Metro Manila better prepared for dry season

By: Catherine Talavera - The Philippine Star 

MANILA, Philippines — As the water level at Angat Dam continues to drop, the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) said Metro Manila and nearby areas are more prepared to face potential water supply issues in the dry season compared to the shortage in 2019 as augmentation measures are in place.

At a Laging Handa public briefing over the weekend, NWRB executive director Sevillo David said compared to 2019, the country is more prepared to address water supply issues it may face in the upcoming dry season due to the presence of deep wells and water treatment facilities, which were not available before.

Data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration showed that the reservoir water level of Angat Dam continues to decline as it stood at 197.85 meters as of 6 a.m. Saturday. This is lower than the dam’s normal high level of 212 meters.

David said the projects and activities of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and its concessionaires help in preparing for the needed water supply in the summer.

The MWSS said earlier that it has put in place supply augmentation measures, along with its concessionaires, to ease the pressure in the already drought-like trend of Angat and the sustainability of clean, potable water for the 19 million people in the service area.

According to the MWSS, among the augmentation measures by its west-zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc. are the non-revenue water reduction of 40 million liters per day (MLD) for summer and additional 42 MLD at the end of 2022; the operation of existing 12 MLD deep wells (one MLD existing and additional 11 MLD for summer); the operation of four MLD Portable Water Treatment Plant by February 2022 and another 18.6 MLD by September 2022 in Cavite.

Other measures include the operation of the backwash recovery system in La Mesa Water Treatment Plants one and two, as well as network pressure management to equally distribute the available water through the regulation of 1,200 Pressure Regulating Valves and 50 primary Valves in the Bagbag network system.

East zone concessionaire Manila Water Co. Inc. announced earlier that it is preparing its water supply contingency and augmentation programs for the summer to ensure water availability, as the water level at Angat Dam continues to drop.

“To prepare for the coming summer months and in light of lower-than-projected levels at Angat Dam, Manila Water puts into motion its water supply contingency and augmentation plans while working and coordinating closely with the MWSS and the NWRB, to help ensure that customers will experience continuous water supply even during peak demand periods,” Manila Water said in an earlier statement.

Among these contingencies are the maximization of the 100 MLD capacity of the Cardona Water Treatment Plant, which draws water from Laguna Lake; operation of deep wells which can provide additional 115 MLD and operation of the 20-MLD Marikina Portable Water Treatment Plant, which can treat water from the Marikina River.

Apart from the MWSS, David said the NWRB is also in coordination with the National Irrigation Administration, as the Angat Dam is also a source of irrigation for farm lands in Bulacan and Pampanga.

The NWRB earlier urged the public to conserve and use water wisely due to the Angat Dam’s lower than expected water level to ensure that sufficient water is available for municipal irrigation and hydropower uses in the subsequent months.

Oil prices go up Tuesday

By: Danessa Rivera - The Philippine Star 

MANILA, Philippines — Oil prices will be raised for the fifth straight week on Tuesday.

In its oil price forecast, Unioil Philippines said both diesel and gasoline fuels would be increased by P0.70 to P0.80 per liter.

Global oil prices started the past trading week on a weak note as talks of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve spooked the market, Reuters reported.

Brent crude broke the $90-per-barrel level for the first time in seven years on Wednesday due to tight supply and the rising political tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the wire service said.

At the end of the trading week, global oil prices still recorded its sixth weekly gain, driven by concerns over geopolitical issues such as the attacks on the United Arab Emirates by Yemen’s Houthi group and a possible military conflict in Ukraine.

Data from the Department of Energy showed year-to-date adjustments stand at a total net increase of P4.95 per liter for gasoline, P7.20 per liter for diesel and P6.75 per liter for kerosene

The supernatural dimension of our life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

LET’S always remember that our life is not simply a natural, human life. It is also meant to be supernatural since it is supposed to be a life with God, involved in his work of creation and redemption of mankind, and in the over-all providence he exercises over all his creation.

No wonder then that we can find ourselves at wit’s end as to what and how to do what Christ would ask of us, since there will always be things that would be beyond our powers to carry out.

