DOST’s Project NOAH adopts Indonesian technology for disaster mitigation

Dealing with climate change today and in the future

By Rodolfo P. de Guzman, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII

The Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) is adopting the disaster mitigating technology called InaSAFE from Indonesia.  InaSAFE is an acronym for Indonesia Scenario Assessment for Emergency. It is an open source technology, which means it is free, readily accessed from the internet and may be modified by users. With this technology, data coming from weather scientists, local government units and the communities are gathered and consolidated to provide accurate information on future disaster events.

NOAH adopted Indonesis’s InaSAFE as it has a lot in common with the Philippines, especially in topography and natural hazards.

This was disclosed during the multi-stakeholder assembly titled “Enhancing Community Resilience Through the Use of New Technology” conducted by Project NOAH recently held at the Oracle Hotel in Quezon City.

Abigail Baca, disaster and risk management officer of the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Region said that InaSAFE proved effective during the recent floods in Jakarta, Indonesia and it can be applied in the Philippines.

Dr. Alfredo Francisco Mahar Lagmay of Project NOAH disclosed that InaSAFE will be integrated into Project NOAH to supplement existing technologies used to mitigate, if not totally prevent, massive destruction caused by strong typhoons similar to Sendong in 2011 and Pablo in December 2012.

During his presentation, Dr. Lagmay said, “It is important to develop information tools that will help centralize risk information at the NOAH website and make them available to a wider community.”

Since its launch in July 2012 in Marikina City, Project NOAH has continuously upgraded and strengthened its capability through installation of various weather forecasting equipmentin various disaster-prone areas in the country. Among these are the Hydromet water level sensors and Doppler radars used to measure amount of rainfall in a specific area.

To date, there are 525 Hydromet sensors installed in different river systems including those in Tullahan River, Marikina River and San Juan River in Metro Manila. Likewise, the Project NOAH team has put up billboards in Pampanga showing flood maps to inform residents of the high-risk areas in their communities.

Further, Dr. Enrico C. Paringit, project leader of NOAH’s DREAM LiDAR (Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation-Light Detection and Ranging) said, “ Since November 2012, we were able to do three-dimensional or 3D mapping of the Pampanga river basin, Agno River, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. By the end of May this year, 3D mapping for Iloilo will be complete and next in line is the Panay river basin.”

DOST’s new fruit drinks to help cool down your summer

By Rodolfo de Guzman, S&T Media Service, DOST-STII

The Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) recently came up with natural fresh fruit drinks perfect for  summer and beyond. Next to ice water, there is no better way to beat the tropical heat but drink fresh and nutritious fruit juices, au naturel!

The new concoctions come in two types: one as ready-to-drink fruit juices and  another in concentrated form.

The ready-to-drink juice products are available in three flavors:  guyabano-nata, ripe mango-nata, and green mango-nata.

The Guyabano-Nata Fruit drink is a mixture of sweetened nata de coco, natural guyabano juice, and sugar.  Every 100 ml contains fruit fiber (2.1 g), vitamin C (134.6mg) and energy (139 Kcal).

Meanwhile, the Ripe Mango-Nata Fruit drink is a blend of ripe mango fruit juice, sweetened nata de coco, and sugar. One serving of 200 ml juice is equal to 55 percentRecommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C and 7 percent RDA for energy for an adult male. Because of its nutritional content, the juice is ideal for the prevention and management of constipation, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

On the other hand, the Green Mango-Nata Fruit drink is an alternate variant of the Ripe Mango-Nata  drink.   It contains the same nutritional benefits as the ripe mango flavor. Every 100 ml has 130.22 mg vitamin C, 140 Kcal energy and 2 g  fiber.

The juice type is available in 500 ml and one-liter bottles and has a shelf life of up to six months.

Meanwhile, the concentrated form has two variants, the Carrot-Pineapple and the Carrot-Mango, that come in 375 ml glass bottles. The juices can be stored up to a year at room temperatures between 28 to 32 degrees Celsius.

Both variants contain natural carrot juice and sugar as sweetener. These drinks are rich in B-carotene and vitamin A, thus increasing body resistance  against infections and help facilitate  fast recovery from illnesses. To prepare a 250 ml drink, one has to mix one part concentrate and one part water. 

