Microplastics found in Laguna de Bay

Laguna Lake. File Photo

By Aric John Sy Cua

A HIGH concentration of microplastics was found in Laguna de Bay, the country's largest lake, with the highest recorded on the side that is facing Metro Manila, according to two scientists who made a study on the matter.

In a joint video interview with The Manila Times, Prof. Cris Gel Loui Arcadio and Dr. Hernando Bacosa, Mindanao State University (MSU) scientists, said they have analyzed the waters at the 900-square-kilometer lake for microplastics, as their presence could lead to harmful effects on humans and marine life.

The Laguna de Bay is a main source of water for Metro Manila. It stretches over the provinces of Rizal and Laguna. In the vicinity are Manila, Quezon City and San Pablo. Laguna de Bay is fed by 21 rivers, with a catchment area of about 3.820 sq km.

"We were able to extract 100 microplastics," Arcadio, who authored a study, conducted in February of last year, said. "We examined the morphological characteristics of it, and the majority of the microplastics that were found in Laguna Lake were fibers and they were all blue colors."

In that study that was funded by the Department of Science and Technology-Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program, it showed that the West Bay of the lake, which is the Metro Manila side, has the "highest concentration of microplastics, with an average of 20 microplastics per cubic meter, compared to the Central, East, and South Bays of the lake, which all registered 10 microplastics per cubic meter."

"Microplastics were ubiquitously detected in all sites with the concentration highest in areas of the lake characterized by intensive human activities such as but not limited to household discharges, effluents from chemical industries, and intensification of economic activities," the study said.

Effects on human health

In the same interview, Bacosa said that once microplastics enter the human body, this could cause oxidative stress in the cells.

"When the cells are stressed, they cannot function normally and they cannot actually detoxify," he said. "That could lead to inflammation in the long run and abnormal functions of our organs."

GCash down? Netizens report problems with online cashing app

By Aric John Sy Cua

May 9, 2023 

NETIZENS checking their GCash app may find a notice saying that services will be "right back".

"We'll be right back!" the message wrote. "We're just working on improving your experience. Rest assured that your funds are safe."

According to Down Detector, 63 percent of its reported problems with GCash involve the app itself, with 31 percent for login and 6 percent with its website.

"When we collectively move our funds from #GCash to more secure and convenient platforms, will the app have another downtime in the guise of system maintenance for better user experience? Seems that the best user experience is to not use #GCash at all," tweeted @KJPurisima on Tuesday.

Netizens on Facebook noticed the East West Bank account number ending in 5239 being among their GCash transactions on Monday.

"Ang daming nagrereport na nawalan ng pera sa GCash. Same bank and ending number yung nangunguha ng pera search niyo sa Facebook. Now, under maintenance sila. Wag sana mawala pera ko dun," (A lot of people have reported losing money in their GCash. Search it on Facebook, the same bank and ending number was the one who took our money. It's now under maintenance. I hope I did not lose money there.) tweeted @SnowShop_Ph.

"Gcash should be investigated," tweeted @reklamonomics. "You can't have unscheduled maintenance. Ideally, Digital banks should be accessible 24/7 esp. With policymakers encouraging a shift to digital transactions."

The app confirmed on its Twitter handle that it was under maintenance.

"GCash App is temporarily unavailable to make way for system maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience. We will notify you once our services are back via our official social media channels or GCash Help Center. Thank you for your patience on this," the online wallet application said in response to a netizen on Twitter.

East West Bank is yet to make a statement, as of posting time. WITH A REPORT FROM MITCH VILLANUEVA

PH detects first Arcturus case

April 26, 2023 2970

Some citizens are seen wearing facemasks while other choose not to wear one, along Ilaya Street in Binondo, Manila. Health Officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire does not see the need to reimpose more stringent restrictions such as mandatory masking even if cases of Covid-19 continue to increase in the country. (PHOTO: MIKE ALQUINTO)

(UPDATE) THE Philippines has detected its first case of the Arcturus or XBB.1.16 subvariant, the Department of Health (DoH) said Tuesday.

The subvariant was found in a sample from Western Visayas and is one of the 89 samples that had Omicron subvariants during the latest sequencing run of the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and San Lazaro Hospital from April 12-17.

Arcturus is a sublineage of the XBB subvariant that was recently added to the list of subvariants under monitoring by the World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Control.

It has been detected in 33 countries.

"Limited information is available for the variant and researchers are currently characterizing the variant in terms of transmissibility, immune evasion, and ability to cause more severe disease," the DoH said.

