BI TO DISCONTINUE USE OF PAPER-BASED DEPARTURE CARDS
PASAY, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced that they will be discontinuing the use of paper-based departure cards starting May 1.
In an advisory, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that they are expanding the eTravel system to lessen the requirements of departing passengers.
Source: https://web.facebook.com/immigration....
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Sunday, April 2, 2023
NAIA Terminal Shuffle Alert: What You Need Know to Avoid Inconvenience
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Want to stay longer than 30 days? It’s easy!: • IMMIGRATION RULES... First extension Quick Process: • GOOD NEWS! NEW SY... PH internet speed improves in February— Ookla
Apr 2, 2023 08:46 AM
The country’s fixed broadband internet speed improves in February, according to the latest Ookla Speedtest Global Index report.
Based on the report, the country’s fixed broadband median speed improved to 90.03Mbps from the 88.13Mbps registered the month before. Average fixed broadband speed registered at 142.57Mbps.The latest download speed represents an improvement of 18.95% since the Marcos administration began in July 2022.
Mobile median speed slightly dipped as the country yielded a download speed of 24.58Mbps from 24.59Mbps the month before. Average mobile speed registered at 58.66Mbps. The latest download speed represents an improvement of 9% since the Marcos administration began in July 2022.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said that ensuring improvement of internet speed remains a priority as the country fast-tracks its digitization. NTC Commissioner Ella Blanca B. Lopez said, “We are also happy that Elon Musk’s Starlink is also now available in the country to give Filipinos in underserved and unserved areas fast and reliable internet.”
Streamlining and speeding up the issuance of LGU permits in July 2020 generated a significant increase in permits granted to telcos from July 2020 to January 2023.
Improvement on internet speed is largely attributed to this development as telcos are able to fast-track building infrastructure (cellular towers and fiber optic network) necessary in boosting services and connectivity.
Easterlies to trigger rains in parts of VisMin — PAGASA
Easterlies to trigger rains in parts of VisMin — PAGASA
Apr 2, 2023 11:27 AM
AT A GLANCE
Photo courtesy of PAGASA / Himawari
The easterlies or the warm and humid winds from the Pacific Ocean will continue to trigger rain showers and thunderstorms in parts of Visayas and Mindanao, said the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Sunday, April 2.
PAGASA Weather Specialist Benison Estareja, in a public weather forecast, said the weather system is particularly bringing cloudy skies with scattered rain showers in Palawan, Eastern Visayas, and Mindanao.
“Patuloy pa rin ang epekto ng easterlies at ito pa rin ang magdadala ng maulang panahon sa malaking bahagi ng Mindanao at mga kalapit na lugar (The effects of the easterlies will persist and it will continue to bring rainy weather in most parts of Mindanao and nearby areas),” said Estareja on Sunday.
A fair and humid weather condition will continue to prevail in Metro Manila and the rest of the country due to the easterlies, but Estareja stressed that the occurrence of localized thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening is not ruled out.
Based on the state weather bureau’s satellite animation, no tropical cyclone is expected to develop or enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) within the Holy Week.
ELEVENTH HOUR — Loss and damage in the context of the climate crisis
In countries like the Philippines, the climate crisis translates to a debt crisis, as loss and damage continue to drive up the cost of capital and debt to unsustainable levels
In climate negotiations and beyond, “loss and damage” generally refers to the impacts of the climate crisis that transpire despite, or in the absence, of either (1) climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk reduction and management solutions, or (2) the resources of communities to access them.
Loss and damage can result from both rapid-onset climate change impacts (such as typhoons, droughts, and heatwaves), as well as slow-onset changes such as sea level rise, desertification, glacial retreat, land degradation, ocean acidification, and salinization. It pertains to both economic and non-economic losses, including permanent and irreversible losses of lives, properties, livelihoods, culture, and biodiversity, among others.
A recent report estimated that 54 of the world’s climate-vulnerable developing and least-developed countries, which are emitting around five percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, have lost approximately US$ 525 billion in aggregate dollar terms in the past two decades (2000-2019) because of the climate crisis — about 20 percent of their collective Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Commissioned by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20), a group of finance ministers from the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), the report showed that these countries would be twice as wealthy today were it not for climate change.
For some, these are merely economic numbers, but for us in the Global South, this means catalogs of more casualties and deaths, of more homeless and jobless people, of more families going back to poverty or falling down the poverty line after every calamity.
