Thursday, December 31, 2009
Business booms while waiting for big bang
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY--With more than 75,000 volcano-watchers flocking into Albay province this month alone, there were no vacant tables at the Small Talk Café on Sunday.
The Hotel St. Ellis, an expensive establishment that opened only this month, had just one room left on Tuesday night. Hotel Venezia was fully booked for five days until the 29th.
Taxi drivers say they’re averaging only three hours of sleep and car rental services are on round-the-clock operations.
Business is booming in Albay as thousands of adventure-seeking tourists are drawn to the restive Mayon Volcano with many even risking their lives to get close to the spectacular flowing lava, according to provincial authorities.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said 2,400 tourists a day had been pouring into the area since the famously active volcano started oozing lava on Dec. 14, compared with about 200 a day before.
“All the hotels are fully booked, even the cheapest ones,” Salceda said.
He said the tourists typically only stay overnight to view the crimson lava oozing from the volcano’s crater in the dark.
“It is like a slow-moving meteor show. You really feel awe when you see it,” he said.
Courting danger
However, Salceda said many tourists were also slipping past security patrols to enter the 8-kilometer danger zone around Mayon to get a close-up experience of the slow-moving lava column.
“There are enough thrill-seekers and, when you combine them with some enterprising local guides, they find their way in,” he said.
The military heightened security around Mayon on Monday after two foreign tourists were seen over the weekend riding all-terrain vehicles toward the volcano.
Salceda warned that although the lava was slow-moving, there was still a danger from volcanic ash that could mix with rainwater to form a lethal, fast-moving mudflow.
Such a confluence had claimed hundreds of lives in the past, most recently in 2006.
“It’s a big problem. I think the first violation of the zero casualty [record] will be a dead tourist,” said Salceda.
“At the moment of eruption, the local guides will have a better chance of getting out. The hapless tourist will be left behind,” he said.
Businesses here claim that their revenues have increased by as much as 30 percent since Mayon started becoming restive as tourists are drawn to the volcanic show.
Soaring revenues
At the Small Talk Café, diners came nonstop on Sunday. Café owner Bernadette Peralta said it was like Valentine’s Day, the only time of the year when sales would triple.
“We have even surpassed last year’s December sales when there was less competition,” said Peralta, noting that the café experienced similar high sales in 2006, when the volcano last erupted.
One of Small Talk’s specialties, Pasta Mayon, has also become some kind of attraction. The dish is made from the triangular ravioli pasta arranged to resemble Mayon’s nearly perfect cone. It is topped by a sizzling red sauce that looks like flowing lava.
Round-the-clock service
There is round-the-clock demand for car services from tourists asking to be driven to Ligñon Hill whose deck affords a full view of Mayon as well as a 360-degree vista of the city and neighboring Daraga town.
Harvey Santos Mayores, manager of the Early Riser Taxi Services, who drives one of his own units, said he is usually on the road until 2 a.m.
Edward Belda, a driver for the Benmar Transport Services, has been hiring himself out to media organizations covering the natural disaster by day and to lava-watching tourists by night.
The flag-down rate for taxicabs here is P30. Car rental rates range from P3,500 to P4,500 per day, depending on the length and duration of travel.
Tour guides
On ordinary days, 60-year-old Benny Rodriguez is a golf course caretaker in Barangay Padang. Now he earns extra as a tour guide.
He said many tourists wanting a closer view of Mayon would negotiate the rough climb to the Legazpi Golf Course, which is inside the 8-km extended danger zone. The course is just within the 5-km radius of the volcano.
Not being a regular guide, Rodriguez, whose clients include media people, tourists and celebrities, does not charge a fixed rate and accepts whatever the customer is willing to give.
He said local tourists tend to be more generous. Recently, a famous golf-playing television host paid him P1,000.
Chopper rides
Misibis Bay Raintree, a luxury island resort in the Albay Gulf and the Pacific Ocean, has noted a significant increase in revenues from its A-list market.
The resort on Cagraray Island offers to high-end clients a volcano adventure tour package, which includes a one-hour chopper ride or an ocean cruise to view Mayon from a safe distance.
Manager Ian Varona said there are precautions to take to ensure the safety of tourists but Mayon, one of the world’s wonders, should not be feared.
He said letting tourism thrive will help boost the local economy, generate more jobs and bring long-term benefits.
Losses suffered
Political economist Carl Ala of the University of the Philippines-Manila, who is now based in Bicol, said that increased business revenues because of the Mayon eruption were still nothing compared to the losses suffered.
“We should also see the calamity’s damage to crops. Many farmers were not able to harvest. The government’s relief spending amounts to P1.5 million daily,” Ala said.
Salceda, who earlier said that disaster tourism was not one of his government’s development strategies, estimated that 75,000 tourists came to Albay in December alone.
This one-month figure has already surpassed the number of tourists that arrived in the province in 2008, he said. With a report from Agence France-Presse
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY--With more than 75,000 volcano-watchers flocking into Albay province this month alone, there were no vacant tables at the Small Talk Café on Sunday.
The Hotel St. Ellis, an expensive establishment that opened only this month, had just one room left on Tuesday night. Hotel Venezia was fully booked for five days until the 29th.
Taxi drivers say they’re averaging only three hours of sleep and car rental services are on round-the-clock operations.
Business is booming in Albay as thousands of adventure-seeking tourists are drawn to the restive Mayon Volcano with many even risking their lives to get close to the spectacular flowing lava, according to provincial authorities.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said 2,400 tourists a day had been pouring into the area since the famously active volcano started oozing lava on Dec. 14, compared with about 200 a day before.
“All the hotels are fully booked, even the cheapest ones,” Salceda said.
He said the tourists typically only stay overnight to view the crimson lava oozing from the volcano’s crater in the dark.
“It is like a slow-moving meteor show. You really feel awe when you see it,” he said.
Courting danger
However, Salceda said many tourists were also slipping past security patrols to enter the 8-kilometer danger zone around Mayon to get a close-up experience of the slow-moving lava column.
“There are enough thrill-seekers and, when you combine them with some enterprising local guides, they find their way in,” he said.
The military heightened security around Mayon on Monday after two foreign tourists were seen over the weekend riding all-terrain vehicles toward the volcano.
Salceda warned that although the lava was slow-moving, there was still a danger from volcanic ash that could mix with rainwater to form a lethal, fast-moving mudflow.
Such a confluence had claimed hundreds of lives in the past, most recently in 2006.
“It’s a big problem. I think the first violation of the zero casualty [record] will be a dead tourist,” said Salceda.
“At the moment of eruption, the local guides will have a better chance of getting out. The hapless tourist will be left behind,” he said.
Businesses here claim that their revenues have increased by as much as 30 percent since Mayon started becoming restive as tourists are drawn to the volcanic show.
Soaring revenues
At the Small Talk Café, diners came nonstop on Sunday. Café owner Bernadette Peralta said it was like Valentine’s Day, the only time of the year when sales would triple.
“We have even surpassed last year’s December sales when there was less competition,” said Peralta, noting that the café experienced similar high sales in 2006, when the volcano last erupted.
One of Small Talk’s specialties, Pasta Mayon, has also become some kind of attraction. The dish is made from the triangular ravioli pasta arranged to resemble Mayon’s nearly perfect cone. It is topped by a sizzling red sauce that looks like flowing lava.
Round-the-clock service
There is round-the-clock demand for car services from tourists asking to be driven to Ligñon Hill whose deck affords a full view of Mayon as well as a 360-degree vista of the city and neighboring Daraga town.
Harvey Santos Mayores, manager of the Early Riser Taxi Services, who drives one of his own units, said he is usually on the road until 2 a.m.
Edward Belda, a driver for the Benmar Transport Services, has been hiring himself out to media organizations covering the natural disaster by day and to lava-watching tourists by night.
The flag-down rate for taxicabs here is P30. Car rental rates range from P3,500 to P4,500 per day, depending on the length and duration of travel.
Tour guides
On ordinary days, 60-year-old Benny Rodriguez is a golf course caretaker in Barangay Padang. Now he earns extra as a tour guide.
He said many tourists wanting a closer view of Mayon would negotiate the rough climb to the Legazpi Golf Course, which is inside the 8-km extended danger zone. The course is just within the 5-km radius of the volcano.
Not being a regular guide, Rodriguez, whose clients include media people, tourists and celebrities, does not charge a fixed rate and accepts whatever the customer is willing to give.
He said local tourists tend to be more generous. Recently, a famous golf-playing television host paid him P1,000.
Chopper rides
Misibis Bay Raintree, a luxury island resort in the Albay Gulf and the Pacific Ocean, has noted a significant increase in revenues from its A-list market.
The resort on Cagraray Island offers to high-end clients a volcano adventure tour package, which includes a one-hour chopper ride or an ocean cruise to view Mayon from a safe distance.
Manager Ian Varona said there are precautions to take to ensure the safety of tourists but Mayon, one of the world’s wonders, should not be feared.
He said letting tourism thrive will help boost the local economy, generate more jobs and bring long-term benefits.
Losses suffered
Political economist Carl Ala of the University of the Philippines-Manila, who is now based in Bicol, said that increased business revenues because of the Mayon eruption were still nothing compared to the losses suffered.
“We should also see the calamity’s damage to crops. Many farmers were not able to harvest. The government’s relief spending amounts to P1.5 million daily,” Ala said.
Salceda, who earlier said that disaster tourism was not one of his government’s development strategies, estimated that 75,000 tourists came to Albay in December alone.
This one-month figure has already surpassed the number of tourists that arrived in the province in 2008, he said. With a report from Agence France-Presse
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tourists look for best view of Mayon
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 01:24:00 12/28/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY—Hotel Venezia is fully booked until Tuesday.
When tourists—from Asia, America and Europe—come, they would ask the front desk which part of Legazpi would give them the best view of the erupting volcano, especially at night.
Gail Narramore, a British-South African missionary, has found Mount Mayon a stunning sight when evening falls.
“It looks like a Christmas tree,” said Narramore, who founded the Albay-based charity group Tiwala Kids and Communities.
Front desk officer Pearl de Guzman told the Inquirer that guests checking into the 40-room hotel had increased since the 2,460-meter mountain started spewing lava two weeks ago.
Digvijay Ankoti, 29, came all way from India just to see the eruption. He drove from Manila to Legazpi with two other Indian friends, one of them married to a Filipino.
It was Ankoti’s first time to see a volcano on the brink of a possibly hazardous blast.
He and his companions have gone lava-watching, going to the top of Ligñon Hill, which offers a full view of the volcano when the sky is clear. The hilltop also offers a 360-degree view of this city and neighboring Daraga town.
Barred from danger zone
Marian Lacson-Singh, 32, one of Ankoti’s companions, said the lava trail was “magnificent,” which made their long drive from Manila worthwhile.
Ankoti said his group once tried to venture into a danger zone—an area within an 8-kilometer radius from the volcano’s flaming mouth—hoping they could get a closer look of the eruption.
The military barred them.
Other tourist sites
Manuel Montiero, 57, from Luxembourg, who also went Mayon-watching at the observatory, said he had seen the Taal, Pinatubo and Bulusan volcanoes but found Mayon most captivating.
Montiero voted for Mayon in the 7 Wonders of the World online search.
Tourism department offices were closed for the holidays and the exact number of tourists, foreign and domestic, who have come to Albay to watch the spectacle of an erupting volcano were not immediately available.
Aside from Mayon, other tourist destinations in Albay are the Misibis resort, Embarcadero commercial complex, and the Tiwi and Manito geothermal sites. Neighboring Sorsogon province offers whale shark-watching in Donsol town.
Disaster tourism
While tourists may have been drawn to the sight of lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon, the provincial government is not keen on encouraging “disaster tourism,” Gov. Joey Salceda said in an earlier interview.
“Disaster tourism is certainly not within the contemplation of the provincial development strategy, even if disaster risk reduction and tourism are integral components,” he said.
Salceda said the sudden surge of tourists was an unintended consequence of a volcanic eruption.
He said the increased tourist arrivals were reflected in the number of visitors Mayon-watching at the observatory (where the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology or Phivolcs is located), in increased visits by nongovernment organizations and sociocivic groups to evacuation centers, and in wider media coverage of Albay.
Bicol Tourism Director Nini Ravanilla described Mayon as a timeless tourist attraction.
The volcano has erupted 49 times since records began, claiming thousands of lives. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa.
Deceptive calm
Alert Level 4 remains hoisted over Mayon, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within days.
Volcanologists yesterday reiterated that while Mayon might be showing less visible signs of unrest, this could be a deceptive calm before a deadly eruption.
“Do not become complacent. The people only see what is coming out of the crater and that is often cloud covered. It is not just the observed phenomenon that matters. We also look at the quakes, the gas emitted and the swelling of the volcano,” warned Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum.
“We are telling the people, ‘Do not just count the number of quakes or what you see from the crater.’ It may look calm but it is not calm. It can still explode,” Solidum said in a radio broadcast.
“You might think it is taking a break but the volcano is still swelling,” he said, after the restive volcano produced fewer ash emissions on Sunday than in previous days.
2006 pattern
Solidum said the volcano could stay active for as long as two months, similar to its last eruption in 2006 when it simmered for months, dumping tons of ash on its slopes.
No one was killed by the eruption itself but in December of that year a passing typhoon dislodged the ash from Mayon’s slopes, turning it into a fast-moving mudflow that covered villages and killed about a thousand people.
More than 47,000 people have fled to 29 evacuation centers, although some villagers are known to defy Army security, sneaking out to periodically return home for supplies.
Still restive
Phivolcs said that based on observations over a 24-hour period, Mayon was still in a state of high unrest, unleashing nine ash explosions accompanied by rumbling sounds.
The blasts produced dirty white to brownish ash columns, with lava fragments, that reached heights of up to 1,000 meters above the summit. Forty-four volcanic earthquakes were recorded.
The sulfur dioxide emission rate has decreased from the previous 8,993 tons per day to 2,304 tons per day.
Communications equipment
As part of intensified preparations for a major eruption, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional office has issued additional communication equipment to Task Force Mayon (TFM).
According to Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, TFM spokesperson, a total of 900 Motorola handheld radios with complete accessories have been issued to the task force.
The radios were distributed to nine military checkpoints within the danger zones.
Officials said forced evacuation of villagers seemed to be working, especially in view of government assurances to residents that their property would be protected during their absence. With reports from Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon, and AFP
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 01:24:00 12/28/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY—Hotel Venezia is fully booked until Tuesday.
When tourists—from Asia, America and Europe—come, they would ask the front desk which part of Legazpi would give them the best view of the erupting volcano, especially at night.
Gail Narramore, a British-South African missionary, has found Mount Mayon a stunning sight when evening falls.
“It looks like a Christmas tree,” said Narramore, who founded the Albay-based charity group Tiwala Kids and Communities.
Front desk officer Pearl de Guzman told the Inquirer that guests checking into the 40-room hotel had increased since the 2,460-meter mountain started spewing lava two weeks ago.
Digvijay Ankoti, 29, came all way from India just to see the eruption. He drove from Manila to Legazpi with two other Indian friends, one of them married to a Filipino.
It was Ankoti’s first time to see a volcano on the brink of a possibly hazardous blast.
He and his companions have gone lava-watching, going to the top of Ligñon Hill, which offers a full view of the volcano when the sky is clear. The hilltop also offers a 360-degree view of this city and neighboring Daraga town.
Barred from danger zone
Marian Lacson-Singh, 32, one of Ankoti’s companions, said the lava trail was “magnificent,” which made their long drive from Manila worthwhile.
Ankoti said his group once tried to venture into a danger zone—an area within an 8-kilometer radius from the volcano’s flaming mouth—hoping they could get a closer look of the eruption.
The military barred them.
Other tourist sites
Manuel Montiero, 57, from Luxembourg, who also went Mayon-watching at the observatory, said he had seen the Taal, Pinatubo and Bulusan volcanoes but found Mayon most captivating.
Montiero voted for Mayon in the 7 Wonders of the World online search.
Tourism department offices were closed for the holidays and the exact number of tourists, foreign and domestic, who have come to Albay to watch the spectacle of an erupting volcano were not immediately available.
Aside from Mayon, other tourist destinations in Albay are the Misibis resort, Embarcadero commercial complex, and the Tiwi and Manito geothermal sites. Neighboring Sorsogon province offers whale shark-watching in Donsol town.
Disaster tourism
While tourists may have been drawn to the sight of lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon, the provincial government is not keen on encouraging “disaster tourism,” Gov. Joey Salceda said in an earlier interview.
“Disaster tourism is certainly not within the contemplation of the provincial development strategy, even if disaster risk reduction and tourism are integral components,” he said.
Salceda said the sudden surge of tourists was an unintended consequence of a volcanic eruption.
He said the increased tourist arrivals were reflected in the number of visitors Mayon-watching at the observatory (where the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology or Phivolcs is located), in increased visits by nongovernment organizations and sociocivic groups to evacuation centers, and in wider media coverage of Albay.
Bicol Tourism Director Nini Ravanilla described Mayon as a timeless tourist attraction.
The volcano has erupted 49 times since records began, claiming thousands of lives. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa.
Deceptive calm
Alert Level 4 remains hoisted over Mayon, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within days.
Volcanologists yesterday reiterated that while Mayon might be showing less visible signs of unrest, this could be a deceptive calm before a deadly eruption.
“Do not become complacent. The people only see what is coming out of the crater and that is often cloud covered. It is not just the observed phenomenon that matters. We also look at the quakes, the gas emitted and the swelling of the volcano,” warned Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum.
“We are telling the people, ‘Do not just count the number of quakes or what you see from the crater.’ It may look calm but it is not calm. It can still explode,” Solidum said in a radio broadcast.
“You might think it is taking a break but the volcano is still swelling,” he said, after the restive volcano produced fewer ash emissions on Sunday than in previous days.
2006 pattern
Solidum said the volcano could stay active for as long as two months, similar to its last eruption in 2006 when it simmered for months, dumping tons of ash on its slopes.
No one was killed by the eruption itself but in December of that year a passing typhoon dislodged the ash from Mayon’s slopes, turning it into a fast-moving mudflow that covered villages and killed about a thousand people.
More than 47,000 people have fled to 29 evacuation centers, although some villagers are known to defy Army security, sneaking out to periodically return home for supplies.
