by anyajulia | Nov 16, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, National News
FOOD is nothing to worry despite the disasters that reportedly affected the country’s food supply.
Both President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap agree that with more than two and a half months of food supply available, the country could rest its worries.
During Regional Media Interview with Bohol Chronicle Radio Broadcasting Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Dejaresco, President Arroyo, who has been called a brilliant economist by international papers agreed that she is comfortable with the country having 2 ½ months of food supply.
Many people have speculated that the flood-damaged farmlands in Luzon would create supply imbalance all over the country.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap however reported the current food supply situation and added that the supply inventory does not even include the Visayas and Mindanao harvests.
He also added that the country can’t just look at the National Food Authority (NFA) when it comes to inventories of food supplies while pointing out to commercial suppliers who stockpile enough.
By showing a price-monitoring chart, Sec. Yap also clarified that even while the NFA is presently tendering its supplies, the country’s market prices for rice in Luzon even lowered after the storms.
The Boholano by-affinity cabinet member also added that his agency is looking at recovering 150,000 hectares of storm-damaged ricelands as soon.
The government is preparing one bag of seeds and five bags of fertilizer to any farmer who has rehabilitated his farm, Yap claimed.
On how the country is faring in its disaster relief and rehabilitation programs, the President, with the help of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, reported the crucial role of food caravans sent to areas forecasted to be in the direction of the storms, making sure food is available there.
President Arroyo has also her hands on, leading the storm relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts while making sure government agencies track prices to discourage opportunistic businessmen from using the situation to manipulate prices of basic commodities.
According to Sec. Teodoro, about 10 million people were directly affected by the four storms, while about four million is in dire need of daily food and non-food requirements.
He however assured that the government is not resting, 24 hours a day seven days a week to make sure that help gets to where they are needed. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Nov 16, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
PENDING the crafting of the implementing rules and regulations on the tarsier ordinance, top environment and natural resource officer here hints that wildlife establishment caretakers should strictly police themselves to conserve the tarsiers.
Environment and Natural Resources Officer Nestor Canda admitted that the Bohol tarsier ordinance could not be fully implemented yet, sans the IRR.
While awaiting the IRR from the Capitol, Canda called for a technical conference with tarsier tourism establishment operators in Loboc to generate commitments or lose their business.
At the conference attended by the media, PENRO Canda said the operators have committed to the strictly follow the terms and conditions stipulated in their wildlife permits to keep the tarsier viewing business up and about.
He explained during the recent Kapihan sa PIA, that the ordinance has not clearly stated the nitty-gritty of its implementation and so it confuses local governments, thus the impediment.
A few weeks back, a complaint about the way the tarsiers are treated in the so-called tarsier-in captivity tourism establishments in Bohol.
Tasiers, nocturnal insectivores are Bohol’s trademark wildlife showcase and are scientifically called tarsius syricha owing to their erect spines and well-developed tarsals.
Almost a cross between a rodent and a monkey but not quite, tarsiers are extremely delicate and its population is threatened to extinction by human activity.
“Exposing them to tourists who may not be able to stop themselves from touching, petting and feeding the tarsiers at daytime would surely alter their habits,” claims a tour guide who constant reminds guests of the proper decorum while at the stop in Loboc.
It may be recalled that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, through the Board Member Alfonso Damalerio, SP Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Chair pushed for the transfer of all the tarsier viewing areas in Loboc to the tarsier sanctuary in Corella.
On the move, not a few tour drivers believe that a Corella stop would delay the time-pressed Bohol countryside tour and may run the risk of tourists missing their boats back our of Bohol. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Nov 16, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita, Panglao International Airport
BIDDING for Panglao airport phase one finally opens this month, reports transportation Undersecretary and former city Mayor Jose Torralba in a radio interview.
Torralba, who is manning the airport project management office here said the multi-sectoral consultative meeting held last Tuesday at the Bohol Beach Club was the last procedural requirement needed to seal the fate of the airport’s initial construction phase.
The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Investment Coordinating Committee initially nodded to the project even after consultants proposed drastic changes leading to major project funding realignments.
With the changes, the entire project bloated to nearly double its initial cost, needing the NEDA ICC nod anew to use the early appropriations of P4.2B to fund the initial phase of the airport project.
The project go-signal was on the condition that Bohol provincial government conducts another multisectoral consultation to address ecological or environmental issues, Usec Torralba explained..
