Alan Gensoli
NEGROS DAILY BULLETIN News Tip - May 20, 2012
(Refer to Arman Toga @ 09393999393 / armanndb@gmail.com )
- 1. 19 Don Bosco students from Cebu were hurt and subsequently rushed to various hospitals in Bacolod City yesterday morning (past 11, Saturday) after the bus they were riding from San Carlos City, Negros
Occidental lost control on a downhill and fell into a ravine along the eco-tourism highway in Barangay Igmaya-an, Don Salvador Benedicto town,; They were on a 2-bus trip on the way for a seminar in ambukal
Mountain Resort in Murcia; No life lost. - Low Pressure Area (LPA) near Mindanao to intensify the effects of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and cause rains in many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao including Luzon today
- Negros Occ. Provincial PNP director Guisihan says "professionalism by most mediamen in Bacolod and province is reason for the absence of serious threats vs. the Negros press"
- OPAPP says peace talks with RPA-ABB gaining headway, but it will study peasant groups' fact-finding result vs. RPA-ABB
- Broadcaster Romy Niere, formerly a staunch ally of Bacolod Mayor Leonardia, says no reconciliation with Mayor Bing, Vows to expose more city government anomalies
- "Stop spreading lies against the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Don't use the INC as a scapegoat for your defeat"
- Mother and son in Hinoba-an town file administrative and criminal charges vs. Talacagay Barangay captain Edith Tacdoro before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office
- Lopezes put up "Private Property" signages at the Felisa landfill in Bacolod, as City Hall shows no sign of settling the balance of P3.8-M with the Lopez family; Roy Lopez says the title of the land is still under the name of the family so "ownership is still ours"
- "Save your money, do not buy China-made and reconditioned cell phones, they don't last and mostly cannot be repaired"
- Bacolod PNP solves 3 of 5 cases of killings that victimized gays, but the gay community is still worried and restive.
- Annular Solar Eclipse partially visible in the Philippines from 4 A.M. till at sunrise tomorrow Monday May 21.
Opinion: Dapat happy sila
In December 2008, Republic Act 95121 and Executive Order 774 were rendered
enforceable. Three-and-a-half years later, I would like to check on the status
of these two environmental directives.
R.A. 95121, or"The Environmental Awareness and Education Act of 2008", was signed on Dec. 12 that year. The law mandated environmental education to be integrated in school curricula at all levels, presumably starting June 2009. The spirit of R.A. 95121 left no stones unturned as it expected ALL to be enlightened. The law went beyond school campuses and providedfor the creation of learning programs for kids in barangay daycare centers and pre-schools, those taking non-formal education, technical-vocational courses, and professional-level programs, the out-of-school youth, and children of indigenous communities. Named to lead the implementing team was the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources.
Text Messages
[ NOTE TO TEXTERS: Please include your number at the end of your message for prompt publication.
DISCLAIMER: We respect readers’ opinions posted here but these do not necessarily reflect the views of NDB and NDBers. Text to 09393-999393. - Arman Toga, moderator.]
5407] MAY 14 Negros Daily Bulletin (NDB) NEWS TIP ::: 1} Binalbagan Balbagan Festival highlights May 15 2} Phil. Information Agency (PIA), Smart holding May 16-18 online writing training for information officers (09209459381) 3} DepEd Sec. Luistro cites Cong. Golez’ Bacolod Disaster Preparedness Center PPP 4} Bacolod DRRMO head Vargas says city buying P52-M dredging machine for flood control, City-wide earthquake drills set 5} New Sipalay PNP director P/Supt. German Garbosa, Ph. D. nabbed Number 2 Most Wanted in city 6} 64-yr. old Talacagay, Hinobaan resident Herminia Colasisang, and Bernie Colasisang (094894953160) to file charges vs. Brgy. Captain Edith Tacdoro for alleged forced eviction, slander 7] Mirasol, Yasa, Yulo expected to file CoC for June 2 spl. 5th district congressional poll.* [Ref: Arman Toga / ndb-online.com]
Opinion: How to Send Officials to Jail
I have found brilliant material to give you an insightful column. It’s as
exciting as blood in the water. The article is entitled, "Village chief charged
over garbage", published in the Feb. 16, 2012 edition of SUN STAR CEBU.
According to Republic Act 9003, our solid waste management law, barangay captains are at the forefront of enforcing garbage segregation, because garbage segregation must happen at source, which is the home. While that is clear, I seriously doubt the courage of political leaders to charge barangay captains of violating R.A. 9003 and its supporting local ordinances. I have said in last week’s column, some of these barangay captains are political allies of the Mayor, and those who are not are being wooed by the Mayor. Politics, after all, is addition. Be that as it may, the SUN STAR CEBU article dismisses all of these excuses.
Opinion: Send Them All to Jail!