One Bulacan coalition candidates beat rivals

MALOLOS CITY—Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa’s engineered coalition between the Liberal Party (LP) and the National Unity Party (NUP) in Bulacan worked as 17 of its provincial candidates won in the recent election.

Dubbed as One Bulacan, 15 mayoral candidates of the coalition won in 21 towns and three component cities of the province.

The One Bulacan coalition’s victory is bannered by re-elected Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado and Vice Gov. Daniel Fernando.

Like his wife, re-elected Rep. Marivic Alvarado of the first district of the province, the governor ran unopposed in the recently concluded election.

Four other LP-NUP coalition congressional candidates trounced their rivals. They are Gavini Pancho of  the second district who will succeed his father the outgoing Rep. Pedro Pancho, and re-elected Representatives Joselito Mendoza of the third district, Linabelle Ruth Villarica of the fourth district, and Arthur Robes of the lone district of the City of San Jose Del Monte.

Also, LP-NUP coalition candidates for the provincial board emerged victorious except for Allan Ray Baluyot of the Nacionalista Party from the fourth provincial district of Bulacan.

Winning coalition candidates for the provincial board are Michael Fermin, Felix Ople Ayee Ople of the first; Lawyers Ramon Posadas and Enrique Dela Cruz of the second district; Rino Castro and Ernesto Sulit of the third district; and Jonjon Delos Santos and King Sarmiento of the fourth district.

In the mayoral race, 15 One Bulacan coalition candidates defeated their rivals.

They are Mayors Romy Castro of Balagtas, Eduardo Villanueva Jr.,of Bocaue, Patrick Neil Meneses of Bulakan, Arnel Mendoza of Bustos, Jessie De Jesus of Calumpit, Ronalto Flores of the mountain town of Donya Remedios Trinidad, Christian Natividad of Malolos City, Tito Santiago of Marilao, Joan Alarilla of Meycauayan City, Enrico Roque of Pandi, Jocell Vistan of Plaridel, Vicente Esguerra of Pulilan, Rey San Pedro of San Jose Del Monte City, Roderick Tiongson of San Miguel, and Bartolome Ramos of Sta. Maria.

Non-coalition winning mayors are Leonardo De Leon of Angat (LP) Carol Dellosa of Baliwag (independent), Ambrosio Cruz of Guiguinto (Partido ng Masang Pilipino), Raulito Manlapaz of Hagonoy (PMP), Fred Germar of Norzagaray (LP), Edwin Santos of Obando (United Nationalist Alliance), Isagani Castro of Paombong (independent), Gerald Galvez of San Ildefonso (UNA), and Cipriano Violago of San Rafael (LP).

Some of the said mayors-elect ran under the banner of LP despite the presence of One Bulacan coalition candidates in their towns. Dino Balabo

Fernando garnered highest vote in Bulacan history

MALOLOS CITY—It is now official, reelected Bulacan Vice Governor Daniel Fernando earned the highest vote of a local candidate in a single election in the history of the province.

As this developed, four other celebrity-turned politicians in the province lost in the 2013 polls including comedian Long Mejia, actor Alex Castro, and singers Imelda Papin and Rey Valera.

Lawyer Elmo Duque, provincial election supervisor of Bulacan said that the actor turned politician is voted by more than half of the 1,497,873 registered voters in the province.

Fernando’s certificate of canvass and proclamation showed that he received a total of 853,558 votes in the May 13 polls.

The said number is higher than the more than 800,000 earned by reelected Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado who ran unopposed, while Fernando battled two other candidates.

Duque said that Fernando’s votes earned is the highest in the history of Bulacan.

When asked if it is the highest number of votes earned by a local candidate in a single election all of Luzon, Duque said, “I could only speak for this province” referring to Bulacan.

Records showed that that Fernando’s recent votes earned is higher than the more than 535,000 votes in the 2010 elections when he first won as vice governor of Bulacan.

In an interview after his proclamation on Wednesday night, Fernando described the number of votes he earned as “tsamba lang.”