Public health expert Dr. Tony Leachon also warned the public against the Arcturus XBB.1.16 variant, which started in India.

Its symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, and conjunctivitis or sore eyes.

"This should be something we should watch out for, but we should not panic because these are milder cases," Leachon said.

"I don't think there will be an increase in the hospitalization rate. And I can assure the public there will not be any economic lockdown, basically because of the milder cases that we're seeing right now, not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world."

As of April 23, the Covid-19 positivity rate was at 10.9 percent, although the health care utilization rate remains low.

Leachon said the wearing of masks should be mandatory to prevent viral transmissions.

Getting a second booster shot against Covid-19 for the general population is a "welcome opportunity," he added.

"The general population is actually the vulnerable one," he said, citing a Philippine Statistics Authority report that it is this group that could be more prone to getting the virus.

Leachon said the public should be concerned that 26 provinces have been placed under Alert Level 2 by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

"It's something the public should be concerned about, but we should not panic because most of these cases will be milder," he said in a video interview with The Manila Times.

The provinces of Benguet, Ifugao, Quezon, Palawan, Camarines Norte, Masbate, Antique, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Western Samar, Lanao del Norte, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, Dinagat Islands, Basilan, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are under Alert Level 2 until April 30.

Leachon cited a World Health Organization (WHO) declaration last January that the world is still under a public health emergency and that the pandemic is not yet in the endemic stage, but at a "transition point."

"We are in a transition point where we have mild Covid cases, but we are not out of the woods yet," he said in a Viber message to The Times.

"We will have episodic surges due to poor vaccination, waning immunity and lack of bivalent vaccines. We need to prepare the population if we need to open up the economy to investors and revitalize major industries," Leachon added.

Health Officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire does not see the need to reimpose more stringent restrictions such as mandatory masking even if cases of Covid-19 continue to increase in the country.

The Health department reported that there was a 32 percent rise in Covid-19 cases in the country during the week of April 17 to 23, translating to a daily average caseload of 450 cases per day.

During a media briefing at the sidelines of the Malaria-Free Awarding Ceremony in Quezon City on Tuesday, Vergeire shot down suggestions that there should be more restrictions in mobility among the unvaccinated and the resumption of mandatory masking. She instead urged the public to be more cautious and vigilant.

"Every one of us has the right to know what our risks are so that we will know if we would wear our masks or not," Vergeire said.

It is also counterproductive to reimpose restrictions now that the economy is slowly moving back on track after two years of lockdowns, she added.

She said the increase in the number of cases should not be attributed to the Holy Week exodus, but to the presence of more transmissible Covid-19 variants and the interaction of people during the dry season, among other things.

She noted that the IATF-EID has not elevated some provinces under Alert Level 2, explaining that the 26 areas remained under Alert Level 2 because of the level of vaccinations there.

Vergeire said the IATF' s new policy on the alert level system was still being discussed, specifically on the "decoupling" of the restrictions to the alert level system and that the system would just be used as a "warning signal" as a guide for local government units.

"We gave local governments the flexibility [to implement restrictions] as long as we follow the layers of protection to prevent more people from getting sick," she added.

Vergeire said the local government units were enjoined to implement the vaccination of second booster doses as the guidelines for its administration have been issued, and urged the public to get their booster shots at the nearest health center.

Daphne Oseña Paez appointed as Palace 'press briefer'

By Kristina Maralit  and Aric John Sy Cua

December 21, 2022 1180

(UPDATE) TELEVISION personality and The Manila Times columnist Daphne Oseña Paez has been appointed as the official "press briefer" of the Palace.

Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) Officer in Charge Cheloy Garafil formally introduced Paez to the Malacañang Press Corps in a briefing on Tuesday.

Garafil said that Paez's main role will be to give the press briefer on "every activity, program of President [Ferdinand] Marcos Jr."

Paez, who earned her degrees in Fine Arts and History from the University of Toronto, began her career in media in the country in ABS-CBN as a news reporter in the 1990s. She was also the weather presenter of the late night English newscast, "The World Tonight."

As Malacañang's "explainer," Paez will "regularly be the source of updates from the Palace."

"I look forward to working with all of you in a harmonious and collegial manner because I am also one of you. I am very honored to be communicating the message and programs of this administration, of course, in an accurate and effective way and I will do my best," the 52-year-old said.

She likewise clarified that she is not the new Palace spokesman and that Marcos will still continue to "speak for himself."

