By Ephraim Aguilar
Baras, Catanduanes
INQUIRER.net
MORE THAN A REMINDER OF THE ISLAND’S sheer submission to the world’s largest ocean, the strong waves that smash Puraran in Baras town in Catanduanes are every surfer’s dream.
Tagged as the “The Majestic,” the turbid waters of the coastal village are no longer whipped-up props of strong typhoons that frequent the province.
Most surfers say Puraran has the most powerful and challenging waves and deem it the “last stop” or the country’s ultimate surfing destination.
In the 1980s, a group of Australians discovered the surfing potential of Puraran, according to Allan Tanael, 28, one of the local surfers. By word-of-mouth, more visitors came, riding the waves by day and sleeping in the village’s public school at night in the absence of resorts.
Tanael says those who kept coming back decided to build a beach-front cottage on his grandparents’ land. His family’s Majestic Puraran Beach Resort now stands there.
Tanael learned surfing when he was 12 years old, simply by watching foreigners handle the furious waves. His only problem: he did not have any surfboard.
One day, to his delight, one of the foreign tourists gave him a surfboard while serving as their guide.
“If they like you, they would give you one. Sometimes, we would mend broken surfboards and reuse them because we could not afford one,” Tanael said.
An original Australian or Hawaiian short board costs P10,000 to P25,000, and a long board, P30,000 to P35,000.
Surfing may be a rich man’s sport for a rural Filipino, but it has gained popularity in this fifth-class municipality.
In 1997, emerging surfers from Baras and other towns formed the Catanduanes Surfing Association. (Tanael is now president of the group.)
The provincial government also held the island’s first surfing competition that year. This month, the Baras government held its first surfing and wall-climbing clinic. A hundred locals, mostly youths, signed up for free lessons.
During the event, the Department of Tourism in Bicol donated 20 fiberglass surfboards.
Joey Cuerdo, president of Power Play Events Management, which organized the four-day clinic, says the participants had been very receptive and enthusiastic. The clinic introduced not just surfing but other beach sports, like Frisbee and wall climbing.
“When rural folk come to the beach, all they usually want to do is sit down, chat or drink,” Cuerdo says. “They are not used to people inviting them to a game. Unless you approach them, they would simply gaze from a corner.”
“But you can see their interest because they would watch the game,” he adds.
Cuerdo says the clinic made the people aware of “sports in their backyard.”
“I would tell them they should be proud to be from Catanduanes, because they have the waves that only few places in the country have,” he says.
What sets “The Majestic” apart from others is the shape, Tanael says.
“During peak season, the waves would form a perfect tube. The waves are smooth and would break gently,” he says.
The Puraran wave is a “reef break,” the kind that breaks over a coral reef or a rocky seabed. It can be the most dangerous yet most rewarding for surfers seeking adventure.
The waves are as high as six feet in October, when the winds are strongest. It is also the annual schedule for the professional surfing competition in Baras.
Tanael says Puraran welcomes neophyte surfers who can try certain areas where the waves are not as high. During typhoons, the waves reach 10-15 feet, forcing residents to flee their homes for safe ground.
Cuerdo believes the challenging waves of Puraran can produce competitive surfers.
Surfing draws people of any race who feel being “cool,” Cuerdo says. “Surfer and cool ... there seems to be a parallelism. That would also explain why surfing brands are really popular. Surfing is cool.”
But Tanael says it has not yet reached a point when surfing is a career alternative. He teaches in a public elementary school.
Provincial tourism officer Carmel Garcia sees a brighter prospect for tourism, although, she said, more manpower, ample promotion, better facilities and private sector partnership are needed.
In Puraran, Majestic Beach Resort and Puting Baybay (White Sand) Beach Resort offer accommodations.
“At least the road network is far better now. Only few roads are left to be cemented,” Garcia said. Baras is a 90-minute drive from the capital town of Virac.
Virac can be reached directly by plane from Manila or a four-hour ferry ride from Tabaco City in Albay. Its airport hosts two airlines—Cebu Pacific and Zest Air. It has at least 11 hotels and inns.
Showing posts with label Southern Luzon page. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southern Luzon page. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, December 04, 2008
‘Reming’ survivors meet new aid heroes
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
TWO YEARS AFTER SUPERTYPHOON “REMING” sent lahar from Mayon Volcano crashing down villages in Albay, killing over a thousand people, new heroes have risen from the rubble to sustain what was started from scratch.
Many international relief agencies had ceased to operate in the province, but new institutions are now bringing long-term assistance to the survivors.
A defining moment confronted Gail Narramore, a 30-year-old South African, when she visited the ruins left by lahar in Barangay Maipon in Guinobatan town. A grade school teacher from London, Narramore flew to Manila and Albay in January last year to see for herself the magnitude of the disaster.
Dream
Since childhood, Narramore has dreamed of putting up her own orphanage to care for abandoned, abused and neglected children.
While reading the Bible on a four-hour train trip in London, Narramore said she met an old Christian minister who befriended her. The man, however, died five years later but he had willed that all proceeds from his funeral be given to Narramore so she could start her charity work.
The woman’s visit to Maipon village wrenched her heart. “Around 300 people ran after me the moment the villagers noticed my presence. Maybe they thought I was there to distribute food or clothing. There was deep despair in the eyes of the people,” she recalled.
“It was raining and flooded that day. I saw one house made of bamboo standing, but half of it was buried under sand,” she said.
But Narramore could not forget the face of a woman survivor named Nora. “She looked very happy and was smiling to me as she pointed to her half-buried house,” she said.
Nora was tending a “sari-sari” (retail) store near her house. “I wrote a sign ‘Business as Usual’ and posted it there,” Narramore said.
Despite the tragedy, she said she was “shocked at how these people kept on going.”
Free day care classes
Narramore went back to Manila to learn the legal requirements and ways of putting up a charity institution. In October last year, she started the Tiwala Kids and Communities in Albay.
Tiwala has been holding free day-care classes for poor children in the hilly Sitio Cawayan in Barangay Calayucay, Sto. Domingo town. The schools are far from the village, an hour-long walk down a craggy trail.
“Most of their parents are farmers. The livelihood of the people there were badly affected after Reming,” Narramore said.
Tiwala has also been feeding and educating street children in the capital city of Legazpi.
It has Filipino volunteers and a staff. Narramore and two staff members had been living with the community in a farm in Cawayan, a 45-minute trek from downtown.
Alleviating hunger
Another kind-hearted soul, businesswoman Mediatrix Villanueva has been actively involved in linking government and nongovernment organizations for relief missions.
Seeing thousands of children facing hunger in the aftermath of the supertyphoon, Villanueva, who hails from Daraga town, created the Dios Mabalos Foundation. “Dios Mabalos,” which means “May God bless you in return,” is used by Bicolanos to express gratitude.
Villanueva said her group had been working with the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation and the Pondo ng Pinoy to hold supplemental feeding programs in schools and parishes.
“Since livelihood was badly affected by the disaster, the standard of living of families dropped. Poverty left many children sickly and malnourished,” said Erlinda Samonte, Dios Mabalos project manager.
The foundation has already fed 47,875 children over six months under its daily nutrition program dubbed “Hapag-asa.” It serves rice porridge containing Vita-meal (lentil fortified with over 28 vitamins).
It has already expanded its operations to Aklan, where Villanueva’s mother comes from.
Recovery
The provincial government has created a task force to implement a socioeconomic recovery program called “Albay Mabuhay.”
Its coordinator, Emily Kare, said many of the relief agencies had already closed, but there was still the need to bring the people’s lives back to normal and uplift them.
Albay Mabuhay has been providing skills training, credit assistance for livelihood, and job referrals and placements to beneficiaries.
If there is one good thing that “Reming” had brought to Albay, it strengthened the collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies, Kare said. “We have learned to combine our strengths to help the victims of disaster,” she said.
She said, however, that more funds were needed to complete the recovery as displaced families were still living in “transit” shelters in relocation sites. The dwellings are rooms made of plywood and galvanized iron sheets.
Kare placed the shelter gap at still 5,862 in two cities and five towns in Albay alone. Each resettlement house costs around P150,000.
Legazpi City
TWO YEARS AFTER SUPERTYPHOON “REMING” sent lahar from Mayon Volcano crashing down villages in Albay, killing over a thousand people, new heroes have risen from the rubble to sustain what was started from scratch.
Many international relief agencies had ceased to operate in the province, but new institutions are now bringing long-term assistance to the survivors.
A defining moment confronted Gail Narramore, a 30-year-old South African, when she visited the ruins left by lahar in Barangay Maipon in Guinobatan town. A grade school teacher from London, Narramore flew to Manila and Albay in January last year to see for herself the magnitude of the disaster.