The Philippines has been a poster child of severe loss and damage in the past decade.
The 2021 Global Climate Risk Index has ranked the Philippines fourth among countries most affected by climate change from 2000 to 2019.
In 2013, the world witnessed the unprecedented devastation caused by Supertyphoon Haiyan. At least 6,300 lives were lost and more than P89 billion worth of damages to public and private infrastructure and lands were recorded.
In the years before that, Tropical Storm Ketsana (2009), Parma (2009), Washi (2011), and Bopha (2012) collectively claimed over 3,000 lives in the country, affected more than 10 million Filipinos, and caused economic losses of as much as US$ 5.7 billion.
Brgy. Salangan in San Miguel, Bulacan still submerged in flood on Sept. 26, 2022 after the onslaught of Supertyphoon Noru (Karding). (Mark Balmores / Manila Bulletin File)
This vicious cycle of loss and damage is still a reality for the Philippines in recent years.
Just late last year in September, Supertyphoon Noru affected more than 1.5 million people across the country and caused the biggest damage to our agriculture sector — estimated to be at US$ 55 million.
While extreme weather events like these are often reported in mainstream media, climate change impacts that occur without the visual drama of calamities — such as ocean acidification, changes in hydrology, and sea level rise — are slowly bleeding our economies and affecting the livelihoods of our people. They worsen already difficult conditions with our food security, and the management of agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystems.
Given that global warming is set to increase to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels within the decade regardless of greater mitigation actions and more intensified adaptation interventions, our communities stand to bear greater loss and damage in the next few decades.
In countries like the Philippines, the climate crisis translates to a debt crisis, as loss and damage continue to drive up the cost of capital and debt to unsustainable levels.
Our government is already allocating alarmingly significant and growing proportions of our public budgets to cover rapidly growing loss and damage costs. These include the budget needed to rebuild homes, hospitals, and other infrastructure after a supertyphoon ravages the country, to provide shelter, food, and other essential supplies for those who need to be relocated during and after the storm, to distribute emergency cash transfers for communities affected by flooding, drought, and other calamities, and to move people away from inundating coastal communities.
Financing loss and damage diminishes our already scarce resources intended to support our critical economic and development strategies in education, public health, nutrition, energy access, and job creation.
Existing climate finance mechanisms, such as the Adaptation Fund, Green Climate Fund (GCF), Least Developed Countries Fund, and Special Climate Change Fund, are focused on climate change adaptation (building resilience against current and future climate change impacts) and mitigation actions (emissions reductions) and do not address the loss and damage finance needs of vulnerable communities.
Addressing loss and damage requires financing beyond developed nations’ current commitments to support emissions reductions and adaptation in developing countries. Failing to do so would mean facing an ever-worsening spiral of further loss and damage, which will impede much-needed investments in climate resilience and low-carbon development.
At the heart of this discourse is climate justice. There is no more blatant display of injustice than making climate-vulnerable countries foot the bill for a problem not of their own making, consequently hindering them to focus on the pursuit of low-carbon development.
This is why countries from the Global South are fighting tooth and nail for the establishment of a distinct funding mechanism that will provide protection against climate risks for as many poor and vulnerable people as possible.
Thankfully, just a few months ago, during the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), parties agreed to operationalize a loss and damage fund. This is a big win for us, but we know that it will be a long way to go.
The most contentious issue that would have to be settled before this fund is determining who pays for the funds, how much, and what will be the basis for access, reporting, and financing mechanisms.
While debating on the nitty-gritty of this fund in COP28 later this year, we need to remember that losses and damages are already happening, and they are projected to worsen in the coming years. Loss and damage finance is critical and urgent. Lives are at risk. The future of many communities is at stake.
***
About the author: Kristine Galang is currently the Communications Lead of The Climate Reality Project Philippines. Before joining the branch in 2021, she worked as the speechwriter communications focal of the former vice chairperson of the Climate Change Commission. Prior to working in the climate change sphere, she worked at Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office under the Aquino administration as deputy of its media monitoring division.
Palm Sunday in The Philippines
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Vendors prepare palm fronds in Quiapo, Manila on Saturday, April 1, 2023, for Palm Sunday, April 2. Palm Sunday starts off the Holy Week for Catholics who commemorate the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem by waving palms. It is the final week of the 40-day Lenten season that chronicles Christ's passion, death and resurrection on Easter Sunday. PHOTO BY RENE DILAN
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Sexy star Angela Perez passes away
BY NEIL RAMOS
Apr 1, 2023 11:06 AM
Angela Perez, former actress who gained fame in the 80s appearing in a slew of sexy films, succumbed to stroke Wednesday.