Still restive
Phivolcs said that based on observations over a 24-hour period, Mayon was still in a state of high unrest, unleashing nine ash explosions accompanied by rumbling sounds.
The blasts produced dirty white to brownish ash columns, with lava fragments, that reached heights of up to 1,000 meters above the summit. Forty-four volcanic earthquakes were recorded.
The sulfur dioxide emission rate has decreased from the previous 8,993 tons per day to 2,304 tons per day.
Communications equipment
As part of intensified preparations for a major eruption, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) regional office has issued additional communication equipment to Task Force Mayon (TFM).
According to Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, TFM spokesperson, a total of 900 Motorola handheld radios with complete accessories have been issued to the task force.
The radios were distributed to nine military checkpoints within the danger zones.
Officials said forced evacuation of villagers seemed to be working, especially in view of government assurances to residents that their property would be protected during their absence. With reports from Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon, and AFP
Sunday, December 27, 2009
‘Damayan’ spirit alive amid threat of big Mayon eruption
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—In a world that has gotten smaller for the 47,000 evacuees from Mayon Volcano, everything has to be shared—from food to sleeping mats, from bathrooms to the air they breathe.
And they are living together after escaping a common danger—a possible major eruption of Mayon that, scientists Saturday warned, remained a real threat because of the buildup of magma, clogging the volcano.
In their now smaller world in an evacuation center at Albay Central School, 367 displaced families from Barangay Matanag receive the same amount of food from relief agencies—regardless of the size of each family.
It is in such situations that the damayan (sharing) culture among Filipinos comes to the fore, sociologists say.
“Smaller families would share what they have with bigger families. We would help one another,” evacuee Cynthia Aydalla, a mother of four, told the Inquirer.
“We would buy vegetables from other evacuees. They would bring their harvests here in the evacuation center rather than sell them in the market,” she said.
Sharing little they have
Matanag is one of more than 30 villages within the 8-kilometer danger zone whose residents had to flee their homes to escape the threat from Mayon.
Once it happened that the Aydallas received six kilograms of rice, four packs of noodles, eight canned goods, and a 25-gram pack of coffee that were supposed to be good for three days.
That was also the same ration that Alex Abellena and his family of seven children received—an amount that wouldn’t last them more than two days.
Such a discrepancy has fostered a feeling of generosity among the evacuees.
One big family
In the cramped classrooms of San Roque Elementary School, lack of a comfortable sleeping space was also a problem.
The solution: The evacuees put together, like jigsaw puzzle pieces, whatever mats they had. In the absence of mats, they shared cardboard cartons to shield themselves against the cold floors.
“All evacuees would sleep together like one big family,” said Josie Perez, 41, of Barangay Mabinit.
Since a classroom houses as many as over 100 people, some would sleep in the hallways, Perez said. Others, including a one-month-old baby, slept on a stage.
Upon waking up, over 1,000 evacuees would form long queues to the only two functional bathrooms in the evacuation center.
“Some of us would wake as early as 1 a.m. to avoid the long queues. Others found it more convenient to go back to their houses in the danger zones to clean themselves up,” Perez told the Inquirer.
Culture of generosity
Dolly Laguilles, a sociology professor from Bicol University in Daraga, Albay, said: “It is true that crisis creates a political climate for giving. But in the evacuation centers, it may be more than that.”
She said the tales of generosity from crowded evacuation centers were real and deeply rooted to the Filipino way of life.
“Generosity is a Christian deed. Filipinos are innately generous people,” Laguilles said. “Calamities like this would simply test generosity, a value that has always been there, though, at times, it just has to be revived.
She added: “The damayan culture becomes a source of strength for the refugees. It helps them cope and stand strong.”
Uniquely Filipino
Laguilles said Filipino sociologists have unique terms to describe similar rural values of sharing—“pakikisama, damayan, and bayanihan.”
“These are unique Filipino values deeply embedded in the Filipino’s familial culture.”
She said the damayan culture preserved in rural communities was something urban Filipinos could learn from.
“Urban Filipinos value their space and privacy so much more than the rural folk,” Laguilles said. “That is why the refugees could adapt in crowded evacuation centers and could easily share what they have with one another.”
The sense of being faced with the same danger—that posed by an angry mountain—may have reinforced that communal feeling.
Buildup of magma
Volcanologists on Saturday said that while fewer earthquakes had been recorded from the volcano in recent days, magma continued to build up inside and any lull in activity could be followed by a bigger eruption.
A hazardous eruption remains possible within days, and residents who live near the volcano’s slopes should not be misled into leaving the evacuation centers and venturing back to their homes, warned volcanologist Ed Laguerta.
“The number of volcanic earthquakes has gone down, but this is just part of the eruptive cycle of Mayon,” he said.
1984 lesson
The number of quakes decreased from 871 recorded during the 24-hour period ending Friday morning to 406 recorded during the next 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
Laguerta said instruments showed the volcano remained inflated despite having spilled more than 20 million cubic meters of lava over the last two weeks. That means the lava being released is being replaced by magma coming from beneath the volcano.
“We are looking not only at what Mayon is presently exhibiting because that fluctuates. We are also looking at its past characteristics,” he said, recalling that in 1984, a four-day lull was followed by a sudden, big eruption.
He added: “What is becoming clear is that (the volcano) is getting clogged. That is when the lava is rising but cannot get out.”
“Just because the volcano looks calm … it does not mean its activity is decreasing. We cannot be off our guard. After this calm period, it could explode with even more force,” Laguerta said.
Hissing, rumbling
Showing no letup in its “high level of activity,” Mayon hissed and rumbled, ejecting ash columns a kilometer high from its summit, Phivolcs said.
It said the rumblings continued to be heard at the Lignon Hill Observatory in Legazpi. A total of 406 earthquakes also shook the mountain and emissions of sulfur dioxide remained high at 8,993 tons per day.
Alert level 4, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within days, remains enforced and no one is allowed to venture within the 8-km danger zone from the summit, it said.
“Areas just outside of this (danger zone) should prepare for evacuation in the event hazardous explosive eruptions intensify,” Phivolcs said.
Gov. Joey Salceda is offering P100,000 in cash to any barangay affected by the continuing eruptions that doesn’t suffer any casualties.
“If we achieve the zero-casualty target, then it would entice investors to come in because it is proven that we can move on in the mid of calamities, yet Albay is still worth investing,” Salceda said.
The 2,460-meter has erupted 49 times in recorded history. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa. With reports from Alcuin Papa, AP and AFP
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—In a world that has gotten smaller for the 47,000 evacuees from Mayon Volcano, everything has to be shared—from food to sleeping mats, from bathrooms to the air they breathe.
And they are living together after escaping a common danger—a possible major eruption of Mayon that, scientists Saturday warned, remained a real threat because of the buildup of magma, clogging the volcano.
In their now smaller world in an evacuation center at Albay Central School, 367 displaced families from Barangay Matanag receive the same amount of food from relief agencies—regardless of the size of each family.
It is in such situations that the damayan (sharing) culture among Filipinos comes to the fore, sociologists say.
“Smaller families would share what they have with bigger families. We would help one another,” evacuee Cynthia Aydalla, a mother of four, told the Inquirer.
“We would buy vegetables from other evacuees. They would bring their harvests here in the evacuation center rather than sell them in the market,” she said.
Sharing little they have
Matanag is one of more than 30 villages within the 8-kilometer danger zone whose residents had to flee their homes to escape the threat from Mayon.
Once it happened that the Aydallas received six kilograms of rice, four packs of noodles, eight canned goods, and a 25-gram pack of coffee that were supposed to be good for three days.
That was also the same ration that Alex Abellena and his family of seven children received—an amount that wouldn’t last them more than two days.
Such a discrepancy has fostered a feeling of generosity among the evacuees.
One big family
In the cramped classrooms of San Roque Elementary School, lack of a comfortable sleeping space was also a problem.
The solution: The evacuees put together, like jigsaw puzzle pieces, whatever mats they had. In the absence of mats, they shared cardboard cartons to shield themselves against the cold floors.
“All evacuees would sleep together like one big family,” said Josie Perez, 41, of Barangay Mabinit.
Since a classroom houses as many as over 100 people, some would sleep in the hallways, Perez said. Others, including a one-month-old baby, slept on a stage.
Upon waking up, over 1,000 evacuees would form long queues to the only two functional bathrooms in the evacuation center.
“Some of us would wake as early as 1 a.m. to avoid the long queues. Others found it more convenient to go back to their houses in the danger zones to clean themselves up,” Perez told the Inquirer.
Culture of generosity
Dolly Laguilles, a sociology professor from Bicol University in Daraga, Albay, said: “It is true that crisis creates a political climate for giving. But in the evacuation centers, it may be more than that.”
She said the tales of generosity from crowded evacuation centers were real and deeply rooted to the Filipino way of life.
“Generosity is a Christian deed. Filipinos are innately generous people,” Laguilles said. “Calamities like this would simply test generosity, a value that has always been there, though, at times, it just has to be revived.
She added: “The damayan culture becomes a source of strength for the refugees. It helps them cope and stand strong.”
Uniquely Filipino
Laguilles said Filipino sociologists have unique terms to describe similar rural values of sharing—“pakikisama, damayan, and bayanihan.”
“These are unique Filipino values deeply embedded in the Filipino’s familial culture.”
She said the damayan culture preserved in rural communities was something urban Filipinos could learn from.
“Urban Filipinos value their space and privacy so much more than the rural folk,” Laguilles said. “That is why the refugees could adapt in crowded evacuation centers and could easily share what they have with one another.”
The sense of being faced with the same danger—that posed by an angry mountain—may have reinforced that communal feeling.
Buildup of magma
Volcanologists on Saturday said that while fewer earthquakes had been recorded from the volcano in recent days, magma continued to build up inside and any lull in activity could be followed by a bigger eruption.
A hazardous eruption remains possible within days, and residents who live near the volcano’s slopes should not be misled into leaving the evacuation centers and venturing back to their homes, warned volcanologist Ed Laguerta.
“The number of volcanic earthquakes has gone down, but this is just part of the eruptive cycle of Mayon,” he said.
1984 lesson
The number of quakes decreased from 871 recorded during the 24-hour period ending Friday morning to 406 recorded during the next 24 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
Laguerta said instruments showed the volcano remained inflated despite having spilled more than 20 million cubic meters of lava over the last two weeks. That means the lava being released is being replaced by magma coming from beneath the volcano.
“We are looking not only at what Mayon is presently exhibiting because that fluctuates. We are also looking at its past characteristics,” he said, recalling that in 1984, a four-day lull was followed by a sudden, big eruption.
He added: “What is becoming clear is that (the volcano) is getting clogged. That is when the lava is rising but cannot get out.”
“Just because the volcano looks calm … it does not mean its activity is decreasing. We cannot be off our guard. After this calm period, it could explode with even more force,” Laguerta said.
Hissing, rumbling
Showing no letup in its “high level of activity,” Mayon hissed and rumbled, ejecting ash columns a kilometer high from its summit, Phivolcs said.
It said the rumblings continued to be heard at the Lignon Hill Observatory in Legazpi. A total of 406 earthquakes also shook the mountain and emissions of sulfur dioxide remained high at 8,993 tons per day.
Alert level 4, meaning a hazardous eruption is possible within days, remains enforced and no one is allowed to venture within the 8-km danger zone from the summit, it said.
“Areas just outside of this (danger zone) should prepare for evacuation in the event hazardous explosive eruptions intensify,” Phivolcs said.
Gov. Joey Salceda is offering P100,000 in cash to any barangay affected by the continuing eruptions that doesn’t suffer any casualties.
“If we achieve the zero-casualty target, then it would entice investors to come in because it is proven that we can move on in the mid of calamities, yet Albay is still worth investing,” Salceda said.
The 2,460-meter has erupted 49 times in recorded history. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa. With reports from Alcuin Papa, AP and AFP
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Mayon evacuees keep alive spirit of Christmas
By Rey M. Nasol, Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon, and Alcuin Papa in Manila
Philippine Daily Inquirer
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY--In the shadow of a rumbling volcano, they shared a noche buena (midnight repast) of donated noodles, fish and fruits, opened presents and laughed at clowns.
Even in times of adversity, many among the 47,000 villagers who have sought shelter in evacuation camps to flee the wrath of Mayon Volcano in Albay province tried to keep the Christmas spirit alive.
But fear of the deadly mountain is never far away. Its booming sounds could be heard even in this city, 15 kilometers away.
Five days after raising to 4 the alert level around Mayon and declaring that a hazardous eruption was imminent, volcanologists yesterday warned that Mayon was erupting with more force—hurling lava higher into the sky—and that the danger of a big blast was not over.
“The flow of lava is continuing. The tremors are continuing. So the notion that a big bang is no longer going to happen doesn’t hold. It’s clear the activity has been sustained with more force,” Director Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) told the Inquirer.
Christmas is for children
Solidum said the relatively lower number of earthquakes coming from the volcano the past few days should not be misconstrued as a waning of its fury.
But children in the evacuation camps seemed oblivious of the dangers and didn’t seem to mind that their world had become smaller.
If the 21 children in Room 29 at Albay Central School sounded excited on Christmas Eve, it was because they were celebrating a bigger noche buena than they were used to.
While their parents were preparing for a potluck feast, the children cavorted around as any other kids would do during holidays.
Ten-year-old Erah Mae Abellana of Barangay Matanag said she was happy even if their family had to spend Christmas away from their home.
“I am happy because we have many playmates here and we also received food rations,” Erah said in Bicol.
She said the only thing she and her friends had not been able to do was sing carols in their neighborhood.
Thankful they are safe
Mother-of-two Cris Arquero, 28, was busy cooking spaghetti on a charcoal stove. Hours earlier, a politician had come visiting and given away noche buena packages.
“Just a little get-together meal for us this Christmas,” Arquero said.
Other mothers planned games for children.
Arquero said that although this Christmas was unusual for them, it was not a reason to be unhappy.
“We could only be thankful that we are safe. What is important is that we still could all be together,” she said.
She added the calamity had also given her a chance to teach good values to her 5-year-old daughter.
“Here, she learns how to live harmoniously with other people. She also learns the value of sharing our blessings, no matter how little we have,” Arquero said.
Santas and clowns
Milagros Aydalla, 48, was glad she had something for noche buena, although it was “not as happy as our Christmas last year.”
On Thursday night, Masses were celebrated in the centers. Evacuees received gifts or were entertained by soldiers in Santa hats who belted out songs.
Still the mood at times was subdued, with many evacuees opting to sleep before midnight.
“We have to give them Christmas Eve midnight meal so at least while in the evacuation center, they can also feel the Christmas celebration,” said Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal.
Gov. Joey Salceda distributed P100 bills to children to be spent any way they wanted.
‘They are stubborn’
The celebration continued Friday, with a clown’s magic tricks and parlor games bringing laughter to the children in one elementary school that has been turned into a temporary shelter.
Still, despite the dangers posed by Mayon, many families chose to stay in their homes near the volcano, spending their Christmas Eve in areas that had already been declared a no man’s land.
In a neighborhood in Barangay Matanag, children played in the streets while a karaoke machine rocked with music. A baby on a crib was on a doorstep while sari-sari stores were in business as usual.
Soldiers said they had never stopped warning villagers to flee.
“But they are stubborn. They would tell us they knew the volcano better than us,” Army Pfc. Rennel Madla said.
Higher lava fountains
Mayon’s explosions continued yesterday, showing “more force in terms of lava fountaining,” Solidum said.
The fountains of lava, which had risen as high as 500 meters above the summit before, yesterday soared to a height of one kilometer, he said.
Ash explosions got stronger, too, reaching a maximum height of two kilometers.
Solidum said rock falls were also occurring. Rock falls are caused by the detachment of lava fragments from the summit and the upper slopes of the volcano.
These rock falls can generate dangerous pyroclastic flows, or flows of volcanic ash, dust, rocks and debris that rush down the slopes at speeds of 100 km per hour, with temperatures of up to 420 degrees Celsius, Solidum said.
Health risks
Solidum also warned against health hazards from ashfall on the southwest side of the volcano. He said the white ash blown into residential areas could cause respiratory ailments.
Sulfur dioxide emission rate was still high at 2,738 tons per day.
Active river channels and those identified as lahar prone in the southern sector should be avoided, especially when there is prolonged rainfall, Phivolcs said.
Dangerous lull
Solidum told reporters that Mayon’s sustained high level unrest had eliminated the possibility of a series of quiet eruptions such those that occurred in 2006, which were largely harmless to residents.
“Rumbling and booming sounds are now audible even as far as the city proper of Legazpi, which is 15 kilometers away from the crater,” Solidum said.
Resident volcanologist Eduardo Laguerta said the volume of lava deposits on the slopes had exceeded the Phivolcs estimate of 20 million cubic meters.
He recalled that Mayon showed similar activities prior to its violent eruption in 1984, which was preceded by a four-day lull.
At the time, people thought the volcano had quieted down, only for them to be awakened and sent scampering by a big blast at dawn.
At least 125 rumbling and booming sounds from the volcano were heard at the Lignon Hill Observatory and in Legazpi during a 24-hour monitoring period ending yesterday, Phivolcs said.
Seismic activity remained high, with instruments recording a total of 871 volcanic earthquakes.
Forced evacuation
Forcible evacuation continued in villages within the danger zones. Soldiers sealed entry points, allowing only the exit of people.
Salceda supervised the distribution of cash gifts (P100 per child) in all evacuation centers.
“Instead of giving the children things (in kind) it is wiser to give them the equivalent so that they have money in their pockets which they may use to buy their gift of choice, be it food or toys,” he said.
With reports from AP and AFP
Philippine Daily Inquirer
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY--In the shadow of a rumbling volcano, they shared a noche buena (midnight repast) of donated noodles, fish and fruits, opened presents and laughed at clowns.
Even in times of adversity, many among the 47,000 villagers who have sought shelter in evacuation camps to flee the wrath of Mayon Volcano in Albay province tried to keep the Christmas spirit alive.
But fear of the deadly mountain is never far away. Its booming sounds could be heard even in this city, 15 kilometers away.
Five days after raising to 4 the alert level around Mayon and declaring that a hazardous eruption was imminent, volcanologists yesterday warned that Mayon was erupting with more force—hurling lava higher into the sky—and that the danger of a big blast was not over.