Remember that episode of Christ telling Peter to go to the deep (duc in altum)? (cfr. Lk 5,1-11) Peter was astounded. “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,” he at first said, but rectifying himself because of his faith, Peter said, “but at your command I will lower the nets.” And the miraculous catch took place.

Because of the supernatural dimension of our life, we should see to it that we are always guided by our Christian faith, and not just by our senses and our spiritual powers of intelligence and will, though all these are also indispensable.

We should just go along with what God through Christ and through the different instrumentalities God communicates with us would ask of us, no matter how impossible for us to do, because what is impossible for us is always possible with him.

Like Mary who just said, “Be it done to me according to your word,” when the archangel Gabriel told her she would become the mother of the son of God, we should just believe and accept what is told and given to us, even if we don’t understand the things being asked of us.

That is faith in faith in action, faith which “moves us to believe because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.” (CCC 156)

We need to work on our faith in order to keep it alive, vibrant and functional, especially in some difficult if not impossible occasions. We should not be surprised that life and all the challenges and trials we are going to face in it will always demand from us things beyond our powers and resources. And that’s simply because we are meant to go to God for all our needs, without neglecting any effort we can give along the way.

With God, we have everything. As St. Teresa de Avila would put it, “Solo Dios basta!” What we lack in our humanity, we can always make up by relying always and completely on God. 

But, alas, this can happen only when we have faith, for faith is our best resource. As St. John puts it in his first letter, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” (Jn 5,4) Without faith, we are left with a big problem right from the start.

As Christians, we should readily realize that our life should not just be our own life, but rather always a life with God. And since God is supernatural, then our life also ought to be supernatural without, of course, compromising what is natural to us. Thus, there is a need for us to develop a desire, a liking, an appetite for the supernatural life, i.e., a life with God. And this means we have to have faith, that brings with it hope and charity.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

EJ Obiena jumpstarts indoor season in Berlin

Photo from EJ Obiena’s Facebook page

by Kristel Satumbaga-Villar, Manila Bulletin-

Pole vaulter EJ Obiena returns to competition Friday amid his rift with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) by seeing action in the ISTAF Indoor Berlin tournament in Germany.

The competition is expected to jumpstart Obiena’s indoor season campaign where he is scheduled to compete in four more events this month after the Berlin meet.

Obiena, who holds the national and Asian record of 5.93 meters, will be up against a stacked field led by reigning world record holder and Olympic champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden.

Duplantis opened his 2022 season last week with a gold medal at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in Germany after vaulting a new meet record of 6.02m.

Also in the lineup are fellow Tokyo Olympians KC Lightfoot of the United States, Germany’s Oleg Zernikel, Torben Blech and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre, and Poland’s Piotr Lisek.

Rutger Koppelaar of the Netherlands, who competed in the 2019 world championships, will also see action.

After the Berlin meet, Obiena will head to Uppsala, Sweden for the International Pole Vault Invitational on Feb. 9, followed by the Orlen Cup in Loz, Poland.

He will then head to Lievin, France for the Meeting Hauts-De-France on Feb. 17, followed by the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland on Feb. 22.

Tracy Maureen Perez: Ready for the world

Tracy Maureen Perez (Miss World Philippines Organization Facebook)

by Robert Requintina, Manila Bulletin

Miss Philippines Tracy Maureen Perez is ready for the world as she remains in the top fighting form for the Miss World 2021 beauty pageant, which will be held in Puerto Rico on March 16.

During an intimate catch-up huddle at Pandan Cafe in Quezon City on Feb. 2, Perez said that she’s slowly but surely getting the momentum back in time for the finals.

“I’ve worked the hardest to be where I am, and I’m proud of that. I basically came from scratch, And they see that. They don’t see a beauty queen, they see a person. And that’s very important,” she said.

Perez, 28, also said that she doesn’t feel any pressure now being the official flag bearer of the Philippines. “I don’t really think about it much. My co-candidates told me that I’m different from what they envisioned Miss Philippines to be.”

With the guidance of Miss World Philippines National Director Arnold Vegafria and the expert supervision of Aces and Queens trainers, Perez is confident she can prep herself up again for competition within a month’s time.

“If there’s one thing I learned from my Miss World journey so far, I just always have to stick to what I know. It pays to just be yourself because they know if you’re putting up a facade,” she said. “That’s also my takeaway from our previous queens, that there’s really no formula. At the end of the day, it’s just faith. It’s about you performing and just being prepared for anything.”

