magcaragit in the town of Dimasalang in Masbate.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Masbate commander Reynaldo Fabico, who was aboard the rescue vessel, said rescuers were finding only corpses.
Survivor Pedro Bultron, 52, said the boat was overloaded and that the tragedy happened very fast.
“A strong wind suddenly struck our boat. It quickly turned upside down. All I could see were big waves,” Bultron, of Palanas, Masbate, told the Inquirer by phone.
He said the Don Dexter Cathlyn was heading to Bulan, Sorsogon, from Dimasalang when the wind struck.
“We were crowded inside,” Bultron said. “Some passengers were already standing on the aisle. Maybe the boat lost its balance.”
The boat left port at 1:30 p.m. in clear weather.
PCG-Masbate received the report on the mishap by phone at around 2:40 p.m., said PO3 Freddie Sanorjo.
100 body bags
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, the provincial health officer, said an estimated 100 body bags had been requested from the Department of Health office in Bicol for transport last night to the disaster site.
Dr. Alfredo Lim, chief medical officer of the Espinosa Memorial Hospital in Dimasalang, said the bodies were being temporarily held at the town plaza, and that some of the survivors were there to identify their kin.
The dead included 11 children, according to The Associated Press.
Almanzor said 27 survivors were taken to the hospital and given first aid.
Lim said nine of the 27 were confined, with their injuries ranging from abrasions, contusions, hypertension and head wounds.
Bultron himself had a head injury and was among those confined.
“We held on tight to the [capsized] boat. We were in the water for an hour before the rescuers finally retrieved us,” he said.
Crying children
Bultron said he was on the way to Manila with two other relatives, and that his cousin had saved him from certain death.
He said he saw many other passengers struggling in the water, but what caught his attention were the cries of children.
He also said there were probably passengers trapped underneath the boat. “Rescuers would have to dive to take them out,” he said.
Sindac said the boat was “hit by a sudden gust of wind” just off Magcaragit.
He said the weather phenomenon was locally known as “subasko.”
Another PCG official, Capt. Enrico Efren Evangelista, said “there was a squall and the wind was strong.”
He described the Don Dexter Cathlyn as a “large motorized banca” used in interisland routes. “It’s for short distances,” he said.
Evangelista identified the boat operator as Eduardo Yap, and said the latter was now in the custody of PCG Masbate.
Only five months earlier, the MV Princess of the Stars owned and operated by Sulpicio Lines Inc. sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon, killing more than 700 passengers.
Operations to retrieve bodies trapped in the ship’s hull are continuing. With reports from Tarra Quismundo and Kristine L. Alave in Manila
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—A SUDDEN strong wind yesterday caused an interisland ferry to capsize off Masbate province, killing at least 40 passengers.
Of the 119 passengers aboard the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, 76 survived, said the Masbate police director, Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac. The survivors are in the custody of the provincial police.
Three others on the manifest have yet to be accounted for. Police and rescue crews also have yet to account for the vessel’s crew.
“We were not able to determine how many crewmen there were... You know how it is in boats—the arrangement is very informal,” Sindac told the Inquirer in Manila in a text message.
Rescuers said no more survivors could be seen around the boat, which overturned 5 kilometers off the coast of Barangay Magcaragit in the town of Dimasalang in Masbate.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Masbate commander Reynaldo Fabico, who was aboard the rescue vessel, said rescuers were finding only corpses.
Survivor Pedro Bultron, 52, said the boat was overloaded and that the tragedy happened very fast.
“A strong wind suddenly struck our boat. It quickly turned upside down. All I could see were big waves,” Bultron, of Palanas, Masbate, told the Inquirer by phone.
He said the Don Dexter Cathlyn was heading to Bulan, Sorsogon, from Dimasalang when the wind struck.
“We were crowded inside,” Bultron said. “Some passengers were already standing on the aisle. Maybe the boat lost its balance.”
The boat left port at 1:30 p.m. in clear weather.
PCG-Masbate received the report on the mishap by phone at around 2:40 p.m., said PO3 Freddie Sanorjo.
100 body bags
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, the provincial health officer, said an estimated 100 body bags had been requested from the Department of Health office in Bicol for transport last night to the disaster site.
Dr. Alfredo Lim, chief medical officer of the Espinosa Memorial Hospital in Dimasalang, said the bodies were being temporarily held at the town plaza, and that some of the survivors were there to identify their kin.
The dead included 11 children, according to The Associated Press.
Almanzor said 27 survivors were taken to the hospital and given first aid.
Lim said nine of the 27 were confined, with their injuries ranging from abrasions, contusions, hypertension and head wounds.
Bultron himself had a head injury and was among those confined.
“We held on tight to the [capsized] boat. We were in the water for an hour before the rescuers finally retrieved us,” he said.
Crying children
Bultron said he was on the way to Manila with two other relatives, and that his cousin had saved him from certain death.
He said he saw many other passengers struggling in the water, but what caught his attention were the cries of children.
He also said there were probably passengers trapped underneath the boat. “Rescuers would have to dive to take them out,” he said.
Sindac said the boat was “hit by a sudden gust of wind” just off Magcaragit.
He said the weather phenomenon was locally known as “subasko.”
Another PCG official, Capt. Enrico Efren Evangelista, said “there was a squall and the wind was strong.”
He described the Don Dexter Cathlyn as a “large motorized banca” used in interisland routes. “It’s for short distances,” he said.
Evangelista identified the boat operator as Eduardo Yap, and said the latter was now in the custody of PCG Masbate.
Only five months earlier, the MV Princess of the Stars owned and operated by Sulpicio Lines Inc. sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon, killing more than 700 passengers.
Operations to retrieve bodies trapped in the ship’s hull are continuing. With reports from Tarra Quismundo and Kristine L. Alave in Manila
Ferry capsizes off Masbate; 40 dead
By Ephraim Aguilar, A1
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—A SUDDEN strong wind yesterday caused an interisland ferry to capsize off Masbate province, killing at least 40 passengers.
Of the 119 passengers aboard the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, 76 survived, said the Masbate police director, Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac. The survivors are in the custody of the provincial police.
Three others on the manifest have yet to be accounted for. Police and rescue crews also have yet to account for the vessel’s crew.
“We were not able to determine how many crewmen there were... You know how it is in boats—the arrangement is very informal,” Sindac told the Inquirer in Manila in a text message.
Rescuers said no more survivors could be seen around the boat, which overturned 5 kilometers off the coast of Barangay Magcaragit in the town of Dimasalang in Masbate.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Masbate commander Reynaldo Fabico, who was aboard the rescue vessel, said rescuers were finding only corpses.
Survivor Pedro Bultron, 52, said the boat was overloaded and that the tragedy happened very fast.
“A strong wind suddenly struck our boat. It quickly turned upside down. All I could see were big waves,” Bultron, of Palanas, Masbate, told the Inquirer by phone.
He said the Don Dexter Cathlyn was heading to Bulan, Sorsogon, from Dimasalang when the wind struck.
“We were crowded inside,” Bultron said. “Some passengers were already standing on the aisle. Maybe the boat lost its balance.”
The boat left port at 1:30 p.m. in clear weather.
PCG-Masbate received the report on the mishap by phone at around 2:40 p.m., said PO3 Freddie Sanorjo.
100 body bags
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, the provincial health officer, said an estimated 100 body bags had been requested from the Department of Health office in Bicol for transport last night to the disaster site.
Dr. Alfredo Lim, chief medical officer of the Espinosa Memorial Hospital in Dimasalang, said the bodies were being temporarily held at the town plaza, and that some of the survivors were there to identify their kin.
The dead included 11 children, according to The Associated Press.
Almanzor said 27 survivors were taken to the hospital and given first aid.
Lim said nine of the 27 were confined, with their injuries ranging from abrasions, contusions, hypertension and head wounds.
Bultron himself had a head injury and was among those confined.
“We held on tight to the [capsized] boat. We were in the water for an hour before the rescuers finally retrieved us,” he said.
Crying children
Bultron said he was on the way to Manila with two other relatives, and that his cousin had saved him from certain death.
He said he saw many other passengers struggling in the water, but what caught his attention were the cries of children.
He also said there were probably passengers trapped underneath the boat. “Rescuers would have to dive to take them out,” he said.
Sindac said the boat was “hit by a sudden gust of wind” just off Magcaragit.
He said the weather phenomenon was locally known as “subasko.”
Another PCG official, Capt. Enrico Efren Evangelista, said “there was a squall and the wind was strong.”
He described the Don Dexter Cathlyn as a “large motorized banca” used in interisland routes. “It’s for short distances,” he said.
Evangelista identified the boat operator as Eduardo Yap, and said the latter was now in the custody of PCG Masbate.
Only five months earlier, the MV Princess of the Stars owned and operated by Sulpicio Lines Inc. sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon, killing more than 700 passengers.
Operations to retrieve bodies trapped in the ship’s hull are continuing. With reports from Tarra Quismundo and Kristine L. Alave in Manila
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—A SUDDEN strong wind yesterday caused an interisland ferry to capsize off Masbate province, killing at least 40 passengers.
Of the 119 passengers aboard the MB Don Dexter Cathlyn, 76 survived, said the Masbate police director, Senior Supt. Reuben Sindac. The survivors are in the custody of the provincial police.
Three others on the manifest have yet to be accounted for. Police and rescue crews also have yet to account for the vessel’s crew.
