in my life

NCCT chair laments low regard for children’s TV shows

2012-05-20T09:56:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the May 20 to 26, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

LOCALLY-produced children’s program in the Philippines are getting almost extinct, thus laments Mag Cruz Hatol, the chairman of the National Council for Children’s Television or NCCT.

Hatol was in town last week for the Baguio leg of the information and consultation drive on the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 8370, also known as the Children’s Television Act of 1997 held at the Teachers Camp. It was attended by local media practitioners as well as students in journalism and mass communications. The Baguio Chronicle was also there.

He said budgetary constraints, lack of sponsorships and lack of government support are just three of the culprits behind the local children’s television limping industry.

And while the major television networks such as the ABS-CBN are very prudent about their programming, Hatol said that “in the regional programming, they have forgotten neglected programs for children”.

“It will be very difficult because they have stock holders who must be given dividends at the end of the year,” he said. “If they fail to hit their quota, the stock holders will not be given their dividends.”

“Look at what you all did to the programs of these young people; what did you do with Hiraya Manawari, Bayani, Sine Eskwela, Tsikiting Patrol?,” Hatol asked. “You killed them!”

He singled-out government-owned network NBN (PTV) which “doesn’t have any children’s program at all and it is very funny because the Philippine law requires that all television networks must have child-friendly programs”.

“PTV has not a single program and that tells a lot about the kind of child-friendliness our television broadcasting is,” he said, underscoring the critical role of television in the early stages of children’s education.

“Television teaches the child more that the Department of Education does,” he said. “If we provide them a diet full of telenovela and showbiz rumors, that is the kind of education that we are giving our children as they grow . . . if you look at the way the younger people dress, much of it emanated from ideas from media.”

“We are not even asking for programs by children and about children; we are only asking for programs for children,” he added. “The law is very lax; it’s only asking for child-sensitive programming.”

He said “we have an endowment fund of P6 million, P30 million of which have been given to NCCT but the other P30 million is still pending . . .and we can only use the interest payment of that amount and we are not even talking of P2 million in interest payment since time immemorial.”

“Are we a child-sensitive nation or not?” he asked. “Judge it yourself, given these scenarios.”

The Children’s Television Act of 1997 provides that a minimum of 15 percent of the daily total air time of each broadcasting network shall be allotted for child-friendly shows within the regular programming of all networks granted franchises or as a condition for renewal of broadcast licenses hereinafter, to be included as part of the network's responsibility of serving the public.

Child-friendly programs refer to programs not specifically designed for viewing by children but which serve to further the positive development of children and contain no elements that may result in physical, mental and emotional harm to them. These include various formats and genre that appeal to children and are made available for all ages from early childhood to adolescence. The Act also defines child-viewing hours as hours which are considered to be appropriate for children to watch television taking into account other activities which are necessary or desirable for their balanced development.

The Act also created and tasked the NCCT to formulate and recommend plans, policies and priorities for government and private sector (i.e. broadcasters, producers, advertisers) action towards the development of high quality locally-produced children's television programming, to meet the developmental and informational needs of children.

NCCT is also mandated to promote and encourage the production and broadcasting of developmentally-appropriate television programs for children through the administration of a national endowment fund for children's television and other necessary mechanisms and to monitor, review and classify children's television programs and advertisements aired during the hours known to be child-viewing hours in order to take appropriate action such as disseminating information to the public and bringing results to the attention of concerned agencies for appropriate action

Hand in hand with the television broadcast industry, the Council is also tasked to set standards for television programs shown during child-viewing hours and work closely with the industry for the adoption and implementation of said standards and to initiate the conduct of research for policy formulation and program development and disseminate its results to broadcasters, advertisers, parents and educators on issues related to television and Filipino children.

Further, the NCCT is also mandated to promote media education within the formal school system and other non-formal means in cooperation with private organizations; to monitor the implementation of the Act and other existing government policies and regulations pertaining to children's broadcast programs, as well as to recommend and require the appropriate government agencies and/or self-regulatory bodies concerned to enforce the appropriate sanctions for violations of these regulations and policies based on their respective mandates; to recommend to Congress appropriate legislative measures which will grant incentives for independent producers and broadcasters to encourage the production of quality local children's television programs; and to act on complaints committed in violation of the Act with the goal of protecting children from the negative and harmful influences and to cause or initiate the prosecution of violators of the same.*

NEDA Sec. boasts of “early gains”

2012-03-25T10:33:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the March 25 to 31, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

SOCIO-economic Planning Secretary and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cayetano Paderanga, Jr. this week boasted of the Aquino administration's “early gains”.

Speaking during the Baguio leg of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2011-2016 at the Hotel Elizabeth , Paderanga said that the Filipino people “are now harvesting the benefits of the government's good governance efforts and anti-corruption initiatives”.

The caravan's Baguio swing was participated by representatives of the various local government units in the Cordillera and from regional government line agencies, civic society groups and the media.

“Our revenue collections improved in 2011, higher by 13 percent or P152 billion over that of 2010,” he boasted. “Approved investments grew by 30 percent from P196 billion in 2010 to P226 billion in 2012.”

Paderanga claimed that the Aquino Administration was able to generate 1.1 million jobs or employment as of January this year while tourists arrival increased by 11 percent in 2011 with 3.9 million arrivals which is “close to our 4.2 million target this year”.

“These are just some of our early gains and we will continue to strive harder to achieve the goals of the Philippine Development Plan,” Paderanga boasted.

He said the PDP 2011-2016 “aims for inclusive growth that is shared by all and leaves no one behind” and “this is opposed to the trickle-down jobless growth that we have experienced in the past”.

“The Plan,” he said “is anchored on the President's social contract with the Filipino people”.

According to him, the Philippine Development Plan and the Public Investment Program 2011-2016 aims to “translate President Aquino's Social Contract with the Filipino People into effective, efficient, and inclusive interventions that will guide all government agencies in program and project implementation”.

“As host to thirteen major watersheds, the Cordillera Administrative Region prides itself as the watershed cradle of the country that plays a key role in promoting ecological balance,” Paderanga said. “The regional Development Plan therefore calls for the adoption of ecosystem-based management approaches and natural resources-based economic endeavors such as agri-tourism.”

Meanwhile, Regional Development Council co-chairman Virgilio Bautista told Paderanga “our hope is in you if you raise our concerns to the Cabinet level and I am sure they will understand and pity us”.

“As a water caretaker, we (the Cordillera Region) receive almost nothing, as a mineral rich region, mining is difficult to develop to a responsible and long-term (level) with benefits commensurate to what is extracted and destroyed,” Bautista said. “It is unfortunate that the income taxes of all the mines in the region are not paid here but elsewhere . . . the ore that is extracted is distributed elsewhere.”

“As a tourist destination, we do not have any commercial planes and yet, according to one expert, all we need are equipment for instrument landing,” Bautista lamented.

“For us who are here today, as the song reminds us, we should light our individual candles . . . one small light is better than the darkness,” Bautista added.”When all of us will light our candles, then the place will be bright and a better region to live in for everyone.”*

World marks Water Day

2012-03-25T10:29:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the March 25 to 31, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

WHILE no visible observance was held in Baguio or a mere mention by any of its elected officials and the so-called ‘cause-oriented’ groups, this year’s World Water Day was observed centering on the theme “Katiyakan sa Tubig, Katiyakan sa Pagkain” --- an adaptation of the international theme “Water and Food Security.”

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources or DENR said this year’s activities focused on the increasing awareness to conserve water resources “not only because we need water to drink, bathe in and wash our clothes, but also because it is an important component of the food that we eat.”

The observance also looked at how the swelling population can cope with the increasing pressure on available water resources by consuming less water-intensive products and reducing food wastage, which translates to lost water.

“This is the concept of measuring the ‘water footprint’ or the total volume of freshwater used to produce goods and services,” DENR Sec. Ramon Paje said.

Meanwhile, around 200 representatives of government agencies, local government units, water service providers, implementers of the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat (SALINTUBIG) program, and other stakeholders attended a summit to discuss different water-related programs and strategies.

The event was organized by the DENR along with partners from the Millennium Development Goals Fund. It was held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

On the same day, participants from the youth and civil society joined representatives from DENR’s partner agencies in carrying water jugs and food baskets for the “Philippines Walks for Water” event at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.

The walk symbolized “walking for the waterless and for sustained water supply for food production” and culminated with the participants creating a human water drop formation --- a first-ever attempt to set a record as the world’s largest of its kind. The “walkers” ended the day with a “Water Festival” featuring invited performers and a musical lights and fountain show at the Aquatica in nearby Manila Ocean Park.

Part of the show was the signing on a “commitment wall” by officials of all partner agencies, from both public and private sectors, pledging to act together for continued and sustainable water supply.

World Water Day has been observed since 1993 when the United Nations General Assembly declared 22 March as World Day for Water.

This year’s observance carries the theme Water and Food Security: The World is Thirsty Because We are Hungry.

This day was first formally proposed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Observance began in 1993 and has grown significantly ever since. For the general public to show support, it is encouraged for the public to not use their taps throughout the whole day.

The UN and its member nations devote this day to implementing UN recommendations and promoting concrete activities within their countries regarding the world's water resources. Each year, one of various UN agencies involved in water issues takes the lead in promoting and coordinating international activities for World Water Day.

Since its inception in 2003, UN-Water has been responsible for selecting the theme, messages and lead UN agency for the World Day for Water.

In addition to the UN member states, a number of NGOs promoting clean water and sustainable aquatic habitats have used World Day for Water as a time to focus public attention on the critical water issues of our era. Every three years since 1997, for instance, the World Water Council has drawn thousands to participate in its World Water Forum during the week of World Day for Water. Participating agencies and NGOs have highlighted issues such as a billion people being without access to safe water for drinking and the role of gender in family access to safe water.

In 2003, 2006 and 2009, the UN World Water Development Report was launched on the occasion of the World Water Day.*

CREBA lauds updated land-use, zoning ordinance

2012-03-25T10:23:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the March 25 to 31, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

THE Baguio-Benguet Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association or CREBA said that the proposed updating of the Baguio Zoning Regulations “is welcomed as an opportunity for us, the city government together with the citizenry, to be better attuned to the times and responsive to our city’s needs”.

“We, from the housing sector are also bona fide residents of the city and we have our duty to assist in our most humble way whatever we could share for the physical and economic development of the city towards a safer and healthier environment,” the local CREBA said in a collective statement issued by its Chairman of the Board (Engr.) Tom Panis, chapter president (Engr.) Edwin Zamora, executive vice president Lorenzo Aguilar, Director (Atty.) Alexander Bangsoy, and former presidents Jane Cosalan and Felicidad Ronquillo.

The City Council’s Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing recently wrapped up the consultations with various sectors on the draft updated Comprehensive Land-Use (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance and is now finalizing its recommendations for submission to the City Development Council or CDC.

Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan who heads the CDC which drafted the updated CLUP and Zoning Ordinance said the CDC is very receptive to the recommendations from the different sectors consulted on the proposed updated CLUP and Zoning Ordinance. He said there are provisions in the draft that need changes for practical reasons such as limiting the number of storeys recommended for buildings in the city.

“Our challenge is to strike an appropriate balance in our controlling laws and regulations so that our response is properly placed in terms of guarded development that will not unduly deprive other sectors of the community but would truly mirror the desires and aspirations of all citizenry,” CREBA said.

“We have to be continually mindful that we do not blunder and cause stakeholders to relocate elsewhere (just) because they find our zoning laws too oppressive,” it added. “It will be a huge disservice if investors collectively brand Baguio as a hostile and anti-development’ under our zoning laws . . . it is on the above premise that that position paper of CREBA is presented, lest we be accused of a misunderstanding of the most basic tenets of planning and urban development.”

According to the local CREBA, the forecasted balance of housing backlog by 2020 of 13,082 units “needs and buildable space of more or less 12 hectares based on a house floor area of 70 square meters and a 30 percent provision for open spaces”.

Where do we get this large chunk of area in Baguio where almost all its areas are now occupied?

The local CREBA is proposing the following to be classified as possible housing areas: Green Valley up to Sto. Tomas’ City Limits, Irisan up to Lamtang’s City Limits, Leonila Hill, Ambiong (Baguio side), Camp 7 area (left of the Satellite Market), Tam-awan Quezon Hill, SLU Bakakeng area, Kitma Village, Chapis Village, Pucay Village, Crystal Cave area. In addition, CREBA is also suggesting to classify all areas one lot deep where the circumferential road passes (Balacbac area, Bakakeng CICM, Kadaklan, Happy Hallow, etc.) “as these areas will be the next growth areas in the city”.

The local CREBA is also proposing that the height regulations for buildings (in R3 zones) shall be increased to 12 storeys subject to the soil bearing capacities of the area. Besides, real estate values in the city has gone beyond imaginable levels that developing an area is based on the earning potentials or return of investment (ROI) by their legitimate owners and speculators alike, CREBA added. The ratio of developable areas should be based on Section 803 (Percentage of Site Occupancy) of the IRR of the National Building Code / PD 1096 which mandates a maximum buildable area of 85 percent for inside lots and 95 percent for through and corner lots located in business-mercantile, industrial and high-occupancy areas.