Only the Top 40 candidates have been invited to go back to Puerto Rico for the finals and the Cebuana beauty queen is one of them. Perez is one of the 15 winners of the pageant’s fast-track challenges. They will be joined in by 25 delegates who were chosen by the judges.

The 15 fast-track winners are: Cote D’ Ivoire, Mexico, Mongolia, India, England, Kenya, Philippines, South Africa, United States, Paraguay, Cameroon, Nepal, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Botswana.

The 25 judges choice for the Top 40 are: Poland, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Colombia, The Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, France, Ecuador, Guinea, Bahamas, Malaysia, Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia, Trinidad & Tobago, Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Somalia, Chile, China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Iceland.

When the Miss World 2021 pageant was postponed again in December due to COVID-19, Perez said she was unfazed.

“It could be frustrating for some, but I tried my best to compose and calm myself because it’s something I couldn’t control. I’ll just take it as a blessing that I’ll have more time to prepare,” she said.

Tracy was able to take some time off as she took her first US trip and spend the holidays with her relatives in Oceanside, San Diego, California. She returned to Manila mid-January, just in time to mount her battle plan to hold her own relief operations for the victims of typhoon Odette, which also hit her hometown in Argao, Cebu.

“I’ve been in contact with relatives and friends in Cebu during the height of the typhoon, so I know the situation. Some areas still don’t have power yet. Even our house in Argao was hit, but not as badly as the other areas.”

Perez said that she is also privileged that her outreach project for the single mothers in Cordova, Cebu, had been selected as her beneficiaries of her Beauty With A Purpose Challenge.

“During the Miss World preliminaries, I think that was one of my proudest moments – not because I was being recognized – but more because I had fulfilled my mission for them. That’s the time I realized that there have not been as many efforts addressing the struggles of single moms. So when Miss World organization selected my project, I knew I had done my rightful part,” she also said.

Perez continued to talk in detail about her plan for solo parents.

“It’s all about capabilities training, giving them the skills to earn a better livelihood, specifically BPO and computer training. We’re also bridging the gap for them by hooking them up with their eventual employers. One of our partners in the project is a BPO owner. So, they’re literally ready to take them under their wings very soon.”

The Miss World 2021 beauty pageant will be telecast on CNN Philippines on March 17.

4 Visayas cities very high risk for COVID-19

Vendors and other individuals working at the night market queue for their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Divisoria, Manila during the night vaccination program of the local government on Aug. 2, 2021.

The STAR / Miguel de Guzman

By: Janvic Mateo - The Philippine Star 

MANILA, Philippines — Four highly urbanized cities in the Visayas are still considered “very high risk” for COVID-19, according to a member of the OCTA Research Group.

OCTA fellow Guido David said the average daily attack rate (ADAR) or the number of infections per 100,000 people remains “very high” in Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu and Mandaue.

Iloilo recorded the highest ADAR as of Tuesday with 64.06 followed by Cebu with 40.32; Mandaue, 29.99, and Bacolod, 27.26.

The four cities also have high reproduction numbers of over 1.0 and very high positivity rates of more than 20 percent.

In terms of health care utilization, Mandaue logged a high 78 percent. The three other cities are now at moderate levels.

David said Lapu-Lapu, Ormoc and Tacloban are classified as ”high risk” for COVID-19.

He said Lapu-Lapu recorded a very high ADAR of 39.83, but its health care utilization rate was below 50 percent, which is considered low based on the metric used by OCTA.

Ormoc had a moderate ADAR of 9.12 while Tacloban recorded a high 15.62 daily new infections per 100,000 people in the past week.

Positivity rates in the three cities remain very high. Ormoc logged the highest at 75 percent.

Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Ormoc and Tacloban were placed under Alert Level 3 until Feb. 15 due to a surge in COVID cases fueled by the Omicron variant.

Christ empowers us to be apostles

 

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

THAT’S clear when we consider how Christ mandated and empowered his apostles who were sent out two by two and given authority over unclean spirits. (cfr. Mk 6,7) We have to realize that this mandate and empowerment are also given to us who are supposed to continue Christ’s redemptive work till the end of time. 