Dream
Since childhood, Narramore has dreamed of putting up her own orphanage to care for abandoned, abused and neglected children.
While reading the Bible on a four-hour train trip in London, Narramore said she met an old Christian minister who befriended her. The man, however, died five years later but he had willed that all proceeds from his funeral be given to Narramore so she could start her charity work.
The woman’s visit to Maipon village wrenched her heart. “Around 300 people ran after me the moment the villagers noticed my presence. Maybe they thought I was there to distribute food or clothing. There was deep despair in the eyes of the people,” she recalled.
“It was raining and flooded that day. I saw one house made of bamboo standing, but half of it was buried under sand,” she said.
But Narramore could not forget the face of a woman survivor named Nora. “She looked very happy and was smiling to me as she pointed to her half-buried house,” she said.
Nora was tending a “sari-sari” (retail) store near her house. “I wrote a sign ‘Business as Usual’ and posted it there,” Narramore said.
Despite the tragedy, she said she was “shocked at how these people kept on going.”
Free day care classes
Narramore went back to Manila to learn the legal requirements and ways of putting up a charity institution. In October last year, she started the Tiwala Kids and Communities in Albay.
Tiwala has been holding free day-care classes for poor children in the hilly Sitio Cawayan in Barangay Calayucay, Sto. Domingo town. The schools are far from the village, an hour-long walk down a craggy trail.
“Most of their parents are farmers. The livelihood of the people there were badly affected after Reming,” Narramore said.
Tiwala has also been feeding and educating street children in the capital city of Legazpi.
It has Filipino volunteers and a staff. Narramore and two staff members had been living with the community in a farm in Cawayan, a 45-minute trek from downtown.
Alleviating hunger
Another kind-hearted soul, businesswoman Mediatrix Villanueva has been actively involved in linking government and nongovernment organizations for relief missions.
Seeing thousands of children facing hunger in the aftermath of the supertyphoon, Villanueva, who hails from Daraga town, created the Dios Mabalos Foundation. “Dios Mabalos,” which means “May God bless you in return,” is used by Bicolanos to express gratitude.
Villanueva said her group had been working with the St. Francis of Assisi Foundation and the Pondo ng Pinoy to hold supplemental feeding programs in schools and parishes.
“Since livelihood was badly affected by the disaster, the standard of living of families dropped. Poverty left many children sickly and malnourished,” said Erlinda Samonte, Dios Mabalos project manager.
The foundation has already fed 47,875 children over six months under its daily nutrition program dubbed “Hapag-asa.” It serves rice porridge containing Vita-meal (lentil fortified with over 28 vitamins).
It has already expanded its operations to Aklan, where Villanueva’s mother comes from.
Recovery
The provincial government has created a task force to implement a socioeconomic recovery program called “Albay Mabuhay.”
Its coordinator, Emily Kare, said many of the relief agencies had already closed, but there was still the need to bring the people’s lives back to normal and uplift them.
Albay Mabuhay has been providing skills training, credit assistance for livelihood, and job referrals and placements to beneficiaries.
If there is one good thing that “Reming” had brought to Albay, it strengthened the collaboration between government and nongovernment agencies, Kare said. “We have learned to combine our strengths to help the victims of disaster,” she said.
She said, however, that more funds were needed to complete the recovery as displaced families were still living in “transit” shelters in relocation sites. The dwellings are rooms made of plywood and galvanized iron sheets.
Kare placed the shelter gap at still 5,862 in two cities and five towns in Albay alone. Each resettlement house costs around P150,000.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Underwater cable seen as threat to ‘butanding’
By Ephraim Aguilar, A17
Legazpi City
THREATENING A MULTIMILLION-PESO TOUR-ism jewel, a submarine cable planned to be installed by a giant telecommunications firm in Donsol, Sorsogon, the whale shark capital of the world, is eyed with suspicion.
Seeking to expand its network, Globe Telecom plans to install this year a 164-kilometer underwater cable from Donsol town to Calbayog, Northern Samar.
Local tourism officials are worried that this network expansion project would affect the safety of the butanding.
“We cannot risk the whale shark habitat in Donsol to some foreign object planned to be installed there,” Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director, says.
Globe, in a letter addressed to Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, said the project is part of a five-segment cable from Southern Luzon to Northern Mindanao, which will improve the reliability and availability of the country’s mobile communication technology.
The cable’s jump-off point from the tip of Southern Luzon to Visayas is Barangay Dancalan in Donsol. This village serves as jump-off point for tourists who engage in whale shark interaction.
Ong-Ravanilla says Globe has asked for an endorsement from the Department of Tourism so it can get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
She says the DOT will issue an endorsement for Globe if it gets an approval from the Donsol mayor and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an agency protecting whale sharks in the town.
“What we need from Globe is an environmental impact assessment report,” she says.
Construction materials
She says Globe has been summoned by the Sorsogon provincial board for an inquiry but none of its local managers are authorized to speak for the company.
Ong-Ravanilla says there have been reports from residents in Barangay Dancalan that Globe had already delivered construction materials there.
“The villagers saw PVC pipes, which they said, were owned by Globe. What we do not want to happen here is for (Globe) to start its construction before the issuance of an ECC,” she says.
The WWF, an agency implementing whale shark conservation guidelines in Donsol, is cautious about Globe’s expansion project.
David David, lead coordinator of the whale shark tracking project of WWF in Donsol, said they are researching for the specifics of the project to determine the possible effects of the submarine cables on whale shark habitat.
In the 2008 season, WWF recorded 114 whale sharks through its photo-identification technology, which determines whale sharks individually by means of their spots, he says.
The spots of whale shark are unique to every creature, just like human fingerprints, he says.
Tourism industry
Jay Christie, project director from the Ericsson Telecommunications, one of the project contractors, says that the company has taken note of the tourism activities in Donsol and will fully coordinate with tourism officials.
Donsol is one of the country’s top three ecotourism sites. Based on WWF data, Donsol’s butanding interaction contributes more than P50 million to the economy annually.
The town’s attraction was declared as the “best animal encounter in Asia” by Time magazine in 2004.
Tourism in Donsol has also pulled the town from being a fifth-class to a third-class municipality.
Butanding interaction activities in Donsol cover eight villages and tourists number more than 10,000 a season.
Legazpi City
THREATENING A MULTIMILLION-PESO TOUR-ism jewel, a submarine cable planned to be installed by a giant telecommunications firm in Donsol, Sorsogon, the whale shark capital of the world, is eyed with suspicion.
Seeking to expand its network, Globe Telecom plans to install this year a 164-kilometer underwater cable from Donsol town to Calbayog, Northern Samar.
Local tourism officials are worried that this network expansion project would affect the safety of the butanding.
“We cannot risk the whale shark habitat in Donsol to some foreign object planned to be installed there,” Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director, says.
Globe, in a letter addressed to Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, said the project is part of a five-segment cable from Southern Luzon to Northern Mindanao, which will improve the reliability and availability of the country’s mobile communication technology.
The cable’s jump-off point from the tip of Southern Luzon to Visayas is Barangay Dancalan in Donsol. This village serves as jump-off point for tourists who engage in whale shark interaction.
Ong-Ravanilla says Globe has asked for an endorsement from the Department of Tourism so it can get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
She says the DOT will issue an endorsement for Globe if it gets an approval from the Donsol mayor and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an agency protecting whale sharks in the town.
“What we need from Globe is an environmental impact assessment report,” she says.
Construction materials
She says Globe has been summoned by the Sorsogon provincial board for an inquiry but none of its local managers are authorized to speak for the company.
Ong-Ravanilla says there have been reports from residents in Barangay Dancalan that Globe had already delivered construction materials there.
“The villagers saw PVC pipes, which they said, were owned by Globe. What we do not want to happen here is for (Globe) to start its construction before the issuance of an ECC,” she says.
The WWF, an agency implementing whale shark conservation guidelines in Donsol, is cautious about Globe’s expansion project.
David David, lead coordinator of the whale shark tracking project of WWF in Donsol, said they are researching for the specifics of the project to determine the possible effects of the submarine cables on whale shark habitat.
In the 2008 season, WWF recorded 114 whale sharks through its photo-identification technology, which determines whale sharks individually by means of their spots, he says.
The spots of whale shark are unique to every creature, just like human fingerprints, he says.
Tourism industry
Jay Christie, project director from the Ericsson Telecommunications, one of the project contractors, says that the company has taken note of the tourism activities in Donsol and will fully coordinate with tourism officials.