The group also lauded the inclusion of landscape regulations, more particularly for new buildings to include in their design adequate provision for rainwater capture for purposes of flushing, watering of plants, and cleaning.

“Lest we be misunderstood as protecting our own self-interest” the CREBA said it would like “to come up with affordable low-cost housing technologies and materials and ‘holistic’ housing designs, exploring other products and programs to reach a broader segment of the poor in need of housing assistance”.

The group said it also would like to undertake the ‘unbundling’ of the housing package or promote ‘semi-development’ to reduce the price of housing units “and make it more affordable to low-income earners”. It added it wants to develop better coordination with the different housing agencies “to adopt a more developmental and pro-poor framework to be able to reach more poor people”.

Meanwhile, Councilor Isabelo Cosalan, Jr. said the Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing (which he chairs) wants to propose the inclusion of the following in the updated Comprehensive Land-Use (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance:

• The need to look deeper into the overall direction of the development plans. As in the ‘vision’ and repeatedly emphasized in the ‘mission, goals, strategy, and overall policies’, ecological balance through sustainable enhancement and preservation of the environment to stabilize biodiversity, takes center stage. The physical land-use plan, however, says otherwise. For the next 10 or more years, the plan would be taking away more than 119 from 566.21 hectares of vacant forested areas or more than 21 percent of the existing forest land supposed to be ‘for greening purposes’. Add this to the already occupied portions of forest / water reservations, roads and creek / river easements and the city will end up with barely a space to breathe.

• The need to translate into clear, defined, and purposeful plan the proposed and adopted multi-nodal form of spatial development strategy where the particular field of specialization for the particular cluster is expressly articulated to serve as investment and development guides.

• The consideration of at last a 150 year effectivity for the Baguio City Comprehensive Land-Use Plan to provide ample time for the realization of the vision-mission-goal statement.

The Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing also want the adoption of the observations and recommendations forwarded by the various sectors consulted, e.g. the NEDA, the academe, the BLIST, the trade and industry, tourism, public safety and protection, social welfare services, health, infrastructure, and utilities, housing, and the indigenous people’s groups.*

Urban Planner gives piece of mind on city’s land-use plan: “We have to be continually mindful that we do not blunder and cause our city to die!”

2012-03-25T08:58:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the March 25 to 31, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

TEMPERANCE on the matter of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) agenda is what we should (likewise) pursue. That we reconcile with Baguio’s ‘carrying capacity’ and the need for appropriate controls is a clearly-manifested direction in the proposal (to update it). However, the counter-direction we present is that we cannot afford to commit errors in judgement that will likely be disastrous for our city. Going way beyond the dictates of appropriateness is what we all must be wary of.

These are the futuristic words of Architect Raffy Chan as he speaks out his mind on the proposed Comprehensive Land Use Plan of Baguio City.

Chan holds a BS Architecture degree he earned from the Saint Louis University and a Degree in Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) from the University of the Philippines in Baguio and in Diliman. He also has a Master of Arts in Environmental and Habitat Planning (MAEHP) degree from SLU where he graduated magna cum laude.

He is the principal architect of R. G. Chan and Associates --- a consulting firm he established in Baguio in 1982 --- and a fellow if the United Architects of the Philippines or UAP for his contributions to the architectural profession in the field of design.

“If a simplification of our current CLUP agenda is to be made, it should centre on how we --- the public at-large --- can benefit from the proposed update (of the CLUP); on what will be the best for the city in the long run,” he said.

The City Council’s Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing (chaired by Councilor Isabelo Cosalan, Jr.) recently wrapped up the consultations with various sectors on the draft updated Comprehensive Land-Use (CLUP) and Zoning Ordinance and is now finalizing its recommendations for submission to the City Development Council or CDC.

According to Chan, Baguio “has reached a saturation level in terms of development”.

“We have already gone way beyond its carrying capacity in terms of population and development is an easily-winnable proposition in any debate if you are lucky to be on the positive side of the discussion,” he said. “Our sewer systems are over-burdened, our garbage system is non-functional; all our city utility systems are badly in dire need of an upgrade; beyond a doubt, life in Baguio is becoming more challenged.”

Notwithstanding, “a reality that will not go away is that life has to go on for us who opt to stay in this city,” he said. “We have to be continually mindful that we do not blunder and cause our city to die.”

According to him, a very noticeable and distinct feature of the proposed (zoning) ordinance and its immediate predecessor is the inclusion of what can be termed as ‘strip development’.

Such ‘one lot deep’ district boundaries (e.g. along Bokawkan Road, Trancoville, Legarda Road, Lourdes Subdivision, San Roque, Camp 7, etc.), Chan said, “are oddments on the concept of segregating areas --- accepted as a norm in development planning”.

“Historically, this is known to have started with the areas along Naguilian and Legarda Roads which were the subject of the earliest applications for zoning exemptions or variances that have increased due to the predominance of the gaya-gaya impulse of the Filipino --- to imitate what his neighbour successfully started,” he said. Such areas eventually relegated as ‘commercial zones’ is “a crude response on the matter of development, with our government planners opting for the path of least resistance.”

“It seems that disallowing what was previously allowed is considered a path of trouble and does not ring true of a supposedly ‘planned’ course of action from our development framers,” he added. “What the government has given to Juan cannot be taken away from him --- afraid for it to be branded as an Indian giver.”

“As we struggle with the challenge of getting the stamp of approval from our local constituents during the public hearings for the approval of each new CLUP, the addition of these ‘commercial strips’ have become continually more pronounced and have consistently increased,” Chan lamented. “We speculate that these segments as the ‘give’ of our government planers in line with the ‘take’ in getting approval of their proposed CLUPs; to become more acceptable to those that occupy these locations; as their option to engage in their current activities is assured, their support for the CLUP update is in the bag.”

But why make an issue when many people accept such proposal?

“It is what does not immediately manifest but slowly and eventually wrecks havoc on us; as these strips eventually become more heavily-used, they metamorphose into problem strips,” Chan said. “Already, even as we talk about them, the problems are already evident in many locations.”

“Ill-equipped to respond to the demand of higher traffic volume (because the abutting road is of fixed width) and the increased demand for better utilities (water and electricity), these areas eventually exact a toll in terms of utility demand,” Chan warned. “The irony of it all is that most of the facilities thereat have rarely been sufficient to fill the initial demand that originally existed.”

Chan urged that “we put a stop to the addition of these areas into this ‘strip development’ locations”.

“The earlier we reconcile and put more appropriate controls over these potential ‘hazard strips’, the better will our planning response be in the long run,” he said. “We need to get more creative on how we can facilitate this.”

Going overboard on control?

“The imposition of a maximum height per zone as part of our CLUP is practically new; it is therefore important for all not to go overboard,” he said. “We need to strike an appropriate balance on what is practical, acceptable and realistic; on this matter alone, we are likely to chart the sustained commercial viability or doom of our city.”

Under the proposed Ordinance, 12 storeys (37.5 meters) will be allowed only if the following are met: (1) the proposed property is of sufficient size (at least 1,000 square meters); (2) buildable area will be limited to 50 percent of the total area available; and, (3) annotation in the lot-title relative to the buildable area.

“We reconcile with the initiative to put controls over our high-demand locations but we sincerely feel that there are other better and less-hostile options that can be considered,” he said.

He cited as an example a commercial property along Session Road which is or prime commercial value because of its location.

“The value of these commercial estates are at levels they currently are because of the earning potential for returns; the promise of a return of investment, particularly when measured against the maximum utilization of such properties, is what drives the value on these locations,” he said. “But against the untoward approval of the height regulation, such potential will be drastically divided by two because only half of the lot can now be built upon.”

According to him, if the desire is towards being responsive to the ‘carrying capacity’ agenda of the city and having ‘green’ buildings which are more responsive to the war against global warming, the public at-large “will be better served if technology is deployed as our means of response”.

“Options, such as ‘green roofs’ the collection and re-use of rainwater within buildings, and similar concepts can all be considered as the conditional mandates when a larger project scope is desired,” he said. “Such will also result in a mutually-beneficial exchange for a building owner, plus the chance to provide better value for the project.”

In this area, he is proposing an additional 5 percent buildable area if a ‘green roof’ is included in the building design, plus another 5 percent if rainwater is collected and re-used.

“Such prescriptive incentives will pave the way towards being more responsive to the ‘green agenda’,” he said. “The government should manifest partnering incentives through its laws where a concession is given in return for a ‘partnering initiative’ from property/development owners.”

With all other options available, Chan said he is against Section 14 (Height Regulation) of the proposed CLUP ordinance.

“If it should ever pass as proposed, it would introduce a ‘functional obsolescence’ of such magnitude on all of the prime properties in the city in one over-bearing sweep,” he prophesized. “Real estate in Baguio would never be the same again; describing the same as an overboard response, likely to cause this city to slip into the doldrums of curtailed development would not be appropriate.”*

Group suing for TEPO vs SM presents first witness

2012-03-18T12:40:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the March 18 to 24, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

THE counsels of the group who two weeks ago sued for an injunction with a prayer for Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) hoping to stop the plans of mall giant SM Baguio to deforest its backyard along Governor Pack Road to give way to its highly-ambitious business expansion presented its first witness in Thursday’s hearing.

Self-proclaimed ‘tree expert’ Michael Bengwayan took the witness stand to give his opinions on the consequences of cutting the trees and its effects on the overall ecology of the city.

The next hearing is sent on March 21 with the Regional Trial Court Branch 5 under Judge Antonio Estevez where it will the turn of SM to present its first witness.

“This is a complaint in a civil action under the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases involving enforcement or violations of environmental and other related laws, rules and regulations,” the complaint papers said.

The plaintiffs include Sec. Ramon J.P. Paje (in his capacity as Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources or DENR), Atty. Juan Miguel T. Cuña (in his capacity as the Director of the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR), SM Investment Corporation, and Sec. Rogelio Singson (in his capacity as the Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways or DPWH).

“SM Investment Corporation, a giant corporation, wants to snuff the life out of 182 pine and alnus trees right at the heart of the Central Business District, to accommodate its corporate expansion project; the city’s residents have spoken out in several forums and mass actions to express popular dissent,” the petition read.

“The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is the agency primarily mandated to protect the environment within the framework of sustainable development. Its declared mission is to mobilize our citizenry in protecting, conserving and managing the environment and natural resources. And yet, instead of enforcing environmental laws, it flouted them demonstrating that it easily yields to the economic power of the business interests it regulates. Similarly, other government offices that should be the first to speak out against corporate collateralism have exhibited bureaucratic inertia,” it added. “This compels civil society organizations and residents to take a route that the Philippine legal system allows them: to file this instant complaint. And as they do, they ask, echoing Ansel Adams, Why do we have to fight our own government to save the environment?”

The petition is also seeking to set aside as null and void the permit to cut trees granted by Sec. Paje to SM Investments Corporation (SMIC) and to declare null and void the building permit issued by the City Building and Architecture Office in favor of SMIC.

Meanwhile, the counsel of SM is under the Judge’s order to advice his client (SM) not to make any ‘move’ before a ruling is made on the TEPO or the Judge will be constrained “to act accordingly” following speculations that SM will start cutting the trees in the next days.*

DENR man hits the brakes on SM lot registration

2012-02-26T13:08:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the February 26 to March 4, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

A CARTOGRAPHER of the Department of Natural Resources and Natural Resources (DENR) Cordillera Regional Office is asking the Register of Deeds of Baguio “to hold in abeyance the registration of any transfer in the name of SM Corporation involving the parcel of land occupied by SM City Baguio or any portion covered by OCT No. 1”.

In a letter to Register of Deeds’ Atty. Guerrero Felipe dated January 9, 2012, Dominador Bocalen said he was prompted to write because “allowing the registration would be legalizing what is illegal and unjust”.

“There is no approved plan covering the 29-hectare property allegedly covered by OCT No. 1 and the SM site is not titled to or owned by anyone, including the Insular Government of the Philippines,” he contended.

“The portion whereon SM City Baguio now stands is very controversial and is now involved in a case filed against myself and two others,” he said.

Bocalen narrated that indeed, 16 individuals have filed their respective Townsite Sales Applications (TSA) with A.O. 504 Committee of the DENR-CAR covering portions of the SM site.

“There being no title in the name of SM at that time and no titled owner of the parcel of land, eight applications were cleared for further processing,” he said. “Eventually, all 16 TSAs covering portions of the SM site have either been withdrawn or denied.”

And for “clearing” the eight TSAs, Bocalen and his two other co-employees were administratively charged and who have served their respective 90-day suspensions from September 1 to November 30, 2011.

Eventually, “the land was reportedly sold by DENR to SM Corporation but no deed of transfer has been executed by the government since 2006”, Bocalen revealed in his letter to the Register of Deeds.