Much as I would like to send all who violate Republic Act 9003 to jail, doing
so would not achieve the spirit of our solid waste management law, which is to
transform our plastic-stuffed society into one that’s clean, flood-free, and
respectful of the environment. So, who am I talking about sending to jail? Not
who, but WHAT?
Slippers, that’s what. Hotel disposable slippers, which I assume are used,
are sent to jail so inmates can reuse them. What was disposable has become
reusable. In Makati where hotels stand at almost every corner, can you imagine
how many of these disposable slippers are sent to the city jail? So much, too
much in fact that there aren’t enough feet in jail to wear them. That’s exactly
what happened last Christmas. After all inmates were fitted with the right size
Shangri-la Hotel slippers, and after more were sent to other jails in Manila,
there were still more slippers. There’s a happy ending to this, but before I get
there, let me wonder out loud why we tourists can’t bring our own slippers when
we travel. This way we help hotels conserve resources that go into manufacturing
disposable slippers, like petroleum. These slippers are made from plastic
polymers that come from petroleum. And what about the thin plastic bags used to
wrap these slippers? You know very well where those end up after you tear them
open.
Opinion: Residual Waste In, Politics Out
On Sunday, April 22, YAHOO! PHILIPPINES ran this survey on its home page: "As
we celebrate Earth Day, do you think PH is ready to go plastic-free? YES. Many
municipalities have started the trend, everyone should follow suit. NO. Plastic
is a necessity that we can’t do away with." By day’s end, an overwhelming 78%
had voted yes, while 22% had clicked no. Of course I was happy, but even happier
to realize that of all issues to poll on Earth Day, YAHOO chose the ban on
plastic bags. They could have asked about carbon emission, or the earth-balling
of pine trees in Baguio. But no, YAHOO chose the ban on plastic bags. A minor
amendment, though: YAHOO’s statement that "many municipalities have started the
trend" of banning plastic bags is not quite correct. Mother Earth Foundation
Chairman Sonia S. Mendoza, in her article entitled "Use ‘bayong,’ cloth bag",
which ran in the April 1, 2012 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer,
revealed that only 51 cities and municipalities (a paltry 3.4% of total) have in
fact banned plastic bags. Still, I thank YAHOO! PHILIPPINES for training the
spotlight on the issue this Earth Day.
Opinion: Trust Issue with the DENR
If Atty. Cheryl Yangot is to be believed (and I have no reason not to
believe), then officials of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources in
Manila are to be distrusted, and Pres. Aquino should consider a revamp of the
DENR hierarchy. Atty. Yangot is the lead counsel of the Save 182 movement, a
group of concerned citizens in Baguio opposing the earth-balling of 182 pine
trees, some of them up to 40 years old. They needed to be earth-balled to make
way for the expansion of SM City Baguio. (To my readers outside this country, SM
City is a shopping mall.)
Opinion: Press Club Updates, SM City Expansion
It looks like SM Prime Holdings’ P1.4-B expansion of its SM City Bacolod will
start way ahead of the much-awaited multi-billion-peso Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI)
investment in the city.
SM revealed that in the next two years it will have completed its annex that will further expand the existing SM City at the reclamation area.
Opinion: Fool’s Day
On April Fool’s Day, the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran in its "Talk of the
Town" section two write-ups under the general heading, "To ban or not to ban
plastic bags". The two were laid out side by side with a line drawn between
them, indicating this was a battle of opinions. On the left of the page was,
"Ban not a solution" by Crispian Lao, President of the Philippine Plastic
Industry Association. On the right was "Use ‘bayong,’ cloth bag" by Sonia S.
Mendoza, Chairman of the Mother Earth Foundation.
Like Mendoza, I am sure Lao also wrote from the heart. But I bet Lao also wrote from his pocket, being an industry leader. And that’s where I have a problem, for that renders any scientific claim made in defense of plastic bags suspect. I have nothing against Mr. Lao personally, I just think that people with ulterior motives should not advance the cause of toxic plastic bags to a population that is vulnerable to begin with.
Opinion: Slumming Singapore Style
Last week I wrote about how rivers and creeks get polluted and clogged with
garbage as a direct consequence of coddling informal settlers, or squatters. We
often talk of Singapore as a benchmark for cleanliness. If public housing has
anything to do with cleanliness, then we must benchmark against Singapore’s
public housing as well. True enough, here I discover why it’s so hard for us to
be clean. It’s like wanting to go to Pasig but we’re driving towards Pasay.
Pasig-Pasay, sounds like? No, sounds lost. Coincidentally, Pasig has the second
lowest incidence of squatters in Metro Manila at 8.9%. Pasay has the third
highest at 42.7%. My point being, if we want to be like Singapore, let’s walk
the walk and talk the talk…lai.