“The flow of lava is continuing. The tremors are continuing. So the notion that a big bang is no longer going to happen doesn’t hold. It’s clear the activity has been sustained with more force,” Director Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) told the Inquirer.
Christmas is for children
Solidum said the relatively lower number of earthquakes coming from the volcano the past few days should not be misconstrued as a waning of its fury.
But children in the evacuation camps seemed oblivious of the dangers and didn’t seem to mind that their world had become smaller.
If the 21 children in Room 29 at Albay Central School sounded excited on Christmas Eve, it was because they were celebrating a bigger noche buena than they were used to.
While their parents were preparing for a potluck feast, the children cavorted around as any other kids would do during holidays.
Ten-year-old Erah Mae Abellana of Barangay Matanag said she was happy even if their family had to spend Christmas away from their home.
“I am happy because we have many playmates here and we also received food rations,” Erah said in Bicol.
She said the only thing she and her friends had not been able to do was sing carols in their neighborhood.
Thankful they are safe
Mother-of-two Cris Arquero, 28, was busy cooking spaghetti on a charcoal stove. Hours earlier, a politician had come visiting and given away noche buena packages.
“Just a little get-together meal for us this Christmas,” Arquero said.
Other mothers planned games for children.
Arquero said that although this Christmas was unusual for them, it was not a reason to be unhappy.
“We could only be thankful that we are safe. What is important is that we still could all be together,” she said.
She added the calamity had also given her a chance to teach good values to her 5-year-old daughter.
“Here, she learns how to live harmoniously with other people. She also learns the value of sharing our blessings, no matter how little we have,” Arquero said.
Santas and clowns
Milagros Aydalla, 48, was glad she had something for noche buena, although it was “not as happy as our Christmas last year.”
On Thursday night, Masses were celebrated in the centers. Evacuees received gifts or were entertained by soldiers in Santa hats who belted out songs.
Still the mood at times was subdued, with many evacuees opting to sleep before midnight.
“We have to give them Christmas Eve midnight meal so at least while in the evacuation center, they can also feel the Christmas celebration,” said Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal.
Gov. Joey Salceda distributed P100 bills to children to be spent any way they wanted.
‘They are stubborn’
The celebration continued Friday, with a clown’s magic tricks and parlor games bringing laughter to the children in one elementary school that has been turned into a temporary shelter.
Still, despite the dangers posed by Mayon, many families chose to stay in their homes near the volcano, spending their Christmas Eve in areas that had already been declared a no man’s land.
In a neighborhood in Barangay Matanag, children played in the streets while a karaoke machine rocked with music. A baby on a crib was on a doorstep while sari-sari stores were in business as usual.
Soldiers said they had never stopped warning villagers to flee.
“But they are stubborn. They would tell us they knew the volcano better than us,” Army Pfc. Rennel Madla said.
Higher lava fountains
Mayon’s explosions continued yesterday, showing “more force in terms of lava fountaining,” Solidum said.
The fountains of lava, which had risen as high as 500 meters above the summit before, yesterday soared to a height of one kilometer, he said.
Ash explosions got stronger, too, reaching a maximum height of two kilometers.
Solidum said rock falls were also occurring. Rock falls are caused by the detachment of lava fragments from the summit and the upper slopes of the volcano.
These rock falls can generate dangerous pyroclastic flows, or flows of volcanic ash, dust, rocks and debris that rush down the slopes at speeds of 100 km per hour, with temperatures of up to 420 degrees Celsius, Solidum said.
Health risks
Solidum also warned against health hazards from ashfall on the southwest side of the volcano. He said the white ash blown into residential areas could cause respiratory ailments.
Sulfur dioxide emission rate was still high at 2,738 tons per day.
Active river channels and those identified as lahar prone in the southern sector should be avoided, especially when there is prolonged rainfall, Phivolcs said.
Dangerous lull
Solidum told reporters that Mayon’s sustained high level unrest had eliminated the possibility of a series of quiet eruptions such those that occurred in 2006, which were largely harmless to residents.
“Rumbling and booming sounds are now audible even as far as the city proper of Legazpi, which is 15 kilometers away from the crater,” Solidum said.
Resident volcanologist Eduardo Laguerta said the volume of lava deposits on the slopes had exceeded the Phivolcs estimate of 20 million cubic meters.
He recalled that Mayon showed similar activities prior to its violent eruption in 1984, which was preceded by a four-day lull.
At the time, people thought the volcano had quieted down, only for them to be awakened and sent scampering by a big blast at dawn.
At least 125 rumbling and booming sounds from the volcano were heard at the Lignon Hill Observatory and in Legazpi during a 24-hour monitoring period ending yesterday, Phivolcs said.
Seismic activity remained high, with instruments recording a total of 871 volcanic earthquakes.
Forced evacuation
Forcible evacuation continued in villages within the danger zones. Soldiers sealed entry points, allowing only the exit of people.
Salceda supervised the distribution of cash gifts (P100 per child) in all evacuation centers.
“Instead of giving the children things (in kind) it is wiser to give them the equivalent so that they have money in their pockets which they may use to buy their gift of choice, be it food or toys,” he said.
With reports from AP and AFP
Friday, December 25, 2009
No rescue for Mayon holdouts, gov warns
By Rey M. Nasol and Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon and Alcuin Papa in Manila
LEGAZPI CITY—ALBAY OFFIcials yesterday warned villagers that no one would come to help them if they refused to evacuate and Mayon Volcano erupted violently, but the holdouts said they preferred to spend Christmas in their homes than in government centers.
Gov. Joey Salceda issued the warning as troops launched a hunt for the hard-headed ones amid threats of a major eruption by the most active Philippine volcano.
“If you are there, you die there. There is no way of rescuing people (if) rescuers would also be killed,” Salceda said in a press briefing.
In a yet another frightening display of its power, Mayon boomed 124 times over a 24-hour period, while belching out ash columns towering 2 kilometers over its summit, higher than its previous ejections.
But hundreds of villagers still ignored appeals for them to evacuate.
“After field validation, 179 more families are still within the danger zones. This excludes those who have returned without our knowledge,” said Salceda, chair of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC).
Officials recalled that 77 farmers and thousands of animals were scorched to death by scalding volcanic materials in Bonga, Buyuan and Mabinit villages in this city during a series of Mayon eruptions from February to April in 1993.
Taking chances
Despite President Macapagal-Arroyo’s order of forced evacuation, some residents within the 8-km extended danger zone would rather take their chances than leave their possessions and animals behind.
“We have lived here for a long time, we know the volcano. We’d rather spend Christmas here than in the crowded evacuation centers,” said Cris Mendioro, 34, of Barangay Matanag.
Mendioro, whose house is just a few meters from an Army checkpoint, said he and the others had packed their belongings and were ready to leave should a major eruption come.
Volcanologists have placed Mayon—which began spewing ash and lava on Dec. 14—under alert level 4, meaning a hazardous blast could occur within hours or days. The highest alert, level 5, means a major eruption is under way.
Wailing of dogs
Aside from Mayon’s productive soil, cattle, crops, and attachment to pets—like dogs—impel villagers to risk their lives and hang on in their residences, instead of living in evacuation sites.
“We are already listed at the evacuation center but heads of families, like me, come back to feed the pigs and pets,” Arnulfo Marcellana, 43, of Barangay Mabinit, told the Inquirer yesterday morning during the forced evacuation.
“The dogs are pitiful to hear every time we return here. They wail in hunger. If only they will assure us that they will feed our animals, things would be much easier for us,” the father of three added.
On one of his returns, Marcellana decided to just untie his 4-month-old pig so it could look for its own food.
“I just hope it is still there when we are allowed to come back,” he said. “Imagine if their cries are heard at the evacuation center. We would wonder if our pets and animals were having anything to eat.”
Marcellana said the thought kept haunting him and his family now that they were heeding warnings not to return home just yet.
‘I am used to this’
Luis Esquivel, also of Mabini and a relative of some of the farmers killed in the 1993 eruption, said that although he kept coming back to his village, he could not sleep.
He said he was always on the alert, closely watching Mayon’s crater while he tended his crops.
“I have my motorcycle always with me for a quick escape,” Esquivel said. “I am used to this. I have experienced these things six times in my life since childhood.”
He added: “What we are afraid of is the ‘uson’ (pyroclastic flows), which killed farmers here.”
Forced evacuation
In Barangay Bonga, 8 km from the crater, hundreds of people still roamed the streets as if nothing was happening with the volcano.
“Barangay Bonga will be our next target for the forced evacuation simultaneously with other areas in the northern and eastern side of Mayon,” said Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, 901st Infantry Brigade and Task Force Mayon spokesperson.
Mila Atun, 45, a mother of 6, said she came back not only to get firewood and kitchen utensils but also to fetch Mariel Alaurin, an 8-year-old neighbor left behind by her parents, who are now at an evacuation center.
Alaurin, in tears, said her father was working in the rice field when he was taken to the evacuation center. She was left alone at home.
Atun said: “We have gotten used to this kind of situation—evacuating even if we are safe here.”
No entry
As early as 5 a.m. yesterday, Task Force Mayon, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and local government units began implementing Ms Arroyo’s evacuation order.
“A platoon of soldiers from the task force and CHR-Bicol and three military vehicles were sent to the villages within the 6-8-kilometer danger zones to enforce the directive,” Bansawan said.
“As soon as the mission is completed 100 percent, all roads to the restricted areas will be sealed off,” Bansawan said.
No exceptions
Col. Marlou Salazar, commanding officer of the 901st Brigade, briefed the enforcers on the rights of the people and the troops’ responsibilities after everyone had been taken out of the danger zones.
“They will have to patrol the area against thieves because the residents have left some of their belongings, some animals, like pigs, and their pets,” Salazar said.
“Forcible evacuation has been ordered, no more exceptions and operations have commenced,” Salceda said.
He added: “We have patiently explored and employed all means, all ways, just to get the 10,000 families out of danger. We could have completed the task in one day, instead of nine days, but did not due to the 179 families still out there, excluding those who have returned without letting us know.”
He said dogs would also be evacuated, as well as cattle, carabaos, pigs and pets.
New phase
Harmonic tremors from within the volcano have been replaced by more frequent explosions.
Volcanologist Alex Baloloy said these changes, noted since 4 p.m. Wednesday, might indicate a new phase in the volcano’s activity.
Lava fountains reaching a peak height of 500 meters were seen at least four times.
But even if the number of volcanic earthquakes have dropped to 815 from Tuesday’s 1,051 and the sulfur dioxide emission rate have fallen to 5,737 tons a day from 6,737 tons, Baloloy said a hazardous blast was still possible.
“These figures are still very high. There is no lull in Mayon’s volcanic activity,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) scientist said.
Many of Wednesday’s ash explosions were not visible as Mayon was mostly covered with clouds but 124 booms were heard.
Lava at plantations
Lava continued to flow down, reaching flat areas along the Bonga-Buyuan, Miisi, and Lidong channels—all in the volcano’s southeast sector covering this city and the towns of Sto. Domingo and Daraga.
Baloloy said the lava front could have already reached coconut and vegetable plantations, but it was expected to travel more slowly henceforth, having hit flat areas.
In Manila, Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said the decreased number of earthquakes was not a sign that Mayon would quiet down.
“It is the tremors that is more significant. Tremors and the rumbling sounds are longer and more vital... To say the volcano is on its way to quieting down based on the number of recorded earthquakes would be misleading,” Solidum told the Inquirer.
He said volcanic earthquakes, tremors and rumblings were not the only basis in considering the activity of a volcano. Other factors, he said, like ash explosions and lava flow, should be considered.
Inquirer Southern Luzon and Alcuin Papa in Manila
LEGAZPI CITY—ALBAY OFFIcials yesterday warned villagers that no one would come to help them if they refused to evacuate and Mayon Volcano erupted violently, but the holdouts said they preferred to spend Christmas in their homes than in government centers.
Gov. Joey Salceda issued the warning as troops launched a hunt for the hard-headed ones amid threats of a major eruption by the most active Philippine volcano.
“If you are there, you die there. There is no way of rescuing people (if) rescuers would also be killed,” Salceda said in a press briefing.
In a yet another frightening display of its power, Mayon boomed 124 times over a 24-hour period, while belching out ash columns towering 2 kilometers over its summit, higher than its previous ejections.
But hundreds of villagers still ignored appeals for them to evacuate.
“After field validation, 179 more families are still within the danger zones. This excludes those who have returned without our knowledge,” said Salceda, chair of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC).
Officials recalled that 77 farmers and thousands of animals were scorched to death by scalding volcanic materials in Bonga, Buyuan and Mabinit villages in this city during a series of Mayon eruptions from February to April in 1993.
Taking chances
Despite President Macapagal-Arroyo’s order of forced evacuation, some residents within the 8-km extended danger zone would rather take their chances than leave their possessions and animals behind.
“We have lived here for a long time, we know the volcano. We’d rather spend Christmas here than in the crowded evacuation centers,” said Cris Mendioro, 34, of Barangay Matanag.
Mendioro, whose house is just a few meters from an Army checkpoint, said he and the others had packed their belongings and were ready to leave should a major eruption come.
Volcanologists have placed Mayon—which began spewing ash and lava on Dec. 14—under alert level 4, meaning a hazardous blast could occur within hours or days. The highest alert, level 5, means a major eruption is under way.
Wailing of dogs
Aside from Mayon’s productive soil, cattle, crops, and attachment to pets—like dogs—impel villagers to risk their lives and hang on in their residences, instead of living in evacuation sites.
“We are already listed at the evacuation center but heads of families, like me, come back to feed the pigs and pets,” Arnulfo Marcellana, 43, of Barangay Mabinit, told the Inquirer yesterday morning during the forced evacuation.
“The dogs are pitiful to hear every time we return here. They wail in hunger. If only they will assure us that they will feed our animals, things would be much easier for us,” the father of three added.
On one of his returns, Marcellana decided to just untie his 4-month-old pig so it could look for its own food.
“I just hope it is still there when we are allowed to come back,” he said. “Imagine if their cries are heard at the evacuation center. We would wonder if our pets and animals were having anything to eat.”
Marcellana said the thought kept haunting him and his family now that they were heeding warnings not to return home just yet.
‘I am used to this’
Luis Esquivel, also of Mabini and a relative of some of the farmers killed in the 1993 eruption, said that although he kept coming back to his village, he could not sleep.
He said he was always on the alert, closely watching Mayon’s crater while he tended his crops.
“I have my motorcycle always with me for a quick escape,” Esquivel said. “I am used to this. I have experienced these things six times in my life since childhood.”
He added: “What we are afraid of is the ‘uson’ (pyroclastic flows), which killed farmers here.”
Forced evacuation
In Barangay Bonga, 8 km from the crater, hundreds of people still roamed the streets as if nothing was happening with the volcano.
“Barangay Bonga will be our next target for the forced evacuation simultaneously with other areas in the northern and eastern side of Mayon,” said Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, 901st Infantry Brigade and Task Force Mayon spokesperson.
Mila Atun, 45, a mother of 6, said she came back not only to get firewood and kitchen utensils but also to fetch Mariel Alaurin, an 8-year-old neighbor left behind by her parents, who are now at an evacuation center.
Alaurin, in tears, said her father was working in the rice field when he was taken to the evacuation center. She was left alone at home.
Atun said: “We have gotten used to this kind of situation—evacuating even if we are safe here.”
No entry
As early as 5 a.m. yesterday, Task Force Mayon, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and local government units began implementing Ms Arroyo’s evacuation order.
“A platoon of soldiers from the task force and CHR-Bicol and three military vehicles were sent to the villages within the 6-8-kilometer danger zones to enforce the directive,” Bansawan said.
“As soon as the mission is completed 100 percent, all roads to the restricted areas will be sealed off,” Bansawan said.
No exceptions
Col. Marlou Salazar, commanding officer of the 901st Brigade, briefed the enforcers on the rights of the people and the troops’ responsibilities after everyone had been taken out of the danger zones.
“They will have to patrol the area against thieves because the residents have left some of their belongings, some animals, like pigs, and their pets,” Salazar said.
“Forcible evacuation has been ordered, no more exceptions and operations have commenced,” Salceda said.
He added: “We have patiently explored and employed all means, all ways, just to get the 10,000 families out of danger. We could have completed the task in one day, instead of nine days, but did not due to the 179 families still out there, excluding those who have returned without letting us know.”
He said dogs would also be evacuated, as well as cattle, carabaos, pigs and pets.
New phase
Harmonic tremors from within the volcano have been replaced by more frequent explosions.
Volcanologist Alex Baloloy said these changes, noted since 4 p.m. Wednesday, might indicate a new phase in the volcano’s activity.
Lava fountains reaching a peak height of 500 meters were seen at least four times.
But even if the number of volcanic earthquakes have dropped to 815 from Tuesday’s 1,051 and the sulfur dioxide emission rate have fallen to 5,737 tons a day from 6,737 tons, Baloloy said a hazardous blast was still possible.
“These figures are still very high. There is no lull in Mayon’s volcanic activity,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) scientist said.
Many of Wednesday’s ash explosions were not visible as Mayon was mostly covered with clouds but 124 booms were heard.
Lava at plantations
Lava continued to flow down, reaching flat areas along the Bonga-Buyuan, Miisi, and Lidong channels—all in the volcano’s southeast sector covering this city and the towns of Sto. Domingo and Daraga.
Baloloy said the lava front could have already reached coconut and vegetable plantations, but it was expected to travel more slowly henceforth, having hit flat areas.
In Manila, Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said the decreased number of earthquakes was not a sign that Mayon would quiet down.
“It is the tremors that is more significant. Tremors and the rumbling sounds are longer and more vital... To say the volcano is on its way to quieting down based on the number of recorded earthquakes would be misleading,” Solidum told the Inquirer.
He said volcanic earthquakes, tremors and rumblings were not the only basis in considering the activity of a volcano. Other factors, he said, like ash explosions and lava flow, should be considered.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
No rescue for bullheaded Mayon residents—Salceda
By Rey M. Nasol, Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 18:17:00 12/24/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Albay officials on Thursday warned villagers no one would come to help them if they refused to evacuate and Mayon Volcano erupts violently
But hold-outs—residents who continue to resist government’s evacuation orders—said they preferred to spend Christmas in their homes than in evacuation centers.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda issued the warning as troops searched villages in danger zones for the hard-headed residents amid threats of a major eruption by the most active volcano in the Philippines.