“Suddenly and mysteriously, the DENR produced OCT No. 1 allegedly issued to the Philippine Insular Government in 1910 and the deed of sale to SM Corporation of the parcel of land was executed in September 2011 while we were suspended,” Bocalen added. “This questionable title of a 29-hectare parcel of prime land covers Burnham Park, Athletic Bowl, University of the Cordilleras, COMELEC, (the Baguio) Convention Center, Baden Powell site, BPI (Bank of Phil. Islands) and PILTEL sites, University of the Philippines Baguio Campus and SM City.”

“We suffered a lot, we were mentally-tortured, ridiculed, and humiliated because we were presented as corrupt, inept, and inefficient government workers with the case filed against us,” Bocalen said in his emotionally-charged letter.

He was referring to a 2008 investigation made by a fact-finding committee created under Special Order No. 59, Series 07 2007 to determine if the Townsite Sales Applications of Michelle Padron, Henry Padron, Sherlyne Ibay, Marie Grace Ibay, Florence Ibay, Alex Ibay, Crescencio Ducusin, and Cecile Ducusin are outside or inside the road-right-of-way of Harrison Road, OCT1 and that sold to SM Investments.

The investigation also sought to determine who were responsible for the pre-screening clearance and acceptance of Townsite Sales Applications within the OCT 1 (SM area) and the road-right-of-way (Harrison Road).

In the end, the committee recommended the cancellation of the clearance issued to Michelle Padron, Henry Padron, Sherlyne Ibay, Marie Grace Ibay, Florence Ibay, Alex Ibay, Crescencio Ducusin, and Cecile Ducusin.

The committee also recommended that formal charges be filed against Bucalen (and his two other co-employees) for gross misconduct.

On June 29, 2009, the Baguio City Council adopted the recommendations of a fact-finding committee which it also constituted to investigate the issue.

The City Council agreed to request the then DENR Secretary to update the city government as regards City Council Resolution No. 164, Series of 2007, particularly the portion which asked the DENR Secretary (a) to hold in abeyance any action on the Deed of Conveyance or Deed of Sale executd by DENR-CAR in favor of SM Investments Corp. covering those parcels of land, particularly Lot X-1, Lot Y-2 and those lots in front of the University of the Cordilleras and the COMELEC along Gov. Pack Road; (b) to initiate the prevention of the completion of any construction by SM Investments Corp. thereat should the findings of the fact-finding committee warrant that some action be taken thereon such as the rescission of the contract; and, (c) to hold in abeyance the approval or issuance of any title thereto, or in the vent that a title is issued, to revoke the same.

And to remedy the muddled situation, the city council also adopted the following recommendations of the fact-finding committee: for the DENR-CAR to identify and mark on the ground all corners of OCT No. 1 as per the submitted verified survey; to urge the DENR-CAR to cause the approval of the Verification Survey in accordance to the Manual for Land Surveys in the Philippines and specifically indicating the correct Tie Line of the lot covered by OCT No. 1; to request the DENR-CAR to cancel TSI 1-2-000767, containing an area of 352 square meters in the name of Delia C. Guerrero (now Mary Tan) and restore it to its original use for road purposes, including the clearing of the remaining portion of that portion of OCT No. 1 and open it for traffic; approval of a resolution urging Pres. G. Arroyo, through the DENR, for the issuance of an amendatory proclamation designating Lots X-1 and Y-2 as Technology Information Center under the administration of the city government of Baguio; and approval of the dproposed Resolution No. PR 097-08 of the Fact-Finding Committee “moving for the inventory of the unoccupied and/or undisposed portions of that parcel of land covered by OCT No. 1 in the name of the Insular Government of the Philippines and the turning over of the same to the city government of Baguio for public purposes”, including that area covered by SWO-41583, known as the BIBAK Dorm as per Resolution No. 009, Series of 2009.

Bocalen however lamented that nothing came out of the resolution of the city council regarding the said anomaly despite their findings.

On January 10 last year, Bocalen filed a Motion to Dismiss the charges thrown at him by Baguilat “for failure to prosecute within the reasonable time” and for violation of his right to a speedy disposition of the case.

On September 5, 2011, Bocalen lodged an “answer” praying that after a formal investigation, an order or resolution be issued dismissing the administrative case filed against him for Gross Misconduct amounting to Non-Feasance / Misfeasance “for lack of factual and legal basis and lack of merit”.

But it was not until July 25 last year --- three-and-a-half years later --- that DENR Regional Executive Director Clarence Baguilat formally charged Bocalen (and his two other co-employees) for ‘gross misconduct amounting to non-feasance’ for intentionally withholding or twisting information resulting to the A.O. 504 Clearance Committee being misled to issue clearance to eight Townsite Sales Applications of Michelle Padron, Henry Padron, Sherlyne Ibay, Marie Grace Ibay, Florence Ibay, Alex Ibay, Crescencio Ducusin, and Cecile Ducusin.

Such “nonfeasance / misfeasance specifically consists in your misrepresenting that the areas covered by the eight applications are outise of Lot 4 (Resort Hotel) Proclamation 205 and within Lot X, IR 261 and withholding the TRUE information that Lot X, IR 261 has been previously awarded to SM Investment Corporation as early as 1992,” Baguilat contended in his formal charge against Bocalen and his two other co-employees.

“The facts reveal that I did my job in accordance with established procedures and the government has nothing to sell to SM Corporation because the property is not titled in the name of the government,” Bocalen bravely stood his ground in his letter to the Register of Deeds.

“The presentation of OCT No. 1 is to cover-up an anomalous transaction facilitated by scheming and corrupt government officials and employees,” he added.*

Expert cites effects of climate change on food security

2012-02-26T12:59:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the February 26 to March 4, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

AGRICULTURE is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures eventually reduce yields of desirable crops while encouraging weed and pest proliferation. Changes in precipitation patterns increase the likelihood of short-run crop failures and long-run production declines.

Speaking in last week’s four-day four-batch 1st Stakeholders Engagement: The Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation for Baguio City at the Pines View Hotel along Legarda Road last week, Dr. Corazon Abansi said that food production “has steadily increased across years and decades and yet not enough because of increase in population”.

The third day of the forum, made possible through the initiative of the City Environment and Parks Management Office or CEPMO, was for the education sector (teachers).

Dr. Abansi, a faculty member of the University of the Philippines Baguio’s Institute of Management graduate school, said that “population has increased geometrically while food production has increased only additively,” she said. “In Baguio, population increase is exponential.”

She said that it is actually climate change that “has affected our ability and the capability to produce food”.

”Food production is further slowed by the trends of climate change,” she said. “Extreme weather that destructs farmlands and crops which, if too massive, would result to food shortage if not food crisis.”

According to her, rising temperature has impaired crops productivity. “Crops feel the heat as the world warms, not just animals and humans,” she said.

According to her, “there must be a certain level of sufficiency in the city.”

“Any city should also look at the option of urban agriculture,” she said. Urban agriculture, she explained, is intensifying the integration of food production within the city’s economic, social and ecological system.

“It should be a program that should be adopted by all communities in the city, including the schools,” she said. “Not just the local government, not just the barangays; even schools can contribute to food production.”

“We target a certain percentage of the population, capable of growing food; we target a certain level of food production within our community,” she said. “We look at public institutional gardens, cooperative or community gardens, private backyard plots, and our schools and see if there are still vacant spaces or pockets of lands and spaces that can be used.”

How can we contribute to food security given the threats from climate change?

“For us to be able to ensure food production amidst the threats of climate change, we have to have a climate-smart agriculture,” Abansi replied.

“Scientists and policy-makers have to work very quickly to chart a course that will ensure food security and create a safe operating space for farmers and food producers,” she added.

According to her, climate-change adaptation is increasingly on the agenda of researchers, policymakers, and program developers who are aware that climate change is real and threatens to undermine social and ecological sustainability.

“It must be an integrated research focused on sustainable agricultural practices appropriate for different regions, farming systems and landscapes,” she said. “Research that would suit localized conditions.”

Dr. Abansi said that “we have to develop tolerant and resistant varieties; submergence-tolerant and drought-tolerant varieties, disease-resistant varieties because climate change brings in a lot of diseases to the crops”.

She said that the International Rice Research Institute or IRRI of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna “has developed a high resistant variety from the lessons of the tsunami in Thailand and Indonesia”.

She added that farmers must adopt modified cropping systems depending on weather variability.

“Food security is not just the concern of particular sectors of our society,” she said. “It is the concern of everybody, including the schools.”

Dr. Abansi is the former Vice Chancellor for Academic and Research of De La Salle in Lipa City. She was a Research Associate at the International Rice Research Institute in the late ‘80s. She earned a Master of Science in Economics in Economics degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, a Master of Arts in Economics degree from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños and a PhD in Environmental Economics, also from the University of the Philippines.*

World-class photographer in town to give lecture

2012-02-26T12:47:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the February 26 to March 4, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

SRI Lankan photographer Tilak Hettige will be conducting a photography workshop at the BenCab Museum along Asin Road in the nearby town of Tuba from March 2 to 4.

Hettige will also hold a portfolio review and discussion session on March 2. A portfolio review is a study of a cohesive body of work on a single theme or an ongoing project. Around 12 to 15 images demonstrate a photographer’s skill, editing eye, and printing prowess.

Slots are available to the first 15 photographers who sign up for the portfolio review and discussion session. Interested photographers may email or call BenCab Museum at (+74) 4427165 or 0920-5301954. The portfolio review and discussion session is free with Museum admission (P100/person).

For those who may be interested in joining Tilak's photography workshop Dawn to Dusk 2012, attached is a poster with details. Workshop fee is pegged at P6,900 per participant.

An e-mail to the Baguio Chronicle’s Associate Editor from the BenCab Museum secretariat said that the workshop “would be an extremely valuable opportunity”.

“All photographers can benefit from sharing their work,” it said. “The review could push a photographer’s career towards the next level by sparking a dialogue about his/her work.”

Tilak Hettige and was attracted to the art of photography from an early age and started to work in the photography industry in 1980 in Sri Lanka. He moved to the United States in 1984 and worked in the industry for many years. He studied at New England School of Photography in Boston.

Tilak first won international recognition when he became the Photographer of the Year in the International Photographic Society, Washington D. C. in 1997

Since then, he has won many subsequent awards and traveled to around 50 countries. Tilak's work has been published in several media and also as creative fine arts both in the Philippines and outside --- several of them are in well-known private collections around the world.

His latest publications include Saffron Robes: A Photographic Essay on Buddhist Monks which includes vibrant images from 14 different countries and Tilaka: The Spiritual Third Eye --- an exotic photographic exploration of the use of tilaka (the forehead symbol) in diverse cultural contexts.

At the moment he is finishing two more photography books on different themes.

As an ex-chemical engineer, Tilak is able to superbly blend the science and art of photography. He is currently a member of the prestigious Camera Club of the Philippines and a faculty member of the Philippine Center for Creative Imaging (PCCI) where he conducts his solo lecture series on Inner Vision.

When Tilak is not traveling on assignment, he resides in Manila and conducts monthly photography workshops.

For more on Tilak Hettige, please visit his website www.tilakhettige.com.*

Doc says more must be done about kid survivors of calamity

2012-02-26T12:23:00.000+08:00

(Originally published in the February 26

to March 3, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle,

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines,

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

“CHILDREN coming out of calamity are withdrawn and hyperactive,” Dr. Sophia Tanicala of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center’s Internal Medicine said.

Speaking during the four-day four-batch 1st Stakeholders Engagement: The Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation for Baguio City at the Pines View Hotel along Legarda Road last week, the St. Luke’s Medical Center-Geriatric Center-trained doctor dwelled on the impacts of climate change, more particularly on health.

The forum, made possible through the initiative of the City Environment and Parks Management Office or CEPMO, was attended by students, teachers, professionals, civic leaders, barangays officials, government employees, and barangay officials and private citizens.

According to Dr. Tanicala, children develop post-traumatic stress disorder after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event such as calamities. This can cause them to relive the traumatic event and have nightmares and flashbacks of the event, more known clinically as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In most cases, PTSD becomes so severe that sufferers retreat remarkably from their everyday activities. They withdraw, isolate themselves and can begin to be depressed. Recurring vivid nightmares of the event may set in for over months or years. In some cases, patients resort to alcohol and substance abuse. Another symptom insomnia.

Dr. Tanicala said that children survivors of calamities have different coping mechanisms on the stressful events in their life.

Coping mechanisms can be described as the sum total of ways in which we deal with minor to major stress and trauma. Some of these processes are unconscious ones, others are learned behavior, and still others are skills we consciously master in order to reduce stress, or other intense emotions like depression. Not all coping mechanisms are equally beneficial, and some can actually be very detrimental.

“It would be nice for all schools to have a point person trained to identify children who have experienced these things,” she said. But “it takes a lot of training to identify and art to get children speak out.”

“We just hope somehow we get funding to get our surveillance more aggressive,” she said.

In the same forum, Dr. Tanicala climate change poses a wide range of risks to population health. Scientists say these risks that will increase in future decades, often to critical levels, if global climate change continues on its current trajectory.

The three main categories of health risks include: direct-acting effects (e.g. weather disasters); impacts mediated via climate-related changes in ecological systems and relationships (e.g. crop yields and marine productivity); the more diffuse (indirect) consequences relating to impoverishment, displacement, resource conflicts (e.g. water), and post-disaster mental health problems.

