Friday, December 31, 2010

DoST to test mosquito traps in Tacloban


published December 23, 2010 in BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY -- The government has set aside P5 million to test mosquito traps in this city early next year.

Some 18,863 households in 33 "hotspot" villages will be covered by tests that would last six months to a year.

These tests serve as starting point for the nationwide implementation of a strengthened Dengue Prevention and Control Program.

Department of Science and Technology (DoST) regional director Edgardo M. Esperancilla said Tacloban was chosen as pilot area for the nationwide testing because of the high number of dengue cases here this year.

As of Oct. 22, a total of 1,775 dengue fever cases were documented in Tacloban. This was about a fifth, or 19%, of the 9,444 cases in Eastern Visayas during the first 10 months of the year, according to a report by the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.

"We will start deploying traps in January next year. The budget of P3 million for this study was already approved by the DoST secretary," Mr. Esperancilla told BusinessWorld.

Department of Health (DoH) regional director Edgardo M. Gonzaga said in a separate interview that their office is allocating about P2 million to finance the tests and pave for the commercialization of this locally developed mosquito trap.

The city government of Tacloban will also put up counterpart fund for this project.

"We welcome this because this will strengthen our dengue prevention program. We can use this nationwide if this will be proven effective. This will run for six months to a year because we have to determine the advantage of this additional strategy," Mr. Gonzaga added.

Experts from the DoST and DoH central offices will be mobilized to facilitate the study, which further evaluates field-tested traps in Marikina City and Novaliches in Quezon City.

The activity specifically aims to compare baseline and monthly dengue fever incidence between experimental and control communities in the city.

The testing is divided into three project components -- public health applicability of Lethal Larvitraps; disease surveillance; and the knowledge, attitudes and practices survey. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano

Friday, December 10, 2010

Growing population threatens Samar nature park

published December 10, 2010 in BusinessWorld

PARANAS, SAMAR -- A growing population is threatening biodiversity at the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP).

Manolito D. Ragub, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional technical director for research and project manager of Samar Island Biodiversity Project (SIBP), said the population within the park has been one of the major challenges that park management is facing.

"Timber poaching is very common because of the people’s impoverished situation. They do it because there’s no other source of income," Mr. Ragub said.

Logging has been banned in Samar, but small-scale logging continues and is hard to control, he added.

The latest available data from the National Statistical Coordination Board showed that Samar provinces posted the highest proportion of population below the poverty threshold at 61.6% in Northern Samar, 51.9% in Eastern Samar, and 47.6% in Samar.

"Based on our latest survey, there are about 70,000 upland dwellers in SINP area. The annual growth rate of 1.5% has been consistent," Mr. Ragub told BusinessWorld.

Other indiscriminate use of resources include encroachment and cultivation, the harvest of rattan and other non-timber forest products, and the hunting of wildlife.

The latest report of a biological resource assessment (BRA) of the Samar park showed that forest cover on the island has dwindled to about 311,000 hectares, or about 49,000 hectares less than the 1987 estimate from the Satellite Spot.

"About 60% of forest cover is still intact. We are expecting more support from various groups because of the growing concern to address climate change," Mr. Ragub said.

The BRA also noted that there is rampant collection of wildlife in the sites covered by the survey. In the eastern part of the island alone, an estimated 3,600 parrots are caught and sold as pets every year.

The report disclosed that about 1,000 species belonging to nearly 290 genera of 100 families were recorded. It was also found that 53% of the plant species are endemic, of which 35 species are considered endangered.

The United Nations Development Programme is currently implementing a $21-million program in SINP area to preserve its natural resources. The program will expire next year.

The SINP is a protected area established by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 442 by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 13, 2003. The park covers 333,000 hectares of forest and an additional 125,400 hectare buffer zone encompassing 36 municipalities and one city.

Samar is the third-largest island in the Philippine archipelago, with a total land area of 1.348 million hectares. The island has the largest tracts of lowland tropical rainforest consisting of 360,000 hectares.

The entire Samar Island is known for its rich biodiversity. It was listed in the global 200 eco-region (World Wildlife Fund), one of the nine endemic bird areas in the Philippines, and one of 18 centers of plant diversity in the country.