"If you are there, you die there. There is no way of rescuing people (if) rescuers would also be killed," Salceda said in a press briefing.
In yet another frightening display of its power, Mayon boomed 124 times over a 24-hour period, while belching ash columns towering 1.2 kilometers over its summit, higher than its previous ejections.
But hundreds of villagers still ignored government appeals for them to evacuate.
"After field validation, 179 more families are still within the danger zones. This excludes those who have returned without our knowledge," said Salceda, chair of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.
Officials recalled 77 farmers and thousands of animals were burned to death by volcanic materials in Bonga, Buyuan and Mabinit villages in this city during a series of Mayon eruptions from February to April in 1993.
Despite more frequent explosions and President Macapagal-Arroyo's order for forced evacuation, some residents within the 8-km extended danger zone would rather take their chances than leave their possessions and their animals behind.
"We have lived here for a long time, we know the volcano. We'd rather spend Christmas here than in the crowded evacuation centers," said Cris Mendioro, 34, of Barangay Matanag.
Mendioro, whose house is just a few meters from an Army checkpoint, said he and the others had packed their belongings and were ready to leave should the volcano erupt.
Volcanologists have placed Mayon—which began spewing ash on Dec. 14—under alert level 4, meaning a hazardous blast could occur within hours or days. The highest alert, level 5, means a major eruption is underway.
Aside from Mayon’s productive soil, cattle, crops, attachment to pets, like dogs, drive villagers to risk their lives and stay in their residences instead of living in crowded evacuation sites.
"We are already listed at the evacuation center in Barangay San Roque but heads of families, like me, come back to feed the pigs and pets," Arnulfo Marcellana, 43, of Barangay Mabinit, told the INQUIRER Thursday morning during the forced evacuation.
"The dogs are pitiful to hear every time we return here. They wail in hunger. If only they (disaster officials) will assure us that they will feed our animals, things would be much easier for us," the father of three added.
On one of his returns, Marcellana decided to just untie his 4-month-old pig so that it could look for its own food.
"I just hope it is still there when we are allowed to finally go back," he said. "Imagine if their cries could be heard at the evacuation center, we would wonder if our pets and animals were finding anything to eat."
Marcellana said the thought kept bothering him and his family now that they had decided to heed warnings not to return home just yet.
Luis Esquivel, also of Mabini and a relative of some of the farmers killed in the 1993 eruption, said that although he had kept coming back to his village, he could not sleep.
He said he was always on the alert, closely watching Mayon’s crater while he tended his crops.
"I have my motorcycle always with me for a quick escape," Esquivel said. "I am used to this. I have experienced these things six times in my life since childhood."
He added: "What we are afraid of is the 'uson' (pyroclastic flows), which killed farmers here."
In the adjacent Barangay Bonga, 8 km from Mayon's crater, hundreds of people still roamed the streets as if things were normal.
"Barangay Bonga will be our next target for the forced evacuation simultaneously with other areas in the northern and eastern side of Mayon," said Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, 901st Infantry Brigade and Task Force Mayon spokesperson.
Mila Atun, 45, mother of 6, said she came back to get firewood and kitchen utensils, and also to fetch Mariel Alaurin, an 8-year-old neighbor left behind by her parents, who are now at a evacuation center in Gogon Elementary School.
Alaurin, in tears, said her father was working in the rice field when he was taken to the evacuation center. The girl was left home alone.
Atun said: "We have gotten used to this kind of situation—evacuating even if we are safe here."
A man who refused to give his name said his family was already in the evacuation center and that no one was left, except him, to look after their carabao, cows, goats and crops. He said he still has not decided whether to leave Barangay Bonga.
As early as 5 a.m. Thursday, Task Force Mayon, the Commission on Human Rights and local government units began implementing Ms Arroyo’s order for forced evacuation.
"A platoon of soldiers from the task force and CHR-Bicol and three military vehicles were sent to the villages within the 6-8-kilometer danger zones to enforce the directive," Bansawan said during the conduct of the forced evacuation at Barangay Mabinit here.
Bansawan also said that a team from the Albay Health and Emergency Management was also requested to attend to incapacitated persons that would be found in the area.
The directive was also issued to all the units manning the checkpoints along the 8-km danger zones to strictly enforce the no-entry policy at the areas.
"As soon as the mission is 100 percent completed, all road networks to the restricted areas will be sealed off," Bansawan said.
Col. Marlou Salazar, commanding officer of the 901st Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, briefed the enforcing elements on the rights of the people and their remaining responsibilities after all the people have been forcibly taken out of the danger zones.
"They will have to patrol the area against thieves as the residents opted to leave some of their belongings, some animals like pigs and their pets," Salazar said.
"Forcible evacuation has been ordered, no more exceptions and operations have commenced," Salceda said, adding
"We have patiently explored and employed all means, all ways, all sorts just to get the 10,000 families out of danger and keep within CHR guidance. We could have completed the task in one day instead of nine days but did not due to 179 families still out there, excluding those who have returned without letting us know."
He said dogs would be evacuated as well as the villagers' cattle, carabaos, pigs and pets and be given corresponding feeds for free at their designated evacuation centers in the Albay Breeding Station in Camalig, in Barangay Paraputo in Tabaco City, in Mauraro in Guinobatan and in Bogtong, this city as identified by the Provincial Veterinary Services Office.
Salceda added that the Department of Agriculture Bicol regional office had also provided P15 million fund for post-calamity and rehabilitation activities.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 18:17:00 12/24/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—Albay officials on Thursday warned villagers no one would come to help them if they refused to evacuate and Mayon Volcano erupts violently
But hold-outs—residents who continue to resist government’s evacuation orders—said they preferred to spend Christmas in their homes than in evacuation centers.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda issued the warning as troops searched villages in danger zones for the hard-headed residents amid threats of a major eruption by the most active volcano in the Philippines.
"If you are there, you die there. There is no way of rescuing people (if) rescuers would also be killed," Salceda said in a press briefing.
In yet another frightening display of its power, Mayon boomed 124 times over a 24-hour period, while belching ash columns towering 1.2 kilometers over its summit, higher than its previous ejections.
But hundreds of villagers still ignored government appeals for them to evacuate.
"After field validation, 179 more families are still within the danger zones. This excludes those who have returned without our knowledge," said Salceda, chair of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.
Officials recalled 77 farmers and thousands of animals were burned to death by volcanic materials in Bonga, Buyuan and Mabinit villages in this city during a series of Mayon eruptions from February to April in 1993.
Despite more frequent explosions and President Macapagal-Arroyo's order for forced evacuation, some residents within the 8-km extended danger zone would rather take their chances than leave their possessions and their animals behind.
"We have lived here for a long time, we know the volcano. We'd rather spend Christmas here than in the crowded evacuation centers," said Cris Mendioro, 34, of Barangay Matanag.
Mendioro, whose house is just a few meters from an Army checkpoint, said he and the others had packed their belongings and were ready to leave should the volcano erupt.
Volcanologists have placed Mayon—which began spewing ash on Dec. 14—under alert level 4, meaning a hazardous blast could occur within hours or days. The highest alert, level 5, means a major eruption is underway.
Aside from Mayon’s productive soil, cattle, crops, attachment to pets, like dogs, drive villagers to risk their lives and stay in their residences instead of living in crowded evacuation sites.
"We are already listed at the evacuation center in Barangay San Roque but heads of families, like me, come back to feed the pigs and pets," Arnulfo Marcellana, 43, of Barangay Mabinit, told the INQUIRER Thursday morning during the forced evacuation.
"The dogs are pitiful to hear every time we return here. They wail in hunger. If only they (disaster officials) will assure us that they will feed our animals, things would be much easier for us," the father of three added.
On one of his returns, Marcellana decided to just untie his 4-month-old pig so that it could look for its own food.
"I just hope it is still there when we are allowed to finally go back," he said. "Imagine if their cries could be heard at the evacuation center, we would wonder if our pets and animals were finding anything to eat."
Marcellana said the thought kept bothering him and his family now that they had decided to heed warnings not to return home just yet.
Luis Esquivel, also of Mabini and a relative of some of the farmers killed in the 1993 eruption, said that although he had kept coming back to his village, he could not sleep.
He said he was always on the alert, closely watching Mayon’s crater while he tended his crops.
"I have my motorcycle always with me for a quick escape," Esquivel said. "I am used to this. I have experienced these things six times in my life since childhood."
He added: "What we are afraid of is the 'uson' (pyroclastic flows), which killed farmers here."
In the adjacent Barangay Bonga, 8 km from Mayon's crater, hundreds of people still roamed the streets as if things were normal.
"Barangay Bonga will be our next target for the forced evacuation simultaneously with other areas in the northern and eastern side of Mayon," said Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, 901st Infantry Brigade and Task Force Mayon spokesperson.
Mila Atun, 45, mother of 6, said she came back to get firewood and kitchen utensils, and also to fetch Mariel Alaurin, an 8-year-old neighbor left behind by her parents, who are now at a evacuation center in Gogon Elementary School.
Alaurin, in tears, said her father was working in the rice field when he was taken to the evacuation center. The girl was left home alone.
Atun said: "We have gotten used to this kind of situation—evacuating even if we are safe here."
A man who refused to give his name said his family was already in the evacuation center and that no one was left, except him, to look after their carabao, cows, goats and crops. He said he still has not decided whether to leave Barangay Bonga.
As early as 5 a.m. Thursday, Task Force Mayon, the Commission on Human Rights and local government units began implementing Ms Arroyo’s order for forced evacuation.
"A platoon of soldiers from the task force and CHR-Bicol and three military vehicles were sent to the villages within the 6-8-kilometer danger zones to enforce the directive," Bansawan said during the conduct of the forced evacuation at Barangay Mabinit here.
Bansawan also said that a team from the Albay Health and Emergency Management was also requested to attend to incapacitated persons that would be found in the area.
The directive was also issued to all the units manning the checkpoints along the 8-km danger zones to strictly enforce the no-entry policy at the areas.
"As soon as the mission is 100 percent completed, all road networks to the restricted areas will be sealed off," Bansawan said.
Col. Marlou Salazar, commanding officer of the 901st Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army, briefed the enforcing elements on the rights of the people and their remaining responsibilities after all the people have been forcibly taken out of the danger zones.
"They will have to patrol the area against thieves as the residents opted to leave some of their belongings, some animals like pigs and their pets," Salazar said.
"Forcible evacuation has been ordered, no more exceptions and operations have commenced," Salceda said, adding
"We have patiently explored and employed all means, all ways, all sorts just to get the 10,000 families out of danger and keep within CHR guidance. We could have completed the task in one day instead of nine days but did not due to 179 families still out there, excluding those who have returned without letting us know."
He said dogs would be evacuated as well as the villagers' cattle, carabaos, pigs and pets and be given corresponding feeds for free at their designated evacuation centers in the Albay Breeding Station in Camalig, in Barangay Paraputo in Tabaco City, in Mauraro in Guinobatan and in Bogtong, this city as identified by the Provincial Veterinary Services Office.
Salceda added that the Department of Agriculture Bicol regional office had also provided P15 million fund for post-calamity and rehabilitation activities.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Villagers lose sleep over Mayon, evacuation
(Page A16)
LEGAZPI CITY—VILLAGERS near Mayon are losing sleep over two things—the volcano’s continued rumbling and soldiers on patrol enforcing orders to forcibly move people out of harm’s way.
Josie Perez, 41, knows how it is to spend sleepless nights. She sneaked back into her house in Barangay Mabinit here to escape an evacuation center that was getting more crowded as Mayon kept sending signs of a major eruption.
Loud rumbling from the volcano kept her awake all night. It didn’t help that the roof of her house shook each time.
At each rumbling, she would go out to look at Mayon. “Its glow has become more intense,” she said.
Evacuees, she said, sneak back into their homes near or inside the danger zones during the day to do three things—wash clothes, gather firewood and feed the animals.
Denver Balenzuela, 3, was in Barangay Matnog in Daraga town at dusk while the rest of the village sat empty like a ghost town after forced evacuation.
Teresita Poquilla, 55, the boy’s grandmother, said they spent the night in their house despite the danger because her grandson refused to use toilets at the evacuation center.
“When the Army went around last night, we turned our lights off for fear that they might force us to go back to the shelters,” Poquilla said.
She recalled seeing a neighbor, a paralytic, being carried away by soldiers.
Poquilla said she and her grandson leaves the evacuation center at 6 a.m. and returns at 4 p.m.
On Monday, they stayed home but rumbling sound from Mayon kept her awake. It sounded, she said, “like rocks chasing one another.”
The absence of a lava fountain despite the raising of the alert level to 4, she said, was what worried her.
“There seems to be a blockage inside the volcano,” she said.
Conrado Nuñez, 71, of Barangay Mabinit, has seen seven previous eruptions.
He sat at the door of his house in the village, keeping watch while his family stayed at the evacuation center in San Roque Elementary School.
If there was something that the villagers fear most, he said, it was what they call uson, a local term for the flow of pyroclastic materials.
Nuñez has learned one lesson in the 1993 eruption—nothing, not even his farm, was worth his life. “We don’t have second lives,” he said. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—VILLAGERS near Mayon are losing sleep over two things—the volcano’s continued rumbling and soldiers on patrol enforcing orders to forcibly move people out of harm’s way.
Josie Perez, 41, knows how it is to spend sleepless nights. She sneaked back into her house in Barangay Mabinit here to escape an evacuation center that was getting more crowded as Mayon kept sending signs of a major eruption.
Loud rumbling from the volcano kept her awake all night. It didn’t help that the roof of her house shook each time.
At each rumbling, she would go out to look at Mayon. “Its glow has become more intense,” she said.
Evacuees, she said, sneak back into their homes near or inside the danger zones during the day to do three things—wash clothes, gather firewood and feed the animals.
Denver Balenzuela, 3, was in Barangay Matnog in Daraga town at dusk while the rest of the village sat empty like a ghost town after forced evacuation.
Teresita Poquilla, 55, the boy’s grandmother, said they spent the night in their house despite the danger because her grandson refused to use toilets at the evacuation center.
“When the Army went around last night, we turned our lights off for fear that they might force us to go back to the shelters,” Poquilla said.
She recalled seeing a neighbor, a paralytic, being carried away by soldiers.
Poquilla said she and her grandson leaves the evacuation center at 6 a.m. and returns at 4 p.m.
On Monday, they stayed home but rumbling sound from Mayon kept her awake. It sounded, she said, “like rocks chasing one another.”
The absence of a lava fountain despite the raising of the alert level to 4, she said, was what worried her.
“There seems to be a blockage inside the volcano,” she said.
Conrado Nuñez, 71, of Barangay Mabinit, has seen seven previous eruptions.
He sat at the door of his house in the village, keeping watch while his family stayed at the evacuation center in San Roque Elementary School.
If there was something that the villagers fear most, he said, it was what they call uson, a local term for the flow of pyroclastic materials.
Nuñez has learned one lesson in the 1993 eruption—nothing, not even his farm, was worth his life. “We don’t have second lives,” he said. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Dark Christmas for fleeing Mayon folk
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY—Albay officials have begun moving thousands of villagers out of harm’s way near Mayon Volcano after it oozed lava and shot plumes of ash late Monday.
Officials said the villagers would probably spend a bleak Christmas in an evacuation center.
Government volcanologists raised the alert level on the cone-shaped, 2,460-meter volcano overnight to two steps below eruption after ash explosions and dark orange lava fragments glowing in the dark trickled down the mountain slope.
Nearly 50,000 people live in the “hazard areas” within an eight-kilometer radius around Mayon, and authorities were ordering them to leave in case the volcano erupts, Gov. Joey Salceda said.
In Barangay Matanag, the first batch of evacuees, made up mostly of women, children and the elderly, boarded a police truck at 3 p.m. Tuesday. They clutched luggage, plastic bottles of water, mats, pillows, blankets, firewood and kitchenware
“We cannot disobey this order. We are one with the provincial government’s zero-casualty goal,” said Bienvenido Belga Sr., the barangay captain.
20,000 evacuated
‘As of 6 Tuesday night, 4,552 families or over 20,000 people had been evacuated, officials said.
Salceda said he decided to cancel a trip to Copenhagen, where he was to attend a UN climate conference to discuss his province’s experience with typhoons and other natural disasters.
He said he would appeal for foreign aid to deal with the expected influx of displaced villagers into emergency shelters.
The first of 20 vehicles, including Army trucks, were sent to villages to take residents to schools and other temporary housing, according to Juke Nuñez, a provincial emergency management official.
“It’s 10 days before Christmas. Most likely people will be in evacuation centers, and if Mayon’s activity won’t ease down we will not allow them to return to their homes,” Nuñez said. “It’s difficult and sad, especially for children.”
Worsening state
Magma had been rising in the volcano over the past two weeks and began to ooze out of its crater on Monday night, but it could get worse in coming days, said Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
“Now lava is trickling down, but if the ascent of magma is sustained there will be lava flows,” Solidum said. “There is also the possibility of an explosion.”
Belga said 362 families in Matanag had to be evacuated to the Albay Central School in the city.
The villagers hardly slept since Monday night. “Everyone is anxious about the volcano,” Belga told the Inquirer.
Most people are afraid of Mayon, which brought tragedies in the past, Belga said. In 1993, the volcano erupted and killed more than 70 people.
Belga said barangay officials had been making the rounds overnight to warn people through a megaphone to stay alert because the volcano could erupt anytime.
The order to evacuate came the next day, Belga said.
Early preparations
Melyn Lascano, 43, said her family had packed their belongings as early as August when the volcano was showing signs of unrest.
“It’s better to always be prepared because Mayon these days is so uncertain,” she said.
Aside from clothes, the Lascanos brought with them food and cooking utensils.
“We were told that relief goods will not yet be distributed tonight (Tuesday) so we made sure we would have something to eat until tomorrow morning,” Lascano said in Bicol.
Adelina Atun, 60, knew as early as Sunday that she and her two children were likely to be evacuated.
Mayon’s rumblings have become louder, Atun said. “Sometimes, the volcano would sound like an airplane,” she said, adding that the intense crater glow would make her feel nervous.
Atun’s husband, however, like most of the menfolk in the village, was left to guard the family’s property and farm animals.
When the first batch of evacuees from Matanag arrived at Albay Central School, the classrooms had already been emptied.
