Taal Volcano smog blankets nearby communities amid high level of sulfur dioxide emission

by Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz, Manila Bulletin

Taal Volcano’s main crater emits steam-rich plumes at 9:11 a.m., Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, as seen from Phivolcs’ monitoring station in Cuenca, Batangas. (PHIVOLCS)

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Friday, Aug. 12, advised residents around Taal Volcano in Batangas to avoid outdoor activities as the active volcano continued to emit a high level of sulfur dioxide in the past 24 hours.

“A total of 13,572 tons per day of volcanic sulfur dioxide or SO2 gas emission from the Taal Main Crater was recorded yesterday (Aug. 11) that produced significant volcanic smog or vog over Taal Caldera,” Phivolcs said in an advisory.

“Airborne volcanic gas is expected to be drifted to the general east to north-northeast of Taal Volcano Island or TVI based on air parcel trajectory data from PAGASA,” it added.

Phivolcs said that Taal Volcano averaged 7,818 tons of SO2 per day since July 15, which has been an increase from the average of 1,289 tons per day between May and mid-July 2022.

“Since the beginning of August 2022, there has been an increase in degassing activity in the form of visible upwelling of volcanic fluids in the Main Crater Lake and emission of voluminous steam-rich plumes that last night rose 2,800 meters above TVI,” it pointed out.

‘Vog’ threats

Phivolcs said the volcanic smog or “vog” over the Taal Caldera started to “thicken” between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., Thursday.

It added that sulfurous stench was reported by residents of Banyaga, Agoncillo; Poblacion 5, Boso-boso, and Gulod, Laurel; and Poblacion, Talisay, Batangas.

“Vog consists of fine droplets containing volcanic gas such as SO2, which is acidic and can cause irritation of the eyes, throat and respiratory tract with severities depending on the gas concentrations and durations of exposure,” Phivolcs said.

“People who may be particularly sensitive to vog are those with health conditions such as asthma, lung disease and heart disease, the elderly, pregnant women and children,” it added.

Phivolcs advised those vulnerable to vog to limit their exposure by avoiding outdoor activities, staying indoors, and shutting doors and windows to block out vog.

Likewise, residents were urged to cover their nose, “ideally with an N95 facemask.”

“Drink plenty of water to reduce any throat irritation or constriction. If belonging to the particularly sensitive group of people above, watch over yourself and seek help from a doctor or the barangay health unit if needed, especially if serious effects are experienced,” Phivolcs added.

Moreover, crop damage that likely resulted from acid rain was also reported in Cabuyao, Laguna on Aug. 8.

Acid rain can be generated during periods of rainfall and volcanic gas emission over areas where the plume disperses, causing damage to crops and affecting metal roofs of houses and buildings.

Phivolcs said Taal Volcano remained under Alert Level 1, which means it was still in an abnormal condition and should not be interpreted to have ceased unrest nor ceased the threat of eruptive activity.

“Should an uptrend or pronounced change in monitored parameters forewarn of renewed unrest, the Alert Level may be raised back to Alert Level 2,” it said.

“Conversely, should there be a return of monitoring parameters to baseline levels after a sufficient observation period, the Alert Level will be further lowered to Alert Level 0,” it pointed out.

Under Alert Level 1, sudden steam-driven or phreatic explosions, volcanic earthquakes, minor ashfall and lethal accumulations or expulsions of volcanic gas can occur and threaten areas within the Taal Volcano Island (TVI).

“Phivolcs strongly recommends that entry into TVI, Taal’s permanent danger zone or PDZ, especially the vicinities of the main crater and the Daang Kastila fissure, must remain strictly prohibited,” it said.

PLGU Davao de Oro maintains ISO certification

 

Quality-service delivery, accountability, and proficiency in managing people's resources is among the top priority and goal of the provincial government of Davao de Oro headed by Governor Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga. 

In the recently concluded audit report by the certification body auditors or International Organization for Standardization (ISO) evaluators from TÜV SÜD PSB Philippines Inc., the provincial government maintained its certificate for international standardization after it passed the 1st Surveillance Audit of the ISO 9001:2015 Certification, which indicates that the institution continues its efforts not just to continually improve the efficiency of its systems and processes but also consistently provide the high-quality service delivery that the constituents deserve. 