"I am just here to support the Office of the Press Secretary for now," she said.

Paez told reporters that this is her first time working directly with the government.

ABS-CBN, TV5 drop merger deal

By Aric John Sy Cua  and Arlie O. Calalo 

RIVAL networks ABS-CBN and TV5 have called off the investment deal they signed earlier following an initiative in the House of Representatives to have the agreement investigated.

Competing cable companies Sky Cable and Cignal have also terminated their deal.

In a statement it released on Thursday, ABS-CBN said: "In disclosures to both the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Securities Exchange Commission today, Sky Vision Corporation ('Sky Vision'), ABS-CBN Corporation, Lopez Inc. and Cignal Cable Corporation ('Cignal Cable') announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate the sale and purchase agreement dated August 10, 2022."

The agreement involved the acquisition by Cignal Cable of a 38.88-percent equity interest in Sky Cable and the subscription by Cignal Cable to an "exchangeable debt instrument to be issued by Sky Vision and the proposed acquisition by Cignal Cable of a convertible note issued by Sky Cable."

ABS-CBN said that the termination was formalized through a memorandum of agreement.

In a separate disclosure, the two networks said they have "mutually agreed to terminate" their agreement covering the proposed acquisition by ABS-CBN of 34.99-percent equity interest in TV5 and the subscription by ABS-CBN to a "convertible note" to be issued by TV5.

TV5 has been broadcasting some ABS-CBN shows after the franchise of the former media flagship of the Lopezes was not renewed in 2020.

The two networks then revealed they were working out some kind of a merger.

Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, who was at the forefront of the campaign to deny ABS-CBN a new franchise, promptly declared he will have the House investigate the deal.

Another critic of the merger, lawyer Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon, said on Thursday TV5 might have eventually realized that the agreement could jeopardize the company's future.

"What cannot be done directly, cannot be done indirectly," Gadon told The Manila Times.

"The TV5-ABS-CBN deal on the sale of 35 percent stockholdings may cause the revocation of the franchise of TV5 or may cause the denial of its application for a renewal once its franchise expires," he said.

Gadon ran for senator last May under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, the party of the father of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., former president Ferdinand E. Marcos.

He said that because the ABS-CBN is tainted with foreign funds, "the whole equity of TV5 will also become tainted with foreign funds."

Such a merger will also violate the constitutional requirement that a mass media organization must be fully Filipino owned, he said.

Lea Salonga sings Jose Mari Chan classic with Pentatonix's new Christmas album

By Aric John Sy Cua, Manila Times

Filipino singer Lea Salonga confirmed that she is featured in the latest Christmas album of Pentatonix.

Salonga and Pentatonix will sing Jose Mari Chan's Christmas classic, Christmas in our Hearts, as part of the acapella group's new Christmas album, Holidays around the World.

"Yes, folks! This is happening! Had the most wonderful time recording this classic Filipino Christmas song with Pentatonix," Salonga wrote on her Instagram on Thursday. "And yes, fellow Pinoys, this is the Christmas In Our Hearts you think it is!"

The new albums consists of 12 Christmas tracks, including two original songs by the band.

Other singers in the album include Meghan Trainor, Magatte Sow, Grace Lokwa and Hiba Tawaji.

37 countries to participate in Eurovision 2023

The list of countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool. SCREENGRAB FROM YOUTUBE

By Aric John Sy Cua, Manila Times

The full participant list was revealed on the Contest's YouTube page on Thursday.

The countries participating in Liverpool are as follows: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and host country the United Kingdom.

Next year's contest will have the lowest number of participating countries since the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark, which also had 37 countries.

Going directly to the grand final are Germany, France, Spain, 2022 hosts Italy and 2023 hosts United Kingdom, as they comprise the "Big Five", which are the biggest financial contributors to the Contest. For next year's show, having won the 2022 contest, Ukraine will have the automatic qualification for the 2023 grand final.

"Of the 37 nations taking part, 31 will compete in two Semi-Finals with 10 successful acts from each Semi-Final joining 4 of the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), hosts the United Kingdom and Ukraine in the Grand Final," a statement from the European Broadcasting Union read.

Not returning to next year's Contest are Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Russia and Belarus are both ineligible to participate because their broadcasters are currently suspended by the EBU.

Although Bulgaria's Eurovision Twitter handle said they have lost interest in the Contest, there are reports saying the withdrawal was due to financial reasons. They recently returned to Twitter after briefly deactivating to wish the participating countries going to Liverpool all the best.