She was 55.
Her death was confirmed by her daughter Issa Lim in a social media post.
Issa wrote, “Ikaw ang pinakamahal ko sa buhay, naging spoiled ako sa yo at ikaw lang nakakaintindi sa akin kapag may mga problema ako at kung bakit wala ako sa mood, at ikaw pa yung nagtatanggol sa akin pag may umaaway sa akin at kinakampihan mo ko lagi. Lagi tayong magkakasama, hindi pa naman ako sanay na hindi kita katabi o kayakap pag wala ka at mahal na mahal kita sobra Ma. Pinakamasakit sa akin na mawalan ako ng nanay at nawala pa ang mahal ko sa buhay. Nanginginig ako sa kakaiyak ko at nalulungkot pa rin ako nang sobra hanggang ngayon. I love you so much, Ma."
Angela’s sister, Cathy Mora, herself a former actress, also expressed sadness over her passing via a post.
“I am so heartbroken. You left too soon. You know how much I love you. I am at a loss for words…Thank you so much for everything, my beautiful sister. I will never forget you. Mahal na mahal na mahal kita, Ate ko,” she wrote.
Actress Melissa Mendez posted, “It is with deep sorrow that my dearest friend Angela Perez has passed. I’m still processing it that she left us this early. My heart is broken…”
Born Rowena Mora, Angela was introduced in the1983 film "Laruan" under the now defunct Falcon Films.
It made a huge splash, allowing her to do other, more “daring” films, including "Alexandra," "Nang Maghalo ang Balat sa Tinalupan," "Take-home Girls" and "Hayop sa Sarap."
Friday, March 31, 2023
Covid vaccine-related deaths climb to 2,801
By Arlie O. Calalo, Manila Times
March 31, 2023
A TOTAL of 2,801 Filipinos, 70 of them children, have died after they were inoculated with a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a report by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A copy of FDA's "Reports of Suspected Adverse Reaction to Covid-19 Vaccines (01 March 2021 to 28 February 2023)," was obtained by The Manila Times.
According to the document, the mean or the average age of the fatal cases was 59.14, with 56.52 percent or 1, 583 of cases more than 60 years old.
It said 765 (27.31 percent) of the cases were 40 to 59 years old, and 359 (12.82 percent) were 18 to 39 years old.
The report said 53 cases (1.89 percent) were 12 to 17 years old, and 17 (0.61 percent) were 5 to 11 years old.
The age of the remaining 24 fatalities was not identified.
The FDA said the fatalities accounted for about 0.002 percent of the total vaccine doses administered.
It also said that "the reports of fatal outcomes do not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the events."
In a previous interview, Public Attorney's Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta and PAO Forensics Division director Dr. Erwin Erfe had insisted that there must be a screening and clearance from doctors or specifically from pediatricians before an individual, who has comorbidities, is injected with a Covid-19 vaccine.
"Vaccine-related deaths could have been avoided," they said.
Rueda-Acosta and Erfe are providing legal assistance to a group of parents who have gone to court to question the legality of the government's vaccination program for minors.
Erfe has earlier argued before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court that the thousands of Covid-related deaths in the country were seriously alarming and that the government's vaccination for minors must not push through.
"It's normal that there are adverse effects for every vaccine, but these must not be serious and there must be no deaths unlike with Covid-19 vaccines," said Erfe, who is also a lawyer.
Judge Maria Cherell de Castro-Sansaet has scheduled the presentation of evidence by the respondents — former Health secretary Francisco Duque 3rd, Health Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire and the Department of Health Public Health Services Team — to the petition questioning the legality of vaccinating minors against Covid-19 on June 6 and June 27.
The Office of the Solicitor General is the respondents' counsel.
The petitioners are led by parents Girlie Samonte of Tondo, Manila, and Joel Corpuz of Cainta, Rizal.
Rueda-Acosta said the testimonies of at least four doctors, including Erfe, and former Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong, were enough to convince the court to stop the inoculation of minors.
The beauty of bonsai: agricultural art beyond a lifetime
Bonsai can be considered an art form rooted in agriculture. It’s the art of growing miniature trees in containers or pots, and training them to grow in a shape that the artist desires. Regular trees typically live long lives, so it’s safe to say that bonsai can uphold its beauty for years even beyond its maker.