“We were not able to determine how many crewmen there were... You know how it is in boats—the arrangement is very informal,” Sindac told the Inquirer in Manila in a text message.
Rescuers said no more survivors could be seen around the boat, which overturned 5 kilometers off the coast of Barangay Magcaragit in the town of Dimasalang in Masbate.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Masbate commander Reynaldo Fabico, who was aboard the rescue vessel, said rescuers were finding only corpses.
Survivor Pedro Bultron, 52, said the boat was overloaded and that the tragedy happened very fast.
“A strong wind suddenly struck our boat. It quickly turned upside down. All I could see were big waves,” Bultron, of Palanas, Masbate, told the Inquirer by phone.
He said the Don Dexter Cathlyn was heading to Bulan, Sorsogon, from Dimasalang when the wind struck.
“We were crowded inside,” Bultron said. “Some passengers were already standing on the aisle. Maybe the boat lost its balance.”
The boat left port at 1:30 p.m. in clear weather.
PCG-Masbate received the report on the mishap by phone at around 2:40 p.m., said PO3 Freddie Sanorjo.
100 body bags
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, the provincial health officer, said an estimated 100 body bags had been requested from the Department of Health office in Bicol for transport last night to the disaster site.
Dr. Alfredo Lim, chief medical officer of the Espinosa Memorial Hospital in Dimasalang, said the bodies were being temporarily held at the town plaza, and that some of the survivors were there to identify their kin.
The dead included 11 children, according to The Associated Press.
Almanzor said 27 survivors were taken to the hospital and given first aid.
Lim said nine of the 27 were confined, with their injuries ranging from abrasions, contusions, hypertension and head wounds.
Bultron himself had a head injury and was among those confined.
“We held on tight to the [capsized] boat. We were in the water for an hour before the rescuers finally retrieved us,” he said.
Crying children
Bultron said he was on the way to Manila with two other relatives, and that his cousin had saved him from certain death.
He said he saw many other passengers struggling in the water, but what caught his attention were the cries of children.
He also said there were probably passengers trapped underneath the boat. “Rescuers would have to dive to take them out,” he said.
Sindac said the boat was “hit by a sudden gust of wind” just off Magcaragit.
He said the weather phenomenon was locally known as “subasko.”
Another PCG official, Capt. Enrico Efren Evangelista, said “there was a squall and the wind was strong.”
He described the Don Dexter Cathlyn as a “large motorized banca” used in interisland routes. “It’s for short distances,” he said.
Evangelista identified the boat operator as Eduardo Yap, and said the latter was now in the custody of PCG Masbate.
Only five months earlier, the MV Princess of the Stars owned and operated by Sulpicio Lines Inc. sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon, killing more than 700 passengers.
Operations to retrieve bodies trapped in the ship’s hull are continuing. With reports from Tarra Quismundo and Kristine L. Alave in Manila
Sunday, November 02, 2008
GROWING UP WITHOUT TV
Brothers build dreams on handmade scrapbooks
Text and photos by Ephraim Aguilar, page B4
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
DARAGA, ALBAY— They say everyone is born with an artistic side. It is how these talents are honed at a young age that will spell the difference between adults with artistic flair and those without.
Baruga brothers Jhonmark, 19, and King George, 17, grew up in a home without television. Tinkering with art materials became their pastime. Thus they developed an eye for mixing colors and a hand for cutting shapes and putting pieces together to create an artwork.
“Our mother didn’t want a television set in our house and we didn’t know why. So most of the time we were busy doing artwork at home,” King George says.
Today, the Baruga brothers, who are both education students in Bicol University in Daraga, Albay, are gaining popularity among their peers for their artworks.
Their products? Handmade scrapbooks and greeting cards.
They have been invited to set up their own exhibits in different places in the Bicol region and have also been receiving individual and bulk orders of their handcrafts.
The Baruga brothers realized that their hobby had the potential of becoming a profitable enterprise.
They have already created over 70 scrapbook designs for their exhibits. The designs fall under themes or categories, among which are the “Four Seasons, Festivals, Coffee, Black and White, Emo (emotional hardcore) and Gold and Silver.”
While maintaining their grades as academic scholars, Jhonmark and King George manage to work on their handcrafts every week to meet orders.
The two have devised their own strategies on saving time and dividing tasks. King George is usually the thinker, while Jhonmark is more the doer.
Designs
“Themes and design concepts would usually come from me, that is my strength, while my brother is good at finishing touches,” King George says.
He adds that they could finish 50 scrapbooks in a day if the paper had already been cut and other accessories prepared in advance. They deliver orders within seven days.
In one of their exhibits at Bicol University here, a 30-piece order was placed by students from another university.
“It feels good that people are not just able to appreciate our work but also want to have our artworks as their own stuff,” Jhonmark says.
Aside from the common designs, the Baruga brothers also cater to personalized orders.
Two of the most saleable scrapbook varieties are the “Coffee” and “Four Seasons.”
The “Coffee” scrapbooks come in shades of brown and are literally made of coffee. The covers and pages have been brushed with liquid coffee creating a vibrant brown and a pleasing aroma.
The “Four Seasons” collection has four items designed after winter, spring, summer and fall. They come as collector’s items or a boxed set.
Scrapbook prices range from P75 to P500 depending on the size, the design and the materials to be used. Customized items are a little more expensive than the ready-made ones.
“Scrapbooks in commercial establishments would range from P225 to P1,000 and they are bare. But the companies manufacturing them would sell accessories separately, which are more costly,” says King George.
Personalized scrapbooks come in various forms and shapes. One of them came in the shape of a guitar or a dress, reflecting their owners’ interests in music and in fashion.
“Designs are limitless. We create just almost anything, whatever people want,” Jhonmark says.
The regular size of a scrapbook is 9 inches by 5 in. The prices of handmade greeting cards range from P5 to P30, depending on the size and design. The brothers also sell personalized picture frames and boxes.
Most of these products are made from indigenous materials—from dried and dyed hay, abaca fiber, seeds, flowers, feathers, leaves, shells, scrap paper, cloth and other objects picked from just anywhere then recycled.
Dream
Since childhood, the Baruga brothers already showed signs of entrepreneurship.
“When our teacher assigned projects, we would go to the city to shop for art materials and sold them to our classmates. We lived in a rural town where students seldom visit the city,” Jhonmark recounts.
King George says their parents, who were supportive of their interests and talents, gave them P10,000 to mount their first exhibit.
“We invested it in tools to make our work easier and faster. We want to pay our parents back once we have gained profit,” King George says.
King George says greeting cards and scrapbooks manufactured through advanced technology are still available in bookstores but can be quite expensive. And since they are mass produced, the designs are very common.
“We dream to become like Hallmark,” Jhonmark says, half seriously.
Hallmark is a century-old international company that produces greeting cards and keepsake ornaments.
Jhonmark adds that they envision to build a local company that will make available to the locals cheaper but stylish greeting cards and memory-keeping items.
Text and photos by Ephraim Aguilar, page B4
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
DARAGA, ALBAY— They say everyone is born with an artistic side. It is how these talents are honed at a young age that will spell the difference between adults with artistic flair and those without.
Baruga brothers Jhonmark, 19, and King George, 17, grew up in a home without television. Tinkering with art materials became their pastime. Thus they developed an eye for mixing colors and a hand for cutting shapes and putting pieces together to create an artwork.
“Our mother didn’t want a television set in our house and we didn’t know why. So most of the time we were busy doing artwork at home,” King George says.
Today, the Baruga brothers, who are both education students in Bicol University in Daraga, Albay, are gaining popularity among their peers for their artworks.
Their products? Handmade scrapbooks and greeting cards.
They have been invited to set up their own exhibits in different places in the Bicol region and have also been receiving individual and bulk orders of their handcrafts.
The Baruga brothers realized that their hobby had the potential of becoming a profitable enterprise.
They have already created over 70 scrapbook designs for their exhibits. The designs fall under themes or categories, among which are the “Four Seasons, Festivals, Coffee, Black and White, Emo (emotional hardcore) and Gold and Silver.”
While maintaining their grades as academic scholars, Jhonmark and King George manage to work on their handcrafts every week to meet orders.
The two have devised their own strategies on saving time and dividing tasks. King George is usually the thinker, while Jhonmark is more the doer.
Designs
“Themes and design concepts would usually come from me, that is my strength, while my brother is good at finishing touches,” King George says.
He adds that they could finish 50 scrapbooks in a day if the paper had already been cut and other accessories prepared in advance. They deliver orders within seven days.
In one of their exhibits at Bicol University here, a 30-piece order was placed by students from another university.
“It feels good that people are not just able to appreciate our work but also want to have our artworks as their own stuff,” Jhonmark says.
Aside from the common designs, the Baruga brothers also cater to personalized orders.
Two of the most saleable scrapbook varieties are the “Coffee” and “Four Seasons.”
The “Coffee” scrapbooks come in shades of brown and are literally made of coffee. The covers and pages have been brushed with liquid coffee creating a vibrant brown and a pleasing aroma.
The “Four Seasons” collection has four items designed after winter, spring, summer and fall. They come as collector’s items or a boxed set.
Scrapbook prices range from P75 to P500 depending on the size, the design and the materials to be used. Customized items are a little more expensive than the ready-made ones.
“Scrapbooks in commercial establishments would range from P225 to P1,000 and they are bare. But the companies manufacturing them would sell accessories separately, which are more costly,” says King George.