With regards to fellow actors and celebrities who lost in the May 13 elections in Bulacan, the reelected vice governor advised them not to give up.

“May bukas pa, kung talagang nasa puso ang paglilingkod,ituloy lang ninyo,” he said.

Fernando was referring to actor Alex Castro and singer Rey Valera, who both lost in the separate bids for the vice mayoral post in Marilao town and Meycauayan City.

Other celebrities in the province who lost are singer Imelda Papin who lost he bid for the lone congressional district of the City of San Jose Del Monte; and comedian Long Mejia who for the second time lost his bid to become a municipal councilor of Calumpit town.

Records showed that Fernando’s first attempt in politics was in 1998 when he ran lost as an independent vice mayor in his hometown of Guiguinto.

He did not stop there, in 2001 and 2004 elections, he ran for the provincial Board Member position and won, even earning him the title as a senior board member of Bulacan.

In 2007, he ran for vice governor and lost to then Congressman Wilhelmino Alvarado; but in 2010, Alvarado took Fernando as running mate and both of them won.

Prior to his entry into mainstream politics, Fernando was appointed as Sangguniang Kabataan chairman in Barangay Tabang,Guiguinto in the early 80s, then pursued a career in acting by joining theater groups.

In the mid-80s, he starred in the now classic film “Scorpio Nights 1.”  Dino Balabo

Smooth polls noted in Bulacan

MALOLOS CITY—Despite tensions and reported malfunction of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, elections in Bulacan went generally peaceful, officials said.

Lawyer Elmo Duque, provincial election supervisor in Bulacan, expressed gratitude to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for maintaining peace and order in the province.

He said that the PNP and the AFP did a good job in pre-empting the arrest of suspected armed groups in the province that could have sowed terror and fear to voters during elections.

“Everything went very smooth and very peaceful,” Duque said in an interview yesterday. He added there was no report of any harassment of local voters.

The same was echoed by Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado who, after casting his vote, said that tension was replaced by peoples hope for change.

“By Philippine standards, our elections in Bulacan are generally peaceful,” Alvarado said.

He stressed that the PNP and the AFP did their homework in disbanding suspected armed groups in the province that resulted in the arrest of 11 suspected New People’s Army Rebels on May 3 followed by the arrest of six additional armed men who are suspected to be members of a private army on May 10.

Alvarado said there were tensions among opposing parties in the province at the close of the campaign period.

However, he said that all went silent when the voting began on Monday.

He specifically cited tense situations in San Rafael, San Miguel and Donya Remedios town.

With regards to tension in Malolos City hours before the elections, the governor said that it stemmed from the intent of both groups to keep the elections clean.

“They guarded each other on the allegations that both camps were planning to conduct vote buying,” he said, referring to the camps of incumbent Mayor Christian Natividad and former Mayor Danilo Domingo of this city.

The Malolos incident late Sunday night occurred when Natividad’s supporters massed near the headquarters of Domingo. They complained that Domingo’s men were casing Natividad’s headquarters.

But Domingo said they were only monitoring the situation in response to reports that vehicles with loads of people were coming to and from Natividad’s headquarters.

With regards to incident of vote-buying in the province, Duque said that the PNP is still investigating incidents.

He said that one of the closest incidents was the seizure of about a million pesos in cash in Norzagaray town.

Police said that the seized cash was meant to be used in buying votes. Dino Balabo

WOA Issued: Goto Violago hunted by CIDG

MALOLOS CITY—A mayoral candidate in Bulacan is now in hiding days before the May 13 polls after the Regional Trial Court (RTC) here issued a warrant of arrest (WOA) against him on Wednesday for the murder of a police officer who is said to be his close friend.

Incumbent Vice Mayor Cipriano Violago who is now running for mayor in San Rafael town is now the target of a massive manhunt operations of the Criminal Investigation Detection Team (CIDT) here.

This came as Judge Corazon Domingo-Ranola of RTC Branch 10 here issued on a Wednesday as WOA against Violago and four other cohorts in connection with the murder of SPO1 Rafael Bartolome, a CIDT operative on May 13 last year.