AT A GLANCE
Bonsai can be considered an art form rooted in agriculture. It’s the art of growing miniature trees in containers or pots, and training them to grow in a shape that the artist desires. Regular trees typically live long lives, so it’s safe to say that bonsai can uphold its beauty for years even beyond its maker.
The beauty of art is that it can survive beyond its maker. Whether it be paintings, songs, architecture, or stories, art is made to be a legacy left in the world.
Bonsai can be considered an art form rooted in agriculture. It’s the art of growing miniature trees in containers or pots, and training them to grow in a shape that the artist desires. Regular trees typically live long lives, so it’s safe to say that bonsai can uphold its beauty for years even beyond its maker.
Anthony Angeles has been a bonsai artist for almost four decades. His interest in bonsai started when he was a teenager where he had been caroling with a group in Cavite. One of the houses had a bonsai displayed in their front yard.
Anthony Angeles has been a bonsai hobbyist for almost 40 years and now owns almost a thousand bonsai. (Jazz Quiambao)
"So I saw a bonsai at the center of their lawn and it even had a spotlight,” Angeles said in Tagalog. “So I asked my professor, “What kind of tree is that?” and he said it was a bonsai.”
Angeles was intrigued. By that time, Angeles was already a gardener for ornamental plants, but the encounter sparked something in him. He looked for books about bonsai and studied them relentlessly. Despite only learning from books, Angeles wasn’t afraid to put his newfound interest to the test and he started caring for a sampaloc (tamarind) bonsai.
Angeles also tried to explore bonsai shops. At one point, he went to the Manila Seedling Bank to acquire seeds and learn more about bonsai. “But it was like they didn’t appreciate questions. They just wanted you to follow, to look,” he said. “But they kept saying it was hard, it takes long, and there are a lot of processes.”
He did not take those words to heart. For the next few years, Angeles dived into bonsai-growing without any mentorship. It was a journey of trial and error, and Angeles learned a lot as he cared for different species of bonsai. “In the [first] five years of doing bonsai, I, more or less, learned the attitude of each tree I had,” he said.
At some point after, Angeles became an assistant to another bonsai hobbyist who is considered a veteran in the field. With this opportunity, Angeles was able to go beyond books and experiments, and he was able to gain hands-on experience from assisting an experienced bonsai artist. He also finally took the initiative to attend seminars and shows centered around bonsai cultivation.
The key to longevity
Angeles' first ever bonsai, a native sampaloc tree, is alive and healthy until today.
A native sampaloc bonsai. This bonsai bore many sampaloc, but Angeles had to remove them because too much fruit could drain the bonsai’s energy. (Jazz Quiambao)
From one bonsai that he started almost forty years ago, Angeles grew his collection to almost a thousand plants that consist of a wide variety of species. All of his bonsai are displayed and cared for in a 4000 sqm area in Baliuag, Bulacan. “I’m creating a forest,” he said.
“[When caring for bonsai], you forget your age. You lose track of time,” Angeles said, adding that the joy of caring for bonsai is anticipating the beauty it will become.
Everyday, Angeles waters his bonsai and fertilizes them every week. He emphasizes that fertilization is important, especially since bonsai literally means “trees in a pot.” Being in a pot limits the nutrients a tree requires. Without fertilization, the bonsai will survive, but will look sick.
The soil used in his bonsai is river sand, to which he adds a small amount of vermicast. He doesn’t recommend other kinds of sand, especially fine sand, because it can clog, not allowing water to seep through and instead may flood the plant.
Once or twice a year, the little trees need to be defoliated. “When you defoliage (sic), it isn’t just leaves that would grow back, branches too,” Angeles said. “So the more you defoliage, the more the branches would grow and its leaves would become smaller.”
Bonsais also need to be repotted once a year, but Angeles says the most difficult thing about it is the wrong timing. Each bonsai responds differently, and a wrong move can cause it to die. Angeles emphasizes the importance of learning each tree’s attitude.
With his growing collection, Angeles wants to create his own forest of bonsai. (Jazz Quiambao)
For Angeles, the easiest bonsai to care for are ones with small leaves. The ones that are challenging are kamagong and bantigue because the care and materials they require are costly and labor-intensive.
“The bantigue is the best tree, so far, that could compete internationally,” Angeles said. “They cost a million.”