“The changing climate will inevitably affect the basic requirements for maintaining health and the need for clear air, water, sufficient food and adequate shelter,” Dr.Tanicala said. “How diseases are transmitted would also vary because in the changes in climate.”

Speaking from actual experience, Dr. Tanicala said that “the most common complaint that we get nowadays is on the respiratory system (cough, cold, and sore throat)”.

“It was not like this before,” she said. “People complain like they already have asthma.”

“All these things are caused by precipitates floating in the environment,” she added. “Particulate matters also reduce inflammatory reactions of the body; nowadays, most of the diseases that we see are basically caused by inflammatory reactions (hypertension, diabetes, obscenity, dementia, respiratory diseases).”

According to her, diarrhea, food poisoning, Leptospirosis and Typhoid Fever are the most common cases after a typhoon

A report of the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health points out that disadvantaged communities are likely to shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden of climate change because of their increased exposure and vulnerability to health threats. Over 90 percent of malaria and diarrhea deaths are borne by children aged 5 years or younger, mostly in developing countries.

Climate change can lead to dramatic increases in prevalence of a variety of infectious diseases. Beginning in the mid-'70s, there has been an “emergence, resurgence and redistribution of infectious diseases”.

Reasons for this are likely multi-causal, dependent on a variety of social, environmental and climatic factors, however, many argue that the “volatility of infectious disease may be one of the earliest biological expressions of climate instability”. Though many infectious diseases are affected by changes in climate, vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever and leishmaniasis, present the strongest causal relationship. Malaria in particular, which kills approximately 300,000 children annually, poses the most imminent threat.

“Climate change is a web of disasters or a cascade of events,” Dr. Tanicala said.

“We have to start and we have to start soon; anything that we do, big or small, would impact later,” she ended.*

Climate Change coming along quite fast; Lady Architect says solutions in us

2012-02-18T11:24:00.003+08:00

(Originally published in the February 19 to 25, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

HOME-grown Architect Donna R. Tabangin this week said she believes that fast onset of climate change might be because of the activities of man “and therefore solutions should also come from us”.

“I do not know if it is good or bad that climate change has to come in our generation, but I think it is also because maybe we are the generation that might be able to come up with the solutions to the impacts of climate change,” Tabangin, a holder of a Masters’ Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, said during the four-day four-batch 1st Stakeholders Engagement: The Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation for Baguio City at the Pines View Hotel along Legarda Road.

“Our Earth is sick,” lamented the professor at the Saint Louis University College of Engineering and Architecture and the Officer-in-Charge of the Urban Planning and Research Laboratory, as she compared it to the human body such that a rise in temperature would render man extremely sick.

“The Earth is an organism in itself such that a slight increase in its temperature would mean a big change in the current processes that we have right now,” she said.

According to her, climate change is a natural process of the Earth such as the Ice Age (more precisely the Glacial Age) that peaked approximately 20,000 years ago and “is cyclical”.

But “if climate change is a natural process, then what are worried about?” she asked. “We are worried because it is coming along quite fast.”

Tabangin said that “our planet is fast becoming urbanized” which made a big impact on climate change and therefore anthropogenic (man-made) in nature.

“Our world is fast becoming urbanized and that has an implication as well on climate change,” she said. “The urban centers and cities would be the hardest hit when climate change comes in.”

“This century is called the Century of the City because in a span of 40 years, our global population has changed its characteristic from largely rural to urban,” she declared.

According to her, 62 percent of the world’s population in 1970 is considered rural and the rest are urban. But after 30 years, it became almost 53 percent rural and 47 percent urban; and projected to be 40 percent rural and 60 percent urban in 2030 (or 18 years from now).

“There is what we call the rural-urban transect where urban population (the consumer) is very dependent on rural resources (the producer),” she contended. And “if the demand is higher than supply, when there are more people in the cities --- demanding for more food, more air, more water --- and the natural resources in the rural areas have become lesser, then we are going to have a big problem”.

“At this state, we have a problem and if we add climate change, then there is a bigger problem because it will compound the present problems that we are experiencing right now, especially in our cities,” she concluded.

Why the emphasis on cities?

“That is because a lot of investments have been put into our cities,” she answered. “We have our formal and informal investments; we have airports, the roads, our electrical and water systems, etcetera, are in place in our cities,” she added.

According to her, “climate change has a social side and it talks of equity; and if climate change impacts hit cities, then there is going to be a lot of conflicts within our society”.

And since most people are already migrating to the cities, then cities, she said, have to provide for their homes that is why cities are expanding to what is termed as ‘urban sprawl”.

What are the effects of climate change in our urban centers?

“There will be stronger storms and with storms, there will be flooding,” she replied. “Another impact of climate change in the cities is the shortage of food and water; there is also air pollution and civil conflict.”

And “because most of investments and most of the people are in the cities, and most of the problems are in the cities, then cities themselves are problems and the impact of climate change compounds the problem,” she added.

According to her, in order for one person to have a sustainable daily living, there should be an equivalent of 1.9 hectares of space.

Reduced to local scenario, she said that as of 2010, the population of Baguio is 301,926 and of which would require almost 600,000 (at 1.9 hectares per person to live a sustainable life).

“But Baguio is only 5,700 hectares; therefore, we need 100 Baguios for each and everyone to have this kind of sustainable living,” she said.

On a global scale, given that one-half of the 14 billion people on earth are living in urban centers, how may earth is needed to keep 7 billion people living a sustainable life each in a 1.9-hectare space?

Have we overrun the earth?

“There is just too many people in so small a space,” she replied. “There are just too many people and the services that our city can provide would only be good up to a certain number of people.”

“We have overshot the capability of our city and the services it provides,” she mourned.*

Is Baguio ready for The Big Bang?

2012-02-18T11:22:00.003+08:00

(Originally published in the February 19 to 25, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

GOD forbids, “Baguio is not ready for that,” Baguio City Fire Chief Richard Vallanueva said with a heavy heart last week, referring to the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Negros Island last February 6 that left hundreds dead and several people missing and massive damages to infrastructures.

The earthquake --- with the epicenter estimated to be about 72 kilometers north of Dumaguete City --- also triggered panic for fear of a tsunami.

“As fire chief, in case of fire, we are ready because we have the people and the equipment,” he said. “But in case of conflagration, we are not capable.”

A conflagration or a blaze is an uncontrolled burning that threatens human life, health, or property. During a conflagration a significant movement of air and combustion products occurs. Hot gaseous products of combustion move upward, causing the influx of more dense cold air to the combustion zone. Inside a building, the intensity of gas exchange depends on the size and location of openings in walls and floors, the ceiling height, and the amount and characteristics of the combustible materials.

On July 16, 1990 (a Monday) at exactly 4:26 in the afternoon a 7.7 magnitude earthquake devastated Baguio. It lasted for 45 seconds and is believed to be the most destructive earthquake in the Cordillera Region. Aftershocks aggravated the destruction, the strongest of which occurred at 3:15 in the morning of July 18 that lasted for eight seconds which was measured 5.3 on the Richer Scale. Nearly a thousand died in that earthquake.

Meanwhile, Villanueva said there is a need to put up additional fire sub-stations considering the unabated increase of the city’s population. He is eyeing Dontogan and Pacdal as the possible sites. The Baguio City Fire Department has only one sub-station in Irisan. He said another sub-station is being built in Aurora Hill.

According to him, Baguio needs at least 16 more sub-stations (and of course, additional fire trucks and equipment) which would depend mostly on donated lots.*

Agri lands getting converted fast despite DA having a say on it

2012-02-18T11:16:00.001+08:00

(Originally published in the February 19 to 25, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

“WE have a control in the sense that all conversion are supposed to pass through the Department of Agriculture,” Department of Agriculture’s OIC Regional Executive Director for the Cordillera, Marilyn V. Sta. Catalina, replied when asked whether DA has a say on the conversion of agricultural lands into subdivisions and other non-agricultural purposes.

The question was posed during a press conference last Tuesday at the Dept. of Agriculture regional office in Guisad on what could be the impact on the nation’s food security of the rice farms being converted into subdivisions. Rice farms being gobbled up by subdivision developers at frightening speed are practically all over as can be seen from the national highway when travelling to Metro Manila from Baguio.

“We have a moratorium,” Sta. Catalina said. “It is not allowed if it (the agricultural land) is classified as Strategic Agricultural Zone,” she added, at the same time admitting that DA has no statistics on its impact on the nation’s food security.

She added that the then DA secretary two years ago gave a directive for the conduct of a study to determine its effect on food security but nothing yet has come out of it.

Meanwhile, DA OIC Regional Technical Director for Operations Danilo Daguio said that “despite the conversion of agricultural lands into residential settlements, it is being compensated in terms of increase yield.” He attributed the increase of the farmers’ yield to factors such as construction of irrigation system.

Speaking during the four-day four-batch 1st Stakeholders Engagement: The Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation for Baguio City at the Pines View Hotel along Legarda Road last week, Architect Donna R. Tabangin said that “the man-made part of our cities is fast encroaching into our agricultural spaces”.

Tabangin, a holder of a Masters’ Degree in Urban and Regional Planning, lamented that “there is a lot of conversion happening right now, a lot of agricultural lands are being converted into subdivisions developments and we call that ‘sprawl’.”

“Agricultural production is already hard up meeting the requirements of our urban centers,” said the professor at the Saint Louis University College of Engineering and Architecture. She is also the Officer-in-Charge of the Urban Planning and Research Laboratory of SLU.

“And because of this, we no longer chose the best location where to build our houses,” she said. “We encroach not only into agricultural areas but also into forest lands or dangerous places which should be left alone and when strong typhoons come and a landslide occurs, high casualties happen.”

“We are reaching far and wide and for us to be able to occupy, we do not chose anymore where to settle because there is just too many of us already in a small space,” she added.

A quick look by this writer at the Philippine Development Plan 2011 to 2016, revealed that a 2002 census showed that a total of 4.8 million agricultural farms in the country occupy 9.7 million hectares which account for almost 32 percent of the total land area of the country. The top four crops with the highest hectarage are coconut (3.33 million hectares), rice (2.47 million hectares), corn (1.35 million hectares) and sugarcane (.36 million hectares).

And while the productivity of the agricultural workforce has increased annually at an average of 1.66 percent from P19,894 in 2004 to P21,553 in 2010, land productivity in terms of yields in traditional crops (rice, corn, sugarcane and coconut) has stagnated or declined. The Philippines ranked fourth in rice, coconut, sugarcane and fifth in corn out of the five ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam).

Again, according to the Philippine Development Plan 2011 to 2016, agriculture, together with the natural resource sector, has been adversely affected by shifts towards competing uses. Particularly sensitive for its implication for food security is the conversion of prime agricultural lands to non-agricultural uses (such as residential, commercial and institutional) and the rising demands for industrial crops (such as biofuel). Alternative land use activities have also encroached upon ecologically fragile lands.

“These point to the need for a national land use policy that will rationalize the optimal allocation of land among competing uses,” the Philippine Development Plan 2011 to 2016 pointed out.

In October last year, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Cordillera Regional Technical Director for Forest Management Augusto Lagon said that of the 265,538 hectares total land area of Benguet, of which 80 percent or 211,332 hectares are classified as “forests”, 26 percent (69,500 hectares) have been converted to other land uses. The remainders are alienable and disposable lands.

Lagon made the shocking revelation in clinical details during the launching of the European Union-funded “Saving the Benguet Watersheds Project” at the Benguet Provincial Capitol.

Benguet is the most populous of the six provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region or CAR. The 2007 census showed that Benguet has population of 372,533 (25 percent of the CAR population) in 82,378 households.

According to Lagon, increasing population poses the biggest threat to the forests and the water sheds of Benguet. He also cited continued conversion of forests for settlements and agriculture, increasing water demand, soil erosion, infrastructure projects (road construction), forest fires and Ips infestation of the pine forests, timber poaching, and water pollution (i.e. chemicals from vegetable farming, quarrying, unregulated mining, and improper waste disposal).*

Urban Planner supports idea to ‘pedestrianize’ Session Road

2012-02-18T10:22:00.001+08:00

FORMER City Architect and urban planner Joseph Alabanza this week said he welcomes the idea being pushed to ‘pedestrianize’ the city’s main thoroughfare Session Road.

“Our sidewalks are already too narrow to take care of all the pedestrians,” he said. “The conflict between the pedestrians and the vehicular traffic must now have to be resolved.”

“It is manifested by the fact that when walking along Session Road, especially during peak period, people are already walking on the road,” he mourned. “We all note the difficulty of movements of traffic in the area.”

According to him, the eventual ‘pedestrianization’ of Session Road would finally “minimize --- if not eliminate --- air pollution, noise pollution, smell pollution, visual pollution.”

He said that the aesthetics of things on Session Road such as the giant billboards and advertising signs all over the place, the incoherent heights of the buildings have destroyed the continuity of the design of the whole of Session Road.

“If we are able to ‘pedestranize’ Session Road, what are the implications? Where do we park?,” he asked. “It should go hand in hand with a well-designed parking facility.”

