Category: Philippines Daily Inquirer

Ateneo snapped out of a five-game slump and eliminated University of the East in the process, 78-74, in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Blue Eagles, who opened the season at 4-0 before going on a downward spiral, improved to a 5-5 record and kept the Red Warriors winless after 10 games.

‘What an outstanding effort by UE, the coaching staff did a great job. We knew that their top players are just really top-tier players in this league and they did a great job despite us giving them all our defensive energy,’ said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin.

‘They did everything but win the game in terms of competitiveness.’

The Red Warriors looked like they were primed for a breakthrough after taking a 63-52 lead with 1:39 left in the third quarter.

But the Blue Eagles battled back thanks to a strong fourth quarter showing behind Kymani Ladi, Shawn Tuano and Divine Adili.

Adili posted a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds in his return after missing three games due to a back injury, while Ladi scored a team-high 16.

UE’s skid continued despite the return of key cog Wello Lingolingo from a three-game suspension. Lingolingo topscored with 19 points. Precious Momowei led the tough-luck Red Warriors with another double-double effort of 19 points and 18 rebounds.

A report released by Climate Rights International (CRI) on Tuesday warned that communities affected by nickel mining in Caraga region will be most vulnerable to severe weather condition, including storms like Typhoon Tino (international name: Kalmaegi), which are becoming more frequent and more intense because of climate change.

CRI released its report on the impact of nickel mining in communities in the Caraga region-host to 23 nickel mines, the largest number in the country known as the world’s second-largest producer of nickel-just as Tino was wreaking havoc across the Visayas and parts of Mindanao.

Nickel, a transition mineral used to fuel electric vehicles (EVs), has been touted as one of the solutions to lessen the world’s dependence on fossil fuel, but mining it ironically caused untold sufferings among communities where they are mined, according to the CRI’s 106-page report ‘Broken Promises: Philippines’ Nickel Mining Causes Rights Abuses and Increases Climate Vulnerability.’

It said that nickel mining increased the vulnerability of poor, low-income communities to severe weather conditions like the recent typhoon as it destroys forests and reduces the environment’s resilience to extreme weather.

CRI interviewed 57 residents and workers who live near nickel mines in the provinces of Dinagat Islands and Surigao del Sur in the Caraga region of Mindanao, the heart of the country’s mining industry.

Vulnerable

Community members report increased vulnerability to the climate crisis linked to mining; the destruction of fishing and farming livelihoods; severe environmental pollution that threatens drinking water and health; increased rates of food insecurity; new difficulties accessing education; a lack of accountability for harms; and attacks, killings, criminalization and intimidation of those who speak out, including environmental and human rights defenders, said Krista Shennum, CRI researcher who wrote the report.

It said nickel mining drives deforestation and loss of species that provide climate resilience, increasing the community’s vulnerability to extreme weather.

When terrestrial forests and mangrove forests are gone, carbon stored in both plant matter and soil may be released into the atmosphere, turning a carbon sink into a source of emissions.

In the report, residents of Tubajon in Dinagat Islands described how the loss of forests and mangroves due to mining operations and mining-related pollution exposed their communities to storm surges, high winds and flooding during extreme weather events like the devastating Supertyphoon Odette (Rai) in 2021.

Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of the group Alyansa Tigil Mina, said the stories in the report captured the daily struggles and sufferings of people in mining communities.

‘This is very important (because) while some companies and maybe the country benefit from nickel mining, the suffering it has created confirms that the destructive and long-term impacts of mining create more disadvantages for the Filipinos,’ Garganera said during the launching of the report on Tuesday.

Who benefits

He said the report validated common knowledge among environmental activists that 90 percent of nickel goes to China. ‘That completes the story, we are not benefiting from extraction of nickel but many of our communities are suffering the consequences,’ Garganera said.

CRI said the sale of EVs in the Philippines had skyrocketed; from just 1,000 units sold in 2022, to more than 20,000 units in the first nine months of this year.

But in the Caraga region, nickel needed for EV batteries is often mined with little regard for the environment, polluting land and water and devastating forests and violating people’s human rights. It destroyed the lives and livelihood of local communities, according to the report.

Although the global energy transition away from fossil fuels is critical to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis, communities where nickel are mined in the country and who ‘(bore) no responsibility for the climate crisis’ are being asked to pay a high price for climate solutions

It said the rights of these communities must be respected for the energy transition to be ‘truly just.’

Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso revealed that flood control projects worth over P14 billion from 2022 to 2025 were implemented in the city without securing the necessary permits.