Bonsai enthusiasts are known to be hunters. They hunt for materials unique to different regions or areas in order to grow them in pots. Angeles used to be one of them, but he is now against the practice.
“I abhor the idea of hunting,” he said. “What I teach is propagation. You can enjoy it more, you can bend the tree more while it is young. You can do everything you want if your material is young.”
The practice of material hunting is especially alarming when hunters take endangered species just to use it as material for bonsai. Hunting particularly rare species, such as the bantigue, can be punishable by law. The bantigue is classified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as “endangered” according to DENR Order 2017-11, and can only be collected from the wild for scientific purposes.
This is why Angeles believes that hobbyists, especially the one with rare plants, should instead propagate them and share them with others. This can slow down, and hopefully discourage, bonsai material hunting.
Booming bonsai business
Angeles’ care for his bonsai is driven by passion, but it does generate good income for his needs.
“We have mame, which means small bonsai or tiny bonsai that are three inches, they range from 1,000 to 10,000 [pesos],” he said. “The bigger ones range from 20 to 50,000 [pesos].”
The price of a bonsai can heavily depend on the award it gains from competitions and shows. There’s a lot of factors affecting how a bonsai can be priced, such as its rarity, aesthetic, care, and prestige it gains from the community.
Angeles used to attend shows and even enter competitions, but he said that he stopped because of issues stirred by such events.
Thanks to social media, customers from all over the country reach out to him to buy a bonsai. While some are able to pick up the plant from his garden, some of his clients come from Cebu or Davao, which means Angeles has to take extra care packaging the bonsai.
A collection of tugas bato bonsai. (Jazz Quiambao)
"For me, bonsai is my passion. I want to care for a lot of them. I want a lot of people to appreciate them,” he said. “But it does become a business.”
Angeles used to earn P5,000 a day selling bonsai, and there was one time when he was able to earn P100,000.
However, as of now, Angeles’ bonsai business is closed. He moved to Baliuag, Bulacan from Pila, Laguna, which is why it’s still taking him time to re-establish his business at the new location.
Deeply rooted love
As previously mentioned, Angeles’ bonsai forest is now located at Baliuag. However, his bonsai have been traveling a lot for the past ten years.
Angeles and his bonsai have travelled from San Fernando, Pampanga to Mt. Arayat to Pila, Laguna, and then finally to Baliuag.
“That’s really one of my best stories,” Angeles said. “You know, it really feels like I lose my child when I leave a bonsai.”
Angeles has a two hectare land on Mt. Arayat where he once set up his bonsai forest. But because he had to relocate to Laguna for an indefinite amount of time, he wanted to bring his bonsai with him.
Moving them wasn’t easy. The road going up and down the mountain was muddy and narrow, and Angeles didn’t have a way to bring a large vehicle to haul his bonsai down the mountain. He resorted to using his motorbike repeatedly just to transport his plants.
After staying in Laguna for a few years, Angeles was ready to move to Baliuag. Thankfully, this time, a relative lent him a truck for transport. But the move was still difficult.
“It really hurts when I can’t bring them,” Angeles said. At times when he couldn’t bring all his bonsai, he opted to give some of them away, “But as a hobbyist, you could feel the plants’ sadness when you can’t care for them.”
Banyan, or tiger bark, bonsai. Despite many location changes, Angeles is determined to always bring this, and his other bonsai, with him. (Jazz Quiambao)
Steward of the world
Bonsai art isn’t just a hobby. For Angeles, bonsai enthusiasts serve a noble purpose in preserving the species of trees in the Philippines.
“As long as you do bonsai, you are a lover of nature. A lot of people assume that bonsai enthusiasts hurt nature, but those are the hunters,” he said. “There may be species that would become lost from the mountains, but a bonsai enthusiast will have it.”
As trees, bonsai is certain to outlive their caretakers, which is why Angeles is making sure that his bonsai will be inherited or given by someone who can truly care for them.
“They have to be inherited. My students can inherit them or my children, but of course what matters is that they have space,” he said. “My last option is to donate [the bonsai] to central state universities or agricultural schools where they can be cared for.”
“Let’s admit, it’s not like you can live for another 100 years to take care of the bonsai. And even if you did, you definitely wouldn’t be able to carry a five-kilo bonsai,” he said.
Angeles believes that caring for bonsai is a responsibility.
“As you get older, you will realize that you are a steward,” he said. “You are not just a hobbyist but you are a steward of the earth.”
Photos courtesy of Jazz Quiambao
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