Personalized scrapbooks come in various forms and shapes. One of them came in the shape of a guitar or a dress, reflecting their owners’ interests in music and in fashion.
“Designs are limitless. We create just almost anything, whatever people want,” Jhonmark says.
The regular size of a scrapbook is 9 inches by 5 in. The prices of handmade greeting cards range from P5 to P30, depending on the size and design. The brothers also sell personalized picture frames and boxes.
Most of these products are made from indigenous materials—from dried and dyed hay, abaca fiber, seeds, flowers, feathers, leaves, shells, scrap paper, cloth and other objects picked from just anywhere then recycled.
Dream
Since childhood, the Baruga brothers already showed signs of entrepreneurship.
“When our teacher assigned projects, we would go to the city to shop for art materials and sold them to our classmates. We lived in a rural town where students seldom visit the city,” Jhonmark recounts.
King George says their parents, who were supportive of their interests and talents, gave them P10,000 to mount their first exhibit.
“We invested it in tools to make our work easier and faster. We want to pay our parents back once we have gained profit,” King George says.
King George says greeting cards and scrapbooks manufactured through advanced technology are still available in bookstores but can be quite expensive. And since they are mass produced, the designs are very common.
“We dream to become like Hallmark,” Jhonmark says, half seriously.
Hallmark is a century-old international company that produces greeting cards and keepsake ornaments.
Jhonmark adds that they envision to build a local company that will make available to the locals cheaper but stylish greeting cards and memory-keeping items.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Underwater cable seen as threat to ‘butanding’
By Ephraim Aguilar, A17
Legazpi City
THREATENING A MULTIMILLION-PESO TOUR-ism jewel, a submarine cable planned to be installed by a giant telecommunications firm in Donsol, Sorsogon, the whale shark capital of the world, is eyed with suspicion.
Seeking to expand its network, Globe Telecom plans to install this year a 164-kilometer underwater cable from Donsol town to Calbayog, Northern Samar.
Local tourism officials are worried that this network expansion project would affect the safety of the butanding.
“We cannot risk the whale shark habitat in Donsol to some foreign object planned to be installed there,” Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director, says.
Globe, in a letter addressed to Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, said the project is part of a five-segment cable from Southern Luzon to Northern Mindanao, which will improve the reliability and availability of the country’s mobile communication technology.
The cable’s jump-off point from the tip of Southern Luzon to Visayas is Barangay Dancalan in Donsol. This village serves as jump-off point for tourists who engage in whale shark interaction.
Ong-Ravanilla says Globe has asked for an endorsement from the Department of Tourism so it can get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
She says the DOT will issue an endorsement for Globe if it gets an approval from the Donsol mayor and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an agency protecting whale sharks in the town.
“What we need from Globe is an environmental impact assessment report,” she says.
Construction materials
She says Globe has been summoned by the Sorsogon provincial board for an inquiry but none of its local managers are authorized to speak for the company.
Ong-Ravanilla says there have been reports from residents in Barangay Dancalan that Globe had already delivered construction materials there.
“The villagers saw PVC pipes, which they said, were owned by Globe. What we do not want to happen here is for (Globe) to start its construction before the issuance of an ECC,” she says.
The WWF, an agency implementing whale shark conservation guidelines in Donsol, is cautious about Globe’s expansion project.
David David, lead coordinator of the whale shark tracking project of WWF in Donsol, said they are researching for the specifics of the project to determine the possible effects of the submarine cables on whale shark habitat.
In the 2008 season, WWF recorded 114 whale sharks through its photo-identification technology, which determines whale sharks individually by means of their spots, he says.
The spots of whale shark are unique to every creature, just like human fingerprints, he says.
Tourism industry
Jay Christie, project director from the Ericsson Telecommunications, one of the project contractors, says that the company has taken note of the tourism activities in Donsol and will fully coordinate with tourism officials.
Donsol is one of the country’s top three ecotourism sites. Based on WWF data, Donsol’s butanding interaction contributes more than P50 million to the economy annually.
The town’s attraction was declared as the “best animal encounter in Asia” by Time magazine in 2004.
Tourism in Donsol has also pulled the town from being a fifth-class to a third-class municipality.
Butanding interaction activities in Donsol cover eight villages and tourists number more than 10,000 a season.
Legazpi City
THREATENING A MULTIMILLION-PESO TOUR-ism jewel, a submarine cable planned to be installed by a giant telecommunications firm in Donsol, Sorsogon, the whale shark capital of the world, is eyed with suspicion.
Seeking to expand its network, Globe Telecom plans to install this year a 164-kilometer underwater cable from Donsol town to Calbayog, Northern Samar.
Local tourism officials are worried that this network expansion project would affect the safety of the butanding.
“We cannot risk the whale shark habitat in Donsol to some foreign object planned to be installed there,” Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director, says.
Globe, in a letter addressed to Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, said the project is part of a five-segment cable from Southern Luzon to Northern Mindanao, which will improve the reliability and availability of the country’s mobile communication technology.
The cable’s jump-off point from the tip of Southern Luzon to Visayas is Barangay Dancalan in Donsol. This village serves as jump-off point for tourists who engage in whale shark interaction.
Ong-Ravanilla says Globe has asked for an endorsement from the Department of Tourism so it can get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
She says the DOT will issue an endorsement for Globe if it gets an approval from the Donsol mayor and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an agency protecting whale sharks in the town.
“What we need from Globe is an environmental impact assessment report,” she says.
Construction materials
She says Globe has been summoned by the Sorsogon provincial board for an inquiry but none of its local managers are authorized to speak for the company.
Ong-Ravanilla says there have been reports from residents in Barangay Dancalan that Globe had already delivered construction materials there.
“The villagers saw PVC pipes, which they said, were owned by Globe. What we do not want to happen here is for (Globe) to start its construction before the issuance of an ECC,” she says.
The WWF, an agency implementing whale shark conservation guidelines in Donsol, is cautious about Globe’s expansion project.
David David, lead coordinator of the whale shark tracking project of WWF in Donsol, said they are researching for the specifics of the project to determine the possible effects of the submarine cables on whale shark habitat.
In the 2008 season, WWF recorded 114 whale sharks through its photo-identification technology, which determines whale sharks individually by means of their spots, he says.
The spots of whale shark are unique to every creature, just like human fingerprints, he says.
Tourism industry
Jay Christie, project director from the Ericsson Telecommunications, one of the project contractors, says that the company has taken note of the tourism activities in Donsol and will fully coordinate with tourism officials.
Donsol is one of the country’s top three ecotourism sites. Based on WWF data, Donsol’s butanding interaction contributes more than P50 million to the economy annually.
The town’s attraction was declared as the “best animal encounter in Asia” by Time magazine in 2004.
Tourism in Donsol has also pulled the town from being a fifth-class to a third-class municipality.
Butanding interaction activities in Donsol cover eight villages and tourists number more than 10,000 a season.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Mayon trail run tackles global warming
By Ephraim Aguilar, page one
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—SOUTHEAST Asian Games gold medalist Allan Ballester looked straight at Mayon Volcano’s amazing peak as he treaded a trail.
Ballester, 34, is one of those who took part in the first Mayon Trail Run (MTR) in Albay yesterday. The event was part of an awareness campaign against global warming.
More than 150 runners negotiated a shaggy hill laden with manmade obstacles, a river crossing, and a pile of volcanic rocks in the 5-kilometer fun run and 18-km adventure foot race.
The race was organized by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) and Northface, an international brand of sports apparel and outdoor equipment. JCI is a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs whose members are more popularly known as Jaycees.
Even for the most experienced runners, some of them holding national and international titles, the MTR was one of the most grueling and unusual races.
The race started from the Peñaranda Park in the city to the top of Ligñon Hill in Daraga town, then down to a newly created back trail traversing the Yawa River to the Bonga Gully, one of the main pathways of volcanic debris swept by heavy rains.
Reaching the lava front, the racers made a U-turn and climbed back to Ligñon.
In his 14-year running career, Ballester said it was only in the MTR that his race plan became erratic.
“In my past races, I would stick to one race plan till finish. But here, I had to change it because the trail was packed with unexpected challenges in every segment,” he said.
The race also required great endurance and the application of different skills, he said.
“I just kept looking at Mayon’s peak as it felt like the sandy and rocky trail never ended. We had to climb rough terrain and slippery wooden stairs, and cross a river,” Ballester said shortly after he crossed the finish line.
Winners
Ballester said most of the runners were used to road races on smooth and flat pavements, making the MTR really different.
The winners, who came from different running teams, were—Male: 1st, Elmer Sabal (1:09:30); 2nd, Allan Ballester (1:10:08); 3rd, Cresenciano Sabal (1:10:35).
Female: 1st, Leszl Gitarueles (1:32:26); 2nd, Merlita Arias (1:45:07); 3rd. Ellen Tolentino (1:49:08).
The oldest runner was 71-year-old Vicente Caurez of Los Baños, Laguna, who was well-applauded when he finished the race standing strong.
Trail running as an adventure sport is more popular in Europe, according to Ballester. He said Albay’s trail run opened doors for the promotion of this endurance sport.
Provincial tourism officer Joe Briones said the trail run could be held annually and could draw more tourists.
These days, many tourists are looking for new sites for ecotourism and adventure sports. Briones said it would be good to have them both.