In a press conference last August, Moreno lamented the persistent flooding in the city despite the large allocation for flood mitigation structures, noting that many of the projects have already been completed.

‘All of these projects have no permits in the city. Yes, we are investigating them, and they are also being reviewed by the Office of the President,’ Moreno said in Filipino.

‘Flood control projects in Manila amounting to P14 billion have been funded, yet the people of Manila-students, workers, business owners, and commuters-continue to suffer from flooding,’ he added.

The mayor criticized the projects, saying he did not need to be an engineer to see that they were ineffective, as they failed to reduce widespread flooding in Manila.

Moreno then detailed the budget allocations for flood control projects in each city district from 2022 to 2025: over P3.4 billion in District I; over P2.05 billion in District II; over P4.2 billion in District III; over P1.3 billion in District IV; over P1.16 billion in District V; and over P2 billion in District VI.

He noted that the data may be incomplete, as the local government of Manila obtained the figures from the Sumbong sa Pangulo (Report to the President) website, which provides a list of flood control projects nationwide.

The website also allows the public to submit reports and comments on flood mitigation structures in their communities.

Meanwhile, Moreno said that based on new data, there are 112 ongoing projects in the city with no permits, regulatory fees, or contractors’ taxes.

He stressed that contractors are liable and emphasized that the local government of Manila will hold them accountable.

‘There are a little over a hundred contractors handling infrastructure projects from the national government. Of course, we’ll go after them. unless they comply with the Local Government Code, the National Building Code, and other ordinances and laws of the City of Manila,’ he said in Filipino.

Moreno added that while many contractors have previously evaded their obligations, ‘they should learn their lesson very well.’

He also noted that contractors are welcome in Manila, provided they fulfill their responsibilities.

In a separate press briefing, Moreno revealed that 305 flood control projects in the city have unpaid contractors’ taxes totaling P247 million. He said that ‘a little over a hundred’ contractors are responsible for the unpaid taxes covering the period 2022 to 2025.

He specifically cited St. Timothy Construction Corporation, owned by contractor Cezarah ‘Sarah’ Discaya, as one of those with outstanding tax obligations. Discaya has previously been linked to controversies involving alleged corruption and kickbacks in flood control projects.

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The Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured that Typhoon Tino (international name: Kalmaegi) will not curb rice supply in the Philippines, although the weather disturbance may affect corn harvests.

‘We’re not too worried about rice since the harvest is almost complete in major producing provinces and most of the affected regions are not major producing areas,’ Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said in a statement on Wednesday.

But the DA warned that corn production might sustain ‘significant losses.’

Tiu Laurel said the National Food Authority (NFA) had sufficient rice stocks to cover the country’s requirements. Even then, he said the agency would closely monitor the situation.

‘But we may have an issue with corn because about 33,000 hectares of cornfields were affected by Tino,’ he added.

Current buffer

The country’s rice stocks totaled 2.35 million metric tons as of Oct. 1, up 3.2 percent from the same month last year, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.

The commercial sector accounted for 40.5 percent of last month’s rice inventory.

Corn stocks reached 846,810 MT, a 16.3 percent increase from a year ago. The commercial sector contributed 78.1 percent to the total.

Tiu Laurel has instructed all regional field offices to conduct rapid damage assessments and prepare for a potentially stronger typhoon that could hit Northern Luzon over the weekend.

Losses expected

The DA has yet to estimate losses arising from Typhoon Tino.

However, the agency said, ‘damage and losses are expected in affected regions as assessment and validations are ongoing.’

Nonetheless, the DA has readied P255 million worth of farm inputs for distribution to affected farmers and fishers. These include rice, corn and vegetable seeds, fingerlings and biologics.

It is prepared to assist fishers in repairing fishing gears and boats, and provide fuel assistance.

Crop protection

The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. will expedite the processing of farmers’ claims affected by the typhoon.

To help local producers rebuild their plantations, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council is prepared to offer up to P25,000 in loans through its Survival and Recovery (SURE) Loan Program.

The NFA, for its part, has set aside 2.6 million bags of rice for distribution to local government units and relief agencies.

Meanwhile, the DA will sell rice at P20 per kilogram through Kadiwa ng Pangulo outlets.