Donsol is one of the country’s top three ecotourism sites. Based on WWF data, Donsol’s butanding interaction contributes more than P50 million to the economy annually.
The town’s attraction was declared as the “best animal encounter in Asia” by Time magazine in 2004.
Tourism in Donsol has also pulled the town from being a fifth-class to a third-class municipality.
Butanding interaction activities in Donsol cover eight villages and tourists number more than 10,000 a season.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Lack of equipment hounds Pagasa, Phivolcs in disaster-prone Albay
By Ephraim Aguilar, A15 (Southern Luzon page)
Legazpi City
FOR THE FIRST TIME in almost a year, the state-run weather station in Legazpi City had its Internet connected, but an employee had to step up to pay for it with her personal money.
The phone line itself was about to be disconnected due to unpaid bills. When the station was called for updates, the phone line was connected, but the call was mysteriously cut off mid-conversation.
The employee being interviewed was just stating that the phone line was cut off last weekend. She was about to say how they fixed the problem when the call was cut short. Attempts to call back were met with a busy tone.
Similarly, the land line of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) observatory in Daraga town has been inaccessible for the past months.
Dream
A wireless telephone occasionally works, but an employee said more often than not, it is disconnected.
Attempted calls are met with a machine-recorded female voice stating, “The subscriber you dialed is powered off.”
Considering the unstable phone line, the observatory staff can only dream of having a fax machine connected for easier distribution of volcanic and earthquake bulletins to those that need these pieces of vital information.
Both disaster agencies lack not only proper communication facilities but equipment crucial in lessening the impact of calamities.
Albay is prone to typhoons, floods, “lahar,” volcanic eruption and earthquakes.
In January, the Department of Science and Technology installed an upper-air receiving equipment worth P18 million but this has not been in use, said Corazon Samar, chief meteorological officer of Pagasa-Legazpi.
She said it was due to the lack of transmitters.
The transmitter of the upper-air receiving equipment is a small device attached to a big balloon, which could be launched into the air daily to gather real-time information from an altitude of up to 12 kilometers.
At least one transmitter could be launched every day and four during typhoons at a cost of P30,000 for every launch.
Samar said the station’s microbarograph is under repair while the aerovane is malfunctioning.
The microbarograph reads barometric pressure in real time while the aerovane determines wind direction and speed.
Samar said the station now only relies on a barometer which, unlike the microbarograph, has to be read hourly to get results.
Pagasa-Legazpi lacks personnel. Samar said it has only six employees and three security guards.
It also works with a monthly subsidy for operational expenses of only P1,995, excluding water, power and communication expenses.
Samar said her office always receives notices of disconnection due to unpaid bills because of the delay in processing payments from the central office.
Eduardo Laguerta, senior science research specialist of Phivolcs-Bicol, said the lack of seismic sensors around Mt. Mayon makes it hard to locate volcanic earthquakes.
He said since the government has limited resources, most equipment installed for Phivolcs-Bicol were funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
“There are only three stations bearing sensors around Mt. Mayon. If just one of these sensors does not function well, our monitoring will be greatly affected,” he said.
The location of volcanic earthquakes is important in determining signs of magma ascent inside the volcano. The lack of sensors, Laguerta said, makes it impossible to detect low-frequency earthquakes.
He said more sensors would make their findings on volcanic and seismic activities more refined.
Laguerta said there had been cases when villagers living near vital installations would steal station batteries, steel and phone lines.
He said that in places like Hawaii, there are more than enough sensors and other equipment, but people do not pilfer them.
“Here in our country, before you can even turn your back, the equipment is gone,” he said.
Legazpi City
FOR THE FIRST TIME in almost a year, the state-run weather station in Legazpi City had its Internet connected, but an employee had to step up to pay for it with her personal money.
The phone line itself was about to be disconnected due to unpaid bills. When the station was called for updates, the phone line was connected, but the call was mysteriously cut off mid-conversation.
The employee being interviewed was just stating that the phone line was cut off last weekend. She was about to say how they fixed the problem when the call was cut short. Attempts to call back were met with a busy tone.
Similarly, the land line of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) observatory in Daraga town has been inaccessible for the past months.
Dream
A wireless telephone occasionally works, but an employee said more often than not, it is disconnected.
Attempted calls are met with a machine-recorded female voice stating, “The subscriber you dialed is powered off.”
Considering the unstable phone line, the observatory staff can only dream of having a fax machine connected for easier distribution of volcanic and earthquake bulletins to those that need these pieces of vital information.
Both disaster agencies lack not only proper communication facilities but equipment crucial in lessening the impact of calamities.
Albay is prone to typhoons, floods, “lahar,” volcanic eruption and earthquakes.
In January, the Department of Science and Technology installed an upper-air receiving equipment worth P18 million but this has not been in use, said Corazon Samar, chief meteorological officer of Pagasa-Legazpi.
She said it was due to the lack of transmitters.
The transmitter of the upper-air receiving equipment is a small device attached to a big balloon, which could be launched into the air daily to gather real-time information from an altitude of up to 12 kilometers.
At least one transmitter could be launched every day and four during typhoons at a cost of P30,000 for every launch.
Samar said the station’s microbarograph is under repair while the aerovane is malfunctioning.
The microbarograph reads barometric pressure in real time while the aerovane determines wind direction and speed.
Samar said the station now only relies on a barometer which, unlike the microbarograph, has to be read hourly to get results.
Pagasa-Legazpi lacks personnel. Samar said it has only six employees and three security guards.
It also works with a monthly subsidy for operational expenses of only P1,995, excluding water, power and communication expenses.
Samar said her office always receives notices of disconnection due to unpaid bills because of the delay in processing payments from the central office.
Eduardo Laguerta, senior science research specialist of Phivolcs-Bicol, said the lack of seismic sensors around Mt. Mayon makes it hard to locate volcanic earthquakes.
He said since the government has limited resources, most equipment installed for Phivolcs-Bicol were funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
“There are only three stations bearing sensors around Mt. Mayon. If just one of these sensors does not function well, our monitoring will be greatly affected,” he said.
The location of volcanic earthquakes is important in determining signs of magma ascent inside the volcano. The lack of sensors, Laguerta said, makes it impossible to detect low-frequency earthquakes.
He said more sensors would make their findings on volcanic and seismic activities more refined.
Laguerta said there had been cases when villagers living near vital installations would steal station batteries, steel and phone lines.
He said that in places like Hawaii, there are more than enough sensors and other equipment, but people do not pilfer them.
“Here in our country, before you can even turn your back, the equipment is gone,” he said.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Where did the shelter aid go? refugees ask
By Ephraim Aguilar
Guinobatan, Albay
TEDEA HERRERA HUNG three plastic buckets under the dwelling’s thin iron roofing to protect her children from leaks when it rains. Made of coconut lumber and thin, peeling plywood, the cramped room, measuring two meters by four meters, has bare ground as floor but no windows.
“All I want is a decent and permanent house to stay, for me and my children,” the 43-year-old woman said. Her house was swept away by gushing floodwaters in Barangay Travesia when Supertyphoon “Reming” roused lahar from Mayon Volcano’s slope in 2006. Over 1,000 people were killed or missing.
Herrera is among thousands of people still homeless after major typhoons caused massive devastation in Bicol that year. Villagers from Travesia occupy what is called “transit shelters” at the San Francisco Oval in Guinobatan town in Albay, prior to their relocation elsewhere.
Cynthia Nierva, 39, could not forget what President Macapagal-Arroyo promised them during one of her visits to the province after Reming: “Lahat kayo may bahay, papasok na lang kayo. Susi na lang ng bahay ang kukunin ninyo (All of you will have houses. You will just get the keys to your houses).” She pointed at the same grandstand where the President spoke.
“That was what Madam told us, but why are we still suffering up to now?” she said.
A year and a half since Typhoons Reming, “Milenyo” and “Seniang” struck the region, more than 3,000 families have not yet moved to the new houses promised by the government.
Project snag
Even Ms Arroyo’s deputy spokesperson, Anthony Golez, admitted a snag in the implementation of the core shelter projects covered by P7 billion worth of calamity funds for Bicol. Being the worst-hit, the region received 70 percent of the P10-billion Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) fund apportioned through the General Appropriations Act of 2007.
Golez, executive director of the Bicol CARE Commission, was in Guinobatan on May 16 for a public hearing of the House special committee on Bicol recovery and economic development. The meeting assessed the repair and reconstruction of schools, damaged roads, bridges, flood control facilities, and resettlement projects.
Most of the government agencies had high accomplishment rates, Golez said, except for the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Housing Authority (NHA), which are responsible for housing and relocation.