Yves Eli Yu, MTR project chair and vice president of JCI-Legazpi, said the trail run also sought to promote awareness of climate change.
Global warming
He said runners in the event and the spectators were made to realize the effects of global warming by making them experience nature.
“Taking part in this trail run is like touching Mayon’s soul. Your run toward its lava front reminds you of the lahar that killed and displaced over a thousand people at the height of Supertyphoon ‘Reming,’” Ballester said.
With the damage and floods caused by Reming on Nov. 30, 2006, Albay officials linked the disaster to the changing climate.
A2C2 campaign
After the tragedy, the provincial government launched the “Albay in Action for Climate Change” (A2C2) campaign, a pioneering local climate change adaptation in the Asia Pacific.
Yu said the JCI-Legazpi was jubilant that the MTR took place a day after 10 lawmakers from Asia, Europe, Africa and South America signed the Manila Declaration on Climate Change, which calls on rich nations to create a global fund to help reduce disaster risks brought by rising sea temperatures.
The five-page document, titled “The Manila Call for Action of Parliamentarians on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation,” was issued at the close of a two-day consultative meeting at Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
Yves said that for developing countries like the Philippines, it would be a big help to start small through awareness campaigns like the MTR.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—SOUTHEAST Asian Games gold medalist Allan Ballester looked straight at Mayon Volcano’s amazing peak as he treaded a trail.
Ballester, 34, is one of those who took part in the first Mayon Trail Run (MTR) in Albay yesterday. The event was part of an awareness campaign against global warming.
More than 150 runners negotiated a shaggy hill laden with manmade obstacles, a river crossing, and a pile of volcanic rocks in the 5-kilometer fun run and 18-km adventure foot race.
The race was organized by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) and Northface, an international brand of sports apparel and outdoor equipment. JCI is a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs whose members are more popularly known as Jaycees.
Even for the most experienced runners, some of them holding national and international titles, the MTR was one of the most grueling and unusual races.
The race started from the Peñaranda Park in the city to the top of Ligñon Hill in Daraga town, then down to a newly created back trail traversing the Yawa River to the Bonga Gully, one of the main pathways of volcanic debris swept by heavy rains.
Reaching the lava front, the racers made a U-turn and climbed back to Ligñon.
In his 14-year running career, Ballester said it was only in the MTR that his race plan became erratic.
“In my past races, I would stick to one race plan till finish. But here, I had to change it because the trail was packed with unexpected challenges in every segment,” he said.
The race also required great endurance and the application of different skills, he said.
“I just kept looking at Mayon’s peak as it felt like the sandy and rocky trail never ended. We had to climb rough terrain and slippery wooden stairs, and cross a river,” Ballester said shortly after he crossed the finish line.
Winners
Ballester said most of the runners were used to road races on smooth and flat pavements, making the MTR really different.
The winners, who came from different running teams, were—Male: 1st, Elmer Sabal (1:09:30); 2nd, Allan Ballester (1:10:08); 3rd, Cresenciano Sabal (1:10:35).
Female: 1st, Leszl Gitarueles (1:32:26); 2nd, Merlita Arias (1:45:07); 3rd. Ellen Tolentino (1:49:08).
The oldest runner was 71-year-old Vicente Caurez of Los Baños, Laguna, who was well-applauded when he finished the race standing strong.
Trail running as an adventure sport is more popular in Europe, according to Ballester. He said Albay’s trail run opened doors for the promotion of this endurance sport.
Provincial tourism officer Joe Briones said the trail run could be held annually and could draw more tourists.
These days, many tourists are looking for new sites for ecotourism and adventure sports. Briones said it would be good to have them both.
Yves Eli Yu, MTR project chair and vice president of JCI-Legazpi, said the trail run also sought to promote awareness of climate change.
Global warming
He said runners in the event and the spectators were made to realize the effects of global warming by making them experience nature.
“Taking part in this trail run is like touching Mayon’s soul. Your run toward its lava front reminds you of the lahar that killed and displaced over a thousand people at the height of Supertyphoon ‘Reming,’” Ballester said.
With the damage and floods caused by Reming on Nov. 30, 2006, Albay officials linked the disaster to the changing climate.
A2C2 campaign
After the tragedy, the provincial government launched the “Albay in Action for Climate Change” (A2C2) campaign, a pioneering local climate change adaptation in the Asia Pacific.
Yu said the JCI-Legazpi was jubilant that the MTR took place a day after 10 lawmakers from Asia, Europe, Africa and South America signed the Manila Declaration on Climate Change, which calls on rich nations to create a global fund to help reduce disaster risks brought by rising sea temperatures.
The five-page document, titled “The Manila Call for Action of Parliamentarians on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation,” was issued at the close of a two-day consultative meeting at Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
Yves said that for developing countries like the Philippines, it would be a big help to start small through awareness campaigns like the MTR.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
3.9-strong quake jolts Legazpi, Sorsogon
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 16:58:00 10/18/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay -- A 3.9-magnitude earthquake shook Legazpi City and
Sorsogon City at 7:21 a.m. Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
In a bulletin, state seismologists said the earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, was located 50 kilometers northeast of Sorsogon City.
No damage or aftershocks were expected, Phivolcs said.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 16:58:00 10/18/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay -- A 3.9-magnitude earthquake shook Legazpi City and
Sorsogon City at 7:21 a.m. Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
In a bulletin, state seismologists said the earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, was located 50 kilometers northeast of Sorsogon City.
No damage or aftershocks were expected, Phivolcs said.
Friday, October 17, 2008
‘French Survivor’seen behind 2,000% Bicol tourism hike
ATN
LEGAZPI CITY—FRENCH TOURIST ARrivals in the Bicol region rose by 2,229 percent from 912 in the first two quarters of 2007 to 21,247 over the same period this year, the Department of Tourism here said.
“This is an astounding leap,” said Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director. She said the filming of the French edition of the popular reality game show “Survivor” early this year in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, was a major factor.
France was fifth in terms of tourist influx in Bicol in 2007 but it suddenly climbed to the top spot, placing United States second with 11,847, Japan with 5,032, Germany with 2,844, and Australia with 2,385.
In 2007, she said the Bicol region ranked sixth among other regions with total tourist arrivals of 897,680. Bicol was seventh in 2006 and ninth in 2004 and 2005.
Top tourist attractions in Bicol are Donsol town’s whale shark interaction in Sorsogon, Albay’s Mayon volcano, and the Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex in Pili town.
Ravanilla said for the first two quarters of 2008, the tourism industry earned a gross income of around P305 million and has generated a total of 198,539 jobs.
“Our gross receipts amounted to around P443 million for the whole of 2007, but now, for only the first two quarters of 2008, we have already earned 69 percent of that,” Ravanilla said.
The “French Survivor” started airing in the first week of July and has been viewed by some 10 million viewers from French-speaking countries in Europe and Canada.
Caramoan Peninsula, which was only known to backpackers before it found fame on French Survivor, boasts of virgin, powdery white sand beaches with crystal blue waters, rock formations and rich flora and fauna. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—FRENCH TOURIST ARrivals in the Bicol region rose by 2,229 percent from 912 in the first two quarters of 2007 to 21,247 over the same period this year, the Department of Tourism here said.
“This is an astounding leap,” said Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director. She said the filming of the French edition of the popular reality game show “Survivor” early this year in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, was a major factor.
France was fifth in terms of tourist influx in Bicol in 2007 but it suddenly climbed to the top spot, placing United States second with 11,847, Japan with 5,032, Germany with 2,844, and Australia with 2,385.
In 2007, she said the Bicol region ranked sixth among other regions with total tourist arrivals of 897,680. Bicol was seventh in 2006 and ninth in 2004 and 2005.
Top tourist attractions in Bicol are Donsol town’s whale shark interaction in Sorsogon, Albay’s Mayon volcano, and the Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex in Pili town.
Ravanilla said for the first two quarters of 2008, the tourism industry earned a gross income of around P305 million and has generated a total of 198,539 jobs.
“Our gross receipts amounted to around P443 million for the whole of 2007, but now, for only the first two quarters of 2008, we have already earned 69 percent of that,” Ravanilla said.
The “French Survivor” started airing in the first week of July and has been viewed by some 10 million viewers from French-speaking countries in Europe and Canada.
Caramoan Peninsula, which was only known to backpackers before it found fame on French Survivor, boasts of virgin, powdery white sand beaches with crystal blue waters, rock formations and rich flora and fauna. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Food poisoning downs 31 in Masbate
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 12:46:00 10/15/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- At least 31 residents of a village in Masbate were rushed to a district hospital there due to food poisoning after eating fish bought from the public market, a police official said Wednesday.
Chief Inspector Salvador Retuermo, Cataingan chief of police, said the victims, who are residents of Barangay (village) Poblacion in Cataingan town, complained of severe stomach ache and vomiting.
The victims ate fish noontime Tuesday and were rushed to the hospital late afternoon of the same day, Retuermo said.
Retuermo said there were more than 31 people who ate fish from the same source but not all showed symptoms of poisoning.
He quoted the municipal doctor as saying that the assorted fish (tangigue, rumpe and malasugi), which vendors said came from Tagapul-an, Samar, were possibly contaminated with formalin.
The victims are under observation in the hospital while police are investigating.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 12:46:00 10/15/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- At least 31 residents of a village in Masbate were rushed to a district hospital there due to food poisoning after eating fish bought from the public market, a police official said Wednesday.
