TACLOBAN CITY– Taking advantage of the dry season, the Leyte Second District Engineering Office (L2DEO) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is now in full swing in constructing the flood control structure stretching the Hibuga River basin in Mayorga town.
The project has a cost of P54.66 million which includes the installation of furnished and driven steel sheet piles and gabions.
District Engineer Leo Edward Oppura said that the project can lessen the negative impacts brought by inevitable disasters wherein river channels tend to rise up during heavy rainfall and typhoons, causing the river banks to collapse.
“With these structures, river banks will be guarded from destructive floods and erosion. People living nearby will be safe from the damaging effects of the sudden onslaught of rain, which affect their lives and the livelihood of the communities,” he said.
The construction of the project began on March 13 of this year and is to be completed on December 1 of the same year. (LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
ORMOC CITY-A Grade 12 student died after the motorcycle she was on board figured in a freak accident along a national highway in Barangay Bobolosan, Laoang, Northern Samar on Sunday (May 7) at about 3:30 pm.
The back rider was identified as Geriza Sidro, 18, and a resident of Barangay Rawis, also in the said town.
Initial investigation conducted by the responding police disclosed that Sidro was on board a motorcycle driven by Alonica Tamayo,18, also a Grade 12 student just attended a fiesta celebration in Brgy. Lawaan.
However, on their way home, the back rider’s jacket was accidentally gobbled by the back wheel of the motorcycle which resulted in the motorcycle to stop running.
Sidro was thrown several meters from the motorcycle with her head landing first on the concrete pavement which caused injuries on her head while Tamayo also incurred injuries in different parts of her body.
The two were immediately brought to Dr. G.B. Tan Memorial Hospital but Sidra was declared dead while Tamayo, who suffered abrasions and bruises in the different parts of her body, was admitted to the same hospital for treatment. (ROBERT DEJON)
MASSIVE CLEANUP DRIVE. Provincial officials of Eastern Samar led by Gov. Ben Evardone and mayors of the province, various government line agencies and private sector joined hands to protecting the environment by launching a massive cleanup drive, particularly the province’ major coastal areas, on Wednesday (May 10). (Photo Courtesy)
MASSIVE CLEANUP DRIVE. Provincial officials of Eastern Samar led by Gov. Ben Evardone and mayors of the province, various government line agencies and private sector joined hands to protecting the environment by launching a massive cleanup drive, particularly the province’ major coastal areas, on Wednesday (May 10). (Photo Courtesy)
BORONGAN CITY-In line with the Month of Ocean celebration, the provincial government of Eastern Samar launched Project ‘KLEAN’ or Kalikasan Linisan Estehanon Aksyon Na’ on Tuesday (May 9).
The provincewide coastal clean-up drive and the rice for trash campaign intend to raise awareness of the repercussion of garbage thrown in the ocean and promote proper waste management thus protecting aquatic lives.
To encourage residents of Eastern Samar to participate in the project, the provincial government offers a kilogram of rice for every two kilograms of trash collected.
The launching was held at Baybay Boulevard, this city, and attended by various sectors in the city including uniformed personnel from the Philippine National Police, Philippine Army, Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Governor Ben Evardone said that the provincial government had allocated 800 sacks of rice and another 100 sacks of rice from the 4Ps party list for this initiative.
“The important thing about this activity is the message that we are putting across to the world, to our province, and to our country, that even in this part of the Philippines, one of the farthest parts of the country, we are concern with our environment,” Evardone said.
“We are trying to do our share, modest as it is, to help preserve, protect, and ensure that the generation to come will inherit a vibrant environment,” he added.
Evardone said that the clean-up drive will be done every week for the entire month of May.
The province hopes that after May this will be a usual weekly routine of all LGUs in the province.
Borongan City Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda, who was also present during the launching, said that he is thankful for the provincial government in initiating the program which is in line with the city’s existing program in protecting the coastal water resources.
“This is not only for us but for our future generations. We really have to protect our forests and our ocean,” he said.
He added that despite their effort to clean their waters, garbage remains to be a problem.
Some of this garbage also comes from the upland area where people are not yet aware of the negative effects of improper waste disposal particularly plastics and other non-biodegradable materials.
“The success of this will be measured once it becomes a way of life. No matter who starts it what is important is it becomes an obligation and responsibility of us who are leaders to make this a legacy for the betterment of our future generation,” Mayor Agda said. (ROEL T. AMAZONA)
Since the ratification of the 1987 Constitution, Congress has yet to enact an enabling law prohibiting political dynasties. The utter failure to pass such legislation is due to the lack of interest of legislators as they will be the most affected. We know too well how politicians had maintained a stranglehold of elective positions and power with family and kin partaking the limited posts available. Such practice results in the concentration of political power within and among family members.
It deprives others of the opportunity to obtain elective office as the same are held exclusively beyond the reach and access of citizens who too are qualified to hold such offices. Incumbents and those in power have the edge in getting the position they presently hold. The tremendous force being wielded by the one in power who has at his disposal all necessary resources to ensure victory for him and every body in the family who are seeking elective office as well.
But we have been into such iniquitous situation ever since the provision against political dynasties was enshrined in the Constitution. The provision is well intended to equalize the playing field insofar as access to public office is made available to the citizenry. The idea may have been inspired by the unwritten rule where political power are concentrated on individuals who are blessed to be so by the powers that be.