Moreover, the Enterprise Feedback Management System (EFMS) plays a vital role in the Quality Management System (QMS) since it is a management tool for customer satisfaction and continual improvement. The system was formulated by the Provincial Information and Technology Office (PICTO), headed by Joyzel Odi, and was commended by the ISO evaluators for its timely consolidation of external and internal feedback into a single, time-saving platform, increasing access to and simplifying the use of valuable client data across the entire institution.

"EFMS enables authoring of survey forms. Response collection is via paper forms (which are encoded to the system) or URL link or qrcode link (which are scanned by the raters). Department heads or admin officers are notified via email for every below satisfactory feedback. They manage responses by viewing complaints and indicating actions (which are emailed to the rater)", Odi said.

She also added that "Implementation status of the indicated actions are validated by the Internal Audit Office. The system provides data analytics thru tabulations, charts, and trends. It also identifies issues and sentiments". 

Furthermore, the Provincial Human Resource Mgt. & Development Office (PHRMDO) head Lara Kristy Bermejo expressed her appreciation to all department heads and process owners for their unwavering support in realizing the goals of QMS for the institution despite the challenges brought by the pandemic.

"To the ISO Core Team...thank you all so much! Seeing you all working silently but very diligently is truly heartwarming! I see in each one of you the true desire of making our institution improve consistently," Bermejo said.

The success of the ISO audit was another milestone under the administration, which is one of the pillars of good governance in the province. Thus, achieving and maintaining the ISO certification yields many benefits, such as satisfied clients, management, and employees. (PAO-IPRD DdO)

DepEd urges learners to vaccinate vs Covid

By Ruth Palo, Manila Times

DAVAO CITY: The Department of Education (DepEd) here has continued to call on students to get vaccinated to protect themselves against Covid-19 as classes start on August 22.

Based on the data provided by the agency, there were only 284,696 learners in the entire Region 11 who had been inoculated as of July 2022 data.

Out of the 284,696, 45,977 are elementary school pupils, 167,125 are in junior high school, 62,771 senior high students, and 8,823 are enrolled in the Alternative Learning System.

DepEd regional spokesman Jenielito Atillo, during the I-Speak media forum on Thursday, August 11, said that they cannot force the parents and their children to get vaccinated since there is no law mandating them to do so.

Atillo said the department is fully supportive of the government's effort to vaccinate children. However, he said the only problem as far as DepEd is concerned, this is not mandatory.

"There is this constitutional guarantee on the freedom of choice that is why if you can remember in all our engagements we say we encourage all to be vaccinated but of course we cannot force them really to be inoculated for so many reasons," Atillo said.

Religion and health concerns are among the many reasons why parents refused to have their children vaccinated, according to Atillo.

Despite the low turnout of vaccination among learners, the department continues to encourage parents to have their children inoculated.

Atillo, meanwhile, said almost a million students in the Davao Region have already enrolled for the school year 2022-2023.

As of August 11, a total of 951,312 students have already enrolled. The figure is already 68 percent of last year's 1,395,893 enrollees, with over a week left for enrollment.

Out of the more than 950,000 students enrolled, 349,557 are from Davao City.

Atillo, however, said the number is a "far cry" from the number of enrollees in the past two years of the pandemic.

Atillo said that for the first months of the school year, all schools will offer a hybrid modality of learning, and will shift to a full face-to-face learning scheme on November 2.

19.26M enrolled for new school year

He said the return to full face-to-face classes is "going to be a resurrection of the traditional conduct of classes in the country."

Atillo assures us that the department has already prepared contingency plans to respond to any health risks and incidents such as the possibility of another surge of Covid-19 cases.

SOCIETY'S SOCIAL WEAKLINGS?

Refusal and compassion characterize society's attitude as regards social weaklings and handicapped people. It's a topic which one gladly drives out, represses or tries to forget. I have written about this topic many times, although I have missed more about it.