10 families in 1 classroom
The school will also accommodate 362 families from the village and 84 more from Barangay Padang, said Evelyn Bachiller, assistant camp chief.
Ten families, regardless of size, will share one classroom and comfort room.
Bachiller said there were not enough water sources in the school grounds. “We only have one water pump available because the rest had been stolen. But we expect the city government to set up water stations soon,” she said.
Some classes were suspended indefinitely near the danger zone. Officials will find a way to squeeze in classes in school buildings to be used as shelters, Salceda said.
About 30,000 people were moved when Mayon last erupted in 2006. Typhoon-triggered mudslides near the mountain later that year buried entire villages, killing more than 1,000 people.
Most violent eruption
Mayon’s most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.
The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common. Twenty-two out of 37 volcanoes in the archipelago are active. With reports from Alcuin Papa in Manila and Associated Press
Inquirer Southern Luzon
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY—Albay officials have begun moving thousands of villagers out of harm’s way near Mayon Volcano after it oozed lava and shot plumes of ash late Monday.
Officials said the villagers would probably spend a bleak Christmas in an evacuation center.
Government volcanologists raised the alert level on the cone-shaped, 2,460-meter volcano overnight to two steps below eruption after ash explosions and dark orange lava fragments glowing in the dark trickled down the mountain slope.
Nearly 50,000 people live in the “hazard areas” within an eight-kilometer radius around Mayon, and authorities were ordering them to leave in case the volcano erupts, Gov. Joey Salceda said.
In Barangay Matanag, the first batch of evacuees, made up mostly of women, children and the elderly, boarded a police truck at 3 p.m. Tuesday. They clutched luggage, plastic bottles of water, mats, pillows, blankets, firewood and kitchenware
“We cannot disobey this order. We are one with the provincial government’s zero-casualty goal,” said Bienvenido Belga Sr., the barangay captain.
20,000 evacuated
‘As of 6 Tuesday night, 4,552 families or over 20,000 people had been evacuated, officials said.
Salceda said he decided to cancel a trip to Copenhagen, where he was to attend a UN climate conference to discuss his province’s experience with typhoons and other natural disasters.
He said he would appeal for foreign aid to deal with the expected influx of displaced villagers into emergency shelters.
The first of 20 vehicles, including Army trucks, were sent to villages to take residents to schools and other temporary housing, according to Juke Nuñez, a provincial emergency management official.
“It’s 10 days before Christmas. Most likely people will be in evacuation centers, and if Mayon’s activity won’t ease down we will not allow them to return to their homes,” Nuñez said. “It’s difficult and sad, especially for children.”
Worsening state
Magma had been rising in the volcano over the past two weeks and began to ooze out of its crater on Monday night, but it could get worse in coming days, said Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
“Now lava is trickling down, but if the ascent of magma is sustained there will be lava flows,” Solidum said. “There is also the possibility of an explosion.”
Belga said 362 families in Matanag had to be evacuated to the Albay Central School in the city.
The villagers hardly slept since Monday night. “Everyone is anxious about the volcano,” Belga told the Inquirer.
Most people are afraid of Mayon, which brought tragedies in the past, Belga said. In 1993, the volcano erupted and killed more than 70 people.
Belga said barangay officials had been making the rounds overnight to warn people through a megaphone to stay alert because the volcano could erupt anytime.
The order to evacuate came the next day, Belga said.
Early preparations
Melyn Lascano, 43, said her family had packed their belongings as early as August when the volcano was showing signs of unrest.
“It’s better to always be prepared because Mayon these days is so uncertain,” she said.
Aside from clothes, the Lascanos brought with them food and cooking utensils.
“We were told that relief goods will not yet be distributed tonight (Tuesday) so we made sure we would have something to eat until tomorrow morning,” Lascano said in Bicol.
Adelina Atun, 60, knew as early as Sunday that she and her two children were likely to be evacuated.
Mayon’s rumblings have become louder, Atun said. “Sometimes, the volcano would sound like an airplane,” she said, adding that the intense crater glow would make her feel nervous.
Atun’s husband, however, like most of the menfolk in the village, was left to guard the family’s property and farm animals.
When the first batch of evacuees from Matanag arrived at Albay Central School, the classrooms had already been emptied.
10 families in 1 classroom
The school will also accommodate 362 families from the village and 84 more from Barangay Padang, said Evelyn Bachiller, assistant camp chief.
Ten families, regardless of size, will share one classroom and comfort room.
Bachiller said there were not enough water sources in the school grounds. “We only have one water pump available because the rest had been stolen. But we expect the city government to set up water stations soon,” she said.
Some classes were suspended indefinitely near the danger zone. Officials will find a way to squeeze in classes in school buildings to be used as shelters, Salceda said.
About 30,000 people were moved when Mayon last erupted in 2006. Typhoon-triggered mudslides near the mountain later that year buried entire villages, killing more than 1,000 people.
Most violent eruption
Mayon’s most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.
The Philippines lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common. Twenty-two out of 37 volcanoes in the archipelago are active. With reports from Alcuin Papa in Manila and Associated Press
Thursday, July 23, 2009
AFTER HALF A CENTURY
DoH: Sorsogon ‘malaria and filariasis-free’
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 15:38:00 07/23/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- After more than half a century, the Department of Health (DoH) declared Sorsogon province "malaria and filariasis free" on Thursday, Bicol health officials said.
It was a milestone to finally declare the province free of the two infectious diseases, Doctor Nestor Santiago Jr., Bicol regional health director, said.
The province has had cases of malaria and filariasis as early as the 1950s and was only finally declared free of them this year, Dr. Alan Lucañas, infectious disease coordinator of the DoH in Bicol, said.
Representatives from the DoH central office in Manila went to Sorsogon for the declaration.
According to the DoH website, malaria is a disease caused by protozoan parasites called Plasmodium. It is usually transmitted through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito.
Its symptoms are chills, fever, too much sweating when the fever subsides, and headache.
Filariasis, which is commonly known as “elephantiasis” because the victim’s legs and arms would swell to a size like those of an elephant’s, is a disease caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes.
Its symptoms are pain and swelling of the breast, vagina, scrotum, legs, and arms; fever, cough, chills, and wheezing.
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 15:38:00 07/23/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- After more than half a century, the Department of Health (DoH) declared Sorsogon province "malaria and filariasis free" on Thursday, Bicol health officials said.
It was a milestone to finally declare the province free of the two infectious diseases, Doctor Nestor Santiago Jr., Bicol regional health director, said.
The province has had cases of malaria and filariasis as early as the 1950s and was only finally declared free of them this year, Dr. Alan Lucañas, infectious disease coordinator of the DoH in Bicol, said.
Representatives from the DoH central office in Manila went to Sorsogon for the declaration.
According to the DoH website, malaria is a disease caused by protozoan parasites called Plasmodium. It is usually transmitted through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito.
Its symptoms are chills, fever, too much sweating when the fever subsides, and headache.
Filariasis, which is commonly known as “elephantiasis” because the victim’s legs and arms would swell to a size like those of an elephant’s, is a disease caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes.
Its symptoms are pain and swelling of the breast, vagina, scrotum, legs, and arms; fever, cough, chills, and wheezing.
6 Albay students test positive for H1N1
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 15:37:00 07/23/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—A Benedictine school in Albay suspended classes Thursday after six of its grade school students tested positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus, Bicol health officials reported.
Dr. Alan Lucañas of the Department of Health in Bicol, said Thursday the six students of St. Agnes' Academy in this city were now well but were still under home quarantine.
The St. Agnes' Academy declined to identify the H1N1-infected students and refused to give information to the media.
It only announced that classes would be suspended until August 3.
Provincial and city health officials, in coordination with the school, are now contact tracing or identifying other students or teachers who have had close contact with the victims.
They are also finding out if the victims have traveled recently.
Lucañas said the confirmation of the cases was delayed three weeks because the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine— the technology used for testing and confirming H1N1 cases—in the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila, was out of order.
All cases nationwide are being tested in the RITM, which in turn send the results in a matter of three to five days to the regional health offices for intervention.
Lucañas said the three-week period that the results were delayed mattered a lot in the enforcement of precautionary measures in the school.
St. Agnes' Academy reported to the DoH high incidence of fever and colds among its students starting early July.
Dr. Nestor Santiago Jr., Bicol health director, said there were now 28 cases of H1N1 in the entire Bicol region—10 in Albay and 18 in Camarines Sur.
He said there were two suspected cases whose test results were pending.
Santiago said the DOH had already localized its intervention measures against H1N1 virus, devolving them to provincial and city health offices.
Founded in 1912, St. Agnes' Academy is the oldest school in Albay, with now around 3,000 students.
The school is the first to suspend classes in Albay province due to the H1N1 virus.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 15:37:00 07/23/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—A Benedictine school in Albay suspended classes Thursday after six of its grade school students tested positive for the Influenza A(H1N1) virus, Bicol health officials reported.
Dr. Alan Lucañas of the Department of Health in Bicol, said Thursday the six students of St. Agnes' Academy in this city were now well but were still under home quarantine.
The St. Agnes' Academy declined to identify the H1N1-infected students and refused to give information to the media.
It only announced that classes would be suspended until August 3.
Provincial and city health officials, in coordination with the school, are now contact tracing or identifying other students or teachers who have had close contact with the victims.
They are also finding out if the victims have traveled recently.
Lucañas said the confirmation of the cases was delayed three weeks because the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine— the technology used for testing and confirming H1N1 cases—in the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila, was out of order.
All cases nationwide are being tested in the RITM, which in turn send the results in a matter of three to five days to the regional health offices for intervention.
Lucañas said the three-week period that the results were delayed mattered a lot in the enforcement of precautionary measures in the school.
St. Agnes' Academy reported to the DoH high incidence of fever and colds among its students starting early July.
Dr. Nestor Santiago Jr., Bicol health director, said there were now 28 cases of H1N1 in the entire Bicol region—10 in Albay and 18 in Camarines Sur.
He said there were two suspected cases whose test results were pending.
Santiago said the DOH had already localized its intervention measures against H1N1 virus, devolving them to provincial and city health offices.
Founded in 1912, St. Agnes' Academy is the oldest school in Albay, with now around 3,000 students.
The school is the first to suspend classes in Albay province due to the H1N1 virus.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
‘Hatton’, ‘Pacquiao’ draw hits on YouTube
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 20:53:00 05/09/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- Not many would know that a month ago, British boxer Ricky Hatton, whom Manny Pacquiao knocked out in a fight in Las Vegas recently, said in an interview that he would finish the Filipino boxing legend in just two rounds.
But the video of the interview, which has drawn over 54,000 hits on YouTube from the time it was uploaded on March 29 by YouTube user bingcherry06, is actually a comedy act featuring a tiny-voiced Hatton that speaks Bisaya.
The interviewer asks Hatton after how many rounds he thinks he can beat Pacquiao, to which the British boxer answers, “Duha ka rounds (Two rounds)!”
What makes this video funnier now is its contrast to the result of the actual fight, where Pacquiao defeated Hatton in a glorious knockout as early as the second round.
The video was created and uploaded a month ago.
“Duha ka rounds! Timing jud kaayo (Two rounds! How timely!) Bisdak rules!” a YouTube user posted a comment.
The funny YouTube video gained more than 25,000 hits just after the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Las Vegas. It was also reposted on the social networking site Facebook.
The interviewer asks, “Dili kaha ka mahadlok ni Pacquiao? Ingon ra ba mga tawo nga naa daw kini banipas o agod-agod (Are you not afraid of Paquiao who, people say, has an amulet)?”
Hatton throws a strange answer, “Di na musalir sa akoa oi. Kay didto sa amo sa Siquijor, barang man uso sa amoa. Di mi mutuo og agod-agod. (He is no match to me. In our place in Siquijor, witchcraft is the 'in' thing. We don't believe in amulets).”
“Katong mga silingan namo sa una nga mga wakwak, wala na, gaboksing na sila kay para daw pud sila makasapi. (Our neighbors who were witches are no longer there; they are already into boxing -- to have money),” the Bisaya-speaking Hatton added.
The original video was an interview of Hatton after his fight with Paulie Malignaggi late last year.
The dubbed video has earned more than 250 comments from YouTube users.
Darnel Forro, an Ilonggo student based in Winnipeg, Canada, said he could not stop laughing while watching the video though he could not really fully understand it.
The way the Bisaya lines would match Hatton’s lip movements was amusing.
Forro ran to his father, who was formerly a military sergeant in Cebu province and the Mindanao region, for translation. He said his father laughed so hard before he could even translate it.
This is not the first time videos dubbed in a native language have gained popularity on YouTube.
One of the firsts was the Ilonggo version of a scene sliced from the film 300. It was titled “Benjo Kag ang Batalyon Pitbull (Benjo and the Pitbull Battalion). It has been reposted many times.
The Internet is also laden with funny photos of Pacquiao. These are digitally edited photos showing Pacquiao’s face attached to different bodies.
Several versions were uploaded on YouTube. One of them, which earned as much as 250,000 hits and 470 users’ comments, is a montage of photos showing Pacquiao as Superman, Michael Jackson, Gollum (Lord of the Rings character), Sergio (Dingdong Dantes’ character in the local version of Marimar), and many more.
Another video with more than 220,000 views shows boxer Emmanual Marquez II and Pacquiao dancing Hawaiian to the tune of Pearly Shell.
Forro said the videos would not have been as funny if not for Pacquiao.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 20:53:00 05/09/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- Not many would know that a month ago, British boxer Ricky Hatton, whom Manny Pacquiao knocked out in a fight in Las Vegas recently, said in an interview that he would finish the Filipino boxing legend in just two rounds.
But the video of the interview, which has drawn over 54,000 hits on YouTube from the time it was uploaded on March 29 by YouTube user bingcherry06, is actually a comedy act featuring a tiny-voiced Hatton that speaks Bisaya.
The interviewer asks Hatton after how many rounds he thinks he can beat Pacquiao, to which the British boxer answers, “Duha ka rounds (Two rounds)!”
What makes this video funnier now is its contrast to the result of the actual fight, where Pacquiao defeated Hatton in a glorious knockout as early as the second round.
The video was created and uploaded a month ago.
“Duha ka rounds! Timing jud kaayo (Two rounds! How timely!) Bisdak rules!” a YouTube user posted a comment.
The funny YouTube video gained more than 25,000 hits just after the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Las Vegas. It was also reposted on the social networking site Facebook.
The interviewer asks, “Dili kaha ka mahadlok ni Pacquiao? Ingon ra ba mga tawo nga naa daw kini banipas o agod-agod (Are you not afraid of Paquiao who, people say, has an amulet)?”
Hatton throws a strange answer, “Di na musalir sa akoa oi. Kay didto sa amo sa Siquijor, barang man uso sa amoa. Di mi mutuo og agod-agod. (He is no match to me. In our place in Siquijor, witchcraft is the 'in' thing. We don't believe in amulets).”
“Katong mga silingan namo sa una nga mga wakwak, wala na, gaboksing na sila kay para daw pud sila makasapi. (Our neighbors who were witches are no longer there; they are already into boxing -- to have money),” the Bisaya-speaking Hatton added.
The original video was an interview of Hatton after his fight with Paulie Malignaggi late last year.
The dubbed video has earned more than 250 comments from YouTube users.
Darnel Forro, an Ilonggo student based in Winnipeg, Canada, said he could not stop laughing while watching the video though he could not really fully understand it.
The way the Bisaya lines would match Hatton’s lip movements was amusing.
Forro ran to his father, who was formerly a military sergeant in Cebu province and the Mindanao region, for translation. He said his father laughed so hard before he could even translate it.
This is not the first time videos dubbed in a native language have gained popularity on YouTube.
One of the firsts was the Ilonggo version of a scene sliced from the film 300. It was titled “Benjo Kag ang Batalyon Pitbull (Benjo and the Pitbull Battalion). It has been reposted many times.
The Internet is also laden with funny photos of Pacquiao. These are digitally edited photos showing Pacquiao’s face attached to different bodies.
Several versions were uploaded on YouTube. One of them, which earned as much as 250,000 hits and 470 users’ comments, is a montage of photos showing Pacquiao as Superman, Michael Jackson, Gollum (Lord of the Rings character), Sergio (Dingdong Dantes’ character in the local version of Marimar), and many more.
Another video with more than 220,000 views shows boxer Emmanual Marquez II and Pacquiao dancing Hawaiian to the tune of Pearly Shell.
Forro said the videos would not have been as funny if not for Pacquiao.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Twitter, Facebook abuzz over Pacquiao win
‘Unbelievable,’ says Mariah Carey
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 16:48:00 05/03/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – On her Twitter page, popular singer Mariah Carey said Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao’s win over British Rocky Hatton was “unbelievable.”
Carey’s entries or “tweets” were announced by her Filipino fans on the social networking website Facebook.
The popular singer said: “This is quite violent.” Another entry read, “I can’t even know what to say.”
Towards the end of the fight, Carey, said Pacquiao was “unbelievable.”
Facebook was filled with shouts on Pacquiao’s victory. Some said those who viewed it on pay-per-view did not get their money’s worth because Hatton “kissed the floor” as early as Round 1 and was knocked out on Round 2.
“Talo! Talo ang mga nanood sa mga malls. Round 2 lang [Losers! Those who watched in malls lost. The match ended in Round 2],” one user said.
Other Facebook users said:
“I feel bad for Hatton. He saw the whole milky way.”
“Asar si Aling Dionisia kasi naunahan siya ni Hatton na himatayin! [Aling Dionisia was irked because Hatton fainted ahead of her].”
“Ano kayang regalo ni Pacquiao kay Aling Dionisia? “Eskenejens? [What would be Pacquiao's gift for Aling Dionisia? Skinny Jeans?]”
Pacquiao’s mother, Dionisia, has fainted on national television several times whenever Pacquiao had a fight.
“Mas matagal pa ang paghahanap ng parking kaysa laban ni Pacman. [It took longer to find a parking space than to watch the Pacman fight].”
"Panalo na naman si Chavit!” [Chavit is again a winner]," referring to former Ilocos Sur governor Luis Chavit Singson, a close supporter of Pacquiao.
“People forgot the H1N1 Virus over Pacman-Hitman fight,” another Facebook user said.