Obviously, this is done in different ways considering the different circumstances of each one of us. But these mandates and empowerment stand. We need to correspond to this truth about this Christian duty of ours. We may always feel inadequate for the mission given to us, but we should keep our faith strong in the words of Christ. We can hack it.

We just have to know where that true empowerment can really come from. That’s because nowadays, with the plethora of ideologies sprouting all over, there is a lot of confusion and even outright error being propagated in this regard.

True empowerment can only come from God in Christ through the Holy Spirit who now inspires the Church Christ founded on the pillars of the apostles and endowed with powers that assure her of her fidelity till the end of time despite men’s weaknesses, mistakes and sins. Remember Christ saying, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16,18)

In saying this, we are not suggesting, of course, that this claim be simply rammed down our throat. We should just look into history and see how the Church, despite the frailty of those governing it and the enormous challenges and crises it had to face and suffer, has managed to survive up to now. The Church indeed has the authority to convey Christ’s message and Christ himself to us.

That true empowerment can only come from God through Christ as can be gleaned from the following passages in the Bible:

-“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4,13)

-“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Eph 6,10)

-“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” (Eph 3,16)

-“The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.” (Habakkuk 3,19)

To be sure, this can only happen if we exert effort to identify ourselves with Christ who, for his part, identifies himself with us. In fact, Christ goes all the way by assuming all our sins and conquering them with his death and resurrection. And he offers forgiveness to us.

Like Christ, we have to realize that our power can come only when we are also properly detached from the things of this world. Thus, in his instructions to the apostles, he told them “to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.” (Mk 6,8-9)

Such detachment would help us to be properly focused on our duty and mission as apostles. We know very well how the things of this world can easily spoil us. We should always be wary of this possibility. Thus, we need to constantly check ourselves to see if we are still following Christ’s words.

* Chaplain Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

Is the worst of the pandemic over? We can only hope so!

by Manila Bulletin

News articles and government announcements coming from our neighbors, such as Thailand and Vietnam, paint a rosy prospect for the tourism, hospitality, and retail industries in the coming months. It seems businesses in general couldn’t take any more restrictions and lockdowns, so the best way that their governments have handled the situation is to bring back a sense of normalcy and allow their citizens to adapt to the new normal way of life.

Thailand’s Public Health Ministry, for example, has just proposed easing of COVID-19 curbs in light of the diminishing threat of the Omicron variant. This allowed businesses to open at longer hours and to serve more tourists.

Thailand’s situation is also similar with the Philippines, as our country’s IATF has already placed NCR plus seven other provinces under the less strict Alert Level 2.

The Alert Level 2 classification will be imposed until Feb. 15, 2022. This announcement seemed like a “booster” for the local businesses, a shot of adrenaline to awaken the humdrum state of the economy. Now, malls, restaurants, and hotels are coming up with Valentine’s Day packages and promotions, wooing weary Filipino couples to have some fun in the Month of Hearts. Normally, we wouldn’t mind this but seeing businesses get excited is heartening news, since this also means more Filipinos are employed, more business people are recuperating their losses, and more enterprises would be able to thrive and survive.

The Alert Level 2 decision in NCR, according to the Department of Health (DOH), is due to the fact that there was a decline in new COVID-19 cases and an uptick in vaccination rates, especially with minors being allowed to have a vaccine jab.

With all these positive developments, the question asked by many is this: “Is the worst of the pandemic over?” Judging how some European countries such as the UK, Spain, Germany and Denmark reacted, it seems that their response is “yes,” as they have started the process to downgrade COVID-19 to endemic status. London, for example, now allows its citizens to go out in public without face masks. Denmark completely lifted all health restrictions, including the wearing of masks.

The World Health Organization (WHO), on the other hand, is adamant that these “sudden moves” to reclassify COVID-19 as endemic are not helpful, especially as “many countries still have low vaccination rates and whose unvaccinated citizens are many times more at risk of severe illness and death.”

“Omicron may be less severe,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “but the narrative that it is a mild disease is misleading, and hurts the overall response and costs more lives. The virus is still circulating far too intensely with many still vulnerable. Countries must remain calm as the next few weeks remain critical.”

