Day: February 4, 2023

DAVAO CITY: The Davao del Norte government has purchased a Watermaster, a mobile amphibious multipurpose dredger intended primarily for the Libuganon River in Tagum City.

The province is under a state of calamity after the PHP50.3-million damage in agriculture and infrastructure was recorded due to widespread flooding in six areas this week.

The Davao del Norte Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office said the affected local government units are the towns of Asuncion, Kapalong, Santo Tomas, New Corella, Carmen and Tagum City.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Governor Edwin Jubahib said dredging will help prevent future disasters.

"Flooding is a persistent problem in our province and we must take proactive measures to mitigate its effects. The Watermaster is a crucial step towards achieving this goal,” Jubahib said.

The Watermaster will effectively remove silt, sediment and other impurities from the river.

“By dredging the rivers, there would be an improved flow of water and prevent flooding," Jubahib said.

The purchase will support the province’s “Oplan Kanal (Channel)” program which entails regularly desiltation in major rivers.

In Carmen town, 40 familes from Barangay Mabaus recently participated in flood drill simulation exercise, part of the Scaling Up Community Resilience (SCORE) Building to Disasters in the Davao Region to enhance the capabilities of communities to reduce risks of natural hazards.

Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri urged government agencies to identify areas that are at high risk for national disasters and to create a national hazard map to minimize the loss of lives and properties.

Zubiri has filed Senate Bill No. 1810 or an Act Providing for the Issuance of a List of Low-lying areas of the Philippine Territory Vulnerable to Rising Sea Levels as a Result of Climate Change.

To be led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology and Climate Change Commission, the creation of a national hazard map will be a solid first step in studying areas of high risk and is very effective in Japan, where hazard maps show the possibility of occurrence, magnitude and location of potential earthquakes, according to Zubiri.

“For a country that has lost millions of people to earthquakes, floods and all sorts of natural disasters, effective disaster risk management measures are long overdue. This is a particularly urgent concern given that we are an archipelagic country in an age where the globe is facing rapid ecological decline,” he said in his explanatory note

Source: Philippines News Agency

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said Friday it would not want to see heightened tensions between China and the US in the aftermath of a suspected Chinese balloon detected in American airspace.

“We are concerned with whenever there are heightened tensions between China and the US and this is a theme that the Secretary-General has often referred to in various speeches,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

“On this particular incident, obviously the two will have to navigate it. But given the global leadership position of both countries, I think it is incumbent on them to do whatever they can to lower tensions.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a visit to China after the “surveillance balloon” row between the two countries.

China said Friday that the balloon was a “civilian airship used for research” and that it was blown off course.

But the Pentagon rejected those claims.

“We know that balloon has violated US airspace and international law – which is unacceptable,” said Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: Senator Raffy Tulfo has filed a measure prohibiting the use of plastic tarpaulins during campaign season, noting the tons of garbage they create and their adverse effect on the environment.

In his Senate Bill 1762, or an “Act Prohibiting the Use of Plastic Posters during Campaign Season,” Tulfo said he wanted to amend Republic Act 9006, or the Fair Election Act, saying there is no law limiting the use of plastic posters.

Tulfo noted the significant increase of plastic garbage collected during the 2022 national elections which weighed a total of 254 tons or a 20 percent increase from the 2016 national elections, based on a report by the Eco-Waste Coalition. The group said heavy-duty tarpaulins may take a thousand years to decompose and end up in landfills and bodies of water causing pollution and floods.

“Apart from that, these plastic posters also contain cadmium which according to the World Health Organization, exerts toxic effects on the renal, skeletal and respiratory systems, and is classified as a human carcinogen. “ Tulfo said in his explanatory note.

Based on the result of the Eco-Waste Coalition-commissioned laboratory test on campaign posters, the multicolored coatings of campaign posters contained cadmium ranging from 607 to 775 parts per million (ppm). The white plastic sheet had cadmium between 384 to 546 ppm.

The group said these levels detected by SGS, a leading global testing company, were way above the 100 ppm limit for cadmium in plastics under European Union laws and World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

Under the proposed measure, the use of papers, clothes, and cardboard posters is encouraged as it also mandated the Commission on Election (Comelec) to determine the sizes of the poster as enshrined in the Omnibus Election Code.

The use of tarpaulins as campaign materials during elections is common since it is easy to print and hang compared to traditional posters made of cloth or sack, the lawmaker said.

He added that efforts have been made by the government, non-government organizations, and the private sector to recycle the tarpaulins into market bags and seat covers

Source: Philippines News Agency

DAVAO CITY: Mati City in Davao Oriental has secured an additional budget of PHP150 million for the second phase of its new fish port complex and PHP2 billion for the 2.25-kilometer road access and coastal highway that would connect the Mati Park and baywalk to the fishport all the way to Sitio Bilawan.

In a statement on Friday, Mayor Michelle Rabat said the additional fund for the fish port’s Phase 2 construction would complete the envisioned five-hectare modern complex.

The first phase was allocated with PHP75 million by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority and is expected to be finished by March.

“The Department of Public Works and Highways in Davao Region will be in coordination with the mayor’s office as to the final details, prioritization, location and other logistical support for the realization of this mega project,” she said.

Rabat expressed her gratitude to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr., among others, for the realization of the budget.

The fish port was built in the early 1980s during the time of the mayor’s late father, then Davao Oriental governor Francisco Rabat.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The PHP6-billion Philippine General Hospital (PGH) cancer center could start operating as early as 2025 should the awarding of the contract happen this year.

PGH Special Assistant to the Director Jose Rafael Marfori on Saturday said the construction of the 300-bed capacity hospital could take at least two to three years to finish.

The project, Marfori noted, would be under a build-transfer-operate (BTO) scheme and not build-operate-transfer (BOT) as earlier reported.

This means the center will be turned over to the PGH once construction is complete and the government retains ownership.

In BOT, project ownership is only transferred back to the government after the concession period.

“Immediately after the building is complete and ready to operate, it will be turned over to PGH, the government maintains the ownership as well so there’s no privatization,” Marfori said during the Saturday News Forum at Dapo restaurant in Quezon City.

Marfori said the investors’ and pre-bid conferences are expected to start by February and March 2023, respectively.

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project, the first under the Marcos administration, seeks to expand access to "resource-intensive" cancer care in the country and will cater to both charity and private inpatients and outpatients.

"Ang cancer--rich or poor, parang Covid-- hindi namimili. We have to find ways that the whole population can access this care kaya siya nag-PPP (Cancer, like the coronavirus disease 2019, affects everyone, rich or poor. We have to find ways so that the whole population can access this care that's why we turned to PPP)," Marfori said.

The private partner will design, finance, construct, and commission a new standalone hospital building to be located within the University of the Philippines-PGH’s Manila campus.

Once built, a minimum of half of all the beds would be dedicated to underprivileged Filipinos.

The UP-PGH will provide all clinical services free of charge for charity patients, with the private sector offering clinical services to fee-paying patients.

The private partner will also provide all major equipment (initial and replacement), undertake maintenance, facilities management as well as non-clinical services (including cleaning, catering, laundry, and security) to the entire hospital under a 30-year PPP concession.

Source: Philippines News Agency