Following the onslaughts of Reming, the National Disaster Coordinating Council recorded 232,968 destroyed houses in Bicol, 114,394 of them in Albay. But as of May 14, government data showed that only 237 housing units had been completed under the core shelter assistance project of the DSWD.
Only 9.3 percent of the 2,536 units have been funded or 5.8 percent of the 4,100 target. Construction of 1,319 units is still ongoing, said social welfare officer Marissa Paeste, who is in charge of the DSWD-Bicol’s disaster management.
Slow land dev’t
One of the main factors that delay the construction is the slow land development, Paeste said. “Many of the sites are still unfit for construction. The lands are not yet flat. There are still coconut trees to be uprooted.”
She said the local government units and the NHA were responsible for land acquisition and site development. But the housing agency’s regional director, Alberto Perfecto, said his office was not all to blame.
“The construction of houses could be started even if the sites have not yet been fully developed, which is what, in fact, many organizations helping in the relocation had been doing,” Perfecto said.
He reported that the 10 resettlement sites in Albay was already 49 percent complete but bad weather conditions were causing a time lag. “It has been raining the past few months and the soil type in Bicol takes two to three days to dry,” he said.
Site development includes the surveying and clearing of land, building road networks and constructing drainage systems and waterlines.
Perfecto said P240 million of the total P500 million allotted to the NHA under the CARE funds had already been spent.
Corruption charges
Herrera, the refugee, said she was not surprised by allegations of corruption and misuse of calamity funds. “Corruption in the government cannot be avoided. We don’t see what [government officials] are doing secretly, but it’s up to them,” she said.
Too hot at daytime and too cold at night, people in the transit shelters complain, just like in the tent cities they had previously lived for at least 10 months. These conditions have made their children sickly.
Due to Bicol’s erratic weather, slats curl in the plywood walls of the transit shelters while rusting holes gape in the iron sheets that the refugees plug with plastic sheets, sack cloth, scrap wood, and tarpaulin posters of politicians—remnants of past elections.
The little space is just enough for sleeping. Save for the walls, there isn’t anything by way of boundaries. One can hear a neighbor’s baby wailing.
San Francisco Oval, officially known as the Albay Sports Complex, is now far from the athletes’ training ground it was meant to be. It is surrounded by makeshift latrines, while the swimming pool is soiled and filled with accumulated raindrops.
Community life
Despite its depression, the place breathes its own life as a community. One neighborhood created a string of improvised kitchens right in front of the shelters’ doorsteps. Another put up sari-sari stalls while still another earned extra from weaving abaca baskets. Other occupants raise fighting cocks.
“Nagaayos ng electric fan, rice cooker, water jug, plantsa, sandal, at Shellane” is written on the wall of one dwelling.
Since the water source is a common facility, mothers wash clothes in groups and their children take a bath together. Almost everywhere are clotheslines, some clipped with pieces of underwear.
In April, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri passed a resolution “directing the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an inquiry” into the alleged misuse of the CARE funds.
Dredging debris
In Albay, critics are opposing the multimillion-peso dredging projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways. River channels from Mayon’s gullies are heavily silted after Reming swept down volcanic debris, causing lahar flows.
The Roman Catholic Church’s Social Action Center pushed for a labor-intensive method of dredging, meaning that it would be carried out by the public instead of private contractors, so the people could earn from it.
But Golez said he had never heard of any anomalies involving use of the CARE funds. “No dredging project had been approved under [the] CARE, as far as I know. Unless the project has been renamed,” he said.
Critics also allege that funds for the resettlement projects have been misused, causing the delay in the construction of houses. All concerned agencies denied the charge.
Guinobatan, Albay
TEDEA HERRERA HUNG three plastic buckets under the dwelling’s thin iron roofing to protect her children from leaks when it rains. Made of coconut lumber and thin, peeling plywood, the cramped room, measuring two meters by four meters, has bare ground as floor but no windows.
“All I want is a decent and permanent house to stay, for me and my children,” the 43-year-old woman said. Her house was swept away by gushing floodwaters in Barangay Travesia when Supertyphoon “Reming” roused lahar from Mayon Volcano’s slope in 2006. Over 1,000 people were killed or missing.
Herrera is among thousands of people still homeless after major typhoons caused massive devastation in Bicol that year. Villagers from Travesia occupy what is called “transit shelters” at the San Francisco Oval in Guinobatan town in Albay, prior to their relocation elsewhere.
Cynthia Nierva, 39, could not forget what President Macapagal-Arroyo promised them during one of her visits to the province after Reming: “Lahat kayo may bahay, papasok na lang kayo. Susi na lang ng bahay ang kukunin ninyo (All of you will have houses. You will just get the keys to your houses).” She pointed at the same grandstand where the President spoke.
“That was what Madam told us, but why are we still suffering up to now?” she said.
A year and a half since Typhoons Reming, “Milenyo” and “Seniang” struck the region, more than 3,000 families have not yet moved to the new houses promised by the government.
Project snag
Even Ms Arroyo’s deputy spokesperson, Anthony Golez, admitted a snag in the implementation of the core shelter projects covered by P7 billion worth of calamity funds for Bicol. Being the worst-hit, the region received 70 percent of the P10-billion Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) fund apportioned through the General Appropriations Act of 2007.
Golez, executive director of the Bicol CARE Commission, was in Guinobatan on May 16 for a public hearing of the House special committee on Bicol recovery and economic development. The meeting assessed the repair and reconstruction of schools, damaged roads, bridges, flood control facilities, and resettlement projects.
Most of the government agencies had high accomplishment rates, Golez said, except for the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Housing Authority (NHA), which are responsible for housing and relocation.
Following the onslaughts of Reming, the National Disaster Coordinating Council recorded 232,968 destroyed houses in Bicol, 114,394 of them in Albay. But as of May 14, government data showed that only 237 housing units had been completed under the core shelter assistance project of the DSWD.
Only 9.3 percent of the 2,536 units have been funded or 5.8 percent of the 4,100 target. Construction of 1,319 units is still ongoing, said social welfare officer Marissa Paeste, who is in charge of the DSWD-Bicol’s disaster management.
Slow land dev’t
One of the main factors that delay the construction is the slow land development, Paeste said. “Many of the sites are still unfit for construction. The lands are not yet flat. There are still coconut trees to be uprooted.”
She said the local government units and the NHA were responsible for land acquisition and site development. But the housing agency’s regional director, Alberto Perfecto, said his office was not all to blame.
“The construction of houses could be started even if the sites have not yet been fully developed, which is what, in fact, many organizations helping in the relocation had been doing,” Perfecto said.
He reported that the 10 resettlement sites in Albay was already 49 percent complete but bad weather conditions were causing a time lag. “It has been raining the past few months and the soil type in Bicol takes two to three days to dry,” he said.
Site development includes the surveying and clearing of land, building road networks and constructing drainage systems and waterlines.
Perfecto said P240 million of the total P500 million allotted to the NHA under the CARE funds had already been spent.
Corruption charges
Herrera, the refugee, said she was not surprised by allegations of corruption and misuse of calamity funds. “Corruption in the government cannot be avoided. We don’t see what [government officials] are doing secretly, but it’s up to them,” she said.
Too hot at daytime and too cold at night, people in the transit shelters complain, just like in the tent cities they had previously lived for at least 10 months. These conditions have made their children sickly.
Due to Bicol’s erratic weather, slats curl in the plywood walls of the transit shelters while rusting holes gape in the iron sheets that the refugees plug with plastic sheets, sack cloth, scrap wood, and tarpaulin posters of politicians—remnants of past elections.
The little space is just enough for sleeping. Save for the walls, there isn’t anything by way of boundaries. One can hear a neighbor’s baby wailing.
San Francisco Oval, officially known as the Albay Sports Complex, is now far from the athletes’ training ground it was meant to be. It is surrounded by makeshift latrines, while the swimming pool is soiled and filled with accumulated raindrops.
Community life
Despite its depression, the place breathes its own life as a community. One neighborhood created a string of improvised kitchens right in front of the shelters’ doorsteps. Another put up sari-sari stalls while still another earned extra from weaving abaca baskets. Other occupants raise fighting cocks.
“Nagaayos ng electric fan, rice cooker, water jug, plantsa, sandal, at Shellane” is written on the wall of one dwelling.
Since the water source is a common facility, mothers wash clothes in groups and their children take a bath together. Almost everywhere are clotheslines, some clipped with pieces of underwear.
In April, Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri passed a resolution “directing the appropriate Senate committee to conduct an inquiry” into the alleged misuse of the CARE funds.