Dousing plans for end-of-pandemic celebrations, the WHO chief believes that the pandemic is “nowhere near over and with the growth of Omicron, new variants are likely to emerge.”

Looking at both sides of the coin — businesses calling for more mobility and lesser restrictions; and health experts calling for more caution and lesser freedoms — there seems to be no agreement if the pandemic is already at its end stages. So what do we do? As citizens who have grown weary of the past 22 months with on-and-off lockdowns and erratic imposition of restrictions, will we endure more months or another year of the pandemic? Or should we just go ahead with our lives and try our best to adapt with the new normal situation? Time can only tell.

Anything is possible’: PFF convinced Filipina booters can pull off shocker vs South Korea

Photo from Philippine Football Federation

by Reynald I. Magallon, Manila Bulletin

The Philippine Football Federation wouldn’t be surprised if the national women’s football team pulls off another shocker, this time, against the fancied South Korean squad in the semifinals of the AFC Women’s Asia Cup on Feb. 3 in Pune, India

PFF president Mariano ‘Nonong’ Araneta and secretary general Ed Gastanes both expressed their confidence that the national team can once again defy expectations especially after its historic win over Chinese Taipei on Sunday which allowed the Filipina booters to clinch the country’s very first FIFA World Cup seat.

 

“I think ‘yung adrenaline nila andyan pa so extra fuel yan to play harder and play better and yung confidence nila kasi that they have shown na they can compete with the best teams,” said Araneta during the Philippine Sportswriter Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 1.

“The team has shown and the coaching that we have, I think kaya naman natin makipag compete against South Korea and baka makasilat tayo, malamay mo di ba,” he added.

Gastanes echoed Araneta’s sentiments, saying that the national team has been at the top level of the Asian competition since the 2018 Asian Cup where it fell one victory shy of finally making it to the world stage.

The addition of Coach Allen Stajcic and his crew, along with the team’s intensive preparations keyed the Filipinas’ breakthrough success which wrote a new page in the Philippine football history.

“Some forget that in 2018 Asian Cup, we were number six but five only will go to the World Cup, so 2018 kumakatok na tayo and what we did was to continue the program,” Gastanes recalled.

“Initially we got coach Marlo (Maro) in the Asian Cup qualifiers and then coach Allen and his coaching team, that really helped a lot,” he furthered.

Gastanes also lauded the grit of the Filipina booters in the face of tough challenge, putting up stellar performances against the likes of Thailand and Australia and was later on capped by the dramatic 4-3 win over the Taiwanese in the penalty shootout.

“I see the difference now in the attitude, in the fitness of the players so I will not be surprised if they surprised Korea on February 3. Anything is possible with this team because they are so motivated yet they are humble and they practice hard. Anything is possible.”

OCTA on COVID-19 surge: The 'worst is over' in most parts of PH

(JANSEN ROMERO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

by Charie Mae F. Abarca, Manila Bulletin

Now that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases have peaked in several parts of the country, an OCTA research fellow said that “the worst is probably over in most parts of the Philippines” in terms of the COVID-19 surge.

“The good news is, and I want to emphasize, is that we could imagine that the worst is probably over for most of the country because cases have peaked or peaking,” said OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David during a virtual forum on Monday, Jan. 31.

However, David reiterated that this does not mean that the viral transmission is over.

“It doesn’t mean that it’s all clear. We should still follow health protocols as we go out because there is still a significant number of cases, especially in many parts of the country,” he added.

David said that among the provinces which are still seeing a significant increase in new COVID-19 infections were Bukidnon, Camiguin, Cotabato, Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental, Maguindanao, Negros Oriental, Sarangani, South Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat.

“Except for Negros Oriental which is in Visayas, most of the provinces are in Mindanao. What happened was that the surge happened later in these provinces, that’s why they’re still at an accelerating stage, whereas the surge has already matured and is now on a downward trend in Visayas and Luzon,” said David.

The OCTA research group previously stated that the Omicron-driven surge of COVID-19 is less likely to return in Metro Manila, but provinces outside the region should brace for the rise in infections.

Meanwhile, David still urged the public to continue adhering to the minimum public health standards such as the proper wearing of mask and observing physical distancing to further prevent the transmission of the disease.