Another weather disturbance is threatening the country after Typhoon Egay (international name: Doksuri) battered parts of Luzon before leaving the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday morning.
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Thursday, July 27, 2023
Water levels in major Luzon dams rise; 3 dams to release water
Jul 27, 2023 10:32 AM
The rains from typhoon Egay and the enhanced southwest monsoon, or “habagat,” caused the water levels in eight major dams in Luzon to rise, based on the 24-hour rainfall monitoring of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
PAGASA said the water levels at Ipo Dam, Ambuklao Dam, and Binga Dam increased on Thursday morning, July 27 to 101.2 meters, 751 meters, and 574.63 meters, respectively.
These were significantly higher than the previous day’s record of 99.5 meters, 746.43 meters, and 568.52 meters, respectively.
PAGASA warned of possible flooding as the three dams were expected to release water on Thursday.
“The water level of Ipo Dam as of 8 a.m. is 101.2 meters and continuously rising due to the expected rains caused by the current weather system. With this development, Ipo Dam will conduct spilling operation, with one spilling gate to open at 11 a.m., with an initial discharge of 61 cms (cubic meters per second),” PAGASA said in a flood advisory.
It advised the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices, as well as residents living in low-lying areas and near the river banks of the Angat River in Norzagaray, Angat, San Rafael, Bustos, Baliuag, Pulilan, Plaridel, Calumpit, Paombong, and Hagonoy in Bulacan, to be on alert for a possible rise in the river’s level.
Ipo Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan (Photo courtesy of MWSS)
In a separate advisory, PAGASA warned that water discharge from Ambuklao Dam and Binga Dam, both in Benguet, may affect Barangay Ambuklao in Bokod town, as well as Barangays Dalupirip and Tinongdan in Itogon town.
Ambuklao Dam will have eight gates opened at 5 meters each, while Binga Dam will have six gates opened at 5.5 meters each.
The water discharge will be caught by the San Roque Dam in Pangasinan, which is part of a series of cascading dams that include the upstream Ambuklao and Binga Dams.
As the Pangasinan dam is still at a low water level, it may benefit from the water released by the Ambuklao and Binga dams.
As of Thursday, the water level at San Roque Dam was 247.13 meters, much lower than the 280-meter normal water level. Its previous day’s record was 238.25 meters.
Other dams
PAGASA said four other major dams also benefitted from the light to heavy rains brought on by Egay and the enhanced habagat.
Angat Dam’s water level slightly increased from 181.64 meters on Wednesday to 182.98 meters on Thursday.
Although it is already above the 180-meter minimum dam operating level, it is still much lower than the 210-meter normal high water level during the rainy season.
The Angat and Ipo dams are in Norzagaray, Bulacan.
La Mesa Dam in Quezon City and Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija also saw a slight rise in water levels from 79.14 meters to 79.23 meters, and from 183.63 meters to 184.11 meters, respectively.
Meanwhile, Isabela’s Magat Dam saw a notable rise in water level, from 165.39 meters to 169.32 meters.
Pantabangan and Magat dams remain significantly below their normal levels at 216 meters and 190 meters, respectively, while La Mesa Dam is near its spilling level of 80.15 meters.
Food lessons for life
As was the practice at the time, all kids had to know how to cook.
AT A GLANCE
Like many of my contemporaries, I was raised in a home shared by three generations. We had no maids. Relatives came to help and were in turn raised like members of the family. They were sent to school along with the children of the household.
Such was the case with distant cousin Gloria, who was taken in when her parents died. Raised in the interior barrio Salinas in Bacoor, Cavite, she was a real probinsyana, which I now realize was her best asset.
As was the practice at the time, all kids had to know how to cook. For starters, Gloria took me and my brothers to the market in Zapote on weekend mornings when we had no school. Zapote was—and still is—popular in the area for fresh fish from Batangas, Cavite, Rizal, and Laguna. Lowland vegetables were also brought in by farmers who sold to vendors from other markets.
From Gloria, I learned the names of fish from ponds, from oceans, and from the fresh waters of Laguna de Bay. She pointed out the stripes that distinguish malabansi from ayungin, the scales that identify cheap kapak from classy banak. We also became familiar with dozens of shellfish.
Pinakbet
Apart from knowing the names of all the fish in the market, I learned how much they cost and how best to cook each kind. I was patienty guided through the delicate process of killing hito (catfish) by sprinkling salt over its gills, then removing the slime from its body using ash from our wood-fired stove.
Because Lola made bagoong every week, we had to regularly clean the fresh alamang (small shrimp) one handful at a time. The same method was used to remove foreign objects from tiny dulong, which always ended up as pinangat or in omelets.