Dredging debris
In Albay, critics are opposing the multimillion-peso dredging projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways. River channels from Mayon’s gullies are heavily silted after Reming swept down volcanic debris, causing lahar flows.
The Roman Catholic Church’s Social Action Center pushed for a labor-intensive method of dredging, meaning that it would be carried out by the public instead of private contractors, so the people could earn from it.
But Golez said he had never heard of any anomalies involving use of the CARE funds. “No dredging project had been approved under [the] CARE, as far as I know. Unless the project has been renamed,” he said.
Critics also allege that funds for the resettlement projects have been misused, causing the delay in the construction of houses. All concerned agencies denied the charge.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Clean water for Albay, but poor griping
17 January 2008
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
A MULTIMILLION-PESO FACIlity to deliver clean water from a river to more than 17,000 households in Legazpi City may be a superb idea, but not so for the poor who cannot afford to pay for it.
Philippine Hydro (Phil-Hydro) Inc., which will undertake the P300-million bulk water project for the government-owned Legazpi City Water District (LCWD), will charge consumers P13.50 per cubic meter, or an increase of almost half of the present rate.
This would mean a jump of P198 this year up to 2009 in the existing monthly minimum rate of P135 for a consumption of not more than 10 cubic meters. More increases are scheduled until 2015, when the rate will be pegged at P238.
According to LCWD officials, the rate increases are necessary if the consumers want a quality and stable supply of water.
Water from river
Under the new system called “High-rate Permanent Media Filtration Technology,” water will be tapped from the Yawa River, an 11-kilometer channel where volcanic gullies converge and extend up to the Albay Gulf, instead of from springs around Mayon Volcano.
“Water coming from the Yawa River will pass through embedded perforated pipes that shall serve as a natural filtration system. The new system operates modern equipment that will ensure the required water quality is met before distribution to the public,” says Desiree Michelle Barcelon, LCWD public relations assistant.
She says the spring water is now discolored because of its high iron content. She cited studies conducted by the LCWD and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
It is reddish and smells like fish—characteristics of water from artesian wells that is not potable—says chemical engineer Junel Borbo, a professor at the Bicol University College of Engineering. At higher levels of contamination, it looks a little slimy, he adds.
Barcelon also cites another study showing a periodic scarcity of water due to climatic and topographical changes commonly affecting springs. For example, the erstwhile popular hot springs in Tiwi town in Albay, home to the Chevron geothermal plant, have already dried up, leading to the closure of many resorts.
Biggest in the country
The new clean water technology is the biggest of its kind in the country and the first to be run by Phil-Hydro, says its chief operating officer, Rolando Mangulabnan. It converts surface water, such as that from rivers, into water of “bottled quality,” he says.
PhilHydro is committed to supply at least 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.
“It will be environment-friendly if we stop drilling holes. Surface water, unlike groundwater, is free from salt intrusion. Nowhere in Metro Manila is this US technology used,” he says.
Water from the rivers can be put to good use before it is flushed out to the sea to mix with salt water, says Mangulabnan, who is an environmental engineer and a former agrarian reform undersecretary.
In opposing the project, the Legazpi City Slumdwellers Federation Inc. (LCSFI) claims that no proper public consultation was held regarding the changes in water supply system and rates. The group has 3,000 members, according to the Community Organization of the Philippines Enterprise (COPE) Foundation.
Together with COPE, the LCSFI plans to file a petition to the city council asking for a comprehensive investigation of the project.
“The rate increase is unjustifiable since many of the people here are in the brink of poverty, especially after the series of calamities that hit the province,” says Numeriano de la Torre, COPE’s assistant regional coordinator. He adds that a rate increase is not a solution for an efficient water service.
But Barcelon says a careful study on the city’s water supply situation was made before the LWUA recommended a “justified” increase. Nine of the city’s 33 villages have less or no supply of water during peak hours, while five still do not have distribution lines, she says.
A public hearing was held on Dec. 21 last year to discuss the increase, but only 128 consumers came, she adds.
It was not a public consultation at all, De la Torre says, and the place was not accessible to many people.
According to Barcelon, LWUA representatives were there to listen to the sentiments of the public. “It is only after the public hearing that the LWUA can confirm the increase for implementation. Until now, we are still waiting for the confirmation,” she says.
Gonzalo Gomez, 53, one of the water district subscribers from Barangay Baybay, does not favor the increase. “Due to poverty, no one will be in favor of any increase. Money is hard to earn these days,” he says in the vernacular.
“I will just reinstall our old water pump, if we could no longer pay our water bill.”
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
A MULTIMILLION-PESO FACIlity to deliver clean water from a river to more than 17,000 households in Legazpi City may be a superb idea, but not so for the poor who cannot afford to pay for it.
Philippine Hydro (Phil-Hydro) Inc., which will undertake the P300-million bulk water project for the government-owned Legazpi City Water District (LCWD), will charge consumers P13.50 per cubic meter, or an increase of almost half of the present rate.
This would mean a jump of P198 this year up to 2009 in the existing monthly minimum rate of P135 for a consumption of not more than 10 cubic meters. More increases are scheduled until 2015, when the rate will be pegged at P238.
According to LCWD officials, the rate increases are necessary if the consumers want a quality and stable supply of water.
Water from river
Under the new system called “High-rate Permanent Media Filtration Technology,” water will be tapped from the Yawa River, an 11-kilometer channel where volcanic gullies converge and extend up to the Albay Gulf, instead of from springs around Mayon Volcano.
“Water coming from the Yawa River will pass through embedded perforated pipes that shall serve as a natural filtration system. The new system operates modern equipment that will ensure the required water quality is met before distribution to the public,” says Desiree Michelle Barcelon, LCWD public relations assistant.
She says the spring water is now discolored because of its high iron content. She cited studies conducted by the LCWD and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).
It is reddish and smells like fish—characteristics of water from artesian wells that is not potable—says chemical engineer Junel Borbo, a professor at the Bicol University College of Engineering. At higher levels of contamination, it looks a little slimy, he adds.
Barcelon also cites another study showing a periodic scarcity of water due to climatic and topographical changes commonly affecting springs. For example, the erstwhile popular hot springs in Tiwi town in Albay, home to the Chevron geothermal plant, have already dried up, leading to the closure of many resorts.
Biggest in the country
The new clean water technology is the biggest of its kind in the country and the first to be run by Phil-Hydro, says its chief operating officer, Rolando Mangulabnan. It converts surface water, such as that from rivers, into water of “bottled quality,” he says.
PhilHydro is committed to supply at least 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.
“It will be environment-friendly if we stop drilling holes. Surface water, unlike groundwater, is free from salt intrusion. Nowhere in Metro Manila is this US technology used,” he says.
Water from the rivers can be put to good use before it is flushed out to the sea to mix with salt water, says Mangulabnan, who is an environmental engineer and a former agrarian reform undersecretary.
In opposing the project, the Legazpi City Slumdwellers Federation Inc. (LCSFI) claims that no proper public consultation was held regarding the changes in water supply system and rates. The group has 3,000 members, according to the Community Organization of the Philippines Enterprise (COPE) Foundation.
Together with COPE, the LCSFI plans to file a petition to the city council asking for a comprehensive investigation of the project.
“The rate increase is unjustifiable since many of the people here are in the brink of poverty, especially after the series of calamities that hit the province,” says Numeriano de la Torre, COPE’s assistant regional coordinator. He adds that a rate increase is not a solution for an efficient water service.
But Barcelon says a careful study on the city’s water supply situation was made before the LWUA recommended a “justified” increase. Nine of the city’s 33 villages have less or no supply of water during peak hours, while five still do not have distribution lines, she says.
A public hearing was held on Dec. 21 last year to discuss the increase, but only 128 consumers came, she adds.
It was not a public consultation at all, De la Torre says, and the place was not accessible to many people.
According to Barcelon, LWUA representatives were there to listen to the sentiments of the public. “It is only after the public hearing that the LWUA can confirm the increase for implementation. Until now, we are still waiting for the confirmation,” she says.
Gonzalo Gomez, 53, one of the water district subscribers from Barangay Baybay, does not favor the increase. “Due to poverty, no one will be in favor of any increase. Money is hard to earn these days,” he says in the vernacular.
“I will just reinstall our old water pump, if we could no longer pay our water bill.”
Donsol paintings impart lessons
03 January 2007
THROUGH THE PAINTBRUSH, A GROUP OF artists in this town found a way to help protect and preserve the environment and the local heritage.
For visual artist Bats Elarmo, painting the canvas with colors in his front yard is a better medium for him to effectively express his views on environment conservation.
