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Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Invitation to join silent march
Dear Friends,
This coming Friday, November 23, journalists’ groups and
press freedom advocacy organizations will commemorate the third year of the
Ampatuan Massacre and second International Day to End Impunity. The groups
agreed to hold a dramatic mock funeral procession with 153 coffins bearing the
names of slain members of media since 1986. Relatives of massacre victims and
media practitioners will carry the coffins from Welcome Rotonda, Quezon City to Mendiola.
The objective is to stress the continuing attack against journalists and the
prevailing culture of impunity.
The activity however will be more effective and significant
if many journalists will help carry the coffins. It will be an effective way of
showing our unity in the face of so many challenges facing the Philippine
press, among them the death of the Freedom of Information bill and outright
endorsement by President Aquino of the extremely restrictive right of reply
bill in Congress.
We thus invite you and your staff/employees to join the
march. Some media networks and groups have already pledged to carry at least 4
coffins per news organization. The coffin is made of light cardboard material
but we are requesting that two persons be assigned to carry it.
Assembly time at Welcome Rotonda is 3:00 pm. Please refer to
the attached draft program for details.
Kindly assign a point person with whom we can coordinate
details of the November 23 procession. The “pallbearers” are requested to be at
the Welcome Rotonda (near KFC) by 2:30 PM for briefing. Please send contact
details to the undersigned by 5pm today. We also request everyone joining the
event to wear black.
Thank you for joining us in this campaign.
Mabuhay ang Pilipinong mamamahayag.
For the convenors:
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM (PCIJ)
NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES (PPI)
PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTE (PPI)
CENTER FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM AND DEVELOPMENT (CCJD)
FREEDOM FUND FOR FILIPINO JOURNALISTS (FFFJ)
CENTER FOR MEDIA FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY (CMFR)
Weng Paraan
NUJP Secretary-General
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Bulacan fetes outstanding Cooperative Dev’t Councils
CITY OF MALOLOS- The Provincial Government of Bulacan
through its Provincial Cooperative and Economic Development Office (PCEDO)
recently awarded the 2012 Natatanging City/Municipal Cooperative Development
Councils at The Pavilion, Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center
in this city recently.
Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado said the award aims to
recognize the efforts and vital contribution of cooperatives in Bulacan’s
development.
“Bukod sa mga fixed projects ng PCEDO, bumuo o gumawa rin ng
iba pang proyekto ang mga awardees na ito na siyang lalong nagpalawak sa
serbisyo sa mga miyembro nito,” PCEDO head Jovito Saguinsin said.
The first prize was awarded to Marilao Cooperative
Development Council, second prize to Doña Remedios Trinidad Cooperative
Development Council, San Jose del Monte City Cooperative Development Council
got the third prize and Malolos Cooperative Development Council for the fourth
prize.
Aside from cash prize, the winners also received certificate
of recognition while the non-winners were given certificate of appreciation.
Also part of the event is the Cooperative Fellowship, a
culminating activity of the Cooperative and Enterprise Month in Bulacan,
wherein approximately 500 Bulakenyo cooperative officers and members gathered
at The Pavilion.
Last October, the province joined the nation in celebrating
the National Cooperative Month wherein a number of trainings and activities
were given to the officials and members of cooperatives in Bulacan.
Cooperative Month is being celebrated every October of the
year by the virtue of Proclamation No. 493 dated October 27, 2003. ###
Bulacan, Bataan, and Zambales remain red tide-free
By Joelyn G. Baluyut
CITY OF SAN
FERNANDO , Pampanga, Nov 16 (PIA) -- Bulacan, Zambales,
and
“The coastal waters of Bulacan in Manila Bay; Masinloc Bay
in Zambales; and coastal waters of Mariveles, Limay, Orion, Pilar, Balanga,
Orani, Abucay, and Samal in Bataan remain free of the toxic red tide,” the
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Shellfish Bulletin dated November 8 reported.
BFAR said shellfish from the mentioned areas can still be
gathered, harvested, and sold in markets and are safe for human consumption.
Meanwhile, shellfish collected at Dumanquillas
Bay in Zamboanga del Sur, and Murcielagos Bay in Zamboanga del Norte and Misamis
Occidental are still positive for paralytic shellfish poison that is beyond the
regulatory limit.