Hito (catfish)
Tips and secrets
The secret of smooth dinuguan with no lumps, Gloria showed us, was to mash the fresh blood with torn banana leaf minutes before pouring the blood into the seasoned cooked meat. But first, she made sure the fresh blood was unsalted. Salted blood would make dinuguan watery, she explained. Whenever possible, she cooked dinuguan one day before it was to be served to allow the flavors to penetrate the meat. More vinegar was added to achieve the right degree of sourness.
Thanks to her, our stuffed inihaw na bangus was never fishy. She sautéed the salted sliced onions and tomatoes before stuffing them into the raw fish, which had been slit along the back fin. Wrapped in banana leaf and grilled until the wrapping was almost scorched, the dish was savory and cooked through out, with no trace of fishiness. I use the same technique today with other fish as well.
Dinuguan
Seasons and reasons
During the rainy season when no fresh fish were available, we had to rely on dried salted fish. Most often it was dried dilis (anchovy) of various sizes. They were cheap, easy to store, and versatile. Gloria had the small ones either fried or toasted in a pan with no oil. The large dilis were rinsed well to reduce saltiness, their bellies and heads pinched off for better flavor and presentation as meat substitute in apritada, pinakbet, and ginataan. I still prepare these dishes today even when I have fresh fish on hand.
Dishes that last
We went to the market every morning and were taught ways to keep food for the next meals from spoiling. Meat and fish were often seasoned and dried in the sun or hung from the ceiling above the stove where smoke flavored and preserved them. Sometimes we had paksiw. The fish was cooked in vinegar, ginger, garlic, and chili pepper. Cooked properly, the paksiw could keep a few days. The same recipe, without vinegar, is pinangat, which Gloria cooked almost dry but kept moist with a few tablespoons of cooking oil or rendered pork fat.
Cooked viands that were good to eat for a couple of days were a must-learn from Gloria: kilawing puso ng saging, dinuguan, adobo, and bopis. She was very strict about clean spoons or laddles used in spooning food from the pot.
Future foodies
During summer vacations, Gloria helped us set up a small halo-halo stall by teaching us to make preserved fruits and leche flan. Thus, we sold the best halo-halo in our barrio by using the biggest number and most colorful ingredients: ube halaya, sweet beans, red mongo, bananas in syrup, kaong, gulaman, sweetened kamote, white beans, sago. The experience instilled in us a passion for food entrepreneurship.
I was in high school when Gloria did not come home from joining a Good Friday procession. She came home after a week with her boyfriend and his parents. They were married a few days later. Their three daughters all went into the food business, catering for birthdays, weddings, and special events in Las Piñas.
My brothers and I, her first students, used the skills we learned both at home and in our professional lives. Cris had a popular eatery at the town’s cockpit. Tony migrated to Japan and ran a bar/restaurant in Sakai City. I write about food.
DepEd eyes August 29 as the start of classes for School Year 2023-2024
The Department of Education (DepEd) is eyeing Aug. 29 as the school opening date for public schools this incoming School Year (SY) 2023-2024.
(DepEd / MB Visual Content Group)
“We are finalizing the DO [Department Order] now and we are looking at, probably, towards the end of August,” DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa told the Manila Bulletin in an interview on the sidelines of the post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) discussions at the Hilton Hotel in Pasay City on Wednesday, July 26.
“We’re looking at August 29 (Tuesday) but everything is tentative until the Department Order is signed,” Poa said. Originally, DepEd is considering Aug. 28 as the start of classes but the date falls on a holiday in observance of the National Heroes’ Day.
Poa said that the set of guidelines that DepEd is currently working on will be “omnibus” which will include the “Brigada Eskwela” and the school calendar for the new school year.
In the guidelines, Poa said that adjustments have been made particularly on the participation of teachers in activities such as the end-of-school-year rites.
DepEd, Poa said, has received concerns that some teachers were being asked to report to school before the graduation rites even if these are not included in the school calendar.
Classes for SY 2022-2023 opened on Aug. 22, 2022. DepEd data showed that over 28 million children went back to school two years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the first three months, public schools were allowed adopted distance / blended learning aside from the five-day in-person classes.
On Nov. 2, 2023, DepEd implemented 100 percent face-to-face classes in all public schools.
Due to the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, face-to-face classes were not allowed in SY 2020-2021 and SY 2021-2022.
Instead, DepEd shifted to distance learning --- where students learned their lessons at home through multiple learning delivery modalities such as printed/offline modular; online; radio and television-based instruction; and blended learning or a combination of two delivery modes.
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