Chief Inspector Salvador Retuermo, Cataingan chief of police, said the victims, who are residents of Barangay (village) Poblacion in Cataingan town, complained of severe stomach ache and vomiting.
The victims ate fish noontime Tuesday and were rushed to the hospital late afternoon of the same day, Retuermo said.
Retuermo said there were more than 31 people who ate fish from the same source but not all showed symptoms of poisoning.
He quoted the municipal doctor as saying that the assorted fish (tangigue, rumpe and malasugi), which vendors said came from Tagapul-an, Samar, were possibly contaminated with formalin.
The victims are under observation in the hospital while police are investigating.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
‘Survivor’ boosts Bicol tourism
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:44:00 10/14/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- French tourist arrivals in the Bicol region grew more than 20 times, from 912 in the first two quarters of 2007 to 21,247 during the same period this year, thanks to the filming there of the “Survivor” reality TV show, the Department of Tourism (DoT) here said.
"This is an astounding leap," said Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director, attributing this to the filming of the French edition of the popular reality game show early this year in Caramoan town in Camarines Sur.
France was fifth in terms of tourist arrivals in Bicol in 2007 but suddenly climbed to the top spot, placing the United States second with 11,847, Japan with 5,032, Germany with 2,844, and Australia with 2,385.
Ravanilla said the breakthrough in tourist arrivals is expected to secure a spot for Bicol as one of the country's top tourist destinations.
In 2007, she said the Bicol region ranked sixth among other regions with total tourist arrivals of 897,680. Bicol was seventh in 2006 and ninth in 2004 and 2005.
Top tourist attractions in Bicol are Donsol town's whaleshark interaction in Sorsogon, Albay's Mayon Volcano, and the Camarines Sur’s Water Sports Complex in Pili town.
Ravanilla added that for the first two quarters of 2008, the tourism industry earned a gross income of around P305 million and generated a total of 198,539 jobs.
"Our gross receipts amounted to around P443 million for the whole of 2007, but now, for only the first two quarters of 2008, we have already earned 69 percent of that," Ravanilla said.
The French Survivor started airing in the first week of July and has been viewed by some 10 million viewers from French-speaking countries in Europe and Canada.
Caramoan Peninsula, which was known to only to backpackers before it was used as a location for Survivor France, boasts powdery white sand beaches and crystal blue waters, rock formations and rich flora and fauna.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:44:00 10/14/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- French tourist arrivals in the Bicol region grew more than 20 times, from 912 in the first two quarters of 2007 to 21,247 during the same period this year, thanks to the filming there of the “Survivor” reality TV show, the Department of Tourism (DoT) here said.
"This is an astounding leap," said Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director, attributing this to the filming of the French edition of the popular reality game show early this year in Caramoan town in Camarines Sur.
France was fifth in terms of tourist arrivals in Bicol in 2007 but suddenly climbed to the top spot, placing the United States second with 11,847, Japan with 5,032, Germany with 2,844, and Australia with 2,385.
Ravanilla said the breakthrough in tourist arrivals is expected to secure a spot for Bicol as one of the country's top tourist destinations.
In 2007, she said the Bicol region ranked sixth among other regions with total tourist arrivals of 897,680. Bicol was seventh in 2006 and ninth in 2004 and 2005.
Top tourist attractions in Bicol are Donsol town's whaleshark interaction in Sorsogon, Albay's Mayon Volcano, and the Camarines Sur’s Water Sports Complex in Pili town.
Ravanilla added that for the first two quarters of 2008, the tourism industry earned a gross income of around P305 million and generated a total of 198,539 jobs.
"Our gross receipts amounted to around P443 million for the whole of 2007, but now, for only the first two quarters of 2008, we have already earned 69 percent of that," Ravanilla said.
The French Survivor started airing in the first week of July and has been viewed by some 10 million viewers from French-speaking countries in Europe and Canada.
Caramoan Peninsula, which was known to only to backpackers before it was used as a location for Survivor France, boasts powdery white sand beaches and crystal blue waters, rock formations and rich flora and fauna.
Fishing ban around ferry wreckage lifted
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 15:32:00 10/14/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has lifted the five-kilometer-radius fishing ban it imposed around the sunken MV Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island in Romblon after tests detected no chemical residue in the waters.
Water samples were taken and analyzed by the National Pesticide Analytical Laboratory after the last drum of the highly toxic pesticide endosulfan was removed from the wreckage.
A total of 402 containers of endosulfan have been recovered from the sunken vessel.
"No contamination of the toxic chemical was found," said Juvy Barillo, hazard inspector of BFAR-Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) in phone interview.
In an advisory released Monday, BFAR chief Malcom Sarmiento Jr. declared fish at the wreckage site and around the rest of Sibuyan Island safe for human consumption.
San Fernando Mayor Nanette Tansingco earlier said fishing outside the five-kilometer fishing ban radius entailed great fuel costs for the Sibuyan residents.
For months, she said, people would not buy marine products from Sibuyan, fearing these were contaminated.
Engineer Rey de Juan, deputized civil defense coordinator in Romblon, said retrieval of bunker oil from the sunken vessel is ongoing while the retrieval of bodies will start next week.
The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc., capsized and sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon on June 21 when the ferry sailed into the path of typhoon "Frank" with more than 800 passengers and crew.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 15:32:00 10/14/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has lifted the five-kilometer-radius fishing ban it imposed around the sunken MV Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island in Romblon after tests detected no chemical residue in the waters.
Water samples were taken and analyzed by the National Pesticide Analytical Laboratory after the last drum of the highly toxic pesticide endosulfan was removed from the wreckage.
A total of 402 containers of endosulfan have been recovered from the sunken vessel.
"No contamination of the toxic chemical was found," said Juvy Barillo, hazard inspector of BFAR-Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) in phone interview.
In an advisory released Monday, BFAR chief Malcom Sarmiento Jr. declared fish at the wreckage site and around the rest of Sibuyan Island safe for human consumption.
San Fernando Mayor Nanette Tansingco earlier said fishing outside the five-kilometer fishing ban radius entailed great fuel costs for the Sibuyan residents.
For months, she said, people would not buy marine products from Sibuyan, fearing these were contaminated.
Engineer Rey de Juan, deputized civil defense coordinator in Romblon, said retrieval of bunker oil from the sunken vessel is ongoing while the retrieval of bodies will start next week.
The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc., capsized and sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon on June 21 when the ferry sailed into the path of typhoon "Frank" with more than 800 passengers and crew.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Wed ex-priest favors family planning bill
By Ephraim Aguilar, page A7
Inquirer Southern Luzon
DARAGA, ALBAY--Rafael Triunfante, a married former priest, has come out in favor of the controversial reproductive health bill and criticized the Catholic Church for trying to stop its passage in Congress.
The Rome-educated Triunfante said the Church’s hard-line stance against modern birth control methods and sex education, which the bill would promote, showed a lack of compassion for the problems of married couples and the poor.
The bill, authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, is being debated in the House of Representatives. Influential Catholic bishops are lobbying for its rejection, saying it goes against Church doctrine.
Triunfante was ordained a priest in 1968 but he left the ministry after 11 years. Now 63, he has been married 28 years and has two children.
Both methods
One of the pioneers of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests Inc. (PFMP), Triunfante admitted having used both natural and artificial means of birth control.
He said most people wanted to plan their families but they did not have the resources—information, services and money. This is what the bill seeks to address.
He also lamented the lack of reproductive health services for the people.
With its rigid stance against the bill, the Church may have lost a “ministry of compassion,” he said.
After he left the priesthood, Triunfante said he felt he had climbed down from a pedestal and was better able to feel the pulse of the people.
“When you’re a priest, people put you on a pedestal. People always want to serve you rather than you serve them. I knew something was wrong with this,” he said.
Dialogue
Triunfante said other PFMP members were hoping the Church would at least be open to a dialogue with them on the reproductive health bill.
“But the Church would not even want to listen,” he said, adding that this was also how the Church treated many priests who still wanted to serve God, even though married.
“We were isolated. The Church was not open,” he said.
He said the PFMP, which promotes the dignity of marriage and family life, was founded in 1972 and now has a membership of over 500 couples nationwide.
Triunfante said that his open stand on the reproductive health bill was not influenced solely by his married life.
He said he believed in the “theology of liberation,” which teaches that knowing the issues of the people and living with them makes ministry more effective.
Triunfante said he felt frustrated and isolated from the people.
“I felt like my life was not normal anymore, especially my sex life. There were realities that could not be ignored,” he said.
Granted a scholarship, he studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome, where he was exposed to the Vatican Council’s discourse on the celibacy of priests.
“This imbibed in me the spirit of reformation,” he said.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
DARAGA, ALBAY--Rafael Triunfante, a married former priest, has come out in favor of the controversial reproductive health bill and criticized the Catholic Church for trying to stop its passage in Congress.
The Rome-educated Triunfante said the Church’s hard-line stance against modern birth control methods and sex education, which the bill would promote, showed a lack of compassion for the problems of married couples and the poor.
The bill, authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, is being debated in the House of Representatives. Influential Catholic bishops are lobbying for its rejection, saying it goes against Church doctrine.
Triunfante was ordained a priest in 1968 but he left the ministry after 11 years. Now 63, he has been married 28 years and has two children.
Both methods
One of the pioneers of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests Inc. (PFMP), Triunfante admitted having used both natural and artificial means of birth control.