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 16:48:00 05/03/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – On her Twitter page, popular singer Mariah Carey said Filipino boxing hero Manny Pacquiao’s win over British Rocky Hatton was “unbelievable.”
Carey’s entries or “tweets” were announced by her Filipino fans on the social networking website Facebook.
The popular singer said: “This is quite violent.” Another entry read, “I can’t even know what to say.”
Towards the end of the fight, Carey, said Pacquiao was “unbelievable.”
Facebook was filled with shouts on Pacquiao’s victory. Some said those who viewed it on pay-per-view did not get their money’s worth because Hatton “kissed the floor” as early as Round 1 and was knocked out on Round 2.
“Talo! Talo ang mga nanood sa mga malls. Round 2 lang [Losers! Those who watched in malls lost. The match ended in Round 2],” one user said.
Other Facebook users said:
“I feel bad for Hatton. He saw the whole milky way.”
“Asar si Aling Dionisia kasi naunahan siya ni Hatton na himatayin! [Aling Dionisia was irked because Hatton fainted ahead of her].”
“Ano kayang regalo ni Pacquiao kay Aling Dionisia? “Eskenejens? [What would be Pacquiao's gift for Aling Dionisia? Skinny Jeans?]”
Pacquiao’s mother, Dionisia, has fainted on national television several times whenever Pacquiao had a fight.
“Mas matagal pa ang paghahanap ng parking kaysa laban ni Pacman. [It took longer to find a parking space than to watch the Pacman fight].”
"Panalo na naman si Chavit!” [Chavit is again a winner]," referring to former Ilocos Sur governor Luis Chavit Singson, a close supporter of Pacquiao.
“People forgot the H1N1 Virus over Pacman-Hitman fight,” another Facebook user said.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Lozada family in Albay worried, angry
By Ephraim Aguilar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:07:00 05/01/2009
INQUIRER.net
LIGAO CITY, Albay -- Even if they already knew that an arrest was going to happen, the family of Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the key witness to the alleged corruption in the scuttled National Broadband Network contract, could not keep themselves calm.
Roberto Vargas, 59, Lozada’s brother-in-law, said the whistleblower was constantly communicating with his family here in Bicol, mentioning about a possible arrest on perjury charges.
Watching news of the arrest on TV, Lozada’s eldest sister Carmen was “worried and angry,” said Vargas.
Carmen left Bicol for Manila Wednesday night to show support to her brother.
“Even though we knew about the arrest even before it happened, the family was still in shock. We felt disgust over the country’s justice system,” Vargas added.
He said the family considered the arrest a form of political harassment.
“Who would believe that the perjury case was filed only to protect Mike Defensor’s reputation? There is certainly more to it than that,” Vargas said.
“But it’s up for the public to judge. We just have to read between the lines,” he added.
Vargas also said the family supported Lozada’s refusal to post bail and honored his steadfast willingness to face the battle.
But Vargas said the family could not help but worry about Lozada’s safety.
“Baka may mangyaring masama sa kanya (Something bad might happen to him),” Vargas said.
The Senate has withdrawn the security it gave to Lozada but Vargas said the family was thankful for the nuns who have been guarding him and who have been holding vigils for him.
“The family needs everyone’s prayers for Jun’s safety,” Vargas said.
To the left of the city hall are small convenience stores owned by the Lozada family.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to interview one of Lozada’s aunts in one of the stores but the old woman irately said, “I don’t care about him. I don’t know him!”
Vargas later apologized to the Inquirer, explaining that not everyone in the family had the courage to face Lozada’s battle.
He said Lozada’s aunt has always been afraid of people prying on family matters.
The Lozada family here is known to be private and religious.
When Lozada was still touring schools to give talks, he would visit his family here in Bicol.
Vargas said Lozada, who was once tagged “probinsyanong intsik (Chinese from the province),” would always tell them that he never regretted telling the truth at the expense of his freedom and safety.
He would always tell the family, “My soul is intact. I have no regrets.”
But Vargas said Lozada also admitted that it was hard explaining everything to his wife and children, who are now facing a new ordeal after the arrest.
Pastor Dan Balucio, secretary general of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) in Bicol, said Lozada’s arrest only proved the government’s continual “manipulation of truth and justice” in order to cover up the anomalous transactions involving high-ranking government officials.
Balucio said religious and civic organizations that supported Lozada at the height of the NBN deal controversy decided to launch the Free Jun Lozada Movement after the Labor Day celebration.
“We will conduct prayer rallies and mass mobilizations to call for Lozada’s freedom and the dumping of the case against him,” Balucio said in a phone interview.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:07:00 05/01/2009
INQUIRER.net
LIGAO CITY, Albay -- Even if they already knew that an arrest was going to happen, the family of Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the key witness to the alleged corruption in the scuttled National Broadband Network contract, could not keep themselves calm.
Roberto Vargas, 59, Lozada’s brother-in-law, said the whistleblower was constantly communicating with his family here in Bicol, mentioning about a possible arrest on perjury charges.
Watching news of the arrest on TV, Lozada’s eldest sister Carmen was “worried and angry,” said Vargas.
Carmen left Bicol for Manila Wednesday night to show support to her brother.
“Even though we knew about the arrest even before it happened, the family was still in shock. We felt disgust over the country’s justice system,” Vargas added.
He said the family considered the arrest a form of political harassment.
“Who would believe that the perjury case was filed only to protect Mike Defensor’s reputation? There is certainly more to it than that,” Vargas said.
“But it’s up for the public to judge. We just have to read between the lines,” he added.
Vargas also said the family supported Lozada’s refusal to post bail and honored his steadfast willingness to face the battle.
But Vargas said the family could not help but worry about Lozada’s safety.
“Baka may mangyaring masama sa kanya (Something bad might happen to him),” Vargas said.
The Senate has withdrawn the security it gave to Lozada but Vargas said the family was thankful for the nuns who have been guarding him and who have been holding vigils for him.
“The family needs everyone’s prayers for Jun’s safety,” Vargas said.
To the left of the city hall are small convenience stores owned by the Lozada family.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to interview one of Lozada’s aunts in one of the stores but the old woman irately said, “I don’t care about him. I don’t know him!”
Vargas later apologized to the Inquirer, explaining that not everyone in the family had the courage to face Lozada’s battle.
He said Lozada’s aunt has always been afraid of people prying on family matters.
The Lozada family here is known to be private and religious.
When Lozada was still touring schools to give talks, he would visit his family here in Bicol.
Vargas said Lozada, who was once tagged “probinsyanong intsik (Chinese from the province),” would always tell them that he never regretted telling the truth at the expense of his freedom and safety.
He would always tell the family, “My soul is intact. I have no regrets.”
But Vargas said Lozada also admitted that it was hard explaining everything to his wife and children, who are now facing a new ordeal after the arrest.
Pastor Dan Balucio, secretary general of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) in Bicol, said Lozada’s arrest only proved the government’s continual “manipulation of truth and justice” in order to cover up the anomalous transactions involving high-ranking government officials.
Balucio said religious and civic organizations that supported Lozada at the height of the NBN deal controversy decided to launch the Free Jun Lozada Movement after the Labor Day celebration.
“We will conduct prayer rallies and mass mobilizations to call for Lozada’s freedom and the dumping of the case against him,” Balucio said in a phone interview.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Jeepney drivers stop plying Bicol streets
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:55:00 04/27/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—Jeepney drivers refusing to pay new increases in fines for traffic violations did not ply their routes on Monday morning, stranding commuters in the main streets of Bicol’s four provinces.
Organizers of the transport holiday said they were protesting the “unreasonably increased traffic fines, fees, and penalties” being imposed nationwide by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
The Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor) asked for a moratorium and revocation of Order 1008-39 of the Department of Transportationand Communications. The affiliate of the Pagkakaisa Ng Mga Samahan Ng Tsuper At Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) has around 10,000 public utility drivers and operators as members in Bicol.
Ramon Roco, LTO regional director in Bicol, said the penalties for traffic violations were increased in March by as much as 1,000 percent under the DOTC order.
Driving without license now carries a fine of P1,500, or double the old rate. For unregistered or delinquently registered vehicles or those traveling with expired plates, the fine has been raised from P900 to up to P4,000.
For violators
For out-of-line vehicles, popularly referred to as “colorum,” the fine was increased from P1,000 to P6,000.
Licenses of violators are also suspended for 90 days, much longer that the old period of only seven days.
Mar Magistrado, LTO regional operations chief, said that as early as 2008, the agency had been disseminating information about the new penalty scheme and had been getting negative reactions, especially from transport groups.
But he said the new policy was intended for violators. “It will not affect the livelihood of public drivers. It will affect only if they will refuse to obey traffic regulations,” he said.
Roco said the new fines were low compared to other countries that strictly enforce traffic laws. “In the United States, a person could go bankrupt just for drunk-driving but here fines are really low that drivers would no longer mind if they committed violations,” he added.
Joel Ascutia, Condor-Piston regional president in Bicol, said in a phone interview that Monday’s strike was successful although some drivers did not join because they needed money. “Many of our drivers are saving up for the tuition of their children,” he said.
Ephraim Aguilar and Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 23:55:00 04/27/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay—Jeepney drivers refusing to pay new increases in fines for traffic violations did not ply their routes on Monday morning, stranding commuters in the main streets of Bicol’s four provinces.
Organizers of the transport holiday said they were protesting the “unreasonably increased traffic fines, fees, and penalties” being imposed nationwide by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
The Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform (Condor) asked for a moratorium and revocation of Order 1008-39 of the Department of Transportationand Communications. The affiliate of the Pagkakaisa Ng Mga Samahan Ng Tsuper At Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) has around 10,000 public utility drivers and operators as members in Bicol.
Ramon Roco, LTO regional director in Bicol, said the penalties for traffic violations were increased in March by as much as 1,000 percent under the DOTC order.
Driving without license now carries a fine of P1,500, or double the old rate. For unregistered or delinquently registered vehicles or those traveling with expired plates, the fine has been raised from P900 to up to P4,000.
For violators
For out-of-line vehicles, popularly referred to as “colorum,” the fine was increased from P1,000 to P6,000.
Licenses of violators are also suspended for 90 days, much longer that the old period of only seven days.
Mar Magistrado, LTO regional operations chief, said that as early as 2008, the agency had been disseminating information about the new penalty scheme and had been getting negative reactions, especially from transport groups.
But he said the new policy was intended for violators. “It will not affect the livelihood of public drivers. It will affect only if they will refuse to obey traffic regulations,” he said.
Roco said the new fines were low compared to other countries that strictly enforce traffic laws. “In the United States, a person could go bankrupt just for drunk-driving but here fines are really low that drivers would no longer mind if they committed violations,” he added.
Joel Ascutia, Condor-Piston regional president in Bicol, said in a phone interview that Monday’s strike was successful although some drivers did not join because they needed money. “Many of our drivers are saving up for the tuition of their children,” he said.
Ephraim Aguilar and Rey M. Nasol, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Monday, April 27, 2009
Bicol transport strike held vs steep fines
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 14:39:00 04/27/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--Vehicular traffic has been paralyzed late Monday morning in four provinces in the Bicol region.
This was after the transport group Condor-Piston held a transport holiday to protest the government's exorbitant fines on traffic violations.
Condor-Piston (Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform-Pagkakaisa Ng Mga Samahan Ng Tsuper At Opereytor Nationwide) is asking a moratorium and revocation of Order 1008-39 of the Department of Transportation and Communication which it said "unreasonably increased traffic fines, fees, and penalties" being charged nationwide by its implementing arm, the Land Transportation Office.
As of 10 a.m., 95 percent of public utility vehicles in Albay province were taking part in the transport holiday, 85 percent in Camarines Sur, 80 percent in Camarines Norte while a motorcade protest was held in Masbate province, said Joel Ascutia, Condor-Piston regional president in Bicol.
A transport strike was also staged simultaneously in Davao City.
Condor-Piston, an affiliate of Piston, has around 10,000 public utility drivers and operators under in its wing in the Bicol region.
George San Mateo, Piston national secretary general, said the transport group is asking President Macapagal-Arroyo to intervene after DOTC refused to suspend the order despite a recommendation of the House committee on transportation.
On April 21, the House committee held a public hearing attended by transport group leaders wherein the committee ruled that the DOTC order has to be suspended for lack of public consultation before passage and for its arbitrary implementation.
San Mateo said Piston and its affiliates would continue to hold protests and even a nationwide transport strike until the order is canceled.
Ascutia said in a phone interview that the strike turned out to be successful although some drivers opted not to join the transport holiday due to financial need.
"Many of our drivers are saving up for tuition fee of their children come the enrollment period next month and the opening of classes in June," said Ascutia, also the concurrent Condor-Piston national deputy secretary general.
On March 26, a transport strike was held by Piston in its provincial affiliates in Cebu, Negros and Bacolod City.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 14:39:00 04/27/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--Vehicular traffic has been paralyzed late Monday morning in four provinces in the Bicol region.
This was after the transport group Condor-Piston held a transport holiday to protest the government's exorbitant fines on traffic violations.
Condor-Piston (Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform-Pagkakaisa Ng Mga Samahan Ng Tsuper At Opereytor Nationwide) is asking a moratorium and revocation of Order 1008-39 of the Department of Transportation and Communication which it said "unreasonably increased traffic fines, fees, and penalties" being charged nationwide by its implementing arm, the Land Transportation Office.
As of 10 a.m., 95 percent of public utility vehicles in Albay province were taking part in the transport holiday, 85 percent in Camarines Sur, 80 percent in Camarines Norte while a motorcade protest was held in Masbate province, said Joel Ascutia, Condor-Piston regional president in Bicol.
A transport strike was also staged simultaneously in Davao City.
Condor-Piston, an affiliate of Piston, has around 10,000 public utility drivers and operators under in its wing in the Bicol region.
George San Mateo, Piston national secretary general, said the transport group is asking President Macapagal-Arroyo to intervene after DOTC refused to suspend the order despite a recommendation of the House committee on transportation.
On April 21, the House committee held a public hearing attended by transport group leaders wherein the committee ruled that the DOTC order has to be suspended for lack of public consultation before passage and for its arbitrary implementation.
San Mateo said Piston and its affiliates would continue to hold protests and even a nationwide transport strike until the order is canceled.
Ascutia said in a phone interview that the strike turned out to be successful although some drivers opted not to join the transport holiday due to financial need.
"Many of our drivers are saving up for tuition fee of their children come the enrollment period next month and the opening of classes in June," said Ascutia, also the concurrent Condor-Piston national deputy secretary general.
On March 26, a transport strike was held by Piston in its provincial affiliates in Cebu, Negros and Bacolod City.
Sun-dried beef tapa cooks in just seconds
By Ephraim Aguilar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:16:00 04/26/2009
INQUIRER.net
MASBATE CITY, Philippines -- Breakfast that cooks in just seconds.
This is what the business of Mariano Natural, 53, and wife Mercy, 55, is all about. They manufacture and sell tasty beef tapa that cooks in as fast as three seconds.
Tapa is a mainstay on the Filipino breakfast table. It is meat cut in thin slices and cured with salt and spices to preserve it.
The word “tapa” is associated with smoked fish, which is natively called “tinapa.” It is usually fried or grilled and served with “achara” or pickles.
The couple’s beef tapa is not just cured with salt and spices but is also sun-dried. Cooking it is faster than driving through the nearest fast-food restaurant to have your fill before you go to work.
This homemade tapa has started to reach places through trade fairs organized by the Department of Trade and Industry in Metro Manila and by word of mouth.
There are balikbayan and overseas workers, like those from Saudi Arabia and Germany, who have placed orders to bring with them this tasty meat abroad.
In a government-sponsored trade fair at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay reportedly ordered 20 kilograms of beef tapa from the Natural couple.
Longganisa
The couple works out of Barangay Tugbo here, which is about 15-minute tricycle drive from the Masbate port. They started with making and selling homemade longganisa to augment Mariano’s income as a fisherman and vendor.
He is the president of the Masbate Fish Vendors’ Association.
“We thought if we’re going to engage in business, it had to be related to food,” Mariano said. “It is a common need and will never run out of demand.”
He added that Mercy thought of making homemade longganisa with a P10,000-capital. The new business had fair sales and ran smoothly.
After Mercy attended government-sponsored training programs, she learned how to create other products like beef tapa, pork tapa, and bamboo shoot pickles.
This was the humble start of what later would become the Nomer’s Masbate Meat Processing.
The home-based company now earns at least P100,000 in net income in a week and is seeking to become a household name, hoping to tap the export market.
Ranches
Touted as the rodeo capital of the Philippines, Masbate is known for its ranches. Cattle-raising has been a long-running tradition in this island province.
The Natural couple sources out meat from local ranches, making sure the meat is fresh and of good quality.
The meat is marinated in special seasoning for more than 24 hours to lock in the flavor. Then it is sun-dried for an entire day and cut into strips.
The cut tapa is then vacuum-sealed in a pack and labeled.
The Mariano couple learned modern packaging techniques through programs of the DTI.
3 seconds
After the tapa has been dunked in heated oil, it will only take three seconds to cook it before it is ready for consumption.
Not only does the tapa cook very fast, it also has a long shelf-life.
“[The tapa can] last for five to six months, or even up to a year if kept frozen,” Mariano said.
Nomer’s beef tapa sells for P100 for every 125 grams, the pork tapa for P75, and the pickled bamboo shoots for P60 a bottle.
The tapa is also available in different flavors: sweet-spicy, salty, spicy, sweet.
Mercy said it would be necessary to add more flavor options since people’s tastes also vary.
She said she hopes they could export their products someday, but that they would need to first upgrade their facilities to increase production.
They also need to learn strategies on how to tap the foreign market.
She admitted that they still have a long way to go, adding that small Filipino entrepreneurs need to have continuous education and support from the government to enable their businesses to grow.
“We need a dehydrator so that when the sun doesn’t shine, we can still produce something,” Mercy said. “Today, we only rely on the natural heat of the sun to dry our meat.”
She said they are expecting to receive equipment grants from the Department of Science and Technology this year.
Nomer’s Masbate Meat Processing contact number is (0908) 566-9159.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:16:00 04/26/2009
INQUIRER.net
MASBATE CITY, Philippines -- Breakfast that cooks in just seconds.
This is what the business of Mariano Natural, 53, and wife Mercy, 55, is all about. They manufacture and sell tasty beef tapa that cooks in as fast as three seconds.
