Magnitude 6.3 quake hits Batangas, parts of Luzon

A MAGNITUDE 6.3 earthquake hit Calatagan town in Batangas on Thursday morning with the tremor felt across Luzon, including Metro Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

Although no major damage was reported from the quake as of press time, the temblor shook parts of the National Capital Region, including major transport systems, sending people streaming out of buildings weeks after the most recent national earthquake drill.

The runway at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was closed for inspection, temporarily halting its operations, along with other airports and the railways crisscrossing the big city.

In a statement, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said the building and equipment at San Jose Airport in Mindoro, across the sea from Batangas, did not sustain major damage.

The cracks found in two stations of

FEELING THE EARTH MOVE. Students and faculty members can be seen evacuating from Araullo High School along UN Avenue in Manila following a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that rocked Calatagan, Batangas, with tremors felt across the capital. Norman Cruz

DENR: Include waste pickers in plastic management

By Rio N. Araja

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources seeks to employ waste pickers from the informal sector and integrate them into an expanded producer responsibility (EPR) system for plastic packaging waste.

To ensure that no one is left behind as the country transitions toward a circular economy, DENR Secretary Antonia Loyzaga cited the need for a more holistic integration of the informal sector to the EPR system.

The informal waste sector in the Philippines include waste pickers at dumps and communal waste collection points. The DENR chief cited the significant role of the sector in waste collection and management, and the potential contribution it could bring being the “backbone of the currently limited collection services and partly of recycling” in the country.