He suggested the SSS-owned lot at the DPS Compound near the Victory Liner Terminal as a possible site for a high-capacity multi-level parking facility. He also suggested as a possible site the abandoned parking lot formerly owned by the controversial Jadewell Parking Co. along Harrison Road. But the latter is under court litigation.

Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan told during a meeting with Alabaza that he (the mayor) is in favor to totally close Session Road to vehicular traffic.

“I am in favor that we close Session Road, why not?,” the mayor said. “But we need to get the consent of the affected business establishments and they must not be allowed to extend their business into the streets.”

On the morning of January 27, a “Recreating People-Friendly Session Road” forum will be held at the University of Cordilleras to promote and popularize the concept of public space and road sharing.

It will be attended by personalities from Manila who earlier showed interest on the current development efforts being carried out along Session Road and who want to share their learning and best practices to similar undertakings. They also want to take the opportunity to learn from local experiences as they also have stakes in the city and in other key areas in the country like Cebu, Subic and Binondo in Manila.

One of the speakers in the said forum is Atty. Antonio Oposa, Jr. of the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

In a related development, the mayor lamented the pedestrians’ utter disregard of the traffic lights along Session Road, crossing even if the red light in on.

“People lack the discipline in crossing the streets,” he said. “They must be arrested; the problem is on the implementation.”*

Architect Alabanza gives piece of mind over SM plans

2012-01-22T10:18:00.001+08:00

(Originally published in the March 25 to 31, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle ---

a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

“ANY urban planner must be able to balance the demands of economic development and the demands of environmental protection,” retired City Architect Joseph Alabanza said this week.

Alabanza’s highly-authoritative opinions came following calls for protests over the intention of mall giant SM Baguio to expand its business empire to its forested backyard along Gov. Pack Road which would entail the cutting of the trees.

Work is expected to start anytime in the coming weeks, the first days of which will see extensive excavation and massive earth movement and is seen to drastically alter forever the landscape as the city is slowly transformed into a virtual concrete jungle.

“Their planners failed to consider what we (architects) term as contextual design,” Alabanza, who earned his Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan, said. “It means relating the design of a building or a structure to the physical environmental, economic, socio-cultural, institutional/political, and technology.”

In an earlier statement, however, SM Prime Holdings said that “as a member of the USGBC, we are committed to the common mission and guiding principles of fostering a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy saving green buildings.”

“The project aims to be the first mall in the country to be certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the internationally-recognized standard for green building design and constructed developed by the USGBC,” the statement also said.

“When you evaluate a project, try to determine its interconnections with all these elements to the project itself,” Alabanza added. “The proposed parking complex by SM would generate more traffic along Gov. Pack Road because its entrance and exits are both along Gov. Pack Road.”

“Practically all vehicles want to proceed to that area converging there all at the same time (generating more traffic not seen before),” he predicted. “Gov. Pack Road is so congested already with all the buses and taxis.”

“They must not just think of the building itself but also of the socio-economic and environmental effects of that building,” he contended. “Do not just evaluate the project per se.”*

Domogan denies for nth time role in deforestation go signal

2012-01-15T11:49:00.001+08:00

(Originally published in the Jan. 15 to 21, 2012 issue of the Baguio Chronicle

--- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---

by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

“IT has undergone the process; the plans have been submitted to the proper agencies, particularly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), as far as the application for tree-cutting and the earth-balling of the trees are concerned; no less than the DENR have been the one which issued the said permits; not me!”

Thus, an obviously agitated Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan told a group of local journalists in an ambush interview last Monday as he returned fire at his critics following a volley of rejections coming practically from all directions, denying any participation in the issuance of tree-cutting permits in favor of mall giant SM wanting to expand its business empire by developing a multi-level parking complex at its backyard along Gov. Pack Road.

The parking complex, the mayor said, would incorporate a centralized bus terminal which would require the killing of more than 40 mature alnustrees while another 139 growing pine trees and saplings will be earth-balled and re-planted at a still identified location at the outskirts of the city or possibly even outside.

Meanwhile, DENR Cordillera Regional Executive Director Clarence Baguilat contended there is no violation committed against Executive Order 23 (issued on February 1, 2011 declared a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in the natural and residual forests and creating the anti-illegal logging task force). According to him, the trees are within a private property and are therefore out reach of the total log ban.

SM Baguio is the former site of the world-famous five-star Pines Hotel until it was destroyed one October night in the early ‘80s in a fire that raged uncontrolled for nearly 24 hours and killed 21 people. Speculations are ripe until this day that Pines Hotel was torched by a disgruntled hotel employee. There was reportedly an ongoing labor dispute at the time of the fire. Another speculation is that the fire was started by a prominent Baguio resident who lost millions in the hotel’s casino that night.

The Pines Hotel ruins then became haunted and reports of ghost sightings and paranormal experiences have been reported until it was acquired by SM in 1992 for P70 million which political fence-sitters and analysts consider as outrageously cheap. It is where SM Baguio is right now. Other political observers say the acquisition is dubious but the allegation remains unproven.

“What is important to me is that we have a centralized bus terminal and the revenue that the city will be able to generate from it,” Domogan exclaimed in front of the media people who refused to be intimidated by his pronouncements.

“The development plan is already finished; there is no more turning back,” Domogan struggled in the Pilipino vernacular as he emphasized that Baguio cannot afford without it.

“If you will look at the plan, they (SM) are obligated to plant trees (sort of ‘replacements’) at a location to be identified somewhere by the DENR,” Domogan added.

He said the multi-level parking structure will be a ‘green building’, citing as an example the SM EDSA North in Quezon City whose roof deck has been filled by soil and on which trees were ‘planted’ to duplicate a greenbelt.

Domogan said that SM readily agreed to return to the drawing boards after he begged that Governor Pack Road centralized bus terminal be made part and parcel of the proposed multi-level parking complex “because the Governor Pack Road is the only available centralized bus terminal”.

“We have been looking for a site where we can transfer the said area (the Gov. Pack Road bus terminal),” he said. “Unfortunately, the Department of Agriculture (The Bureau of Animal Industry) is not willing to let go of its property (a.k.a. the Stock Farm) near Green Valley; another is its being issued by a Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles (CALT).”

“And since SM is developing its own property with a multi-level parking structure, we told them to incorporate the Governor Pack Road bus terminal area in the entire development plan which SM has approved,” he added.

The multi-level parking area is said to be able to accommodate more than a thousand cars which the mayor said is something “we urgently need in the central business district” with the notion that it would eventually solve the city’s nagging traffic problems.

“If the centralized bus terminal is relocated to the outskirts of the city, it will be a very big inconvenience for the people taking a ride going to the terminal,” he said in the local vernacular.*

Doc remembers Baguio’s 1st AIDS case, repeats warnings

2011-12-17T13:18:00.001+08:00

(Originally published in the Dec. 11-17, 2001 issue of the Baguio Chronicle

--- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines

--- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

“AFTER a week, it was confirmed that the case was a positive HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection and I sent the patient to the Tropical Disease Laboratory in Manila where he died and the parents gave me a tongue lashing that up to now I cannot forget.”

Speaking during last week’s Monday morning flag-raising program for city government employees at the Baguio City Hall, Dr. Charles Cheng, the President of the local AIDS Watch Council or AWAC, remembered the very first case of the dreaded Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS “in my little hospital” (the Filipino-Chinese Hospital) in 1992.

Dr. Cheng’s rare public appearance came a week after the observance of the United Nations-backed World AIDS Day with this year’s theme “Getting to Zero: Zero New HIV Infections, Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS-Related Deaths”.

The annual World AIDS Day started in 1988 when the first HIV infection was first detected.

“When I went over all the medical books I have in hand, no disease fits the pattern so that I have go over the medical journals,” the naturally low-profile Dr. Cheng narrated in clinical details and accuracy. “Of all the medicines I administered, he still did not make it; it took me two liters of blood to bring him out of his almost dying condition and I found out that a new and emerging viral disease is coming out in the open and practically no drug can help.”

“The several thousands of AIDS cases in the Philippines is just the tip of the iceberg,” Dr. Cheng said not just as a reminder but more of a warning. “The rest of the cases are hidden which led to the establishment of the Bonjing.”

Bonjing is Baguio City’s first government-run interactive website that addresses the reproductive and health needs of the youth and where queries on premarital sex (PMS), adverse consequences of PMS, sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), contraceptives, and substance abuse that lead to PMS and abortion are attended to.

Bonjing was later named as one of the “Best e-Practices in Internet-based Public Service for Young Adults in the Asian Pacific” at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Taipei in August 2005. In 2008, Bonjing was recognized by the Department of Health (DOH) as one of the best practices in the prevention of AIDS.

Dr. Rowena Galpo, the Officer-In-Charge of the Baguio City Health Office, during the same flag-raising program, also said that while new HIV cases are decreasing globally, “what is alarming is that the Philippines is one of the seven countries to have suffered rising infection rate in 2010 at more than 25 percent” with 1,800 new cases reported since January up to September this year, exceeding the 1,591 cases reported in 2010.

According to her, “six to eight new cases of HIV are being reported per day compared to the one to two new cases reported every two days ten years ago.”

She added since the very first HIV case in Baguio was reported in 1992, “we have been reporting one to two cases per year until 2006 when it jumped to four to five cases per year.” This year, 6 new HIV infections were reported, the same number reported last year. Of the 6 cases, 5 were males who had unprotected sex with other males; one was a female. To date, there are 47 HIV infections in Baguio City. Of the 47, 10 have died. Thirty-two of the 47 of the total cases were males of which 15 had unprotected sex with other males and 14 of the 47 are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Aside from the AWAC, Dr. Galpo added that the Reproductive health and Wellness Center (formerly the Social Hygiene Clinic) “continues to provide services that caters not only to sex workers but also to the general public.”

“Services have also been made accessible to the barangays through the Health Centers,” Dr. Galpo added. “HIV AIDS remains to be public health problem because of several factors such as persistent risky sexual behaviors, the rate of new cases is not decreasing, public stigma still lingers.”

Dr. Galpo confirmed that “external fund source will end in 2012.”

Just the other week, the Network to Stop AIDS in the Philippines or NSAP announced that “a lifeline for thousands of Filipinos who are affected by HIV and AIDS has just been cut” after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria --- the Philippines’ biggest funder of the Philippines’ HIV and AIDS programs --- has decided to cancel its next round of funding.

“Much work remains to be done,” Dr. Galpo said. “Combating HIV AIDS is one of the Millennium Development Goals; as a community, we do not have the luxury of complacency.”

The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization or WHO estimate that 47 percent (6.6 million) of the estimated 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low- and middle-income countries were accessing lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy in 2010, an increase of 1.35 million since 2009.*

Village chief attributes freak weather to climate change; but the oldies are more superstitious

2011-12-04T10:19:00.002+08:00

(Originally published in the Dec. 4-10, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines ---- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

KAYAPA, Bakun, Benguet --- A heavy downpour with gusty winds from around midnight towards a cold dawn followed by a calm and sunny morning and a sweltering afternoon then a starry still evening. At times, a dry spell that goes on for days is suddenly followed by a creeping offensive cold wave. On the day I was there, it was unusually cloudy and yet warm the entire day.

These are just one those ‘freaky’ and strange weather shifts that the old folks of this interior barangay have been trying to figure out.

“It is too untypical, especially at this time of year when normally it is already rice harvest time,” Kayapa’s Punong Barangay Samuel Taligan said in the vernacular soon after he exchanged how-are-you with this writer. But harvest time will only be in January next year.

“I think this is now what everybody is talking about as climate change,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about it; very scary but I tend to agree.”

“Our village elders are still hesitant to accept the climate change phenomenon,” he added. “They are more superstitious about it.”

Just the other day, he added, a group of field technicians from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) conducted an information and education campaign among the students at the nearby Ampusongan National High School Kayapa Annex.

Aside from solid waste management, the information campaign also includes climate change, high school teacher Julius Dolo said.

The high school was established just this year while further up the hill is the Kayapa Elementary School which was established in 1957. Before the establishment of the high school annex, elementary school graduates from the barangay who are persistent enough to pursue high school education will have to take up board-and-lodging in the interior towns of Alilem or Sugpon in Ilocos Sur at the foot of the Bakun mountain ranges.

Meanwhile, Taligan conveyed gladness that the rice stalks have started to flower (dawa in the local vernacular). “We are praying that the rats will not attack us again,” he said, obviously traumatized, referring to the previous two rice planting seasons when, a week before harvest time, thousands of rats swept across the rice fields in frightening voraciousness, consuming a big part of the village’s rice fields practically overnight.

“We were totally helpless and shocked,” he narrated as the rats ravaged the rice fields in blinding speed. He said they tried to push back the pests but the village people (at their domestic cats) are practically outnumbered and outrun. They tried traps and pesticides to no avail. And the rats returned with a vengeance the following season.

Traditionally, liyaw is also performed during the planting season to appease the spirits inhabiting the farm and to prevent the infestation of the crops. A chicken or a pig is sacrificed during a liyaw.