Even in different groups, some segments of society are distant from them. The socially discriminated and handicapped people don't correspond to performance, work, capacity, stress and competition in our daily surroundings. Opinions like these - well, that's how people do it!

The anti-social slum inhabitant has not accepted his responsibility, and the anti-social confidence trickster, certainly not blind and without having difficulty in walking, doesn't believe in us. That's it! Finished!

The "bobo", the alcoholic, the without means "gentleman of the road" - so what! Did everybody not choose his own living conditions? In plain words: the ideals of success, ability, efficiency, and competitiveness in our performance-oriented society and its business life describe such fringe groups as "standard violators", such as in failure, flop or slacker. But remember: tax evasion or corruption is more costly than a social welfare client.

Do you have a social weakness or handicapped people in your surroundings - in your company? Mostly, these persons appear as a monotonous mass through the glasses of prejudices. How painful!

Honestly, but true: hindrance and handicap drive people into poverty many times. Prevailing opinion is that poverty is going for a fault. The affected people draw back themselves with a sensible sense of shame. And, have you given notice already: most handicapped people feel isolated in their surroundings. Meeting such people sometimes becomes even a bashful situation, while giving the appearance of normality. In my opinion: this must not happen!

Sometimes we try to avoid any communication, because we might say something wrong. Then - just put a smile on your face, as I often did. I really plead for more integration. Let's give "such people" autonomy and acceptance starting in school or kindergarten. Let's increase more livable offers for organizations. Social weaklings and handicapped people don't hinder, hamper or prevent us from living in a society with a philanthropist face. We are all human beings.

Here’s my theory: Everyone wakes up in a good mood. It’s people and society that changes it.

Ban on Luzon, M’nao poultry extended

By Glenda Tayona, Panay News

ILOILO City – The city government extended its ban on live poultry, poultry products and byproducts from Luzon and Mindanao.

The Avian Influenza or bird flu outbreak there has not abated, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas in Executive Order (EO) No. 043-2022 extending the ban for 30 more days effective immediately.

The ban would protect Iloilo’s poultry industry and shield the Ilonggos from “the unknown risks that this outbreak may cause the consuming public,” the EO read.

Avian Influenza is a highly contagious viral disease caused by any Influenza A virus affecting several species of food-producing birds (chickens, turkeys, quails, guinea row,. etc.). as well as pet birds and wild birds.

The temporary ban is imposed on the following:

* all live birds (poultry and non-poultry) including day-old chicks, pullets, hatching eggs, ready-to-lay pullets, semen, fresh egg, embryonated eggs, manure, ducks and quails and other poultry products and byproducts from Luzon and Mindanao

* pigeons for racing, flying, training, brooding and other related activities originating from Luzon and Mindanao, and those which have traveled thereto and intending to return to Iloilo City

* gamefowls from Luzon and Mindanao and those which have traveled thereto and intending to return to Iloilo City

The EO, however, allows the transshipment of imported day-old chicks, day-old pullets, hatching eggs as well as gamefowls from International airports and seaports to Iloilo City.

The transport of poultry meat from Luzon and Mindanao to Iloilo City shall be allowed only if the shipment is accompanied by a Meat Inspection Certificate (MIC) for domestic meat products or Certificate of Meat Inspection (COMI) for imported meat products.

MIC or COMI will be issued by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) along with the Shipping Permit issued by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).

Strict implementation of quarantine inspections shall also be imposed in all ports of entry – land, sea, or air – in Iloilo City.

Treñas tasked the City Veterinary Office, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture Region 6’s Regulatory Division and the BAI – Regional Veterinary Quarantine Service 6, to inspect the regulatory requirements of all incoming poultry and poultry products.

In May, after more than a month of ban, the city government through a previously issued executive order opened its borders to eggs and day-old chicks from areas not affected by the Avian Influenza or bird flu to help poultry farmers.

But seeing the impending threat again following new confirmed cases of bird flu in the provinces of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Laguna, Benguet, North Cotabato, South Colabato, Maguindanao, and Isabela from April 30 to June 10, the city government opted to close its border again./PN

DTI DdO recognizes MSMEs as the backbone of Economic recovery

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the Provincial Government of Davao de Oro through the PAO-Investment Division, continues its efforts to support and empower the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by conducting business trade fairs, pitching, product expos, one-town one-product live selling, financing forums, and the like, as they are the backbone of the gradual economic recovery not only in the province but also in the entire country.