He said most people wanted to plan their families but they did not have the resources—information, services and money. This is what the bill seeks to address.
He also lamented the lack of reproductive health services for the people.
With its rigid stance against the bill, the Church may have lost a “ministry of compassion,” he said.
After he left the priesthood, Triunfante said he felt he had climbed down from a pedestal and was better able to feel the pulse of the people.
“When you’re a priest, people put you on a pedestal. People always want to serve you rather than you serve them. I knew something was wrong with this,” he said.
Dialogue
Triunfante said other PFMP members were hoping the Church would at least be open to a dialogue with them on the reproductive health bill.
“But the Church would not even want to listen,” he said, adding that this was also how the Church treated many priests who still wanted to serve God, even though married.
“We were isolated. The Church was not open,” he said.
He said the PFMP, which promotes the dignity of marriage and family life, was founded in 1972 and now has a membership of over 500 couples nationwide.
Triunfante said that his open stand on the reproductive health bill was not influenced solely by his married life.
He said he believed in the “theology of liberation,” which teaches that knowing the issues of the people and living with them makes ministry more effective.
Triunfante said he felt frustrated and isolated from the people.
“I felt like my life was not normal anymore, especially my sex life. There were realities that could not be ignored,” he said.
Granted a scholarship, he studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome, where he was exposed to the Vatican Council’s discourse on the celibacy of priests.
“This imbibed in me the spirit of reformation,” he said.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Married priests support RH bill
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:46:00 10/11/2008
INQUIRER.net
DARAGA, Albay -- Will the stand of the Catholic Church on the controversial reproductive health bill differ if priests, who are bound to a vow of celibacy, were allowed to marry and not denied of a sex life?
Rafael Triunfante was ordained priest in 1968 and had been active in the ministry for 11 years, but at 63, he has been happily married for 28 years with two children.
Triunfante admitted having used both natural and artificial means of family planning, the latter being the subject of discourse as the bill authored by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman still pending approval in the House of Representatives.
Also known as House Bill 5043, the measure requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools, which are both opposed by the Catholic Church.
The Church hierarchy has been dodging the passage of the bill, even by the use of the pulpit, saying the bill “promotes a culture of death and immorality.”
Triunfante said most people want to plan their families but they do not have the resources -- information, services and money -- which the bill seeks to address.
He said the lack of information available on family planning restricts people's choices.
He also lamented the lack of reproductive health services for the people which should ideally be made available both by the Church and state.
With its rigid stance against the bill, Triunfante said, the Church may lose its “ministry of compassion.”
Triunfante, who has been ostracized by the Church after he quit the ministry, was wary of being vocal about his stand on the reproductive health bill because, he said, it would be easy for people to judge him as a “sour grape.”
But, he said, after he decided to leave his “pedestal” to be more immersed in the community, he learned to heed the people's needs and to take side with their voice.
“When you're a priest, people put you in a pedestal. People would always want to serve you rather than you to serve them. I knew something was wrong with this,” he said.
Triunfante, one of the pioneering members of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests Inc. (PFMP), said even the group was hoping that the Church would at least be open to a dialogue.
“But the Church would not even want to listen,” he said, adding that this was also how the Church treated many priests who still wanted to serve God even after they married.
“We were isolated. The Church was not open,” he lamented.
The PFMP, which promotes dignity of marriage and family life as one of its objectives, was founded in 1972 and has now a membership of over 500 couples nationwide.
But Triunfante clarified that his open stand on the reproductive health bill was not solely influenced by his married life.
He said he had always believed in the “theory of liberation,” which teaches that knowing the issues of the people and living with them makes ministry more effective.
In 1980s, Triunfante reviewed his life with the help of a Jesuit spiritual adviser.
“I felt like my life was not normal anymore, especially my sex life. There were realities that could not be ignored,” said Triunfante, who recounted having lived a very secluded life in the seminary as young as 11 years old.
He studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome, Italy through a scholarship, where he was exposed to the Vatican Council's discourse on celibacy as an option for priests.
“This imbibed in me the spirit of reformation,” he said.
After having been an active priest for 11 years, Triunfante took a leave of absence from the ministry for one year and lived in an urban poor community to see how it felt to be near the people before he decided to get married in 1980.
“I was no longer happy because of my frustrations. I felt I was isolated and far from the people,” he said.
“Now, the Church and the state can sit down for a while and discuss things that can be agreed upon, especially on providing a better life for the people,” he added.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:46:00 10/11/2008
INQUIRER.net
DARAGA, Albay -- Will the stand of the Catholic Church on the controversial reproductive health bill differ if priests, who are bound to a vow of celibacy, were allowed to marry and not denied of a sex life?
Rafael Triunfante was ordained priest in 1968 and had been active in the ministry for 11 years, but at 63, he has been happily married for 28 years with two children.
Triunfante admitted having used both natural and artificial means of family planning, the latter being the subject of discourse as the bill authored by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman still pending approval in the House of Representatives.
Also known as House Bill 5043, the measure requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools, which are both opposed by the Catholic Church.
The Church hierarchy has been dodging the passage of the bill, even by the use of the pulpit, saying the bill “promotes a culture of death and immorality.”
Triunfante said most people want to plan their families but they do not have the resources -- information, services and money -- which the bill seeks to address.
He said the lack of information available on family planning restricts people's choices.
He also lamented the lack of reproductive health services for the people which should ideally be made available both by the Church and state.
With its rigid stance against the bill, Triunfante said, the Church may lose its “ministry of compassion.”
Triunfante, who has been ostracized by the Church after he quit the ministry, was wary of being vocal about his stand on the reproductive health bill because, he said, it would be easy for people to judge him as a “sour grape.”
But, he said, after he decided to leave his “pedestal” to be more immersed in the community, he learned to heed the people's needs and to take side with their voice.
“When you're a priest, people put you in a pedestal. People would always want to serve you rather than you to serve them. I knew something was wrong with this,” he said.
Triunfante, one of the pioneering members of the Philippine Federation of Married Priests Inc. (PFMP), said even the group was hoping that the Church would at least be open to a dialogue.
“But the Church would not even want to listen,” he said, adding that this was also how the Church treated many priests who still wanted to serve God even after they married.
“We were isolated. The Church was not open,” he lamented.
The PFMP, which promotes dignity of marriage and family life as one of its objectives, was founded in 1972 and has now a membership of over 500 couples nationwide.
But Triunfante clarified that his open stand on the reproductive health bill was not solely influenced by his married life.
He said he had always believed in the “theory of liberation,” which teaches that knowing the issues of the people and living with them makes ministry more effective.
In 1980s, Triunfante reviewed his life with the help of a Jesuit spiritual adviser.
“I felt like my life was not normal anymore, especially my sex life. There were realities that could not be ignored,” said Triunfante, who recounted having lived a very secluded life in the seminary as young as 11 years old.
He studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome, Italy through a scholarship, where he was exposed to the Vatican Council's discourse on celibacy as an option for priests.
“This imbibed in me the spirit of reformation,” he said.
After having been an active priest for 11 years, Triunfante took a leave of absence from the ministry for one year and lived in an urban poor community to see how it felt to be near the people before he decided to get married in 1980.
“I was no longer happy because of my frustrations. I felt I was isolated and far from the people,” he said.
“Now, the Church and the state can sit down for a while and discuss things that can be agreed upon, especially on providing a better life for the people,” he added.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
5.5-magnitude quake rocks Bicol, Samar
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 10:48:00 10/09/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- A 5.5-magnitude earthquake shook Bicol and Samar areas at dawn Thursday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported.
State seismologists located the 3:09 a.m. earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, 46 kilometers east of Sorsogon and was felt strongest in Legazpi City, Sorsogon City, and Irosin, Sorsogon.
It was also felt in Panganiban, Catanduanes; Catarman, Northern Samar; Catbalogan, Western Samar; and Borongan, Eastern Samar; Naga City, and at the Ligñon Hill in Daraga, Albay.
Phivolcs warned the public against the possible occurrence of aftershocks.
On Monday, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake also rocked Bicol and Eastern Visayas shortly after midnight.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 10:48:00 10/09/2008
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY -- A 5.5-magnitude earthquake shook Bicol and Samar areas at dawn Thursday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported.
State seismologists located the 3:09 a.m. earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, 46 kilometers east of Sorsogon and was felt strongest in Legazpi City, Sorsogon City, and Irosin, Sorsogon.
It was also felt in Panganiban, Catanduanes; Catarman, Northern Samar; Catbalogan, Western Samar; and Borongan, Eastern Samar; Naga City, and at the Ligñon Hill in Daraga, Albay.
Phivolcs warned the public against the possible occurrence of aftershocks.
On Monday, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake also rocked Bicol and Eastern Visayas shortly after midnight.
RH bill debates should involve sex workers, STD victims, says NGO
A14
LEGAZPI CITY—HUNDREDS of nameless people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases should also be heard in the heating up debates on the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, an official of a nongovernment organization said.
Cristita Triunfante, executive director of the Mayon International Development Alternatives and Services Inc. (Midas), said she lamented the seemingly “myopic” view that some people had on the controversial bill.
Current debates are only centered on whether population control will alleviate poverty or whether the legislation is moral or immoral, she said.
“But these are not only the important aspects. Critics of the bill need to have a holistic view by looking into all other elements of reproductive health,” she said.