Elarmo says while he paints, he welcomes onlookers from among his neighbors and passersby along San Jose Street here, where he lives. And from there, a forum begins, even with no one talking.
Whenever he paints, Elarmo says he believes the spectators behind him do not just watch, but also react—quietly or noisily.
He is part of the group “Artists for Environment” or “ArtE,” which was formed in 2005 with the mission of reminding and moving people by means of art to take care of the environment.
Saving natural wonders is an agenda for the people of Donsol, who have come to rely on ecological tourism to alleviate poverty in the third-class municipality.
Having the most recorded whale shark sightings than anywhere else, Donsol’s popularity as the “whale shark capital of the world” continues to grow.
Elarmo says the ArtE members draw inspiration from the butanding (whale shark), for which their hometown is known.
The idea of forming the ArtE came during the town’s annual mural painting contest at the Butanding Festival held every April.
The contestants who joined the event in 2005 later formed a group which was then called “Garasapgasap,” a Bicol term that denotes roughness.
Murals in town
“We were a group of 10, mostly out-of-school youth who could not afford college education,” says Elarmo.
Murals are noticeable masterpieces in the town proper of Donsol.
And they have a common message: To preserve the whale shark by protecting its habitat from illegal fishing and other forms of marine destruction.
In the coastal village of Dangcalan, where the Julia Campbell Ecology Center was built, murals painted by high school students on concrete fence stand as examples.
One work shows a school of fish and other marine creatures, like the butanding, holding placards as they protest illegal fishing.
Emmanuel Climaco, 18, one of the members of ArtE, says he started painting when he was 5 years old using a piece of stick as paintbrush and the soil as canvas.
He claims he was inspired by the success of other artists who also started painting as a hobby until they developed it into a craft now appreciated by many.
Climaco’s membership in ArtE prompted him to paint “Today’s tycoon, tomorrow’s pauper,” an abstract painting on climate change.
Last June 26, Climaco painted “Ozone,” which speaks about the depletion of the ozone layer due to harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
Elarmo says the talks given by environment groups like Greenpeace and community projects by individuals like Julia Campbell, who lived in Donsol briefly, helped foster environmental awareness among the artists.
Campbell was a US peace corps volunteer assigned in Bicol. She was murdered in Batad village in Ifugao province, where her body was found in a shallow grave on April 18 last year.
Her undertakings as peace corps volunteer, including her environmental projects and reading program for children, are recorded in her blog, www.juliainthephilippines.blogspot.com.
Campbell built a marine ecology center named “Bahay Kalikasan” (Nature House) at the coast of Barangay Dangcalan.
It serves as a community center on environmental protection where seminars on environmental science for children and solid waste management for adults are held.
Heritage preservation
Another artist, Cesar Gueta, a native of Monreal, Masbate, paints heritage sites in Albay—like old churches and old houses, to help preserve their value.
Gueta, 36, is an instructor at the department of architecture in Aquinas University in Legazpi City.
In an exhibit on Dec. 1-10, 2006, entitled “Life paintings: My heritage, your heritage, our heritage,” Gueta displayed 34 artworks he painted in one year.
Gueta says he was inspired to paint heritage-related themes when the Aquinas University College of Arts and Sciences pioneered research work on heritage houses.
“In the research, our school used digital documentation of the sites. I thought it would be a good idea to convert the photographs into paintings to help gain more interest from people,” Gueta says.
Among the heritage sites he has painted is the Our Lady of the Gate Parish in Daraga, Albay, an 18th century baroque church on a hill offering views of the Albay Gulf and the Mayon Volcano.
He also painted the famous Cagsawa belfry and ruins, where many people taking shelter during Mt. Mayon’s 1814 eruption died, and the parish church of San Juan Bautista in Tabaco, Albay, which was built in the 19th Century.
He also painted the ancestral house of renowned poet Angela Manalang-Gloria in Tabaco City, where historical markers were recently placed by the National Historical Institute, the Rosales and Nolasco houses in Camalig town—all of which are “bahay na bato” (stone houses) probably built in the early 1900s.
Also among Gueta’s favorite subjects are marketplaces.
He says these, too, can be considered part of heritage.
“But now with the fast-rising malls and modern bazaars, traditional marketplaces have become less popular. It will be good to preserve them, too, through my paintings,” Gueta says.
Most of the Bicol artists are continuously seeking avenues to popularize their works.
These painters say that the lack of support from the government and a appreciation from the people can be a drawback but since they paint for a cause, just like a waning heritage or some endangered fish species, they all persist to survive. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
THROUGH THE PAINTBRUSH, A GROUP OF artists in this town found a way to help protect and preserve the environment and the local heritage.
For visual artist Bats Elarmo, painting the canvas with colors in his front yard is a better medium for him to effectively express his views on environment conservation.
Elarmo says while he paints, he welcomes onlookers from among his neighbors and passersby along San Jose Street here, where he lives. And from there, a forum begins, even with no one talking.
Whenever he paints, Elarmo says he believes the spectators behind him do not just watch, but also react—quietly or noisily.
He is part of the group “Artists for Environment” or “ArtE,” which was formed in 2005 with the mission of reminding and moving people by means of art to take care of the environment.
Saving natural wonders is an agenda for the people of Donsol, who have come to rely on ecological tourism to alleviate poverty in the third-class municipality.
Having the most recorded whale shark sightings than anywhere else, Donsol’s popularity as the “whale shark capital of the world” continues to grow.
Elarmo says the ArtE members draw inspiration from the butanding (whale shark), for which their hometown is known.
The idea of forming the ArtE came during the town’s annual mural painting contest at the Butanding Festival held every April.
The contestants who joined the event in 2005 later formed a group which was then called “Garasapgasap,” a Bicol term that denotes roughness.
Murals in town
“We were a group of 10, mostly out-of-school youth who could not afford college education,” says Elarmo.
Murals are noticeable masterpieces in the town proper of Donsol.
And they have a common message: To preserve the whale shark by protecting its habitat from illegal fishing and other forms of marine destruction.
In the coastal village of Dangcalan, where the Julia Campbell Ecology Center was built, murals painted by high school students on concrete fence stand as examples.
One work shows a school of fish and other marine creatures, like the butanding, holding placards as they protest illegal fishing.
Emmanuel Climaco, 18, one of the members of ArtE, says he started painting when he was 5 years old using a piece of stick as paintbrush and the soil as canvas.
He claims he was inspired by the success of other artists who also started painting as a hobby until they developed it into a craft now appreciated by many.
Climaco’s membership in ArtE prompted him to paint “Today’s tycoon, tomorrow’s pauper,” an abstract painting on climate change.
Last June 26, Climaco painted “Ozone,” which speaks about the depletion of the ozone layer due to harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
Elarmo says the talks given by environment groups like Greenpeace and community projects by individuals like Julia Campbell, who lived in Donsol briefly, helped foster environmental awareness among the artists.
Campbell was a US peace corps volunteer assigned in Bicol. She was murdered in Batad village in Ifugao province, where her body was found in a shallow grave on April 18 last year.
Her undertakings as peace corps volunteer, including her environmental projects and reading program for children, are recorded in her blog, www.juliainthephilippines.blogspot.com.
Campbell built a marine ecology center named “Bahay Kalikasan” (Nature House) at the coast of Barangay Dangcalan.
It serves as a community center on environmental protection where seminars on environmental science for children and solid waste management for adults are held.
Heritage preservation
Another artist, Cesar Gueta, a native of Monreal, Masbate, paints heritage sites in Albay—like old churches and old houses, to help preserve their value.
Gueta, 36, is an instructor at the department of architecture in Aquinas University in Legazpi City.
In an exhibit on Dec. 1-10, 2006, entitled “Life paintings: My heritage, your heritage, our heritage,” Gueta displayed 34 artworks he painted in one year.
Gueta says he was inspired to paint heritage-related themes when the Aquinas University College of Arts and Sciences pioneered research work on heritage houses.
“In the research, our school used digital documentation of the sites. I thought it would be a good idea to convert the photographs into paintings to help gain more interest from people,” Gueta says.
Among the heritage sites he has painted is the Our Lady of the Gate Parish in Daraga, Albay, an 18th century baroque church on a hill offering views of the Albay Gulf and the Mayon Volcano.
He also painted the famous Cagsawa belfry and ruins, where many people taking shelter during Mt. Mayon’s 1814 eruption died, and the parish church of San Juan Bautista in Tabaco, Albay, which was built in the 19th Century.
He also painted the ancestral house of renowned poet Angela Manalang-Gloria in Tabaco City, where historical markers were recently placed by the National Historical Institute, the Rosales and Nolasco houses in Camalig town—all of which are “bahay na bato” (stone houses) probably built in the early 1900s.