Dolphins killed after blast fishing


published December 9, 2010 in BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is investigating a dynamite fishing incident that caused the death of three Risso’s dolphins and severely injured another off the coast of Zumarraga, Samar last weekend.

Juan D. Albaladejo, BFAR regional director, said local fishermen who might have been behind the blast fishing slaughtered two of the dolphins that got entangled in their nets after the explosion and shared the meat with their neighbors.

The third dolphin, with a length of 1.5 meters, swam to Antiao River in Catbalogan, Samar but died Sunday afternoon despite recovery efforts by experts in Samar State University. The fourth dolphin was rescued in Villareal, Samar and is now under treatment.

"The one in Villareal is still alive and we have found out that it was pregnant. But the neonate came out dead already. Based on our past experience, the chance of survival is very low for stranded marine mammals," Mr. Albaladejo told BusinessWorld in a phone interview yesterday.

The surviving dolphin, with a length of two meters, was sighted Sunday by a BFAR water sampler in Barangay Cabagsan, Villareal town. The dolphin was given antibiotics and multivitamins.

Risso’s dolphins are identified by their robust, stocky bodies that are covered with scratches and scars. Their bodies become more slender behind the dorsal fin.

Under Fisheries Administrative Order 185 series of 1992 entitled "Ban on the taking or catching, selling, purchasing, possessing, transporting and exporting dolphins," the penalty is P500 to P5,000 and/or imprisonment of six months to four years.

Mr. Albaladejo said he has deployed personnel in Maqueda Bay to take part in the investigation.

Risso’s dolphins believed to have been victims of blast fishing were rescued off Maqueda Bay in Samar early last year but both died while undergoing treatment.

"The area has been known for rampant dynamite fishing," Mr. Albaladejo said. -- Sarwell Q. Meniano

MDG poverty reduction goal for Eastern Visayas ‘impossible’

published in BusinessWorld November 30, 2010

TACLOBAN CITY -- The objective to cut by a third by 2015 the portion of the Eastern Visayas’ population living in "extreme poverty" is not realistic, a regional official of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said, referring to the target set for the region under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Noting that about 48.5% of the population in Eastern Visayas had been living below the poverty threshold as of 2006, NSCB regional head Evangeline M. Paran said in a recent phone interview that, "looking at the trend since 1990, it’s impossible to eradicate [sic] extreme poverty in the next five years. It might stay in the vicinity of 40% by 2015."

Identified as living in "extreme poverty" are those households that live on less than a dollar a day.

Of the six provinces in Eastern Visayas, Northern Samar posted the highest percentage of such poor families (61.1%), followed by Eastern Samar (51.9%), Samar (47.6%), Leyte (47.3%), Biliran (42.2%), and Southern Leyte (36%).

"Under MDG, we’re supposed to reduce (the proportion of impoverished families) to 32.4% by 2015, but it was still high based on actual figures," Ms. Paran said.

For the past 13 years, NSCB data showed no marked improvement in the number of poor families in the region. In 1997, the poor families accounted for 47.4% of the region’s population. This percentage dipped to 45.4% in 2000, but rose to 43.5% in 2003 and further to 48.5% in 2006.

Ms. Paran said a slight improvement is seen in the 2009 data because of various anti-poverty programs of the national government such as Food for School, Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Kalahi), Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and intensified advocacy on achieving MDG through better local governance.

"In the case of 4Ps, the impact will not be remarkable because as of 2009, the recipients represent a small share of the total number of poor households and there are also issues like those who received the benefits were not the poorest," she said.

Department of Budget and Management Regional Director Imelda C. Laceras said
separately that "the region has many things to do to meet MDG targets. Yearly budgeting should be refocused to address the concern of sectors where we are lagging behind."

Eastern Visayas, also known as Region 8, has also been lagging behind in the other MDG targets, particularly in achieving universal primary education, with only 63.6% and 62.6% of children completing elementary and secondary education, respectively.

The region has also shown poor performance in the promotion of gender equality and empowering women, especially in the fields of education and politics.

Improving maternal health is another concern, amid a high maternal mortality rate and the preference of many mothers in the region to seek the services of traditional birth attendants.

High dengue cases in the region this year have also dragged on the region’s performance in combating diseases.

However, the region still fared better in terms of reducing child mortality. -- SQM