Midas is a nongovernment organization partnering with the Global Fund AIDS project in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STDs through education and policy advocacies.
It reaches out to three groups most vulnerable to sexually transmitted infection (STI)—people in prostitution, male having sex with male persons, and migrant workers—by educating them on HIV/AIDS and other STDs and giving them contraceptives.
From January to September, Midas has reached out to 2,223 people in four areas in Bicol with high incidence of STI—the cities of Tabaco and Legazpi in Albay, and Sorsogon City and Matnog town in Sorsogon.
Triunfante, who also chairs the Bicol Integrated Reproductive Health Alliance, noted an increasing trend in the number of people vulnerable to STI.
“Victims are becoming younger. More youths are now engaging in prostitution than before, even males as young as 12, due to poverty,” she said.
But she added that government programs and policies were not leveling up to address the problem.
Nongovernment support is also limited, she said.
Midas has been working with local governments to come up with ordinances creating an AIDS council in the localities that will monitor the spread of the disease and will educate people on prevention.
“Once the RH bill is passed and signed into law, there will be more comprehensive reproductive health services for the people, which includes the proper management of STI cases and prevention,” Triunfante said.
She said that in her experiences at work, not all health offices in towns and cities had personnel trained in handling STI cases.
There is also a lack of social hygiene clinics equipped with enough facilities, she added.
The legislation, also known as House Bill No. 5043, requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools, which is both opposed by the Catholic Church.
It would also require local governments to employ enough midwives or attendants for a ratio of one for every 150 deliveries per year; to have an emergency obstetric care and maternal death review; and to provide mobile health care services. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—HUNDREDS of nameless people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases should also be heard in the heating up debates on the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, an official of a nongovernment organization said.
Cristita Triunfante, executive director of the Mayon International Development Alternatives and Services Inc. (Midas), said she lamented the seemingly “myopic” view that some people had on the controversial bill.
Current debates are only centered on whether population control will alleviate poverty or whether the legislation is moral or immoral, she said.
“But these are not only the important aspects. Critics of the bill need to have a holistic view by looking into all other elements of reproductive health,” she said.
Midas is a nongovernment organization partnering with the Global Fund AIDS project in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STDs through education and policy advocacies.
It reaches out to three groups most vulnerable to sexually transmitted infection (STI)—people in prostitution, male having sex with male persons, and migrant workers—by educating them on HIV/AIDS and other STDs and giving them contraceptives.
From January to September, Midas has reached out to 2,223 people in four areas in Bicol with high incidence of STI—the cities of Tabaco and Legazpi in Albay, and Sorsogon City and Matnog town in Sorsogon.
Triunfante, who also chairs the Bicol Integrated Reproductive Health Alliance, noted an increasing trend in the number of people vulnerable to STI.
“Victims are becoming younger. More youths are now engaging in prostitution than before, even males as young as 12, due to poverty,” she said.
But she added that government programs and policies were not leveling up to address the problem.
Nongovernment support is also limited, she said.
Midas has been working with local governments to come up with ordinances creating an AIDS council in the localities that will monitor the spread of the disease and will educate people on prevention.
“Once the RH bill is passed and signed into law, there will be more comprehensive reproductive health services for the people, which includes the proper management of STI cases and prevention,” Triunfante said.
She said that in her experiences at work, not all health offices in towns and cities had personnel trained in handling STI cases.
There is also a lack of social hygiene clinics equipped with enough facilities, she added.
The legislation, also known as House Bill No. 5043, requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools, which is both opposed by the Catholic Church.
It would also require local governments to employ enough midwives or attendants for a ratio of one for every 150 deliveries per year; to have an emergency obstetric care and maternal death review; and to provide mobile health care services. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Edcel: Bill backers, not Church, have numbers
REP. EDCEL LAGMAN YESTERDAY SAID the supporters of the reproductive health bill had the numbers to pass the proposed population-control legislation.
Lagman, a leading proponent of controversial House Bill No. 5043, said the measure’s co-authors now numbered 108 out of 238 congressmen.
Based on the “normal quorum” of 150 in the House of Representatives, he said, the bill’s supporters constituted a majority.
The Albay lawmaker also corrected media reports that “misquoted” him as saying that the bill was “12 votes shy of the approval of the House.”
Lagman’s statement contradicted the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) claim that the proposed Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2008 had lost the support of congressmen.
Jaro Archbishop and CBCP president Angel Lagdameo had earlier said that a survey conducted by Catholic Church-owned Radio Veritas showed that out of 177 congressmen interviewed, 111 were against the bill, 43 in favor and 23 were undecided.
HB 5043 needs 120 votes to be approved on second reading in Congress.
The proposed law would make artificial contraception more accessible to the public through health programs and calls for sex education in schools, both of which the Catholic Church opposes.
The Catholic Church, meanwhile, tried to downplay an emerging rift with other religious groups over the controversial bill.
“The people should not conclude that the debate over the RH (reproductive health) bill is a war of religion, as some members of the media have tried to portray it,” Lagdameo said in an interview over Radio Veritas on Friday.
“This is not a war of religion because each [group] has its own position on the RH bill. The Catholic Church’s position is clear that [the bill] is against the teachings of the Church and should not be made into law,” he said.
The Iglesia ni Cristo and Jesus is Lord Movement have endorsed the bill, along with some Protestant and Muslim leaders.
The bill requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools.
At present, local governments make contraceptives available in barangay health centers.
The bill would also require local governments to employ enough midwives or attendants for a ratio of one for every 150 deliveries per year; to have an emergency obstetric care and maternal death review; and to provide mobile health care services. Dona Pazzibugan; Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Lagman, a leading proponent of controversial House Bill No. 5043, said the measure’s co-authors now numbered 108 out of 238 congressmen.
Based on the “normal quorum” of 150 in the House of Representatives, he said, the bill’s supporters constituted a majority.
The Albay lawmaker also corrected media reports that “misquoted” him as saying that the bill was “12 votes shy of the approval of the House.”
Lagman’s statement contradicted the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) claim that the proposed Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2008 had lost the support of congressmen.
Jaro Archbishop and CBCP president Angel Lagdameo had earlier said that a survey conducted by Catholic Church-owned Radio Veritas showed that out of 177 congressmen interviewed, 111 were against the bill, 43 in favor and 23 were undecided.
HB 5043 needs 120 votes to be approved on second reading in Congress.
The proposed law would make artificial contraception more accessible to the public through health programs and calls for sex education in schools, both of which the Catholic Church opposes.
The Catholic Church, meanwhile, tried to downplay an emerging rift with other religious groups over the controversial bill.
“The people should not conclude that the debate over the RH (reproductive health) bill is a war of religion, as some members of the media have tried to portray it,” Lagdameo said in an interview over Radio Veritas on Friday.
“This is not a war of religion because each [group] has its own position on the RH bill. The Catholic Church’s position is clear that [the bill] is against the teachings of the Church and should not be made into law,” he said.
The Iglesia ni Cristo and Jesus is Lord Movement have endorsed the bill, along with some Protestant and Muslim leaders.
The bill requires government hospitals to include contraceptives in their supply purchases and would require mandatory reproductive health education in schools.
At present, local governments make contraceptives available in barangay health centers.
The bill would also require local governments to employ enough midwives or attendants for a ratio of one for every 150 deliveries per year; to have an emergency obstetric care and maternal death review; and to provide mobile health care services. Dona Pazzibugan; Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
‘Pablo’ strands 1,758 passengers in Bicol
01 October 2008, ATN
TROPICAL STORM “PABLO” HIT EASTERN Samar yesterday, dumping rain over several provinces in the Visayas and Luzon.
President Macapagal-Arroyo was forced to cancel her Cabinet meeting in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and chose to travel to Tacloban City in Leyte for an emergency meeting of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council later in the evening.
Pablo, packing peak winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gusting up to 80 kph, was expected to make landfall between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., forecasters said.
In Bicol, 1,758 passengers were stranded, the Coast Guard reported at 4 p.m.
A total of 35 trucks, 20 cars, 46 buses, and four sea vessels were forced to stay in the ports in Pasacao, Camarines Sur; Tabaco City, Albay; Virac, Catanduanes; and in the towns of Bulan, Matnog and Pilar in Sorsogon.
Port authorities in Matnog suspended all vessels going to Allen port in Samar on Monday midnight, leaving over a thousand passengers stranded there, according to SPO2 Narciso Juntereal of the Highway Patrol Command.
In its morning bulletin yesterday, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) raised Signal No. 2 over the Samar provinces, Leyte and Biliran island.
Signal No. 1 was hoisted over Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Ticao Island, Burias Island, Romblon, southern Quezon, southern Leyte, Capiz, Aklan, northern Iloilo, northern Negros, northern Cebu, Surigao del Norte, Siargao and Dinagat Islands.
“These areas will experience stormy weather. It’s rainy with strong winds,” forecaster Joel Jesusa said in a phone interview. “People in these areas should expect rain and gusty winds, from 30 kph to 60 kph,” he said.
At 10 a.m., the storm was swirling over the Philippine Sea some 140 km east-southeast of Guiuan. Moving west-northwest at 15 kph, it was forecast to be near Catbalogan, Samar, today.
Pagasa alerted people living in low-lying areas and mountain slopes against flash floods and landslides, and those living in coastal areas under signal No. 2 against big waves and storm surges.
The rest of Luzon, including Metro Manila, will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rains and thunderstorms.