Also among Gueta’s favorite subjects are marketplaces.
He says these, too, can be considered part of heritage.
“But now with the fast-rising malls and modern bazaars, traditional marketplaces have become less popular. It will be good to preserve them, too, through my paintings,” Gueta says.
Most of the Bicol artists are continuously seeking avenues to popularize their works.
These painters say that the lack of support from the government and a appreciation from the people can be a drawback but since they paint for a cause, just like a waning heritage or some endangered fish species, they all persist to survive. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
No end in sight for delay in school repair
22 December 2007
LEGAZPI CITY—NO QUICK end is in sight for the repair and construction of schools that were damaged and destroyed by successive typhoons in Bicol as the Department of Education said it lacked P850 million more for the projects.
The DepEd regional office received P1.2 billion to build and repair the schools.
But Celedonio Layon, DepEd regional director, said that as of Dec. 15, 203 classrooms were still under construction and 792 were being repaired under the Bicol Calamity Assistance, Emergency Response project of the national government.
Eight school buildings have yet to be built and 107 others have yet to be constructed, he said.
Cost of school damage and destruction was estimated at P2.4 billion, although it wasn’t clear how the figure was arrived at.
Layon said the lack of funds meant only that not all schools would be repaired.
He said the DepEd had not requested additional funds.
President Macapagal-Arroyo, in a speech at the regional peace and security assembly in Masbate on Dec. 13, scolded education officials after learning that the school rehabilitation project was unfinished a year after the typhoons struck.
“Our goal now is to finish the rehabilitation of schools, up to what the funds will allow, before end of March in 2008,” Layon told the Inquirer.
He said that as of Dec. 15, 73 percent of ongoing school construction had been completed.
Damaged schools that have not been demolished to clear lots for new schools were counted as uncompleted repair work, he said.
The project was also hounded by bidding failures and fighting between government soldiers and communist guerrillas.
Layon said some contractors were being forced by rebels to pay taxes. This report has yet to be verified, however.
At a resettlement village in Taysan, a makeshift structure still serves as classroom for students displaced from their school in Barangay Padang, a lahar zone.
The grade school pupils have to endure the heat from iron sheets that served as roofing.
Without concrete flooring, the classroom would turn muddy during rainy days. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—NO QUICK end is in sight for the repair and construction of schools that were damaged and destroyed by successive typhoons in Bicol as the Department of Education said it lacked P850 million more for the projects.
The DepEd regional office received P1.2 billion to build and repair the schools.
But Celedonio Layon, DepEd regional director, said that as of Dec. 15, 203 classrooms were still under construction and 792 were being repaired under the Bicol Calamity Assistance, Emergency Response project of the national government.
Eight school buildings have yet to be built and 107 others have yet to be constructed, he said.
Cost of school damage and destruction was estimated at P2.4 billion, although it wasn’t clear how the figure was arrived at.
Layon said the lack of funds meant only that not all schools would be repaired.
He said the DepEd had not requested additional funds.
President Macapagal-Arroyo, in a speech at the regional peace and security assembly in Masbate on Dec. 13, scolded education officials after learning that the school rehabilitation project was unfinished a year after the typhoons struck.
“Our goal now is to finish the rehabilitation of schools, up to what the funds will allow, before end of March in 2008,” Layon told the Inquirer.
He said that as of Dec. 15, 73 percent of ongoing school construction had been completed.
Damaged schools that have not been demolished to clear lots for new schools were counted as uncompleted repair work, he said.
The project was also hounded by bidding failures and fighting between government soldiers and communist guerrillas.
Layon said some contractors were being forced by rebels to pay taxes. This report has yet to be verified, however.
At a resettlement village in Taysan, a makeshift structure still serves as classroom for students displaced from their school in Barangay Padang, a lahar zone.
The grade school pupils have to endure the heat from iron sheets that served as roofing.
Without concrete flooring, the classroom would turn muddy during rainy days. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Villagers rely on rain gauges
STORM-PRONE BICOL NO longer has a weather radar, but disaster officials in Albay are pinning their hopes on small and simple rain gauges to save lives.
At least 13 digital rain gauges have been installed in seven towns and two cities of the province, and 12 more are coming, courtesy of the Social Action Center of the Archdiocese of Legazpi.
Cedric Daep, executive officer of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, said early warning devices would also be given to communities so that information could be relayed fast to the residents.
Disaster officials have been trained to interpret data from the wired rain gauges, which cost almost P7,000 each and placed in municipal halls. The gauges can detect possible landslides, lahar and flooding through a criteria carefully devised by the PDCC.
When the device records rainfall of 1 millimeter per minute, mudflows from Mayon Volcano are likely to occur, Daep said. A 7.2 mm-per-hour rainfall could mean heavy flooding, especially in low-lying areas.
Daep explained that the criteria were based on localized conditions and might not be applicable to other provinces. “We will be testing this system for three years until such time we have perfected the accuracy of our formulated criteria (for data interpretation),” he said.
Since the multimillion-peso weather radar in Catanduanes was destroyed between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, disaster officials have difficulty predicting rain conditions, Daep said.
Moreover, the public storm warning signals being issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) pertain more to wind conditions, he said.
But Albay is not only vulnerable to strong winds but also to rain-related hazards, like lahar, flooding and landslides, Daep said.
Instead of the people waiting for disaster warnings from the national level, he said, the communities could generate real-time warnings. “Through this system, warning information can be conveyed outright to the affected population,” Daep said.
Readings from the rain gauges have equivalent stages in disaster management, such as alert, preparedness and evacuation levels. Since local conditions can be defined, village officials can order an evacuation and will just have to inform the municipal government and the PDCC for support, Daep said.
The council, however, will still inform local government units of general warnings from national agencies, such as Pagasa.
Updated reports from the PDCC show that lahar risk is high in 28 villages in four towns and one city in Albay. A total of 106 villages, zones and streets in 10 towns and two cities have landslide-prone areas, while 356 villages, zones and streets in 13 towns and three cities have flood-prone areas. Ephraim Aguilar
At least 13 digital rain gauges have been installed in seven towns and two cities of the province, and 12 more are coming, courtesy of the Social Action Center of the Archdiocese of Legazpi.
Cedric Daep, executive officer of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, said early warning devices would also be given to communities so that information could be relayed fast to the residents.
Disaster officials have been trained to interpret data from the wired rain gauges, which cost almost P7,000 each and placed in municipal halls. The gauges can detect possible landslides, lahar and flooding through a criteria carefully devised by the PDCC.
When the device records rainfall of 1 millimeter per minute, mudflows from Mayon Volcano are likely to occur, Daep said. A 7.2 mm-per-hour rainfall could mean heavy flooding, especially in low-lying areas.
Daep explained that the criteria were based on localized conditions and might not be applicable to other provinces. “We will be testing this system for three years until such time we have perfected the accuracy of our formulated criteria (for data interpretation),” he said.
Since the multimillion-peso weather radar in Catanduanes was destroyed between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, disaster officials have difficulty predicting rain conditions, Daep said.
Moreover, the public storm warning signals being issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) pertain more to wind conditions, he said.
But Albay is not only vulnerable to strong winds but also to rain-related hazards, like lahar, flooding and landslides, Daep said.
Instead of the people waiting for disaster warnings from the national level, he said, the communities could generate real-time warnings. “Through this system, warning information can be conveyed outright to the affected population,” Daep said.
Readings from the rain gauges have equivalent stages in disaster management, such as alert, preparedness and evacuation levels. Since local conditions can be defined, village officials can order an evacuation and will just have to inform the municipal government and the PDCC for support, Daep said.
The council, however, will still inform local government units of general warnings from national agencies, such as Pagasa.
Updated reports from the PDCC show that lahar risk is high in 28 villages in four towns and one city in Albay. A total of 106 villages, zones and streets in 10 towns and two cities have landslide-prone areas, while 356 villages, zones and streets in 13 towns and three cities have flood-prone areas. Ephraim Aguilar
Sunday, September 30, 2007
DARAGANG MAGAYON: Woman victim or warrior
01 September 2006
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
BEHIND MT. MAYON, rising 2,462 meters above Bicol, is a legend telling people that at the core of this magnificent and world-famous volcano, which has been restless since 1999, is the heart of a woman longing to be free.
Mayon was derived from the Bicol word magayon, which means “beautiful,” and was used to name one of the most active volcanoes in the country and one of the natural wonders of the world for its near-perfect cone shape.