All types of shellfish and Acetes ap or alamang from the
areas mentioned are not safe for human consumption, BFAR said.
“Fish, squids, shrimps, and crabs are safe for human
consumption provided these are fresh and washed thoroughly and internal organs such
as gills and intestines are removed before cooking,” BFAR added.(CLJD/JGB-PIA3)
Monday, November 19, 2012
Bulacan media to mark Ampatuan Massacre early
by Ramon Efren R.
Lazaro / Correspondent, http://businessmirror.com.ph
CITY OF MALOLOS—Bulacan journalists and journalism students
from different universities in the province will hold on Wednesday, November
21, a candle-light parade at the
provincial capitol grounds here in commemoration of the third anniversary of
the infamous Ampatuan Massacre.
Dino Balabo, chairman of the Bulacan chapter of the National
Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said three years have passed
since 58 persons, 32 of them journalists, were murdered on November 23, 2009,
in Maguindanao.
Balabo said 153 candles will be lighted to commemorate the
153 journalists killed in the country since 1986.
In a news statement, NUJP-Bulacan said that over 100
journalists and journalism students are expected to join the activity to show
their support of journalists’ calls to end impunity in the country, press for
the passing of the Freedom of Information bill, and call on all journalists to
continue to rise the bar of journalism.
Balabo said the campaign to end impunity only addresses
calls on the government to implement laws to protect citizens, journalists or
not, and that there must be a parallel campaign to remind journalists to pursue
ethical and responsible reporting.
This was echoed earlier by the NUJP National Directorate
along with the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) and the Center for Media
Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).
The group said the best protection for journalists is
ethical and responsible reporting.
The Bulacan activity will be held two days ahead of the bigger activity planned
by the NUJP, PPI, CMFR, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism,
Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, the Center for Community Journalism and
Development, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas in Manila on
Friday.
The Manila activity will be highlighted by the parade of 153
coffins from Welcome Rotonda in Quezon
City to
Mendiola.
Rowena Paraan, NUJP secretary-general, said the parade of
coffins will serve as an expression of outrage against impunity.
She said despite the change in administration, the killing
of journalists continue with at least 10 murdered since the Aquino
administration assumed office in July 2010.
“Remember our slain colleagues. Help us carry the 153
coffins to Mendiola,” Paraan said as she invited journalists to join the
funeral march on Friday.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
SPECIAL REPORT: LGUs blamed for decline in fish production in Bulacan
A fishpond operator feeds milkfish with old bread in Hagonoy, Bulacan. |
HAGONOY, Bulacan—Like other mothers, Lorie Umali got up just before day break to cook breakfast for her children.
While
waiting for the rice to be fully cooked, she started frying hotdogs—
her
kids’ favorite viand and their premier source of protein.
When
she was younger, Umali recalled, her mother used to cook fish for her, and considered
hotdogs as a treat prepared for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas.
“It’s
easier to cook, and sometimes cheaper than fish,” Umali said in Filipino
referring to her new preference of cooking hotdogs over fish.
But
there is a greater explanation to the changing preference for source of protein
these days, which many households hardly notice over the years.
It’s
the decline in fish production especially in the province of Bulacan which was
blamed to increasing water pollution.
Marilao River clean,a mirror of poor implementation of garbage law. |
Ranking
officials of government agencies and some fishermen blame it on poor
implementation of solid waste law, but operators of smaller fishponds in the
province accused bigger pond operators for excessive use of aqua feeds.
Records
obtained by this writer from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) of the
Department of Agriculture (DA) shows that fish production in Bulacan has
dropped from 53,804.3 metric tons in 2004 to 40,790.91 metric tons in 2011.
Except
in 2008 when Bulacan fish production climbed to 51,768.93, BAS records showed
consistent drop in that eight years period.
Even in
brackish water fishpond milkfish production in which Bulacan leads all
provinces in production output from 2004 to 2011, BAS records showed decreased
production from 34,785.00 to 23,019.66 metric
tons.