The President attended the 107th Balangiga Encounter, considered the biggest single victory of the Filipinos during the Filipino-American War, as planned. She is the first President to ever grace the commemoration of the historic event.
On Sept. 28, 1901, hundreds of native fighters, mostly wielding bolos, surprised soldiers of Company C, 9th US Infantry Regiment in an attack meant to free 80 men being used for forced labor.
Speaking during the commemoration, Ms Arroyo recognized the tourism potentials of Western Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar.
The tourism industry of the three provinces still lag behind their neighbors due to the lack of infrastructure and tourism-related facilities, as well as the insurgency problem, she said.
The President said she had directed the Department of Public Works and Highways to pave the major roads and highways of the Samar Island so that it would become accessible.
She revealed plans to rehabilitate the old but unused airport in Guiuan to serve as a gateway to the island.
“These roads and airports are expected to boost both the local and foreign tourism,” she said.
Ms Arroyo said she had instructed National Security Adviser Secretary Norberto Gonzales to create the Leyte-Samar Peace and Security Council to address the peace and order problem in the area. Ephraim Aguilar and Roy Gersalia, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and TJ Burgonio in Manila.
TROPICAL STORM “PABLO” HIT EASTERN Samar yesterday, dumping rain over several provinces in the Visayas and Luzon.
President Macapagal-Arroyo was forced to cancel her Cabinet meeting in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and chose to travel to Tacloban City in Leyte for an emergency meeting of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council later in the evening.
Pablo, packing peak winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gusting up to 80 kph, was expected to make landfall between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., forecasters said.
In Bicol, 1,758 passengers were stranded, the Coast Guard reported at 4 p.m.
A total of 35 trucks, 20 cars, 46 buses, and four sea vessels were forced to stay in the ports in Pasacao, Camarines Sur; Tabaco City, Albay; Virac, Catanduanes; and in the towns of Bulan, Matnog and Pilar in Sorsogon.
Port authorities in Matnog suspended all vessels going to Allen port in Samar on Monday midnight, leaving over a thousand passengers stranded there, according to SPO2 Narciso Juntereal of the Highway Patrol Command.
In its morning bulletin yesterday, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) raised Signal No. 2 over the Samar provinces, Leyte and Biliran island.
Signal No. 1 was hoisted over Catanduanes, Albay, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Ticao Island, Burias Island, Romblon, southern Quezon, southern Leyte, Capiz, Aklan, northern Iloilo, northern Negros, northern Cebu, Surigao del Norte, Siargao and Dinagat Islands.
“These areas will experience stormy weather. It’s rainy with strong winds,” forecaster Joel Jesusa said in a phone interview. “People in these areas should expect rain and gusty winds, from 30 kph to 60 kph,” he said.
At 10 a.m., the storm was swirling over the Philippine Sea some 140 km east-southeast of Guiuan. Moving west-northwest at 15 kph, it was forecast to be near Catbalogan, Samar, today.
Pagasa alerted people living in low-lying areas and mountain slopes against flash floods and landslides, and those living in coastal areas under signal No. 2 against big waves and storm surges.
The rest of Luzon, including Metro Manila, will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rains and thunderstorms.
The President attended the 107th Balangiga Encounter, considered the biggest single victory of the Filipinos during the Filipino-American War, as planned. She is the first President to ever grace the commemoration of the historic event.
On Sept. 28, 1901, hundreds of native fighters, mostly wielding bolos, surprised soldiers of Company C, 9th US Infantry Regiment in an attack meant to free 80 men being used for forced labor.
Speaking during the commemoration, Ms Arroyo recognized the tourism potentials of Western Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar.
The tourism industry of the three provinces still lag behind their neighbors due to the lack of infrastructure and tourism-related facilities, as well as the insurgency problem, she said.
The President said she had directed the Department of Public Works and Highways to pave the major roads and highways of the Samar Island so that it would become accessible.
She revealed plans to rehabilitate the old but unused airport in Guiuan to serve as a gateway to the island.
“These roads and airports are expected to boost both the local and foreign tourism,” she said.
Ms Arroyo said she had instructed National Security Adviser Secretary Norberto Gonzales to create the Leyte-Samar Peace and Security Council to address the peace and order problem in the area. Ephraim Aguilar and Roy Gersalia, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Joey A. Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas; and TJ Burgonio in Manila.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Underground river leads online poll
30 September 2008
By Ronnel W. Domingo in Manila and Ephraim Aguilar in Southern Luzon
THE PUERTO PRINCESA SUBTERRANEAN RIVER NATIONAL PARK in Palawan is topping the New 7 Wonders of Nature online poll, according to the live ranking results on its website yesterday.
Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said that as of yesterday four of the country’s natural havens had again shown a strong presence in the online poll: Bohol’s Chocolate Hills was ranked No. 4, Palawan’s Tubbataha Reef, No. 5, and Bicol’s Mayon Volcano, No. 11.
The New 7 Wonders of Nature is an ongoing campaign of the Switzerland-based foundation, the same group behind the New 7 Wonders of the World search last year. The results are determined by the number of votes cast by logging on to the website (www.new7wonders.com). Voting is until Dec. 31.
“We are pleased with the current rankings but as the deadline draws near, we should be more persistent in urging Filipinos to vote and actively promote our candidates,” Durano said.
Great tourism boost
Although the competition mandates that only one nominee per country would be included in the official final seven, having four strong nominees at this stage was a great boost for Philippine tourism, he said.
The other top placers are: Ha Long Bay in Vietnam; Cox’s Bazar Beach, Bangladesh; Al-hasa Oasis, Saudi Arabia; Ganges River, Bangladesh and India; Ali Sadr Cave, Iran; 9 Sundarbans Forest, Bangladesh and India; and Lake Saiful Maluk, Pakistan.
“The whole world is tuned in to this competition. Even if only one of our candidates remains in the final seven, we have gained so much publicity for our country as a destination with diverse natural sites,” Durano said.
Eduardo Jarque Jr., tourism undersecretary for planning and promotions, said nominees in the search must be a natural site, a natural monument or a natural landscape.
“There must be no human interference involved in the creation of the sites,” he said.
77 sites in next round
The nominees that make it to the top 77 sites will be eligible for the next round. Voting will continue until July 7 next year, according to the website.
A panel of experts under professor Federico Mayor, former director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), will review the top 77 nominees and choose 21 finalists, which will be declared on July 21 next year.
The finalists will then be put to a popular vote.
The finals will run from 2009 to 2010, with each of the 21 finalists having a chance to be presented to global voters through the New 7 Wonders World Tour.
The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, features a limestone karst mountain landscape with an 8.2-km navigable underground river.
According to the New 7 Wonders website, “The underground river is reputed to be the world’s longest. At the mouth of the cave, a clear lagoon is framed by ancient trees growing right to the water’s edge. Monkeys, large monitor lizards and squirrels find their niche on the beach near the cave.”
By Ronnel W. Domingo in Manila and Ephraim Aguilar in Southern Luzon
THE PUERTO PRINCESA SUBTERRANEAN RIVER NATIONAL PARK in Palawan is topping the New 7 Wonders of Nature online poll, according to the live ranking results on its website yesterday.
Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said that as of yesterday four of the country’s natural havens had again shown a strong presence in the online poll: Bohol’s Chocolate Hills was ranked No. 4, Palawan’s Tubbataha Reef, No. 5, and Bicol’s Mayon Volcano, No. 11.
The New 7 Wonders of Nature is an ongoing campaign of the Switzerland-based foundation, the same group behind the New 7 Wonders of the World search last year. The results are determined by the number of votes cast by logging on to the website (www.new7wonders.com). Voting is until Dec. 31.
“We are pleased with the current rankings but as the deadline draws near, we should be more persistent in urging Filipinos to vote and actively promote our candidates,” Durano said.
Great tourism boost
Although the competition mandates that only one nominee per country would be included in the official final seven, having four strong nominees at this stage was a great boost for Philippine tourism, he said.
The other top placers are: Ha Long Bay in Vietnam; Cox’s Bazar Beach, Bangladesh; Al-hasa Oasis, Saudi Arabia; Ganges River, Bangladesh and India; Ali Sadr Cave, Iran; 9 Sundarbans Forest, Bangladesh and India; and Lake Saiful Maluk, Pakistan.
“The whole world is tuned in to this competition. Even if only one of our candidates remains in the final seven, we have gained so much publicity for our country as a destination with diverse natural sites,” Durano said.
Eduardo Jarque Jr., tourism undersecretary for planning and promotions, said nominees in the search must be a natural site, a natural monument or a natural landscape.
“There must be no human interference involved in the creation of the sites,” he said.
77 sites in next round
The nominees that make it to the top 77 sites will be eligible for the next round. Voting will continue until July 7 next year, according to the website.
A panel of experts under professor Federico Mayor, former director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), will review the top 77 nominees and choose 21 finalists, which will be declared on July 21 next year.
The finalists will then be put to a popular vote.
The finals will run from 2009 to 2010, with each of the 21 finalists having a chance to be presented to global voters through the New 7 Wonders World Tour.
The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, features a limestone karst mountain landscape with an 8.2-km navigable underground river.
According to the New 7 Wonders website, “The underground river is reputed to be the world’s longest. At the mouth of the cave, a clear lagoon is framed by ancient trees growing right to the water’s edge. Monkeys, large monitor lizards and squirrels find their niche on the beach near the cave.”
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