August 8–12, 2022 marks the 2022 MSME Week + Youth Entrepreneurship Program (YEP) Celebration in Davao de Oro with the theme "RISE MSMEs in the Digital Economy: Resilient, Innovative, Sustainable, and Empowered," which underpins MSMEs' resilience to continue their entrepreneurial journey, be innovative enough to cope with the drastic changes brought by the pandemic to sustain their small businesses and become empowered and successful entrepreneurs in the hardest of times.

During the week-long event, the local products of MSMEs, including innovative foods, textiles, arts and crafts, health, beauty, and wellness products of the province, were exhibited through a business trade fair at the Capitol Lobby as an act of support by the government, which allows them to promote their various products and later increase the reach of potential customers for their businesses. 

In addition, a business pitching competition for the young entrepreneurs and students from DDOSC Compostela, DDOSC Montevista, DDOSC New Bataan, DDOSC Maragusan, Monkayo College of Arts, Sciences and Technology, and Assumption College of Nabunturan was also conducted at the Activity Hall, Executive Building, where they showcased their unique and innovative products. Moreover, a one-town one-product live selling on social media platforms such as Facebook was also conducted to further promote their products.

Meanwhile, DTI DdO Provincial Director Atty. Lucky Siegfred M. Balleque presented some facts and figures that show the significant contribution of MSMEs to the growth and development of the economy. He said that it has always been the DTI's priority to assist the MSMEs to visualize and expand their businesses through programs, events, and activities to make the most of their ventures and would help them become large enterprises in the future. 

"According to the 2020 MSME Statistics conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), a total of 957,620 business enterprises are operating in the country. About 99.51% or 952,969 accounts for the MSMEs while the remaining 0.49% or 4,651 accounts for the large enterprises. These MSMEs created a total of 5,380,815 jobs, accounting for 62.66% of total employment in the country." said Balleque.

He also added that "recently the PSMED Council passed a resolution requesting Sangguniang Panlalawigan to enact an ordinance which would entitle eligible MSMEs to 10% of total procurement of goods and services supplied to the government. We will also request our LGUs to allocate the said budget for MSME development."

Furthermore, Governor Dorothy Gonzaga underpinned her support for the said events and reiterated that if we support more of our MSMEs, we could guarantee a positive change in our economy. 

"Sa atong mga leaders diri sa Davao de Oro, we are more than willing to give our all-out support para sa mga programa para kaninyu. After all , kamo ang mu-shape ug muhatag ug hitsura sa unsay hulagway diri sa Davao de Oro. Maningkamot mi ug unsa pa matabang nga mahatag na suporta sa kapitolyo sa inyu," Gov. Gonzaga said. (PAO-IPRD DdO)

PAO- Information and Public Relations Division

4th Flr, Executive Building,

Provincial Capitol Complex

Brgy Cabidianan, Nabunturan

Davao de Oro

Maguindanao flooding displaces 7,000 families

FLOODED SCHOOL. A school in Datu Montawal, Maguindanao, is submerged in floodwaters following heavy rains Tuesday (Aug. 9, 2022). All the town’s 11 barangays were submerged in floodwaters, prompting the local government to distribute relief packs to some 7,000 affected families in the area. Photo courtesy of Datu Montawal MDDRO via Philippine News Agency

By Franz R. Sumangil, Manila Times

MORE than 7,000 families have been displaced by flooding that hit Datu Montawal town in Maguindanao province last Tuesday, August 9.

Balumol Kadiding, municipal disaster officer of Datu Montawal, on Thursday said most of the flood victims have moved to safer grounds.

"However, many of them are home-based and are just waiting for the water to recede," Kadiding also said, adding that no casualty was reported.

All the town's 11 barangay (villages) were flooded after the Kabacan River overflowed because of heavy downpour in Bukidnon and North Cotabato.