Violago’s cohort were identified as Vergel dela Rosa Liquino, a resident of Barangay Pansumalok in San Rafael town; Nicolas Mangaluz alias Boyet and Joel Mangaluz, both of  Barangay Bahay Pare, Candaba, Pampanga; and Tristan S. Cruz IV, of Barangay  Tanauan in Bustos town.

No bail was recommended for the provisional liberty of all the accused pending their arrest.

Based on records,the CIDT filed  murder charges against Violago for the death of Bartolome who was identified in earlier reports as “close friend” of the mayoral candidate.

According to initial police report at the time of the killing, Bartolome was allegedly “set-up” and killed by assailants aboard a motorcycle riding-in-tandem after he responded to a friends call inside Lapid’s Ville Subdivision in Barangay Tambubong, San Rafael town.

Police claimed that the death of Bartolome was set-up, because he was killed a by two motorcycle riding men after he responded to the call of his friend residing at Lapid’s Ville in Barangay Tambubong, San Rafael on the night of May 13, 2012.

As a standard bearer of the Liberal Party (NUP) in San Rafael town, Violago is challenging incumbent Mayor Lorna Silverio of the National Unity Party (NUP) who is seeking reelection.

Silverio and Violago were running mates in the 2010 automated elections, until the latter severed ties with the former and decided to run for mayor.

Violago is the father of Board Member Mark Cholo Violago, representing the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) of Bulacan in the Sangguniang Panglalawigan.

Last October, the Violago’s were blamed for the killing of Renato Ignacio, the younger brother of SPO4 Norberto Ignacio who was killed on April15, 2012. 

On November 29 last year, Violago’s son Mark Cholo survived an ambush attempt in Plaridel town.  Dino Balabo

11 ‘NPA rebels’ arrested: Cited as members of private army of Bulacan politician

By Ding Cervantes

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -  Eleven armed alleged members of the New People’s Army (NPA) were arrested over the weekend in a joint army and police operation in Barangay Kabayunan, Doña Remedios Trinidad (DRT) in Bulacan, but sources from Camp Olivas here said the armed men belonged to a private army of a politician running in the local elections.

Army 7th Infantry Division (7ID) public affairs officer Capt. Mark Anthony Ruelos said in a report the men were arrested by troops from the 56th Infantry Battalion (56IB) headed by Lt. Col. Bernardo Oña and the DRT police.

The arrested suspected NPA rebels were identified as Rodolfo Cruz, 65, of Barangay Bigte, Norzagaray, Bulacan; Rico Vicene, 43,  of San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan; Josefino Lupanco, 34, of Salangan, San Miguel; Cyrhyl dela Cruz,19, of Barangay. Tibagan, San Miguel; Jayson Valmadrid, 25, of Barangay San Juan, San Miguel; Randy Puno, 33, of Barangay Salangan, San Miguel; and Angel Cabrera, 48, also of Barangay Salangan, San Miguel.

“The operation resulted in no gunfire and yielded three .45 mm high-powered firearms, four hand grenades, a shotgun with six ammunitions, subversive documents which included Permit to Campaign (PTC) letters, solicitation letters, and a blue book containing names, places, activities, and area study; and paramedic instruments such as medicines, stethoscope, and syringe,”  Ruelos said.

Follow-up operations in the area later led to the capture of three more alleged NPA members identified as Graciano dela Cruz, Billy Asuncion and William Asuncion, and the seizure of their arms that included three M16 and two M14 rifles, as well as subversive documents.

The arrest of the armed men was triggered by information from a “concerned citizen” that about 30 men alleged to be NPA members were present in remote Sitio Mahangin and Sitio Sapang Linao in DRT, he said.

Ruelos said the armed men were apparently “sending PTC letters to local candidates and had even planned to establish checkpoints in the area to ambush uncooperative bets.”

”The seized items were turned over to the local police and will serve as evidences against the suspects who are now under the custody of DRT police for proper documentation and filing of appropriate criminal charges,” Ruelos added.

A source from Camp Olivas who asked not to be named for lack of authority to disclose information said that the alleged communist rebels who were captured in DRT were also members of an armed group being maintained by one candidate running for a local post in the Bulacan town in the coming May elections. The politician was not identified. – With reports from Rommel Ramos