Being a nerd has its rewards. When I am in an archive, a library, or a museum with materials from or about the Philippines, I feel like a child in a candy store. Despite the stress and jet lag that comes with long trips, I accepted the invitation to deliver an opening keynote speech at a conference on ‘Philippine Lives under Early Spanish Rule’ because the venue was the Newberry Library in Chicago. While my area of specialization is the late 19th century, on my last two trips to the Newberry I requested older materials, like the 1734 Murillo Velarde map of the Philippines that I consulted by hand on a table rather than looking at it hanging on a wall behind glass, or worse, through a high-resolution copy online.

I was also able to consult the 1554 Ramusio map of China and Southeast Asia, considered the ‘birth certificate’ of the Philippines because it was the first European map that carried the name ‘Filipina.’ The Philippines as we know it today was not yet fully formed in this map that reflects the state of geographic knowledge at the time: only ‘Filipina’ and ‘Vendanao’ are represented. Luzon and the Visayas had yet to be charted and drawn. This map is ornamented with mythical sea creatures that makes the 16th-century world both charming and terrifying. The real treat was being able to consult the map inside the original book of voyages. More often than not, maps are separated from books by collectors who prefer them framed on a wall.

The Philippine collection in the Newberry was donated by Edward E. Ayer whose core collection is on Native, or should I say the Original Americans, the Indians-not the White men who took over their lands. When Ayer heard news of George Dewey sinking the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898 he anticipated the US occupation of the islands and directed his agents and book dealers to source materials that would be an indispensable reference on the Philippines. Aside from early Philippine imprints and travel accounts from the 17th and 18th centuries (they have both the 1609 edition of Antonio de Morga’s ‘Sucesos de las islas Filipinas (Events of the Philippine Islands)’ and Jose Rizal’s annotated edition of the same work published in Paris in 1890. Also in the Ayer collection are materials in major Philippine languages: Tagalog, Bisaya, etc. And over 8,000 ethnographic photographs from the Philippines acquired from Dean C. Worcester that has recently been digitized and made available online through a joint project between the Newberry and the University of Michigan Recollect/Reconnect initiative.

They have some rare items like a 19th-century album of Philippine costumes done in watercolor by Damian Domingo. They have one of the earliest printed copies of the National Anthem of the Philippines, a lithograph made in Hong Kong circa 1898-1899. Julian Felipe’s composition for piano and trumpet comes with an indication of metronome speed that allows us, when played, to hear what Emilio Aguinaldo first heard before it was played in public in Kawit by a brass band on June 12, 1898.

Books or printed materials, you may find elsewhere, but manuscripts are often unique. The Newberry has over 400 manuscripts that cover the years from 1564-1899. The writers or subjects of the manuscripts can be famous people like Rizal, Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Antonio Luna, etc. to obscure people like Adriana Capuquian, a 19thcentury woman who was interrogated for her mystical visions, or unnamed boys, victims of clergy abuse being investigated by a bishop. The Rizal manuscripts comprise the hero’s 1884 Madrid Diary and a book containing his clinical notes when he was a medical student in Madrid. There are letters between Rizal and the anthropologist A.B. Meyer where Rizal explained the origin and location of ‘Ma-yi’ in 10th-century Chinese chronicles. In another letter Rizal locates ‘Tawalisi,’ mentioned by the 14th century Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta, in Northern Luzon, giving rise to the myth of Princess Urduja, a Turkish speaking warrior queen from Pangasinan! Rizal also briefs Meyer on the history of hashish in the Philippines, admitting that he tried hashish ‘for experience’ in Manila in 1879. The 18-year-old Rizal bought hashish, I presume with a prescription, from a drugstore.

It is not well-known that Ayer travelled to Manila in 1904 together with his friend, the Chicago architect Daniel Burnham who was commissioned to do the plans for Manila and Baguio. During their stay, Ayer went on a spree buying ethnographic objects that he later donated to the Field Museum that now preserves thousands of ethnographic and natural science materials collected in the Philippines during the early 20th century. Ayer reputedly bought so much bladed weapons, shields, and armor that the joke was his collection made it easier to end Filipino resistance to US rule.

While a lot of materials are now available online, there is no substitute to being in the Newberry Library and Field Museum to find the Philippines in Chicago.

The cost of humanitarian aid in relation to Typhoon Tinio has reached P31.3 million, and this assistance has spread across more than 49,000 affected families, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

In its advisory at 12 noon on Wednesday, the NDRRMC reported that it has helped 70 percent of typhoon victims, using the P31 million fund, in Bicol, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Caraga.

The NDRRMC determined that a total of over 75,000 families require assistance – with more than 38,000 of them in Western Visayas, over 27,000 in Eastern Visayas, more than 6,000 in Caraga, and over 4,000 in Bicol.