According to folklore, Daragang Magayon (Beautiful Maiden), the only daughter of tribal chief Makusog (Strong), grew up to be so beautiful and lovely that men from other tribes vied for her affection.
But she was indifferent to all her suitors. Not even Datu Pagtuga (Eruption), a powerful chief and great hunter, could win her heart even if he showered her father with gifts.
One day, Ulap (Cloud) came after a long walk to see for himself the celebrated beauty of the maiden. Unlike other suitors, Ulap waited patiently until love blossomed between them.
Sensing that his daughter was in love, Makusog did not object to the betrothal and asked his people to prepare a wedding feast.
The news enraged Pagtuga, who abducted Makusog and sent word to Magayon that unless she married him, her beloved father would die and that war would be waged against her tribe.
Magayon could not do anything but give in to Pagtuga’s demand.
Informed about the unhappy turn of events, Ulap, along with his warriors, arrived in time for the wedding rites and killed Pagtuga.
This was not the tale’s happy ending, though. As Magayon rushed to embrace Ulap, she was hit by an arrow and fell to Ulap’s arms. A follower of Pagtuga hurled a spear at Ulap’s back, killing him instantly.
The tragic lovers were buried in one grave which, as time passed, was transformed into a hill. Rumblings, quakes and huge boulders sprouted from the top of what is now Mt. Mayon.
Dr. Juliet Borres, a literature professor and assistant dean at the Bicol University College of Arts and Letters, said folk legends were created by early natives to explain phenomena around them.
The story of Daragang Magayon has different versions, but in each of them, she always died—from an arrow aimed at her or her lover.
According to Borres, the story portrays how women were treated in ancient times—like those of the lower class—their lives determined by men around them and without freedom to speak for themselves.
In the early 1990s, a significant twist in the myth arose after Bicolana poet Merlinda Bobis redefined the character of Daragang Magayon, from being a victim to a woman who bravely battled against oppression. She was transformed into a woman guerrilla.
Bobis has received various prestigious awards, such as the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 1987 and 1989, and the Gawad Cultural Center of the Philippines for Literature in 1990.
In her graduate thesis that analyzed Bobis’ Bicol epic “Cantata of the Warrior Woman Daragang Magayon,” Borres stated that in the early part of the narrative, Magayon was presented as well-loved, pampered and adored by people around her.
She was a typical girl who feared blood, was weak and vulnerable. She suffered rejection not only by other people in the tribe but also by her own father.
“The elders in their tribe, who took advantage of the weakness of her aging father Makusog, planned that Magayon be forced to marry Pagtuga as more of a political strategy for the benefit of the tribe. When Magayon learned of that, she decided to transform herself into a warrior to the delight of his father who told her, ‘Indeed you are of my own blood,’ ” Borres said.
Unlike in the traditional legend where Magayon decided to marry Pagtuga in exchange for the freedom of her father, in Bobis’ version, she asked for guidance from the goddess Maguindara.
“The women in the tribe did not want Magayon to marry Pagtuga because they thought he was an enemy, a symbol of oppression against women during their time. When Magayon inquired from Maguindara, she answered her question with another question: ‘Anong sira an dai nagsasabat sa sulong (What is the fish that doesn’t go against the current)? Magayon knew the answer, ‘Tigbak na sira’ (Dead fish),” Borres said.
“What Magayon is trying to portray in her character redefined by Bobis is that, ‘I am not just beautiful. I am not just a weak and typical princess but I am more than that,’ ” she added.
The maiden decided to fight for her father’s freedom. as well as her freedom to love. She was no longer a victim who depended on her tribesmen and Ulap to be rescued.
“In the end of the epic though, it was implied that both Magayon and Ulap died in the battle. But Magayon here died in unsurrendered struggle. She was fighting till the end,” said Borres.
Mayon Volcano has been on a “mild and quiet” eruption for more than a month now, keeping nearly 40,000 villagers confined in government-run shelters away from its shadow.
Knowing the behavior of Mayon now, Borres remembered what Bobis said: “Just like Daragang Magayon, she appears to be gloriously beautiful, calm, and placid but when you listen closely, you will hear murmurs of stories untold about her endless struggle.”
By Ephraim Aguilar
Legazpi City
BEHIND MT. MAYON, rising 2,462 meters above Bicol, is a legend telling people that at the core of this magnificent and world-famous volcano, which has been restless since 1999, is the heart of a woman longing to be free.
Mayon was derived from the Bicol word magayon, which means “beautiful,” and was used to name one of the most active volcanoes in the country and one of the natural wonders of the world for its near-perfect cone shape.
According to folklore, Daragang Magayon (Beautiful Maiden), the only daughter of tribal chief Makusog (Strong), grew up to be so beautiful and lovely that men from other tribes vied for her affection.
But she was indifferent to all her suitors. Not even Datu Pagtuga (Eruption), a powerful chief and great hunter, could win her heart even if he showered her father with gifts.
One day, Ulap (Cloud) came after a long walk to see for himself the celebrated beauty of the maiden. Unlike other suitors, Ulap waited patiently until love blossomed between them.
Sensing that his daughter was in love, Makusog did not object to the betrothal and asked his people to prepare a wedding feast.
The news enraged Pagtuga, who abducted Makusog and sent word to Magayon that unless she married him, her beloved father would die and that war would be waged against her tribe.
Magayon could not do anything but give in to Pagtuga’s demand.
Informed about the unhappy turn of events, Ulap, along with his warriors, arrived in time for the wedding rites and killed Pagtuga.
This was not the tale’s happy ending, though. As Magayon rushed to embrace Ulap, she was hit by an arrow and fell to Ulap’s arms. A follower of Pagtuga hurled a spear at Ulap’s back, killing him instantly.
The tragic lovers were buried in one grave which, as time passed, was transformed into a hill. Rumblings, quakes and huge boulders sprouted from the top of what is now Mt. Mayon.
Dr. Juliet Borres, a literature professor and assistant dean at the Bicol University College of Arts and Letters, said folk legends were created by early natives to explain phenomena around them.
The story of Daragang Magayon has different versions, but in each of them, she always died—from an arrow aimed at her or her lover.
According to Borres, the story portrays how women were treated in ancient times—like those of the lower class—their lives determined by men around them and without freedom to speak for themselves.
In the early 1990s, a significant twist in the myth arose after Bicolana poet Merlinda Bobis redefined the character of Daragang Magayon, from being a victim to a woman who bravely battled against oppression. She was transformed into a woman guerrilla.
Bobis has received various prestigious awards, such as the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 1987 and 1989, and the Gawad Cultural Center of the Philippines for Literature in 1990.
In her graduate thesis that analyzed Bobis’ Bicol epic “Cantata of the Warrior Woman Daragang Magayon,” Borres stated that in the early part of the narrative, Magayon was presented as well-loved, pampered and adored by people around her.
She was a typical girl who feared blood, was weak and vulnerable. She suffered rejection not only by other people in the tribe but also by her own father.
“The elders in their tribe, who took advantage of the weakness of her aging father Makusog, planned that Magayon be forced to marry Pagtuga as more of a political strategy for the benefit of the tribe. When Magayon learned of that, she decided to transform herself into a warrior to the delight of his father who told her, ‘Indeed you are of my own blood,’ ” Borres said.
Unlike in the traditional legend where Magayon decided to marry Pagtuga in exchange for the freedom of her father, in Bobis’ version, she asked for guidance from the goddess Maguindara.
“The women in the tribe did not want Magayon to marry Pagtuga because they thought he was an enemy, a symbol of oppression against women during their time. When Magayon inquired from Maguindara, she answered her question with another question: ‘Anong sira an dai nagsasabat sa sulong (What is the fish that doesn’t go against the current)? Magayon knew the answer, ‘Tigbak na sira’ (Dead fish),” Borres said.
“What Magayon is trying to portray in her character redefined by Bobis is that, ‘I am not just beautiful. I am not just a weak and typical princess but I am more than that,’ ” she added.
The maiden decided to fight for her father’s freedom. as well as her freedom to love. She was no longer a victim who depended on her tribesmen and Ulap to be rescued.
“In the end of the epic though, it was implied that both Magayon and Ulap died in the battle. But Magayon here died in unsurrendered struggle. She was fighting till the end,” said Borres.
Mayon Volcano has been on a “mild and quiet” eruption for more than a month now, keeping nearly 40,000 villagers confined in government-run shelters away from its shadow.
Knowing the behavior of Mayon now, Borres remembered what Bobis said: “Just like Daragang Magayon, she appears to be gloriously beautiful, calm, and placid but when you listen closely, you will hear murmurs of stories untold about her endless struggle.”
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