Tapa is a mainstay on the Filipino breakfast table. It is meat cut in thin slices and cured with salt and spices to preserve it.
The word “tapa” is associated with smoked fish, which is natively called “tinapa.” It is usually fried or grilled and served with “achara” or pickles.
The couple’s beef tapa is not just cured with salt and spices but is also sun-dried. Cooking it is faster than driving through the nearest fast-food restaurant to have your fill before you go to work.
This homemade tapa has started to reach places through trade fairs organized by the Department of Trade and Industry in Metro Manila and by word of mouth.
There are balikbayan and overseas workers, like those from Saudi Arabia and Germany, who have placed orders to bring with them this tasty meat abroad.
In a government-sponsored trade fair at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay reportedly ordered 20 kilograms of beef tapa from the Natural couple.
Longganisa
The couple works out of Barangay Tugbo here, which is about 15-minute tricycle drive from the Masbate port. They started with making and selling homemade longganisa to augment Mariano’s income as a fisherman and vendor.
He is the president of the Masbate Fish Vendors’ Association.
“We thought if we’re going to engage in business, it had to be related to food,” Mariano said. “It is a common need and will never run out of demand.”
He added that Mercy thought of making homemade longganisa with a P10,000-capital. The new business had fair sales and ran smoothly.
After Mercy attended government-sponsored training programs, she learned how to create other products like beef tapa, pork tapa, and bamboo shoot pickles.
This was the humble start of what later would become the Nomer’s Masbate Meat Processing.
The home-based company now earns at least P100,000 in net income in a week and is seeking to become a household name, hoping to tap the export market.
Ranches
Touted as the rodeo capital of the Philippines, Masbate is known for its ranches. Cattle-raising has been a long-running tradition in this island province.
The Natural couple sources out meat from local ranches, making sure the meat is fresh and of good quality.
The meat is marinated in special seasoning for more than 24 hours to lock in the flavor. Then it is sun-dried for an entire day and cut into strips.
The cut tapa is then vacuum-sealed in a pack and labeled.
The Mariano couple learned modern packaging techniques through programs of the DTI.
3 seconds
After the tapa has been dunked in heated oil, it will only take three seconds to cook it before it is ready for consumption.
Not only does the tapa cook very fast, it also has a long shelf-life.
“[The tapa can] last for five to six months, or even up to a year if kept frozen,” Mariano said.
Nomer’s beef tapa sells for P100 for every 125 grams, the pork tapa for P75, and the pickled bamboo shoots for P60 a bottle.
The tapa is also available in different flavors: sweet-spicy, salty, spicy, sweet.
Mercy said it would be necessary to add more flavor options since people’s tastes also vary.
She said she hopes they could export their products someday, but that they would need to first upgrade their facilities to increase production.
They also need to learn strategies on how to tap the foreign market.
She admitted that they still have a long way to go, adding that small Filipino entrepreneurs need to have continuous education and support from the government to enable their businesses to grow.
“We need a dehydrator so that when the sun doesn’t shine, we can still produce something,” Mercy said. “Today, we only rely on the natural heat of the sun to dry our meat.”
She said they are expecting to receive equipment grants from the Department of Science and Technology this year.
Nomer’s Masbate Meat Processing contact number is (0908) 566-9159.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Quake jolts Legazpi
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 12:09:00 04/07/2009
Filed Under: Earthquake
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY--A magnitude 3.7 earthquake shook this city 6:37 p.m. Monday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Manila reported.
Local villagers described the earthquake as "strong but abrupt." It was strong enough to be felt by a person sitting down. The strong and quick jolt was followed by weaker tremors that lasted not more than 10 seconds.
State seismologists, in a bulletin, said the earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, was located 23 kilometers north of Legazpi City. No damage to infrastructure was expected.
On Sunday dawn, two earthquakes were also recorded, a magnitude 3.1 in Baguio City and a magnitude 4.2 in Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 12:09:00 04/07/2009
Filed Under: Earthquake
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY--A magnitude 3.7 earthquake shook this city 6:37 p.m. Monday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Manila reported.
Local villagers described the earthquake as "strong but abrupt." It was strong enough to be felt by a person sitting down. The strong and quick jolt was followed by weaker tremors that lasted not more than 10 seconds.
State seismologists, in a bulletin, said the earthquake, which was tectonic in origin, was located 23 kilometers north of Legazpi City. No damage to infrastructure was expected.
On Sunday dawn, two earthquakes were also recorded, a magnitude 3.1 in Baguio City and a magnitude 4.2 in Cauayan, Negros Occidental.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Villar’s rivals seek injured boy in Masbate
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 17:37:00 03/26/2009
Filed Under: Politics, Accidents (general)
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--The boy who was run over by horses in Masbate City last week is now stable and out of danger, but this time, he is being run over by different creatures: annoying politicians.
Russell, 11, a fifth-grade student of Jose Zurbito Elementary School, was wounded as Senator Manuel Villar’s helicopter was landing in the sports arena where the annual Rodeo Masbateño festival was opened.
The chopper’s landing stirred up dust on the ground and spooked five horses, which dashed around the stadium, running over Russell who sustained facial abrasions and contusions in the head.
“We were nervous when we heard about what happened to our son. First, because we weren’t there and we had no idea how serious it was,” Russell’s father, Roberto Bentor said in a phone interview.
Villar’s dramatic entrance, which cut a speech of a top local official, sparked criticism from some of the locals, saying it was improper.
Russell was rushed to the hospital semi-conscious and had to breathe through oxygen equipment. Doctors have also kept a dextrose plugged to his vein during his first day of stay in the hospital.
His classmates paid a visit until he regained consciousness.
His teacher Lovella Patricio claimed that Russell had a seizure right after his fall. He did not undergo a CT scan, which was not available in Masbate City.
Bentor said they only wanted a CT scan for his son to make sure he was completely safe after the head injury.
He added the hospital bills were covered by their PhilHealth insurance.
Salvador Belgica, Jose Zurbito Elementary School principal, who had a meeting with Russell’s parents Thursday, said the family was not interested in any financial help and would only want their lives back to normal.
Belgica said politicians wooing Russell’s family have been bothersome and annoying.
He said Russell was getting scared by the unusual attention he and his family have been getting.
Roberto said that, after the incident, at least four political camps, known to be Villar’s rivals in the 2010 presidential elections, had approached them.
He, however, refused to name who the politicians were.
“We did not entertain any of them and we have no plans of accepting any offer from them. We don’t want to get involved in politics,” Roberto said in Filipino.
There were also radio reports this week that Russell was still in serious condition but Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, Masbate provincial health officer, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he was discharged from the hospital a day after he was admitted.
Earlier, Villar said he had no intention of disrupting the event and apologized to those who felt offended.
“From what I know, there were some [safety] issues but the pilot was able to land without too much disruption. Nevertheless, if some people were inconvenienced, I apologize. The very warm reception of the crowd on that occasion encourages me to return to Masbate soonest,” he said.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 17:37:00 03/26/2009
Filed Under: Politics, Accidents (general)
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--The boy who was run over by horses in Masbate City last week is now stable and out of danger, but this time, he is being run over by different creatures: annoying politicians.
Russell, 11, a fifth-grade student of Jose Zurbito Elementary School, was wounded as Senator Manuel Villar’s helicopter was landing in the sports arena where the annual Rodeo Masbateño festival was opened.
The chopper’s landing stirred up dust on the ground and spooked five horses, which dashed around the stadium, running over Russell who sustained facial abrasions and contusions in the head.
“We were nervous when we heard about what happened to our son. First, because we weren’t there and we had no idea how serious it was,” Russell’s father, Roberto Bentor said in a phone interview.
Villar’s dramatic entrance, which cut a speech of a top local official, sparked criticism from some of the locals, saying it was improper.
Russell was rushed to the hospital semi-conscious and had to breathe through oxygen equipment. Doctors have also kept a dextrose plugged to his vein during his first day of stay in the hospital.
His classmates paid a visit until he regained consciousness.
His teacher Lovella Patricio claimed that Russell had a seizure right after his fall. He did not undergo a CT scan, which was not available in Masbate City.
Bentor said they only wanted a CT scan for his son to make sure he was completely safe after the head injury.
He added the hospital bills were covered by their PhilHealth insurance.
Salvador Belgica, Jose Zurbito Elementary School principal, who had a meeting with Russell’s parents Thursday, said the family was not interested in any financial help and would only want their lives back to normal.
Belgica said politicians wooing Russell’s family have been bothersome and annoying.
He said Russell was getting scared by the unusual attention he and his family have been getting.
Roberto said that, after the incident, at least four political camps, known to be Villar’s rivals in the 2010 presidential elections, had approached them.
He, however, refused to name who the politicians were.
“We did not entertain any of them and we have no plans of accepting any offer from them. We don’t want to get involved in politics,” Roberto said in Filipino.
There were also radio reports this week that Russell was still in serious condition but Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, Masbate provincial health officer, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he was discharged from the hospital a day after he was admitted.
Earlier, Villar said he had no intention of disrupting the event and apologized to those who felt offended.
“From what I know, there were some [safety] issues but the pilot was able to land without too much disruption. Nevertheless, if some people were inconvenienced, I apologize. The very warm reception of the crowd on that occasion encourages me to return to Masbate soonest,” he said.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Cowboy Manny spooks horses, guests in rodeo
By Ephraim Aguilar
INQUIRER.net
MASBATE CITY--Talk about a dramatic entrance.
A helicopter descended from the heavens, stirring up dust, while a political jingle played at full blast. Senator Manuel Villar, who came dressed as a cowboy, alighted from the chopper and was brought to the grandstand by a mob of aides and supporters.
This happened in the middle of the opening ceremonies of the annual Rodeo Masbateño festival here on Wednesday, disrupting a speech by a top local tourism official.
Five horses, spooked by the chopper’s landing, dashed around the stadium like mad creatures and ran over a boy who was injured and rushed to the hospital.
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, provincial health officer, said the boy arrived at the hospital semiconscious and was found to have suffered abrasions on his face as well as cerebral contusions.
Meanwhile, the star-struck masses howled as cowboy Villar paced closer and started shaking everyone’s hand.
Villar, who is running for president in 2010, later delivered a speech.
Respect culture of place
For most people, the senator’s entrance was too grand to ignore.
But for education supervisor Erusita Rosero, cultural coordinator of the Department of Education in Masbate City, Villar’s behavior was not proper.
“No one should disrupt an activity like that. Visitors should properly respect the culture of a place,” Rosero said.
“Since he (Villar) was invited by politicians, there could also be something political behind his visit,” she added.
So sorry
Rosero said all guests were welcome to Masbate. She added there was nothing wrong with inviting Villar but his visit should not be used as an opportunity to campaign.
Throughout the opening rites, Villar was repeatedly referred to by emcees and other politicians as the “next president of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Asked for comment, Villar said he had no intention of disrupting the event and apologized to those who felt offended.
“From what I know, there were some [safety] issues but the pilot was able to land without too much disruption. Nevertheless, if some people were inconvenienced, I apologize. The very warm reception of the crowd on that occasion encourages me to return to Masbate soonest,” he said.
Not intentional
Masbate Governor Elisa Kho, who was with Villar during his late entrance, said the circumstances were not within the senator’s control.
She said they already apologized to Maria Ong-Ravanilla, regional director of the Department of Tourism, for unintentionally disrupting her speech.
“I think it was not being disrespectful,” Kho said in a phone interview.
She added that the 2010 elections were not that far off and politicians tend to grab every opportunity to introduce themselves to the public.
“It cannot be avoided,” Kho said.
She also said that Villar pledged support for the annual rodeo festival and to Masbate province once he was elected president.
Why not the airport?
Local trader Carmelito Fajara, 37, said there were varied reactions from Masbate residents. Some were offended, while others couldn’t care less.
“But since the city has an airport, I think it would have been wiser if [Villar] had landed there so he could quietly enter the stadium,” Fajara said.
“It’s only now, after many years, that I have witnessed such a scene during the rodeo festival!” he added.
“Dili pa ngani siya nagiging presidente (He is not even president yet),” was another comment from a local resident.
INQUIRER.net
MASBATE CITY--Talk about a dramatic entrance.
A helicopter descended from the heavens, stirring up dust, while a political jingle played at full blast. Senator Manuel Villar, who came dressed as a cowboy, alighted from the chopper and was brought to the grandstand by a mob of aides and supporters.
This happened in the middle of the opening ceremonies of the annual Rodeo Masbateño festival here on Wednesday, disrupting a speech by a top local tourism official.
Five horses, spooked by the chopper’s landing, dashed around the stadium like mad creatures and ran over a boy who was injured and rushed to the hospital.
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, provincial health officer, said the boy arrived at the hospital semiconscious and was found to have suffered abrasions on his face as well as cerebral contusions.
Meanwhile, the star-struck masses howled as cowboy Villar paced closer and started shaking everyone’s hand.
Villar, who is running for president in 2010, later delivered a speech.
Respect culture of place
For most people, the senator’s entrance was too grand to ignore.
But for education supervisor Erusita Rosero, cultural coordinator of the Department of Education in Masbate City, Villar’s behavior was not proper.
“No one should disrupt an activity like that. Visitors should properly respect the culture of a place,” Rosero said.
“Since he (Villar) was invited by politicians, there could also be something political behind his visit,” she added.
So sorry
Rosero said all guests were welcome to Masbate. She added there was nothing wrong with inviting Villar but his visit should not be used as an opportunity to campaign.
Throughout the opening rites, Villar was repeatedly referred to by emcees and other politicians as the “next president of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Asked for comment, Villar said he had no intention of disrupting the event and apologized to those who felt offended.
“From what I know, there were some [safety] issues but the pilot was able to land without too much disruption. Nevertheless, if some people were inconvenienced, I apologize. The very warm reception of the crowd on that occasion encourages me to return to Masbate soonest,” he said.
Not intentional
Masbate Governor Elisa Kho, who was with Villar during his late entrance, said the circumstances were not within the senator’s control.
She said they already apologized to Maria Ong-Ravanilla, regional director of the Department of Tourism, for unintentionally disrupting her speech.
“I think it was not being disrespectful,” Kho said in a phone interview.
She added that the 2010 elections were not that far off and politicians tend to grab every opportunity to introduce themselves to the public.
“It cannot be avoided,” Kho said.
She also said that Villar pledged support for the annual rodeo festival and to Masbate province once he was elected president.
Why not the airport?
Local trader Carmelito Fajara, 37, said there were varied reactions from Masbate residents. Some were offended, while others couldn’t care less.
“But since the city has an airport, I think it would have been wiser if [Villar] had landed there so he could quietly enter the stadium,” Fajara said.
“It’s only now, after many years, that I have witnessed such a scene during the rodeo festival!” he added.
“Dili pa ngani siya nagiging presidente (He is not even president yet),” was another comment from a local resident.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Villar’s visit to Masbate spooks horses
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 18:13:00 03/21/2009
INQUIRER.net
MASBATE CITY, Masbate—(Update) A senator’s chopper descended from heaven, churning up clouds of dust from ground, and then a political jingle began to play loudly as he was ushered by a mob of aides and supporters to the grandstand.
This happened in the middle of the opening ceremonies of the Rodeo Masbateño festival here last Wednesday, disrupting the speech of a top local tourism official.
Five horses in one corner of the stadium were spooked by the helicopter’s landing and vaulted away, overrunning a boy who had to be rushed to a hospital.
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, provincial health officer, said the boy, who was semi-conscious when brought to the hospital, suffered abrasions and cerebral contusions.
Probably star-struck, the masses howled as Senator Manuel Villar, who is running for president in 2010 and was dressed like a cowboy, paced closer to them and shook everyone’s hand.
The senator’s dramatic entrance was too grand to ignore, but for some it was a form of disrespect.
For education supervisor Erusita Rosero, cultural coordinator of the Department of Education in Masbate City, said Villar’s behavior was not proper.
“No one should disrupt an activity like that. Visitors should properly respect the culture of a place,” she said.
“Since he (Villar) was invited by politicians, there could also be something political behind his visit,” Rosero said.
She added that every guest was welcome to Masbate province and that there was nothing wrong with Villar being invited but she wished his arrival at the festival should not have been used for careless campaigning.
“Sa pagkaka-alam ko, although there were slight issues, the pilot was able to land safely without too much disruption,” Villar said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquire Saturday evening. “Nevertheless, if some people were inconvenienced, I apologize. The very warm reception of the crowd on that occasion encourages me to return to Masbate soonest. I thank them.”
Throughout the opening rites, Villar was repeatedly addressed by emcees and other politicians as the “next president of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Local trader Carmelito Lajara, 37, said there could be varying reactions from people; some might have been offended while others may have not.
“But since the city has an airport, I think it could have been wiser if [Villar] landed there instead so he could more quietly enter the venue. In that way, he wouldn’t get so much attention,” Fajara said.
“Only now, after many years that I have witnessed the Rodeo festival, did such a scene happen!” Fajara said.
“Dili pa ngani siya nagiging presidente, (He has not yet even become president)” was a common side comment from some Masbate residents.
Sought for comment, Masbate Governor Elisa Kho, who was with Villar during his late entrance, said the circumstances were not within Villar’s control.
She added that they apologized to Maria Ong-Ravanilla, regional director of the Department of Tourism, for disrupting her speech.
“I think it was not being disrespectful,” Kho said in a phone interview, explaining that the 2010 election were not so far off and politicians had to grab every opportunity to introduce themselves to the public. “It cannot be avoided.”
She added that Villar pledged support to the annual Rodeo festival and to Masbate province once he is elected as president.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 18:13:00 03/21/2009
INQUIRER.net
MASBATE CITY, Masbate—(Update) A senator’s chopper descended from heaven, churning up clouds of dust from ground, and then a political jingle began to play loudly as he was ushered by a mob of aides and supporters to the grandstand.
This happened in the middle of the opening ceremonies of the Rodeo Masbateño festival here last Wednesday, disrupting the speech of a top local tourism official.
Five horses in one corner of the stadium were spooked by the helicopter’s landing and vaulted away, overrunning a boy who had to be rushed to a hospital.
Dr. Adolfo Almanzor, provincial health officer, said the boy, who was semi-conscious when brought to the hospital, suffered abrasions and cerebral contusions.