According to him, the village rice farmers previously tried shifting to the ‘bi-it’ (short time) rice variety which can be harvested in just four months compared to the traditional variety which can be harvested in six months. He said the shift is a deliberate move to hopefully break the rats’ momentum. But the latter variety, in the village people’s observation, is more delicious and has a longer shelf life. It is not so prone to spoilage after it is cooked, he added.

“The ‘kilings’ have not arrived yet,” Taligan said. He was referring to the red-breasted birds whose arrival marks the start of the harvest season. The last time they came, he said, was followed by a stormy week.

It took our four-wheel-drive service vehicle a little over an hour to crawl up to this plateau village from Alilem in Ilocos Sur where our team spent the night before. We were considered extremely lucky because it did not rain the day and night before our arrival. The roads would have been extremely slippery and soft. It did not also rain while we were in the village. If not, we have to wait for another day --- a sunny day --- to let the roads dry up a bit.

And despite the road concreting being done by the government practically all over the country, the road to Kayapa still needs a lot of work to improve its high-angle grade to make it less difficult for a pickup’s engine to negotiate.*

When too much is too much: Devoting 50 percent of airtime to one story was excessive

2011-12-04T10:10:00.003+08:00

by BRYANT L. MACALE

*Originally published in the Philippine Journalism Review Reports

(Sept. – Oct. 2011) and as reprinted in the Dec. 4-10, 2011 issue

of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines.

“EXCESSIVE” was the fitting description of the amount of television airtime given Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup’s candidacy in this year’s Miss Universe beauty pageant last September 13. It was one more demonstration of broadcast news media’s predilection for showbiz and fluff and the increasing time given to entertainment and celebrity news.

How they did it

PJR Reports (PJRR) did a timekeeping monitor of major news programs TV Patrol, 24 Oras, and Aksyon last September 13, the local date for the Miss Universe competition (held in São Paulo, Brazil). PJRR recorded the total airtime of the programs (excluding commercials) and monitored how much of it was devoted to Ms. Supsup, who emerged as third runner-up in the contest.

Supsup’s feat was cheering news. But it was not the first time the Philippine candidate has landed among the finalists in international beauty pageants. In fact the country has won the Miss Universe title twice.

Of the three programs, TV5’s Aksyon devoted the least airtime to Ms. Supsup --- four minutes and 29 seconds (or 15.06 percent) out of its total September 13 news airtime of 28 minutes and 49 seconds.

While the anchors led the newscast with the announcement of Ms. Supsup’s finish, its three reports about Ms. Supsup were aired at the end of the newscast. These included an account from the network’s reporter in São Paulo who was covering the event.

Aksyon committed a major lapse, however, when it reported without attribution a supposed quote from a famous personality that turned out to be false. Aksyon said that American celebrity and media mogul Oprah Winfrey had said in an interview that the Philippine candidate deserved to win the crown based on her performance in the question-and-answer portion of the competition. Ms. Supsup answered the question from one of the judges in English during that portion, and was the only one among the five finalists who didn’t require an interpreter.

Aksyon did not cite its source for the alleged Winfrey quote.

It turned out that the alleged quote, which was repeated in Twitter, Facebook and other sites in the afternoon of September 13, was false. As early as that afternoon, it was already doubtful that Winfrey ever said anything about the chances of Ms. Supsup since no journalist or social media user had found any video or printed statement to confirm it.

Since the source of the Winfrey quote was already problematic hours before its airing that night, Aksyon should have at least warned its viewers that it was unconfirmed, or, what would have been even better, should not have reported it at all.

Yahoo! News Philippines quoted a moderator on Oprah’s official website as saying that Winfrey did not issue “any comments of this nature.” (“Oh no, Oprah didn’t say that”)

Meanwhile, 24 Oras devoted 20 minutes and 44 seconds of its total airtime (66 minutes and 46 seconds) to reports on Ms. Supsup (30.76 percent). Its first seven stories that night were on her background, her Miss Universe finish, and the public’s reaction.

These reports were followed by a live interview by news anchors Mel Tiangco and Mike Enriquez with Timoteo Supsup, the beauty queen’s father, which took more than five minutes. Tiangco’s and Enriquez’s questions were mostly on the trivial, such as who gave Ms. Supsup her name, if she has a boyfriend, and the family’s plans to celebrate her fourth-place victory.

TV Patrol topped the other networks by providing more than half of its news airtime that night (34 minutes and 18 seconds out of 65 minutes and nine seconds or 51.87 percent) to Ms. Supsup. Worse, these reports --- including an interview that was divided into two parts --- were dispersed throughout the entire newscast hour. Sprinkling entertainment reports throughout a news program has become a key element in “dumbing down” the TV network audience, and contrasts with past TV Patrol and other news program templates in which there was only one segment for entertainment news which was usually relegated near the end of the newscast.

Clearly, this is done to hold the attention of the mass audience. But it also waters down the salience of more relevant and important news.

Earlier that day, ABS-CBN had already broadcast the Miss Universe special. But ABS-CBN’s flagship news program milked the news dry that night. TV Patrol started its reports about Ms. Supsup with a news teaser titled “Tagumpay ng Pinoy(Victory of Filipinos)”. The first 19 minutes of its newscast were all about her.

TV Patrol finally moved on with other stories buried that day in the newscast --- such as a story on former Sharia court judge Nagamura Moner’s admission that he was involved in the 2004 election fraud, and the resumption of the anti-smoking ban of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority --- but not without first asking its viewers: “Dapat bang sinagot na lamang ni Shamcey Supsup sa wikang Pilipino ang tanong sa kanya (Should Shamcey Supsup have answered in Filipino the question she was asked )?”

TV Patrol’s interview was divided into two parts which, again, were distributed throughout its one-hour coverage. The first took more than four minutes while the second was almost three minutes long.

TV Patrol’s newscast ended with anchors Noli de Castro, Korina Sanchez, and Ted Failon discussing the results of viewers’ poll. The program devoted 11 reports/segments on Shamcey Supsup (including the announcement of the poll and the discussion of the poll results) out of 24 reports/segments.

The lopsided coverage of Ms. Supsup’s Miss Universe candidacy relegated other stories of national significance to the sidelines. These included two events that also happened that day: Monero’s Senate testimony, and the two bombings in Cotabato during the visit there of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Jesse Robredo.

Newspaper coverage

PJRR also monitored how the Manila-based broadsheets covered Ms. Supsup’s Miss Universe candidacy from September 14(the day after the airing of the final pageant judging) up to September 18. PJRR also looked at the coverage of some community newspapers.

The monitor showed that the Manila-based broadsheets were more restrained than their broadcast counterparts.

For example, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s main photo on its September 14 front page was of the top five winners in the beauty pageant, accompanied by two articles and one essay. Its headline that day was on Judge Moner and his Senate testimony. (“Judge ties FG to cheating: Incredible, Mike A says of Moner’s testimony”). The Inquirer on September 15 had a photo of Ms. Supsup in her bikini as its main front page photo, although its lead story was on an assessment, posted in Wikileaks, by the US embassy in Manila that the Philippines cannot defeat local communist rebels.

Other broadsheets like the Manila Bulletin, The Manila Times, and The Philippine Star on September 14 had photos of Miss Angola (the winner) and Ms. Supsup on their front-pages accompanied by news articles. Malaya Business Insight had a photo and story related to the contest on September 14 in its non-business news section.

Debunking online rumors on the alleged Winfrey quote, the Bulletin reported September 15 that Winfrey’s website had denied making the statement. (“Oprah website denies she backed Shamcey”) But there were some papers, like the Baguio Midland Courier, that still erroneously reported the said quote. (“Dalagang Bukid,” September 18)

Other broadsheets such as the Business Mirror, Business World, and The Daily Tribune did not have either a front-page photo or story about the pageant last September 14.*

The long and lonely war against AIDS

2011-12-04T09:59:00.003+08:00

*This week’s editorial of the Baguio Chronicle (Dec. 4 to 10, 2011 issue).

THE long and lonely war against Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS pandemic once more takes center stage this week as we observe World AIDS Day.

No less than the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said on the eve of the observance that 2011 “was a game-changing year for the AIDS response with unprecedented progress in science, political leadership and results.”

It added that new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have fallen to the lowest levels since the peak of the epidemic while new HIV infections were reduced by 21 percent since 1997 and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses decreased by 21 percent since 2005.

UNAIDS and WHO estimates that 47 percent (6.6 million) of the estimated 14.2 million people eligible for treatment in low- and middle-income countries were accessing lifesaving antiretroviral therapy in 2010, an increase of 1.35 million since 2009. The 2011 UNAIDS World AIDS Day report also highlights that there are early signs that HIV treatment is having a significant impact on reducing the number of new HIV infections.

According to UNAIDS, new HIV infections have been significantly reduced or have stabilized in most parts of the world.

And while world experts on AIDS open their champagne bottles in jubilation that, on a worldwide scale, the numbers are declining, it is not as rosy in the Philippine setting.

Almost simultaneously, the Network to Stop AIDS in the Philippines or NSAP admitted with a heavy heart that “a lifeline for thousands of Filipinos who are affected by HIV and AIDS has just been cut” when, last week, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria --- the Philippines’ biggest funder of the Philippines’ HIV and AIDS programs --- announced that it decided to cancel its next round of funding.

In the very words of NSAP, “this is an alarming development for the Philippines, one of the only seven countries worldwide that is experiencing an accelerating HIV epidemic.” The latest HIV and AIDS Registry (September 2011) recorded 8 new HIV infections a day, a steep increase from the one case a day that was reported four years ago.

The Baguio Chronicle simply cannot close its eyes on the immediate implications of the unprecedented cancellation considering that half of the existing HIV prevention services and 60 percent of life-saving treatment, care and support programs for Filipinos with HIV and AIDS would have no funding anymore in the coming years. “Just when thousands of Filipinos are at greater risk of HIV infection, the Philippines is expected to cut down its HIV and AIDS intervention,” NSAP lamented.

Meanwhile, with the Global Fund cancellation, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, who chairs the Philippine National AIDS Council, downplayed HIV epidemic that has been noted by no less than his own department’s epidemiological unit, and claimed, that the Philippines is on the right track in its HIV program, in total contrast with what the numbers are saying.

With the Global Fund cut and the apparent denialism of Sec. Ona, the country is courting an HIV crisis, NSAP fears.

“While the rest of the stakeholders are already mobilizing to address the epidemic, the political leadership of the country is dragging its feet and pretending that there’s no problem,” the NSAP mourns. “There is a momentum for community mobilization that could be harnessed by the government, but these initiatives could only do so much without the commitment of the political leadership to fulfill --- and fulfill with religious fervor --- its mandate to protect and promote the welfare of its people.”

The Baguio Chronicle agrees that if the government wants to avert a full-blown HIV epidemic, then it must address the crisis of political will that Sec. Ona represents.

The Baguio Chronicle joins the call on President Noynoy Aquino “to keep in line his alter ego and to remind him of the promise of the Aquino administration to the Filipino people --- that we, the citizens, are the government’s boss, and that under this administration, no one would be left behind.”

The Baguio Chronicle joins the call for President Aquino to immediately set up a Presidential Task Force on HIV and AIDS that would address the gaps in the response, initiate reforms in the Philippine National AIDS Council, and mobilize local governments to perform their mandate in delivering crucial HIV and AIDS services.

The Baguio Chronicle joins the call for the President to set up an emergency fund to immediately scale up prevention, treatment, care and support services and forestall an HIV crisis.*

Save Our Women launches White Ribbon campaign

2011-11-26T07:10:00.002+08:00

(Originally published in the November 27 to December 3, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

IN observance of the International 16-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women and its own adopted White Ribbon campaign, Baguio-based Save Our Women is launching its 5th Annual White Ribbon and Signature Campaign in Baguio with the theme “Speak Up, Be Counted”.

For 12 days from November 25 to December 6, the public is invited to visit the Save Our Women’s awareness booth at the 2nd Floor Breezeway of SM City Baguio (between Café City and Old Spaghetti House).

Female and male members and volunteers will be giving out white ribbons for free and asking men, women and the youth to sign a pledge to “never commit, condone or remain silent about domestic and intimate-relationship violence”.

During its campaigns in the past four years, Save Our Women garnered 12,358 signatures from men and women who believe in the cause, submitted to and recognized by both the White Ribbon Campaign of Canada and UN WOMEN. Its target this year is 7,500 signatures and hopes that “males would make up the majority of signatories this year, if only to prove that the men of Baguio (and its suburbs) do firmly believe that women should not be hurt in a loving relationship.”

Another awareness project is the kaARTEhan Poster-Making Competition held on November 25 where young artists aged 16 to 21 years old made known their personal interpretations of the theme “What A Real Man Should Be”.

The 1st Women’s Summit against domestic and intimate relationship violence or DIV will also be held on December 8 --- a forum exclusively for women who wish to discuss how women enable DIV and what women can do to end DIV. All women are cordially invited to attend and asked to pre-register for this event through the organization’s Facebook site “Save Our Women”. Schools, civic organizations and government agencies are all invited to send their female delegation.

Domestic and intimate-relationship violence (DIV) comes in many forms and it is not just physical but also sexual, psychological/emotional and even economic or financial.