Montawal, a town with a population of over 37,300 per 2020 census, is beside the Kabacan River and also near the Malitubog-Maridagao water channels.

Kadiding said flooding has been a recurring problem of Datu Montawal as the town served as a catch basin of river water from upstream or from North Cotabato and Bukidnon.

The water from the river flows toward the Maguindanao marshland.

Kadiding said ongoing relief operations will cushion the impact of the calamity on affected families.

He added that the town disaster council is set to convene anytime to consider recommending the declaration of a state of calamity.

Meanwhile, the provincial government of North Cotabato conducted a series of relief operations over the weekend for flood victims in the towns of Kabacan and Pikit.

In two flood-affected villages in Pikit, 559 families in Silik village were given relief aid while 90 families in Dalingaoen village received food packages and were also visited by Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza.

Sittie Eljori Antao-Balisi, Cotabato first district board member, assured the flood victims that the provincial government will keep on extending public service to residents of the province.

Silik village chairman Benzar Mangansakan expressed his gratitude to Mendoza for the assistance given by the provincial government.

Floods ruin farms in 3 Ifugao villages

Mangansakan said the relief aid greatly helped the residents as their primary source of food is adversely affected by the flooding.

The relief campaign was spearheaded by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office in cooperation with the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office and Pikit Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office.

Sen. Revilla files bill for movie industry

The Philippine movie industry is indeed one of the industries severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. It became more difficult to produce and market Filipino movies due to the restrictions in place thereby affecting the film producers, movie theater operators, and patrons. And in spite of the recent reopening of cinemas in the country, many are still hesitant to watch films inside movie theaters due to the long stay inside an enclosed venue.

This challenge is compounded by the existing decline of movie ticket sales in the country due to the various online platforms that evolving technology made available.

Aware of these difficulties, actor and current Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. filed Senate Bill No. 28 which aims to revive the Philippine movie industry by providing fiscal incentives to the proprietors, lessees, and operators of theaters and cinemas.

The bill removes the different national and local taxes imposed on the said industry such as income tax, excise tax, value-added tax, and amusement tax.

Drought, floods linked to infectious diseases

By Associated Press

Researchers looked through the medical literature of established cases of illnesses and found that 218 out of the known 375 human infectious diseases, or 58 percent, seemed to be made worse by one of 10 types of extreme weather connected to climate change, according to a study in Monday's journal Nature Climate Change.

The study mapped out 1,006 pathways from the climate hazards to sick people. In some cases, downpours and flooding sicken people through disease-carrying mosquitos, rats and deer. There are warming oceans and heat waves that taint seafood and other things we eat and droughts that bring bats carrying viral infections to people.

Doctors, going back to Hippocrates, have long connected disease to weather, but this study shows how widespread the influence of climate is on human health.

"If climate is changing, the risk of these diseases are changing," said study co-author Dr. Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Doctors, such as Patz, said they need to think of the diseases as symptoms of a sick Earth.

"The findings of this study are terrifying and illustrate well the enormous consequences of climate change on human pathogens," said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an Emory University infectious disease specialist, who was not part of the study.

"Those of us in infectious diseases and microbiology need to make climate change one of our priorities, and we need to all work together to prevent what will be without doubt a catastrophe as a result of climate change."

In addition to looking at infectious diseases, the researchers expanded their search to look at all types of human sicknesses, including non-infectious illnesses such as asthma, allergies and even animal bites to see how many maladies they could connect to climate hazards in some way, including infectious diseases.

They found a total of 286 unique sicknesses and of those 223 of them seemed to be worsened by climate hazards, nine were diminished by climate hazards and 54 had cases of both aggravated and minimized, the study found.

The new study doesn't do the calculations to attribute specific disease changes, odds or magnitude to climate change, but finds cases where extreme weather was a likely factor among many.

Study lead author Camilo Mora, a climate data analyst at the University of Hawaii, said what is important to note is that the study isn't about predicting future cases.

"There is no speculation here whatsoever," Mora said. "These are things that have already happened." One example Mora knows firsthand.