Dynasty according to one legal luminary who was one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, is committed in two ways. It may be simultaneous or successive. The more prevalent practice is successive dynasty wherein the elected post is passed among family members in succession after the end of the term limit.
Such practice deprives all others aspiring for the post from getting the office as the incumbent has always the decided advantage for wielding power and resources to ensure keeping the post. In the other mode, family members seek elective office simultaneously and acquire control over positions of power.
This is the case of the senatorial and congressional politicians who had been into the practice of building dynasties. But there is no enabling law prohibiting dynasties that is why the system remains as power familial. comments to alellema@yahoo.com
IN the gospel, there is an episode where Christ told some unbelieving Jews the reason they could not know who Christ really was. “How long are you going to keep us in suspense?” they asked. “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (Jn 10,24).
And so, Christ had to tell them directly what was missing in them. “I told you and you do not believe,” he said. “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn 10,25-27)
Lest we think there are some of us who do not belong to Christ’s sheepfold, we have to clarify that all of are meant to be among the sheep of Christ. The problem is that some of us, for one reason or another, choose not to be part of that sheepfold. And that can happen when in spite of everything that God through Christ in the Holy Spirit has shown, given and enabled us, we refuse to believe in him.
It’s a matter of whether we have faith or not, a faith that first of all is given to us by God himself but to which we have to correspond also. And that is where the problem lies. We often fail to do our part insofar as faith in Christ is concerned.
Many times, we just rely on what our senses and, at most, our intelligence can show us, as if they are the ultimate guide for us to know the truth of things in general, let alone, the truth about God, about Christ, etc.
We fail to realize that it is God who defines everything since he is first of all the Creator of all things. And even if we messed up his creation because of our sin, he has precisely sent us his Son who became man just to be with us and offer us “the way, the truth, and the life” that is proper to us.
The thing is for us to correspond to the faith God is sharing with us, we need to humble ourselves to be able to enter into the spiritual and supernatural character of this faith. We need to free ourselves from what practically can be considered as our enslavement to our human ways of knowing that rely simply on our senses and other human faculties.
We, of course, have to use these faculties, and in fact, we have to use them to the hilt. But they need to be guided always by faith. Without this guidance of faith, there is no way our senses and our other human faculties can capture the objective reality of God and of how everything else has to be seen, understood and used.
We have to be wary of our strong tendency to simply be guided by our human ways. Especially to those who appear to be quite gifted intellectually and in the other human faculties, the need to humble themselves would be great so that the workings of faith can be properly received and corresponded to.
This is how we can recognize the voice of Christ who is actually the pattern of our humanity and the savior of that humanity that has been damaged by our sin. Only with Christ can we see, understand and use things properly. Only with him can we be brought back to our original and ultimate dignity as children of God, his image and likeness, sharers of his divine life and nature!
A new high production technology for Tilapia culture is being introduced to increase harvest. The technology, being pilot-tested is called Aquashading. The technology was developed by the fishery researchers of Central Luzon State University (CLSU) aimed “to raise the country’s tilapia production.
However, it will be the technical staff of the Aquaculture Research and Development Division (ARDD) of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) who will pilot-test the technology – taking note of the technical performance of aquashading technology with or without shading Type I and Type III agro-climatic conditions or those that have dry and wet seasons.
As perceived by the CLSU researchers, aquashading technology aims to increase tilapia seed production (fingerlings) and ensure income among tilapia hatchery and grow-out operators. The “technology reduces water temperature to make it favorable for breeding and increasing the seed production of tilapia in in the ponds.” The reduction of water temperature during the hottest hours of the day can significantly increase the spawning rate and seed production.
Two-proposed on-station verification studies are: for Type I located at NFRDI’S Freshwater Fisheries Research and Development Center (FFRDC) in Butong, Taal, Batangas, and the Type III located in the Brackishwater Fisheries Research and Development Center (BFRDC), in Lala, Lanao del Norte. There are two more proposed sites in Samar and Pangasinan.
A modified Corona Classification of Climate and according to NFRDI there are four climate types in the Philippines, thus:
1) Type I is dry from November to April and wet during the rest of the year;
2) Type II has no dry season with a very pronounced maximum rain period from December to February;
3) Type III has no very pronounced maximum rain period with a short dry season from 1 to three months; and,
4) Type IV has rainfall that is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year.
The CLSU technologists suggest the use of greenhouse nets installed over the pond to provide shade to the cultured tilapia. The shade provided by the net reduces the water temperature by 3-4 degrees Celcius that contributes the fish’s chance of reproducing more fish by 100 percent in pond- based and hapa-based systems.
Early tilapia aquaculturists who “. . .adopted the aquashading technology gained an estimated 14 percent return of investment (R0I) and an estimated payback period of fewer than two years”
MY COMMENT:
Being product of research and development, aquashading should be encouraged among businessmen engaged in tilapia aquaculture, in terms of ROI. The NFRDI should transfer the said technology to help food security problem of the country. And that more pilot cum verification sites should be explored, especially in the Visayas – there is dire need to improve the lot among fisherfolks and aquaculturist sector, particularly in Eastern Visayas.
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