“If you firmly believe that women and girls should never be hurt in any way by their intimate partners for whatever reason and if you believe that women and girls are human beings with human rights who deserve to be respected as much as men are and if you acknowledge that DIV is a crime punishable by law, speak up and be counted,” Save Our Women said. “Wear a white ribbon from November 25 to December 10 to make known your stand known and drop by Save Our Women’s booth to sign the pledge; and if you are willing and able, please make monetary donations to help the organization continue its worthwhile advocacy for the benefit of female victims of DIV.”

Save Our Women is a non-stock, non-profit, non-government organization accredited by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Baguio. It advocates the rights of women in a relationship. It also advocates awareness about the grim realities of and the prevalence of domestic and intimate-relationship violence (DIV). It is also a support group for female victim-survivors of DIV. It is one of the active members of the Baguio City Council on Anti-Trafficking and Violence Against Women and their Children(BCCAT-VAWC) formed primarily to safeguard the interests of female victims of violence against women in Baguio City.

Other dates which are of great significance to Save Our Women are November 29 (International Women Human Rights Defenders Day), December 1 (World AIDS Day), December 6 (Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre), and December 10 (International Human Rights Day).

The gruesome Montreal Massacre (a.k.a. the École Polytechnique Massacre) happened in the cold afternoon of December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique, an engineering school in the heart of Montreal, Quebec , Canada.

Armed with a legally-obtained M-14 assault rifle and a jungle knife, 25-year-old Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi (who had changed his name to Marc Lépine) shot twenty-eight people before killing himself. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students.

After claiming that he was "fighting feminism”, he shot all 9 women in the room, killing 6. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot.

Overall, he killed 14 women and injured 10 other women and 4 four men in just less than 20 minutes before turning the gun on himself.

Lépine was the child of a French-Canadian mother and an Algerian father, and had been physically abused by his father. His suicide note claimed political motives and blamed feminists for ruining his life. The note included a list of 19 Quebec women whom Lépine considered to be feminists and apparently wished to kill.

Since the attack, Canadians have debated various interpretations of the events, their significance, and Lépine's motives. Many feminist groups and public officials have characterized the massacre as an anti-feminist attack that is representative of wider societal violence against women. Consequently, the anniversary of the massacre has since been commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

Other interpretations emphasize Lépine's abuse as a child and his Algerian father's hatred of women's rights as elements that helped bring Lépine to the massacre.

Others suggest that the massacre was simply the isolated act of a madman, unrelated to larger social issues. Still other commentators have blamed violence in the media and increasing poverty, isolation, and alienation in society, particularly in immigrant communities.

The incident led to more stringent gun control laws in Canada. It also introduced changes in the tactical response of police to shootings, which were later credited with minimizing casualties at the Dawson College shootings (which also happened in downtown Montreal on September 13, 2006 and killed one and seriously injured 19; the shooter later committed suicide by shooting himself after being shot in the arm by police; it was the third fatal school shooting in Montreal after the Polytechnique Massacre in 1989 and the Valery Fabrikant school shooting spree at Concordia University in 1992 which killed 4 and injured one).*

Humanity marks World AIDS Day

2011-11-26T07:06:00.001+08:00

(Originally published in the November 27 to December 3, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

AS we observe World AIDS Day this week (December 1) in the hope of raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said that 2011 “was a game-changing year for the AIDS response with unprecedented progress in science, political leadership and results.”

According to UNAIDS, new HIV infections have been significantly reduced or have stabilized in most parts of the world.

“Even in a very difficult financial crisis, countries are delivering results in the AIDS response,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “We have seen a massive scale up in access to HIV treatment which has had a dramatic effect on the lives of people everywhere.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of new HIV infections has dropped by more than 26 percent from the height of the epidemic in 1997, leading by a one third drop in South Africa --- the country with the largest number of new HIV infections in the world.

In the Caribbean, new HIV infections were reduced by a third from 2001 levels and by more than 25 percent in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Similarly, the number of new HIV infections in South and South-East Asia dropped by more than 40 percent between 2006 and 2010. In India, new HIV infections fell by 56 percent.

However, the number of new HIV infections continues to rise in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Oceania and Middle East and North Africa, while it has remained stable in other regions of the world, UNAIDS said.

UNAIDS believes that declines in new HIV infections are also being spurred by changes in sexual behavior, particularly in young people, as people reduce their numbers of sexual partners, increase condom use and are waiting longer before becoming sexually active. HIV prevalence has declined among young people in at least 21 of 24 countries with national HIV prevalence of 1 percent or higher. Five additional countries, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo have seen HIV prevalence decline by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2010 among young people.

The rate of new HIV infections in urban Zimbabwe fell from almost 6 percent in 1991 to less than 1 percent in 2010. Without changes in behavior, studies estimate that there would have been an additional 35 000 new infections annually.

The report highlights that an increase in uptake of male circumcision is also starting to contribute to declines in new HIV infections. Studies show that 2000 new HIV infections were averted among men in Kenya’s Nyanza province after scale up of voluntary male circumcision. Estimates in the report highlight that circumcising 20 million more men across Eastern andSouthern Africa would avert around 3.4 million new HIV infections by 2015.

In Botswana, patterns in sexual behavior have remained relatively stable since 2000. The country scaled up access to treatment from less than 5 percent in 2000 to over 80 percent which it has maintained since 2009. The annual number of new HIV infections has declined by over two thirds since the late nineties and data suggests that the number of new HIV infections in Botswana is 30 percent to 50 percent lower today than it would have been in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. As treatment reduces the viral load of a person living with HIV to virtually undetectable levels, it also reduces the risk of transmitting the virus to an uninfected partner. Recent studies show that treatment can be up to 96 percent effective in preventing HIV transmission among couples.

People with HIV have also been observed to be living longer and AIDS-related deaths are declining due to the lifesaving effects of antiretroviral therapy. Globally, there were an estimated 34 million people living with HIV in 2010 and since 2005, AIDS-related deaths decreased from 2.2 million to 1.8 million in 2010. Around 2.5 million deaths are estimated to have been averted in low- and middle-income countries due to increased access to HIV treatment since 1995.

UNAIDS has also mapped a new framework for AIDS investments which are focused on high-impact, evidence-based, high-value strategies.

“The investment framework is community-driven, not commodity-driven,” said Mr Sidibé. “It puts people at the centre of the approach, not the virus.”

This new strategic approach to investments, according to him, is expected to achieve extraordinary results: at least 12.2 million new HIV infections would be averted, including 1.9 million among children between 2011 and 2020; and 7.4 million AIDS-related deaths would be averted between 2011 and 2020.

The framework is based on 6 essential program activities, namely: focused interventions for key populations at higher risk (particularly sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men, and people who inject drugs); prevention of new HIV infections in children; behavior change programs; condom promotion and distribution; treatment, care and support for people living with HIV; and voluntary medical male circumcision in countries with high HIV prevalence.

For the framework to be effective, program activities must recognize critical enablers, such as reducing stigma, respect for human rights, creating a protective legal environment and capacity building for community based organizations, which are crucial to overcoming the barriers to successful program outcomes.

Using the framework to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015 requires a scaling up of funding to US$22-24 billion in 2015, in line with the targets in the 2011 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. If full implementation of the new framework is achieved in the next four years, global resource needs would peak in 2015 and decline gradually thereafter; making the AIDS response an excellent investment opportunity where returns will offset the upfront cost in less than one generation.

At the end of 2010 around US$ 15 billion was available for the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries. Donor funding has been reduced by 10 percent from US$ 7.6 billion in 2009 to US$ 6.9 billion in 2010. In a difficult economic climate, the future of AIDS resourcing depends on smart investments.

And to rapidly reduce new HIV infections and to save lives, the 2011 UNAIDS World AIDS Day report underscores that shared responsibility is needed.

Meanwhile in Baguio, the City Health Services Office's Reproductive Health and Wellness Center (RHWC) confirmed 6 HIV-AIDS positive cases from January to November 2009, bringing to 41 the total recorded cases (including 17 patients who have died).

The six new cases is the biggest number recorded in a year since the RHWC started monitoring HIV-AIDS cases in 1992, RHWC head Dr. Celiaflor Brillantes said.

Of the 41 cases reported in Baguio, 10 were recorded from 1992 to 2002 while 31 cases were recorded between 2003 and 2010, Brillantes added, noting that of the 6 new cases, 5 are male and 35 of the total 41 cases are likewise male.

The first cases of human immunodeficiency virus-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or HIV-AIDS were reported 30 years ago and since then until 2007 have killed nearly 30 million people and an estimated 34 million others worldwide live with HIV, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. And despite recent and improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children.

In the United States alone, approximately 575,000 persons diagnosed with AIDS have died since the first cases were reported and approximately 50,000 persons become infected with HIV each year. An estimated 1.2 million persons in the United States are living with HIV infection.

At the end of 2010 alone, there were no less that 2.9 million new HIV infections recorded and 1.9 million died of AIDS-related illnesses.

Treatment is believed to have averted 2.5 million deaths since 1995.*

ECOTOURISM? Or GEOTOURISM?

2011-11-26T07:01:00.001+08:00

(Originally published in the November 27 to December 3, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

WHILE its cousin word ‘ecotourism’ has been a byword among us for some time now, ‘geotourism’ is still considered as relatively a new word in the Filipino’s vocabulary.

The concept was first introduced in a 2002 report by the Travel Industry Association of America (which in 2009 became the U.S. Travel Association) and the National Geographic Traveler magazine.

National Geographic senior editor Jonathan B. Tourtellot and his wife, Sally Bensusen, coined the term in 1997 in response to requests for a term and concept more encompassing that ecotourism and sustainable tourism.

“What is the difference between geotourism and ecotourism, or sustainable tourism? That’s easy: Ecotourism focuses only on nature; it’s a niche market,” according to Tourtellot. “Geotourism is about everything that goes into making a place distinctive, unique.”

The National Geographic Society defines geotourism as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place –--- its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.

Like ecotourism, geotourism promotes a virtuous circle whereby tourism revenues provide a local incentive to protect what tourists are coming to see, but extends the principle beyond nature and ecology to incorporate all characteristics that contribute to sense of place, such as historic structures, living and traditional culture, landscapes, cuisine, arts and artisanry, as well as local flora and fauna.

According to the National Geographic’s National Center for Sustainable Destinations, geotourism incorporates sustainability principles, but in addition to the do-no-harm ethic, geotourism focuses on the place as a whole. The idea of enhancement allows for development based on character of place, rather than standardized international branding, and generic architecture, food, and so on.

And what is sustainable tourism?

Sustainable tourism, like a doctor's code of ethics, means "First, do no harm." --- the foundation for destination stewardship. Sustainable tourism protects its product --- the destination.

It avoids the "loved to death" syndrome by anticipating development pressures and applying limits and management techniques that preserve natural habitats, heritage sites, scenic appeal, and local culture.

It conserves resources. Environmentally aware travelers patronize businesses that reduce pollution, waste, energy consumption, water usage, landscaping chemicals, and excessive nighttime lighting.

It respects local culture and tradition. Foreign visitors learn local etiquette, including at least a few courtesy words in the local language. Residents learn how to deal with foreign expectations that may differ from their own.

It aims for quality, not quantity. Destinations measure tourism success not just by numbers of visitors, but by length of stay, how they spend their money, and the quality of their experience.

And how about geotourism? Geotourism adds to sustainability principles by building on a destination's geographical character, its "sense of place," to emphasize the distinctiveness of its locale and benefit visitor and resident alike.

Geotourism is synergistic: All the elements of geographical character work together to create a tourist experience that is richer than the sum of its parts, appealing to visitors with diverse interests.

It involves the community. Local businesses and civic groups join to provide a distinctive, authentic visitor experience.

It informs both visitors and hosts. Residents discover their own heritage by learning that things they take for granted may be interesting to outsiders. As local people develop pride and skill in showing off their locale, tourists get more out of their visit.

It benefits residents economically. Travel businesses hire local workers, and use local services, products, and supplies. When community members understand the benefits of geotourism, they take responsibility for destination stewardship.

It supports integrity of place. Destination-savvy travelers seek out businesses that emphasize the character of the locale. In return, local stakeholders who receive economic benefits appreciate and protect the value of those assets.

It means great trips. Enthusiastic visitors --- more so among family groups --- bring home new knowledge. Their stories encourage friends and relatives to experience the same thing, which brings continuing business for the destination.

The National Geographic Society has also drawn up a "Geotourism Charter" based on 13 principles, namely:

1. INTEGRITY OF PLACE: Enhance geographical character by developing and improving it in ways distinctive to the local, reflective of its natural and cultural heritage, so as to encourage market differentiation and cultural pride.

2. INTERNATIONAL CODES: Adhere to the principles embodied in the World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the Principles of the Cultural Tourism Charter established by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

3. MARKET SELECTIVITY: Encourage growth in tourism market segments most likely to appreciate, respect, and disseminate information about the distinctive assets of the locale.

4. MARKET DIVERSITY: Encourage a full range of appropriate food and lodging facilities, so as to appeal to the entire demographic spectrum of the geotourism market and so maximize economic resiliency over both the short and long term.