Smaller catch illustrating declining fish production. |
The Provincial
Agriculture Office explained that decrease in fish production in the province
is a confluence of different factors including impacts of climate change,
increasing water pollution and pond operator shift from milkfish to tiger
prawns or shift from fish culture to fingerlings production.
However, Dr.
Remedios Ongtangco, the director of Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
in Central Luzon openly blamed water pollution as primary factor in decrease
fish production.
She explained
that fish thrive on water and its quality affects aquaculture and other marine resources.
When asked on
causes of water pollution, Ongtangco pointed to poor implementation of solid
waste law.
“Our local
government units are the ones responsible for waste management and unless the
truly implement it, our fish production will always be threaten,” she said.
This was
affirmed by Lawyer Rustico De Belen, the former head of the Bulacan Environment
and Natural Resources Office (PGB).
De Belen also
admitted that improper disposal of garbage along with poor implementation of
the law by local government units from municipalities and cities down to the
barangays as the culprit in water pollution.
Men loading bags of agua feeds into a boat in Hagonoy, Bulacan. |
But for medium
pond operators like Pedro Geronimo of this coastal town, bigger fishpond
operators are causing more pollution due to excessive use of aqua feeds.
This was
affirmed by Patrocinio Laderas, a former Provincial Board Member who has moved
his fishpond operator from this town to Bicol in mid-90s.
Laderas said
that in the mid-80s, local fishpond operators have benefited from clean waters,
but increasing use of aqua feeds along with garbage disposal in rivers left
waterways polluted.
Excessive use
of aqua feeds was confirmed by Lito Lacap, the president of the Integrated Services
for the Development of Aquaculture (ISDA), an organization of fishpond
operators in Central Luzon which is composed of large scale fishpond operators
in Bulacan and Pampanga.
“Our members
have realized the impacts of excessive use of aqua feeds in pond operations, that’s
why many are moving towards tradition fish culture as advised by BFAR,” Lacap
said.
Other
suggestion of BFAR, according to Lacap, include reduction of fish stock that
requires less aqua feeds.
He added that
some of their members are practicing traditional fish culture every other
cropping season, or starting their fish culture with traditional methods, and
when fish got bigger, then they will use aqua feeds.
Traditional
methods requires growing of organic planktons that serve a food for milkfish
and tilapia or St. Peter’s Fish production.
“They might be
correct that excessive use of aqua feeds is a factor in water pollution, but
poor waste management remained as primary factor,” De Belen said.
He added that
since 2010, the Provincial Solidwaste Management Board had only convened a
summit once and gave directives to municipal and city solidwaste management
boards to properly implement the law and conduct information dissemination.
The summit also
advised municipal and city governments in the province for proper waste
segregation and collection to prevent
residents in throwing garbage into the river.
However, not
too many local government units have responded positively.
Hagonoy MRF located on the bank of Labangan Channel. |
As a matter of
fact, there still LGUs in Bulacan that operates open dumpsites, some of which
are located less than 50 meters away from bodies of water like rivers, creeks
and fishponds.
Earlier, Bishop
Pablo David of the Archdiocese of Pampanga condemned operations of open dumpsites
in Central Luzon.
Speaking in an
environment summit for educators at La Consolacion University-Philippines
(LaCUP) here, David even went to extent of encouraging non-governmental
organizations to file charges against LGUs that are not implementing solidwaste
law.
David’s
exhortation was in reaction to earlier statement in the same summit by Lormelyn
Claudio, the director of Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) that they cannot
just file charges against erring LGUs as those were their partners in
implementation of the law.
Claudio added
that as of May, at least 82 LGUs in the region has expressed commitment to
implement the law after they threatened to file charges.
Paombong MRF on the other side of Labangan Channel. |
Smaller fishpond
operators and fisher folks alike said that unless the government became serious
in their job of implementing the law, fish production in Bulacan will continue
to drop.
That means less
fish on the marker and higher prices of fish that will continue to lead mothers
like Umali to depend on processed meat for protein needs of their children.
(This special report was published in the November 14-20 edition of the Central Luzon Business Week (Vol. 8, No.1). It is part of the series of reports produced by Dino Balabo under the International Women's Media Foundation's (IWMF) Environmental Investigative Reporting Fellowship program.)