January 11, 2022 12:00 am
Magat Dam in northern Luzon is facing next month the possibility of having reduced allocation of water for irrigating its palay-growing service areas totaling nearly 86,000 hectares. The expected continuing dip in Magat’s water due to rainfall shortage may prompt a reduction, said Edwin Viernes, acting head of Flood Forecasting and Instrumentation Section of Dam and Reservoir Division (DRD) of National Irrigation Administration-Magat River Integrated Irrigation System. “Reduction in Magat’s allocation or irrigation diversion requirement is likely if there will be no favorable inflow that can considerably raise water in the dam,” he said Tuesday, adding that water flowing into the facility is only about 75 percent of what it normally receives. However, there is low possibility for an anticipated favorable inflow soon as Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecast only one or even no tropical cyclone (TC) in Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) this month. TCs are weather systems that may bring over Magat Dam’s watershed rainfall which can increase its inflow to considerably raise water level. Historical PAGASA data show that during January, TCs that form inside PAR either do not landfall in the Philippines or strike the Visayas’ eastern section -an area far from Magat- then dissipate or recurve and move away from the country. Despite Magat’s situation, Viernes said this month’s irrigation allocation is 160 cubic meters per second. The allocation is normal for Magat during January due to high demand for water irrigation to address needs of palay farmers, he said. Magat may have lesser allocation next month but this will unlikely disrupt cropping activities in those areas since the dam will still be able to supply water, he added. Viernes said harvesting palay plants in the area generally begins around late February. Shortage of rainfall over Magat Dam’s watershed has been adversely affecting its inflow, thus water level continues to dip, DRD Flood Forecasting, Warning and Hydrology Unit engineer-in-charge Arlen Alejandro said. “That watershed hasn’t received significant rainfall during the past few weeks,” she said. Alejandro forecasts Magat Dam’s water level to be around 180 meters this February 15, which is lower than the 184.70 meter-high 6 a.m. water level PAGASA reported for the dam on Tuesday. Water level in the area during the same period last year was at 191.60 meters, PAGASA said. Source: Philippines News Agency
December 30, 2021 12:00 am
A hotel in Metro Manila is under investigation following reports that it allowed a guest who came from the United States to skip quarantine protocols. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat did not identify the hotel but said the Department of Tourism (DOT) has already served a notice to explain (NTE), directing the establishment in question to submit its response to the allegations within three days. A viral post circulating on social media alleged that a returning Filipino who came from the US left the hotel for a party in Makati City before finishing the prescribed quarantine period. Romulo-Puyat said the DOT is in touch with the concerned authorities to validate the reports. Individuals found violating quarantine protocols may face penalties and imprisonment, she said. “Failure to comply with the health and safety protocols of the DOT, the Department of Health (DOH), or the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) may lead to criminal penalties of fines and/or imprisonment, and administrative penalties such as suspension or revocation of accreditation depending on the gravity of the offense,” she said.
December 30, 2021 12:00 am
More households can expect to have lights on for New Year’s Eve as linemen from the Visayan Electric Co. (VECO) and its affiliated companies are working round the clock to restore the remaining 36 percent of power line segments under its franchise area in Metro Cebu. In its advisory issued on Thursday, VECO said 348 of the 544 power line segments within the VECO’s franchise area have already been restored two weeks after strong Typhoon Odette devastated parts of Mindanao and Visayas. With the restored lines, the company is now capable of delivering more than 143 megawatts on a daily basis to 127,014 out of the 474,182 affected customers in its franchise area. Kenneth Cobonpue, chair of the Regional Development Council-Central Visayas (RDC-7), said the development would mean a running recovery rate of 27 percent. “With two full days still to go before the year 2021 ends, there is much hope that VECO’s committed target to reenergize 30 percent of their total number of customers in their franchise area by midnight of Friday this week (Dec. 31), is slowly becoming very likely and probable,” Cobonpue said in a message. Cobonpue underscored the determination of the officials in the government to bounce back amid the calamity brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and Typhoon Odette. He also lauded the responders and volunteers who sacrificed their time to assist local government units in distributing assistance as well as in the clean-up drive to collect debris left by the typhoon. Cobonpue noted their “unperturbed determination to reenergize, reactivate and revive as many households, offices, and establishments in Cebu as safely and as expeditiously as humanly as possible.” “Without a doubt, slowly but surely, Cebu will rise back up again and will continue to move forward,” said Cobonpue, who also spoke as convenor of Project Balik Buhay, a private sector-led post-calamity effort in the Visayas.
December 30, 2021 12:00 am
The World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned on Wednesday that the more transmissible Omicron together with the currently circulating Delta variants might lead to “a tsunami of cases,” putting immense pressure on national health systems. Recapping WHO’s response since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing that he’s “highly concerned that Omicron being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta — is leading to a tsunami of cases.” “This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse and again disrupting lives and livelihoods,” he said, citing the pressure as not only new Covid-19 patients requiring hospitalization but also a large number of health workers getting sick themselves. Tedros reiterated his concern over a recent narrative that Omicron has been causing milder or less severe diseases. “But we are undermining the other side at the same time — it could be dangerous… we shouldn’t undermine the bad news just focusing on the good news,” he said. “We don’t want people to be complacent, saying this is not severe, this is mild. And we have to be very careful in that narrative,” he said. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said though Omicron looks like being more transmissible, having a shorter incubation period, and causing a mild disease, it’s based on the largely young population that the variant has been infecting. Since the Omicron wave has not been fully established in the broader population, Ryan said he’s “a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in those older and more vulnerable populations.” “I think it’s really important over the coming weeks that we keep suppressing transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can,” he added.