Moreover, the preconditions also include that Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) conducts value engineering of the project and that budget cover be issued to the Department of Transportation and Communications by the Department of Budget and Management.
The recent multi-sectoral meeting in Panglao churned out the resolutions, which would engage the NEDA to finally green-light phase one of the project.
Phase one of the project comprises the construction of the airport’s 2.5 kilometer runway and its lighting facilities.
This phase also uses up the funds NEDA has earlier earmarked for the entire project, explains Gov. Erico Aumentado, weeks back.
From the initial P4.27 billion, the total total project now costs P7.54 billion.
The project cost blew up due to increase of item prices and quantity, design modification and additional acquisition of 14.5 hectares of land.
The Panglao airport project aims to develop a new airport facility in Panglao Island, Bohol to comply with domestic and international standards for operational safety and efficiency.
It also envisions to open up the entire region (Region VII) to more economic activities and to enhance the tourism potential of Bohol province. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Nov 16, 2009 | Headlines, National News
SETTING POLITICS aside, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has to do what ought to be done.
Showing rare political will, the president asks Vice President Noli de Castro to prepare a draft for the revocation of the proclamation establishing the settlement called Lupang Arenda, even if it would mean displacing multitude of residents.
Lupand Arenda was established when former President Fidel Ramos issued Proclamation 704 and opened some 200 hectares of public lands in protected wetlands to accommodate the growing number of illegal settlers in Metro Manila.
The settlement lies at the shorelines of Laguna de Bay and lies along the natural lake water egress to Manila Bay along the Napindan Channel.
The opened wetlands, separate sources say remain water logged for the rest of the six months in a year, and should not have been opened as residential area in the first place.
By revoking the Presidential Proclamation 704, the President hopes she could keep these lives away from the dangers posed by rising lake water levels and the flash floods that has washed away dwellings in the area during the recent storms hitting Manila.
During the recent meeting held in Loboc Bohol, the President and her cabinet talked about disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and climate change in the wake of the recent disastrous floodings in Manila and surrounding areas.
At the Full Cabinet meeting held at the Loboc Children’s Palace, acted on Vice President’s recommendation to clear the area and relocate the residents.
Recent changes in climate elevated the average lake water level to 12.5 meters, making several dry areas at the Lupang Arenda prone to flooding.
The patch of land lies along the natural waterway between Laguna Lake and Napindan Channel.
Recent floodings in Metro Manila areas also pushed more water through the channel, washing out many squatter dwellings, necessitating government intervention to keep residents safe.
Vice President Noli de Castro told the Cabinet that Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) now bans the return of the 60,000 families to Lupang Arenda.
Lupang Arenda also blocks the natural pathway between Laguna Lake and Napindan Channel. (PIA)
by anyajulia | Nov 14, 2009 | Headlines, Local News / Bohol Balita
TARSIER establishment operators have committed to stop feeding and promised more actions to protect and conserve the tarsiers during the recent technical conference with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources authorities here recently.
According to PENRO Nestor Canda, he would endorse the agreements they have forged with the tarsier establishment operators in Loboc to the provincial legislators as inputs to guide them in their future action.
Canda claimed the DENR has asked for the conference as a way of probing on the recent complaint of tarsier abuse filed by a tourist to the SP Tourism Committee and consequently at the Provincial Tourism Council.
The complainant, who took a video footage of how a group of Asian tourists poked midribs at the tarsiers was allegedly threatened by a Cebu-based tour guide whom she named as Jacinto Tan.
Over the generated alarm, Boholano groups vowed separate probes on the incident as Bohol top environment officer said he reviewed the stipulations of the wildlife permits issued to operators during the conference.
Claiming that the incident was unfortunate, he reported that the operators have committed to pro-conservation actions to keep their tarsiers on display.
Aside form strict observance of no feeding policy, operators also vowed to strictly police so that the rare animals are not touched or that taking pictures would use no flash bulbs.
An agreed carrying capacity of the establishment would be implemented it would now limit the number of tourists in one tarsier interaction, he said.
And to get that much needed vigilance, operators are now vowing to monitor each other’s wildlife farms and report incidents of abuse.
Over this, he said it may not be long before tarsier operators can organize themselves to better safeguard the wild animals they keep, Canda reports.
The long term vision is to get them to adopt a common sanctuary for tarsier viewing so they could unify and implement the agreements to guests, operators agreed. (PIA)