5. TOURISM SATISFACTION: Ensure that satisfied, excited geotourists bring new vacation stories home and encourage friends to experience the same thing, thus providing continuing demand for the destination.

6. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Base tourism on community resources to the extent possible, encouraging local small businesses and civic groups to build partnerships to promote and provide a distinctive, honest visitor experience and market their locales effectively. Help businesses develop approaches to tourism that build on the area’s nature, history and culture, including food and drink, artisanry, performance arts, etc.

7. COMMUNITY BENEFIT: Encourage micro- to medium-size enterprises and tourism business strategies that emphasize economic and social benefits to involved communities, especially poverty alleviation, with clear communication of the destination stewardship policies required to maintain those benefits.

8. PROTECTION AND ENHANCEMENT OF DESTINATION APPEAL: Encourage businesses to sustain natural habitats, heritage sites, aesthetic appeal, and local culture. Prevent degradation by keeping volumes of tourists within maximum acceptable limits. Seek business models that can operate profitably within those limits. Use persuasion, incentives, and legal enforcement as needed.

9. LAND USE: Anticipate development pressures and apply techniques to prevent undesired overdevelopment and degradation. Contain resort and vacation-home sprawl, especially on coasts and islands, so as to retain a diversity of natural and scenic environments and ensure continued resident access to waterfronts. Encourage major self-contained tourism attractions, such as large-scale theme parks and convention centers unrelated to character of place, to be sited in needier locations with no significant ecological, scenic, or cultural assets.

10. CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES: Encourage businesses to minimize water pollution, solid waste, energy consumption, water usage, landscaping chemicals, and overly bright nighttime lighting. Advertise these measures in a way that attracts the large, environmentally sympathetic tourist market.

11. PLANNING: Recognize and respect immediate economic needs without sacrificing long-term character and the geotourism potential of the destination. Where tourism attracts in-migration of workers, develop new communities that themselves constitute a destination enhancement. Strive to diversify the economy and limit population influx to sustainable levels. Adopt public strategies for mitigating practices that are incompatible with geotourism and damaging to the image of the destination.

12. INTERACTIVE INTERPRETATION: Engage both visitors and hosts in learning about the place. Encourage residents to promote the natural and cultural heritage of their communities so tourists gain a richer experience and residents develop pride in their locales.

13. EVALUATION: Establish an evaluation process to be conducted on a regular basis by an independent panel representing all stakeholder interests, and publicize evaluation results.

Cement maker says collateral damages are unavoidable

2011-11-26T06:46:00.002+08:00

(Originally published in the November 27 to December 3, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

BAGUIO CITY --- “That’s the price of progress.”

These are the parting words of Ernesto dela Cruz, the Technical Manager of the Alternative Fuels and Raw Materials Department of Holcim Philippines, referring to the collateral damages incurred during the mining process necessary in the manufacture of cement.

Speaking to about 30 Baguio-based journalists during a media workshop on Climate Change Adaptation as part of the Climate Change Consciousness Week observance at the Philippine Information Agency Training Center, the stoic dela Cruz said massive quarrying is a vital component of cement manufacture and “we cannot avoid it”.

With the use of PowerPoint technology, dela Cruz gave a slide presentation of the step-by-step process of cement production starting from the quarrying stage which he admitted to necessarily entail “high destruction level”.

“Reforestation is all we can do after mining,” he said as he systematically went through a slide show showing an artist’s concept of how a denuded mountain is brought back to life.

“Our progressive rehabilitation efforts are not just limited to areas that are actively being quarried, but including degraded areas within our Mineral Production Sharing Agreements or MPSAs,” dela Cruz said.

A MPSA is an agreement between a ‘contractor’ and the government wherein the government grants to the contractor the exclusive right to conduct mining operations within, but not title over, the contract area. Mining operations that are allowed under Mineral Agreements include development/construction and utilization of mineral resources including the continuance of exploration works during the conduct of development, construction, utilization activities.

It has a term not exceeding 25 years and is renewable for another term not exceeding 25 years under the same terms and conditions, without prejudice to changes mutually agreed upon by the government and the contractor. After the 50-year term of the MPSA, the operation of the mine may be undertaken by the government or through a contractor. The contract for the operation of a mine will be awarded to the highest bidder in a public bidding after due publication of the notice thereof. However, the original contractor shall have the right to equal the highest bid upon reimbursement of all reasonable expenses of the highest bidder.

In the case of Lugait (Mizamis Oriental), out of the 63 hectares actively quarried, 12 hectares have been progressively rehabilitated and an additional 92.8 hectares of idle lots despite of its non-utilization.

Dela Cruz said that Holcim is on a continuing search for ‘alternative fuels’ such as residue plastics from municipal wastes and oil sludge or industry wastes “to try to reduce our carbon emission”.

He said Holcim attempted in 2009 to partner with the government of Baguio “for us to use the city’s segregated plastics; but Baguio encountered problems in the area of segregation” which led to the eventual demise of the attempt.

According to him, “how to minimize carbon emission for a company that consumes a lot of energy and a lot of raw materials” is a big challenge.

“It seems impossible,” he admitted in the Filipino vernacular. “But we try our best to do it.”

“We are committed to further reduce our carbon dioxide intensity but we believe innovations will be needed to reduce it,” he said. “Sustainability is embedded in our business strategy as in our company’s vision to provide foundations for society's future.”

Dela Cruz said that Swiss-owned Holcim Philippines supplies about one-third of the Philippine market with its Norzagaray, Bulacan plant producing no less than 5,500 tons of cement a day. It is the largest of the four Holcim plants in the country located in Bacnotan (La Union), Davao City and Mizamiz Oriental (the most-advanced of the four, according to him).

The four plants, he said account for a total installed clinker production capacity per year of 6.5 million metric tons and annual cement production capacity of 7.7 million metric tons.

“We anticipate that demand for cement in the Philippines will increase,” dela Cruz revealed. “We have backlogs in terms of housing and infrastructures.”

“Holcim’s commitment to sustainable development is compelled by the knowledge that next to water, concrete is the most-consumed substance on earth,” he added.

Cement manufacture is known to cause environmental impacts at all stages of the process. These include emissions of airborne pollution in the form of dust, gases, noise and vibration when operating machinery and during blasting in quarries, and damage to countryside from quarrying. Equipment to reduce dust emissions during quarrying and manufacture of cement is widely used, and equipment to trap and separate exhaust gases are coming into increased use. Environmental protection also includes the re-integration of quarries into the countryside after they have been closed down by returning them to nature or re-cultivating them.

Cement manufacturing releases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere both directly when calcium carbonate is heated, producing lime and carbon dioxide, and also indirectly through the use of energy if its production involves the emission of carbon dioxide. The cement industry is the second largest carbon dioxide-emitting industry (behind power generation). It produces about 5 percent of global man-made carbon dioxide emissions, of which 50 percent is from the chemical process and 40 percent from burning fuel. The amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the cement industry is nearly 900 kg for every 1,000 kg of cement produced.

The high proportion of carbon dioxide produced in the chemical reaction leads to large decrease in mass in the conversion from limestone to cement. So, to reduce the transport of heavier raw materials and to minimize the associated costs, it is more economical for cement plants to be closer to the limestone quarries rather than to the consumer centers.

In certain applications, lime mortar reabsorbs the same amount of carbon dioxide as was released in its manufacture, and has a lower energy requirement in production than mainstream cement. Newly-developed cement types from Novacem and Eco-cement can absorb carbon dioxide from ambient air during hardening. Use of the Kalina cycle during production can also increase energy efficiency.

In some circumstances, depending on the origin and the composition of the raw materials used, the high-temperature calcinations process of limestone and clay minerals can release in the atmosphere gases and dust rich in volatile heavy metals such as thallium, cadmium and mercury which are the most toxic.

According the cement.org, the cement industry, as of 2007, produced 5 percent of the total greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide. The cement industry, particularly cement kilns, also emit hazardous air pollutants. The burning of hazardous waste in kilns is a major problem for air quality.

And to significantly cut down these alarmingly huge emission volumes is a task that is nothing short of herculean, cement companies executives say. As long as the demand for cement and other concrete products increases, greenhouse emissions continually increase as well.

Topping all these off is the fact that the cement industry now pollutes the air with 22,918 pounds of airborne mercury each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA monitors and regulates the industry's emission of various air pollutants.

Eighteen of the world's cement companies held a summit last year in Brussels to discuss the necessary steps to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions. Several proposals were discussed, such as burning waste products together with coal and improving their factories in terms of energy efficiency.

The construction industry, on the other hand, contributes 40 percent of the total greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, it is not only the construction industry per se that emits such huge amounts. Instead, the finished products of construction companies, such as houses, buildings, and railways, are the ones that emit significant amounts of waste gases. This is because energy used for several building operations such as ventilation, lighting, and cooling produces greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide.

Though 40 percent greenhouse emission is to say the least a significant amount, advances in building technology and energy efficiency have already been made. Many construction firms are now adapting environment-friendly construction techniques and energy-saving designs for commercial and residential buildings to lessen the amount of greenhouse gases that they generate.*

Abad laments state of Phil. Education: Tertiary education must be reformed

2011-11-20T16:13:00.002+08:00

(Originally published in the November 20 to 26, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle --- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines --- by Sly L. Quintos, Associate Editor.)

THE Philippine education is in deep crisis.

This is the sad revelation made by Department of Budget and management Secretary Florencio Abad during a dialogue with the presidents and administrators of state universities and colleges (SUCs) in Region 1 and in the Cordillera last October 12 at the Benguet State University.

“I say it is in crisis because a good number of our children are not in school,” Abad said. “I am not just talking about SUCs (state universities and colleges) but especially basic education.”

According to Abad, “problems of poverty, nutrition, and the more basic considerations are getting in the way of our children exercise their basic rights to basic education.”

He added that finding a job among Filipinos is primordial. “You don’t have to finish college to be able to turn a livelihood if you have a very good secondary program that ultimately provides you with vocational or technical skills.”

“When I was appointed as the Secretary of Education in 2005, I already made this statement,” said. “And I am still making this statement now which is a testament to the fact that I do not think that this problem has been decisively dealt.” He added that “this administration (under Pres. Aquino) is committed to doing that.”

He was quick to say that the reason is not mainly academic. “It has nothing to do with education,” he said.

“Even those who are lucky enough to get into the school system eventually end up in a very poor achievement levels if at all they are able to complete elementary and secondary education,” he said. “The very few who eventually manage to get to college, about 15 percent are able to end up with a college degree; less than 5 percent with a hard sciences degree.”

Abad added that the problem is not about having opportunities for gainful employment “but really our system is not able to respond to the demand (for employment).”

“That is what we mean when we say that we are in deep crisis and we have to do something about this,” he said. “Of course, this administration is making unprecedented investments in those areas that can improve the situation.”

“We have out there a very competitive world,” he said. But “our human resource development program is unable to supply the economy with the kind of manpower that is necessary to develop our industries.”

“In general, for most Filipino families, secondary education is a terminal program,” Abad added. “Eventually, the problem reflects itself in the tertiary education sector because the foundation is very weak, except for a very few select universities.”

“We are moving into a very competitive world and it is going to be science-based and information technology-based kind of competition and if we do not have that capacity, we will be left behind,” he warned. “We have lagged too far behind the rest of the world and we have to catch up.”

According to him, the business process outsourcing “which is really one of the fast-rising industries that has great prospects for absorbing our graduates is already concerned that in the next three to five years, the ability of the country to supply their manpower requirements will begin to plateau and they will be forced to move out and look for their applicants outside of the Philippines.”

“Because of the inability of our schools and universities to provide the manpower requirement, there is a huge demand that is not being filled up,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, Abad said that state universities and colleges “have been sprouting all over the place in violation of the moratorium in the establishment of SUCs.”

“This cannot continue to happen,” he said. “The state will come in . . . tertiary education is really a privilege because only a very small percentage of our people can really get into this level of education.”

“And if we are going to do it, we might as well do it well,” he said. “We need to recruit the best faculty and keep them in the SUCs . . . we need to have a good linkage with the business process outsourcing industry.”

According to him, there is a need to strengthening the country’s technical and vocational program. “The ones we sent to college should be the ones that the industry really needs.”

“It is no longer the ‘do what you want to do’ or ‘offer what you want to offer’ because in the first place, it is expensive,” he encouraged the state universities and colleges. “Resources are scarce and we want to focus on providing our people, especially the poor ones, a quality and sustained education and quality and sustained jobs because ultimately, this would mean nothing if those who graduated from the tertiary education are unable to acquire quality and sustained jobs especially in the country.”

“We (the SUCs) have to bring our resources together in one envelop and see how best we can invest those resources,” he said. “We have to move in the direction of consolidation and identify areas of expertise.”

“If we will not reform tertiary education, I don’t think there will a strong appetite on the part of the national government to also invest in SUCs,” he added. “But if you will agree with us that there is a crisis situation and the state has to step in, and we all have to think out of the box that this is not business as usual, then the Aquino administration is ready to make that investment.”*