Probably star-struck, the masses howled as Senator Manuel Villar, who is running for president in 2010 and was dressed like a cowboy, paced closer to them and shook everyone’s hand.
The senator’s dramatic entrance was too grand to ignore, but for some it was a form of disrespect.
For education supervisor Erusita Rosero, cultural coordinator of the Department of Education in Masbate City, said Villar’s behavior was not proper.
“No one should disrupt an activity like that. Visitors should properly respect the culture of a place,” she said.
“Since he (Villar) was invited by politicians, there could also be something political behind his visit,” Rosero said.
She added that every guest was welcome to Masbate province and that there was nothing wrong with Villar being invited but she wished his arrival at the festival should not have been used for careless campaigning.
“Sa pagkaka-alam ko, although there were slight issues, the pilot was able to land safely without too much disruption,” Villar said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquire Saturday evening. “Nevertheless, if some people were inconvenienced, I apologize. The very warm reception of the crowd on that occasion encourages me to return to Masbate soonest. I thank them.”
Throughout the opening rites, Villar was repeatedly addressed by emcees and other politicians as the “next president of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Local trader Carmelito Lajara, 37, said there could be varying reactions from people; some might have been offended while others may have not.
“But since the city has an airport, I think it could have been wiser if [Villar] landed there instead so he could more quietly enter the venue. In that way, he wouldn’t get so much attention,” Fajara said.
“Only now, after many years that I have witnessed the Rodeo festival, did such a scene happen!” Fajara said.
“Dili pa ngani siya nagiging presidente, (He has not yet even become president)” was a common side comment from some Masbate residents.
Sought for comment, Masbate Governor Elisa Kho, who was with Villar during his late entrance, said the circumstances were not within Villar’s control.
She added that they apologized to Maria Ong-Ravanilla, regional director of the Department of Tourism, for disrupting her speech.
“I think it was not being disrespectful,” Kho said in a phone interview, explaining that the 2010 election were not so far off and politicians had to grab every opportunity to introduce themselves to the public. “It cannot be avoided.”
She added that Villar pledged support to the annual Rodeo festival and to Masbate province once he is elected as president.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Banking on good name to attain success
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
DARAGA, ALBAY--Wendy Destacamento, 55, a local producer of processed meat, knows that her products are of the best quality simply because her own grandchildren eat them.
Wendy, a grandmother of three, says there is nothing as reliable as what’s cooking in your mother’s kitchen—a familiar taste that never jades the appetite.
“We earned our buyers’ trust by our “lutong-bahay” (home-cooked) reputation,” Wendy says. “We ensure the quality of our products since they’re what we eat, and they’re what our own grandchildren eat.”
Wendy and her husband Oscar, 60, have been locally producing fresh cut and processed meat products in Albay province through Juanito’s Meat and Marinated Products—a homegrown company they put up 24 years ago.
It started in 1985 with a meager capital of P1,500. The couple would sell fresh pork to friends. That eventually led to the establishment of an outlet in this town’s public market. Later, another branch opened in a more strategic place in Legazpi City.
Oscar says that since locally processed meat products cater only to smaller areas requiring shorter freezing time, they are free from harmful preservatives.
Juanito’s Meat has since expanded, producing other meat products as well, such as hotdog, ham, meat loaf, luncheon meat, corned beef, smoked hamonado, foot-long sausage, bologna, embutido, burger patties and lumpia shanghai.
Oscar says Juanito’s does not use genetically engineered or modified organisms or additives in their products. It also uses organic color such as paprika or “paminton.”
He adds they do not use dumped or cheap meat from other countries. Juanito’s products have also been fortified with anticarcinogenic properties and Vitamin C.
The Destacamento couple has never been daunted even if Juanito’s sits alongside other popular meat brands in shopping mall freezers in the cities of Legazpi and Lucena.
Juanito’s may not have put out advertisements on TV or newspapers, but it has a loyal clientele whose number has grown through the years by word of mouth.
“People who have tested the quality of our products eventually become our loyal buyers,” says Wendy. “And they tell their friends about us, too.”
She says locally processed meat products are more fresh since it is intended for smaller communities and is expected to reach consumers soon after production, thus requiring no artificial preservatives.
After the scare that gripped the world when some food products imported from China were reportedly contaminated with melamine—a white powder used in plastic-making harmful to human health—local food producers expected a boost in sales.
Oscar, who is also vice president of the Bicol Region Association of Meat Processors, says their sales increased by 15 percent after the China food scandal late last year.
However, Oscar adds that this boost in sales is still measly compared to profits and property lost to the “Supertyphoon Reming” in late 2006. The power outage that lasted for more than a month caused them to temporarily cease operations.
“We almost closed down our business,” Wendy says, recalling the tragedy. “We even told our workers they had to stop working for us, and when we gave them their separation pays, they didn’t want to take the money.”
It was then that Wendy realized they were “helping people earn a living ... and that we were also providing quality food to the locals, so we decided to press on no matter how hard it was.”
Another challenge faced by local meat processors is the limited market.
The couple says it really takes constant effort to maintain good product quality on which to build a good and trusted name. Only by doing so will the number of their loyal costumers grow.
(Juanito’s Meat may be reached at 0915-8246003.)
Inquirer Southern Luzon
DARAGA, ALBAY--Wendy Destacamento, 55, a local producer of processed meat, knows that her products are of the best quality simply because her own grandchildren eat them.
Wendy, a grandmother of three, says there is nothing as reliable as what’s cooking in your mother’s kitchen—a familiar taste that never jades the appetite.
“We earned our buyers’ trust by our “lutong-bahay” (home-cooked) reputation,” Wendy says. “We ensure the quality of our products since they’re what we eat, and they’re what our own grandchildren eat.”
Wendy and her husband Oscar, 60, have been locally producing fresh cut and processed meat products in Albay province through Juanito’s Meat and Marinated Products—a homegrown company they put up 24 years ago.
It started in 1985 with a meager capital of P1,500. The couple would sell fresh pork to friends. That eventually led to the establishment of an outlet in this town’s public market. Later, another branch opened in a more strategic place in Legazpi City.
Oscar says that since locally processed meat products cater only to smaller areas requiring shorter freezing time, they are free from harmful preservatives.
Juanito’s Meat has since expanded, producing other meat products as well, such as hotdog, ham, meat loaf, luncheon meat, corned beef, smoked hamonado, foot-long sausage, bologna, embutido, burger patties and lumpia shanghai.
Oscar says Juanito’s does not use genetically engineered or modified organisms or additives in their products. It also uses organic color such as paprika or “paminton.”
He adds they do not use dumped or cheap meat from other countries. Juanito’s products have also been fortified with anticarcinogenic properties and Vitamin C.
The Destacamento couple has never been daunted even if Juanito’s sits alongside other popular meat brands in shopping mall freezers in the cities of Legazpi and Lucena.
Juanito’s may not have put out advertisements on TV or newspapers, but it has a loyal clientele whose number has grown through the years by word of mouth.
“People who have tested the quality of our products eventually become our loyal buyers,” says Wendy. “And they tell their friends about us, too.”
She says locally processed meat products are more fresh since it is intended for smaller communities and is expected to reach consumers soon after production, thus requiring no artificial preservatives.
After the scare that gripped the world when some food products imported from China were reportedly contaminated with melamine—a white powder used in plastic-making harmful to human health—local food producers expected a boost in sales.
Oscar, who is also vice president of the Bicol Region Association of Meat Processors, says their sales increased by 15 percent after the China food scandal late last year.
However, Oscar adds that this boost in sales is still measly compared to profits and property lost to the “Supertyphoon Reming” in late 2006. The power outage that lasted for more than a month caused them to temporarily cease operations.
“We almost closed down our business,” Wendy says, recalling the tragedy. “We even told our workers they had to stop working for us, and when we gave them their separation pays, they didn’t want to take the money.”
It was then that Wendy realized they were “helping people earn a living ... and that we were also providing quality food to the locals, so we decided to press on no matter how hard it was.”
Another challenge faced by local meat processors is the limited market.
The couple says it really takes constant effort to maintain good product quality on which to build a good and trusted name. Only by doing so will the number of their loyal costumers grow.
(Juanito’s Meat may be reached at 0915-8246003.)
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Spend more on social services, gov’t urged
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY--WITH THE GLOBAL ECOnomic crisis looking like it will be “deeper, broader and longer,” the government should prioritize social protection measures over a stimulus package, said Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.
Instead of the “big-jolt” spending of a stimulus package to pump life into a sickening economy, the government should spend more, but slowly, on basic social services, said Salceda, who is one of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s economic advisers.
Salceda, who spoke at the Bicol Regional Development Council meeting here, said the global economic slowdown is likely to last three years.
Salceda, who is the Bicol-RDC chair, argued for a change in the development framework, saying that in a stimulus response to the crisis, as in the P330-billion stimulus package, government resources could run out.
He said the government should focus on long-term projects, take advantage of low economic activity, and expand productive capacity while creating jobs to support incomes.
Salceda explained that in an economic crisis, demand—or the daily activity of buying and spending that keeps an economy going—weakens. Even if prices of goods are low, people do not have the money to spend.
If businesses and consumers would rather save than spend, then the government should do more of the spending, Salceda said.
“When everyone stops spending, only the government can take risks. When there is no demand, only the government can create demand,” Salceda said.
He said government should be doing the spending because it can afford to take big losses and its losses are spread out over the entire population and over time.
In the meantime, the governor advised people to be frugal spenders and businessmen to cut down on essentials.
He said people should build their skills to make themselves more marketable. With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY--WITH THE GLOBAL ECOnomic crisis looking like it will be “deeper, broader and longer,” the government should prioritize social protection measures over a stimulus package, said Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.
Instead of the “big-jolt” spending of a stimulus package to pump life into a sickening economy, the government should spend more, but slowly, on basic social services, said Salceda, who is one of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s economic advisers.
Salceda, who spoke at the Bicol Regional Development Council meeting here, said the global economic slowdown is likely to last three years.
Salceda, who is the Bicol-RDC chair, argued for a change in the development framework, saying that in a stimulus response to the crisis, as in the P330-billion stimulus package, government resources could run out.
He said the government should focus on long-term projects, take advantage of low economic activity, and expand productive capacity while creating jobs to support incomes.
Salceda explained that in an economic crisis, demand—or the daily activity of buying and spending that keeps an economy going—weakens. Even if prices of goods are low, people do not have the money to spend.
If businesses and consumers would rather save than spend, then the government should do more of the spending, Salceda said.
“When everyone stops spending, only the government can take risks. When there is no demand, only the government can create demand,” Salceda said.
He said government should be doing the spending because it can afford to take big losses and its losses are spread out over the entire population and over time.
In the meantime, the governor advised people to be frugal spenders and businessmen to cut down on essentials.
He said people should build their skills to make themselves more marketable. With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Bicol disaster exec hurt in road mishap
By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:42:00 01/21/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—A top Bicol civil defense official active in disaster operations was wounded after his service vehicle collided head-on with another vehicle in Daraga, Albay Tuesday afternoon, the Bicol police revealed Wednesday.
Office of the Civil Defense Regional Director Raffy Alejandro was aboard a Tamaraw FX government vehicle being driven by Ehzel Galit, 29, running towards Bonot village in Legazpi City when it collided with a Kia Besta van being driven by Christopher Vargas, 41, of Obaliw Rinas village in Oas, Albay.
Investigation reports from the Camp General Simeon Ola here revealed that the Kia Besta van, which was registered to a certain Rodelia Largado of Legazpi City, had overtaken a tricycle. Encroaching the left lane, it collided with the Tamaraw FX running from the opposite direction.
Bernardo and both drivers were all wounded and were rushed to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital for treatment. Both vehicles, which are now in custody of the Daraga police, were damaged.
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:42:00 01/21/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines—A top Bicol civil defense official active in disaster operations was wounded after his service vehicle collided head-on with another vehicle in Daraga, Albay Tuesday afternoon, the Bicol police revealed Wednesday.
Office of the Civil Defense Regional Director Raffy Alejandro was aboard a Tamaraw FX government vehicle being driven by Ehzel Galit, 29, running towards Bonot village in Legazpi City when it collided with a Kia Besta van being driven by Christopher Vargas, 41, of Obaliw Rinas village in Oas, Albay.
Investigation reports from the Camp General Simeon Ola here revealed that the Kia Besta van, which was registered to a certain Rodelia Largado of Legazpi City, had overtaken a tricycle. Encroaching the left lane, it collided with the Tamaraw FX running from the opposite direction.
Bernardo and both drivers were all wounded and were rushed to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital for treatment. Both vehicles, which are now in custody of the Daraga police, were damaged.
Gabriela nixes RP-US Balikatan
Recalls sex abuse cases
By Ephraim Aguilar, Roy Gersalia
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 15:37:00 01/21/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--The women party-list Gabriela has joined other groups in opposing the staging of joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US in the Bicol region this April, fearing a full return of US military basing in the country and the culture of sexual abuse that once prevailed in Subic and Clark decades ago.
Going over records, Jenelyn Nagrampa, secretary general of Bikolana Gabriela, recalled their group filed 97 cases of rape and sexual assault against American soldiers in Clark and Subic, in which 15 of the victims were children.
She said this was before 1990 when the US bases in the country were closed down.
Nagrampa added that when the US military bases were in the country, more than 3,000 cases of abuse of women and children were filed by other sectors and individuals against US servicemen in Clark Air Field from 1980 to 1988.
"Sadly, justice was not served to any of the victims. None of the cases have been resolved. Others have not even been reported," she said.
"The public should be reminded that there was more than just one Nicole," she added.
Nicole was the victim in the much-publicized Subic rape case in 2005, wherein US Marine Daniel Smith was convicted while three others were acquitted. Smith is detained at the United Estates Embassy as he asked the Philippine Court of Appeals to review his case.
The Subic rape case is considered a landmark case, being the first case of a conviction among over 3,000 cases filed against US service members in the Philippines.
Nagrampa said Gabriela would file a resolution in the House of Representatives urging the government to ban US troops from coming to Bicol.
The annual joint military exercises, which Philippine Army officials said would include humanitarian projects, would be staged in three Bicol provinces -- Albay, Masbate, and Sorsogon--in April.
She added that if Balikatan would push through in Bicol, it might increase cases of women abuse, prostitution, and spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Earlier, Bishop Lucilo Quiambao of the Diocese of Legazpi expressed opposition to the coming of the US troops in Bicol, saying it might affect the moral condition of the people, especially women.
Nagrampa said that aside from the resolution to be filed in Congress, Gabriela would also step up its awareness campaign among women in areas covered by the exercises.
Tessa Lopez, spokesperson of Bayan-Bikol (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, New Patriotic Alliance), said a massive rally has been scheduled for January 22 expected to coincide with the reported arrival of US Ambassador Kristy Kenney to Bicol.
"This is to show the urgency and seriousness of our call against Balikatan and the long-debated Visiting Forces Agreement," she added.
A Sorsogon-wide group named "Sorsoganon United Movement Against Balikatan at Para sa Kapayapaan" or "Sumaba ka" (Speak out) was launched over the weekend to seek a stop to the planned Balikatan exercises in the Bicol region.
The group joined other people's organizations, human rights advocates, and the Catholic Church in Legazpi City, which already took a position opposed to the exercises, said Jocelyn Bisuna, spokesperson of the region-wide alliance called Ban Balikatan.
"We hope that other formations like these will be formed at the soonest time possible in other Bicol provinces so that we can show the US troops that we do not want them here and we have not forgotten our history," added Bisuna.
By Ephraim Aguilar, Roy Gersalia
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 15:37:00 01/21/2009
INQUIRER.net
LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines--The women party-list Gabriela has joined other groups in opposing the staging of joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US in the Bicol region this April, fearing a full return of US military basing in the country and the culture of sexual abuse that once prevailed in Subic and Clark decades ago.
Going over records, Jenelyn Nagrampa, secretary general of Bikolana Gabriela, recalled their group filed 97 cases of rape and sexual assault against American soldiers in Clark and Subic, in which 15 of the victims were children.
She said this was before 1990 when the US bases in the country were closed down.
Nagrampa added that when the US military bases were in the country, more than 3,000 cases of abuse of women and children were filed by other sectors and individuals against US servicemen in Clark Air Field from 1980 to 1988.
"Sadly, justice was not served to any of the victims. None of the cases have been resolved. Others have not even been reported," she said.
"The public should be reminded that there was more than just one Nicole," she added.
Nicole was the victim in the much-publicized Subic rape case in 2005, wherein US Marine Daniel Smith was convicted while three others were acquitted. Smith is detained at the United Estates Embassy as he asked the Philippine Court of Appeals to review his case.
The Subic rape case is considered a landmark case, being the first case of a conviction among over 3,000 cases filed against US service members in the Philippines.
Nagrampa said Gabriela would file a resolution in the House of Representatives urging the government to ban US troops from coming to Bicol.
The annual joint military exercises, which Philippine Army officials said would include humanitarian projects, would be staged in three Bicol provinces -- Albay, Masbate, and Sorsogon--in April.
She added that if Balikatan would push through in Bicol, it might increase cases of women abuse, prostitution, and spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Earlier, Bishop Lucilo Quiambao of the Diocese of Legazpi expressed opposition to the coming of the US troops in Bicol, saying it might affect the moral condition of the people, especially women.
Nagrampa said that aside from the resolution to be filed in Congress, Gabriela would also step up its awareness campaign among women in areas covered by the exercises.
Tessa Lopez, spokesperson of Bayan-Bikol (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, New Patriotic Alliance), said a massive rally has been scheduled for January 22 expected to coincide with the reported arrival of US Ambassador Kristy Kenney to Bicol.
"This is to show the urgency and seriousness of our call against Balikatan and the long-debated Visiting Forces Agreement," she added.
A Sorsogon-wide group named "Sorsoganon United Movement Against Balikatan at Para sa Kapayapaan" or "Sumaba ka" (Speak out) was launched over the weekend to seek a stop to the planned Balikatan exercises in the Bicol region.
The group joined other people's organizations, human rights advocates, and the Catholic Church in Legazpi City, which already took a position opposed to the exercises, said Jocelyn Bisuna, spokesperson of the region-wide alliance called Ban Balikatan.
"We hope that other formations like these will be formed at the soonest time possible in other Bicol provinces so that we can show the US troops that we do not want them here and we have not forgotten our history," added Bisuna.
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