Of these figures, the council’s humanitarian aid has reached 95.3 percent (more than 25,000) of the selected families in Eastern Visayas, 57.8 percent (more than 22,000) of those in Western Visayas, 8.8 percent (361) of the families in the Bicol Region, and less than 1 percent (566) of those in Caraga.

The breakdown of cost of assistance is listed below:

Eastern Visayas: P16,284,194.24

Western Visayas: P13,482,068.87

Caraga: P1,333,261.44

Bicol Region: P 222,082

Most of the aid came in the form of food, with only two areas listed that received cash.

According to NDRRMC, 626 families in Buenavista, Guimaras received financial aid amounting to P570,000.

In January, 188 families in Iloilo also received P3,000 in financial aid from the local government.

Over 300,000 families were affected by Typhoon Tino.

The NDRRMC broke down the number of affected families in seven regions:

Western Visayas: 152,514

Caraga: 84,769

Eastern Visayas: 45,698

Central Visayas: 26,403

Bicol Region: 7,763

Mimaropa: 638

Negros Island Region: 235

Typhoon Tino has yet to exit the Philippine area of responsibility, and yet the state weather bureau has already seen another cyclone that is expected to enter the country as a typhoon between Friday and Saturday.

Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rodolfo Azurin, special adviser and investigator of the Independent Commission for Infrastructures (ICI), led a team that inspected two infrastructure projects here that were included in the 51 questionable flood control projects flagged by the government in the Davao region.

The team included members of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Baguio City Benjamin Magalong.

One of the projects, the flood control project along the Davao river in the area known here as Matina Gravahan, was already destroyed by a big flood only months after it was completed last year, residents here said.

But Azurin said it was still too early to say whether the project was substandard or not, but the team had already taken samples of materials being used to check if the contractor who built the dike followed the specifications approved by the DPWH.

‘We saw that in less than two years, the project was already damaged, but we still have to review the contract with the DPWH so that we can determine what sanctions we can impose on the contractors and the implementers of the project,’ Azurin said.

With Azurin and Magalong was Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Arthur Bisnar, who led the DPWH team during the inspection.

Aside from the flood-control project along the Davao River, the team also inspected the rock-netting intended for slope control along the Diversion Road here. Their earlier schedule to inspect another project in Barangay Callawa here did not push through.

Earlier, Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon visited Davao Occidental province, where he discovered that the P96.5 million Culaman Bridge flood control project in Jose Abad Santos turned out to be a ‘ghost project.’

Large rocks cover portions of the national road in Canlaon City after a powerful flash flood struck the area on Tuesday.

The boulders-some reportedly as large as half a human-are believed to have been carried downstream by strong currents triggered by Typhoon Tino.

As of this writing, road-clearing operations are underway, but several areas remain inaccessible due to debris and flood damage. Authorities are advising motorists to avoid affected routes and exercise caution while traveling.

Disaster response teams continue to monitor the situation and assist residents impacted by the flash floods

SINGAPORE – Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, chairman of the board of Inquirer Interactive, Inc., formally opened here Wednesday the Asian Media Leaders Summit (AMLS) attended by about 200 journalism industry leaders and media professionals from Asia.

Organized by the World Association of News Publishers, or WAN-IFRA – of which Prieto-Romualdez is Asia-Pacific chair – the AMLS is the Asian counterpart of the WAN-IFRA’s World Congress.

According to Prieto-Romualdez, news leaders’ concerns worldwide as captured by WAN-IFRA’s own industry outlook include:

lack of trust in news media

global geopolitical economic uncertainty

creating sustainability of business models

platform power and unpredictability

aging audiences

user habit and expectations

‘But the outlook will show you also that there’s a general sense of optimism because of opportunities that have come our way,’ she said, adding that these present new action points for the news industry.

‘It’s important to build direct relationships with our readers and consumers, double down on our journalism, collaborate like never before, and develop other revenue streams,’ she said.

These will be key themes at the two-day conference, which has gathered attendees from 41 countries representing 106 companies.

Many speakers and session moderators are senior editors and news industry leaders. But there are headline sessions that tackle AI and news content creators, and how these affect publishing content and business, and some best cases and practices on these worldwide.

AMLS is ‘Asian-centric and aligns closely with the business environment that Asian media operates in. It is a compact but intense conference, with plenty of learning and networking opportunities,’ WAN-IFRA says on its website.