About five years ago, Mora's home in rural Colombia was flooded — for the first time in his memory water was in his living room, creating an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes — and Mora contracted Chikungunya, a nasty virus spread by mosquito bites. And even though he survived, he still feels joint pain years later.

Sometimes climate change acts in odd ways. Mora includes the 2016 case in Siberia when a decades-old reindeer carcass, dead from anthrax, was unearthed when the permafrost thawed from warming. A child touched it, got anthrax and started an outbreak.

Mora originally wanted to search medical cases to see how Covid-19 intersected with climate hazards, if at all. He found cases where extreme weather both exacerbated and diminished chances of Covid-19. In some cases, extreme heat in poor areas had people congregate together to cool off and get exposed to the disease, but in other situations, heavy downpours reduced Covid spread because people stayed home and indoors, away from others.

Longtime climate and public health expert Kristie Ebi at the University of Washington cautioned that she had concerns with how the conclusions were drawn and some of the methods in the study.

It is an established fact that the burning of coal, oil and natural gas has led to more frequent and intense extreme weather, and research has shown that weather patterns are associated with many health issues, she said.

"However, correlation is not causation," Ebi said in an email. "The authors did not discuss the extent to which the climate hazards reviewed changed over the time period of the study and the extent to which any changes have been attributed to climate change."

But Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at Harvard School of Public Health, Emory's del Rio and three other outside experts said the study is a good warning about climate and health for now and the future. Especially as global warming and habitat loss push animals and their diseases closer to humans, Bernstein said.

"This study underscores how climate change may load the dice to favor unwelcome infectious surprises," Bernstein said in an email. "But of course it only reports on what we already know and what's yet unknown about pathogens may be yet more compelling about how preventing further climate change may prevent future disasters like Covid-19."

Concern for those who have less in life

By Fr. Roy Cimagala *

LET’S remember always that God has a special concern for those who have less in life, like the simple and the weak, the sick and disabled, the children and the poor. And it gives him much pain if we would scandalize them, either through our culpable neglect of them or, worse, by leading them to sin.

This truth of our faith is somehow highlighted in that gospel episode where Christ preached about the need to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven, the care not to despise the little children, and his intent always to look for the lost sheep, regardless of the cost and effort involved. (cfr. Mt 18,1-5.10.12-14)

Let’s take note of what Christ once said about the kingdom of heaven. He went as far as to say that it is for little children precisely because of their simplicity: “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come to me. For the kingdom of heaven is for such.” (Mt 19,14)

We need to devise an interior mechanism, more spiritual than material, to keep ourselves like children even as we grow in worldly knowledge and skills, and prone to thinking that we can already live by ourselves, independently of God.

This mechanism can include anything that fosters our presence of God all throughout the day, the practice of rectifying our intention and relating everything that we do to God. We should feel the need for God always, earnest in our effort to look for him in everything that we do. 

We have to break the barrier of awkwardness and incompetence in this regard. We actually have the means. What’s missing is our will to use this mechanism.

And lest we think simplicity is naivete, and gullibility, let’s remind ourselves of what our Lord said: “Be wise as serpents and simple as doves.” (Mt 10,16) Simplicity would not be true simplicity if it does not come with cleverness and shrewdness. We just have to find ways of how we can blend these two apparently contrasting qualities together.

And if we are truly Christian, we should have true and abiding compassion toward everyone, especially the poor and the needy. But we have to understand that compassion should have universal coverage. It should not be limited to the sentimental aspects of things, nor to relieving the economic and material needs of people alone.

It should cover the whole range of human needs in their proper order of importance, foremost of which is our need for God. We have to learn to distinguish between the pressing and precious needs of man, and to cope with the tension that sometimes arises in our effort to put these two kinds of human needs together.

In this concern, we have to understand that the poor may not be the ones who are economically poor. They can be the richest, the most educated, the most famous and powerful, but who happen to be farthest from God. They can turn out, in that context, to be the poorest of the poor, the lost sheep that have strayed farthest from God.

They pose as the most difficult challenge in our duty to show compassion, to reflect in our life God’s love for all. Are we in the first place aware of this reality? Are we up to the challenge? Do we know how to tackle this problem?

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

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com