Permanent no-entry into Mayon danger zone sought

n By VINCE LOPEZ

THE Office of the Civil Defense is looking at several proposals to ban residential settlements within the 6-kilometer radius permanent danger zone (PDZ) of the Mayor Volcano, including pursuing a natural park development project in the area.

“OCD is pushing for so-called sciencebased institutions – Phivolcs, DENR, and DPWH – to look at permanent solutions, and which are feasible. We should accept by now that there should be no residents within the 6-kilometer danger zone,” OCD Administrator Usec. Ariel Nepomuceno said in a press briefing on Saturday.

“We will push the PNP and the local government units – encourage them –that if there is a legal way to force [the residents out of the PDZ], then that should be implemented,” he added.

Nepomuceno said developing the natural park project in the area is a long-term solution that would ease the burden of both the local and national governments and would better manage their respective disaster and relief funds.

“It is really exhausting – when they evacuate, we have to source food for them, classes get disrupted. Resources get drained from the barangay to the municipal to the national government level,” he said.

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Don’t buy, use glow-in-the-dark ‘lato-lato’—FDA multi-mission vessel, BRP Francisco Dagohoy, in an area six nautical miles southwest of Pag-asa Island, which is well within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.

THE Food and Drug Administration has warned the public against buying and using “unnotified” lato-lato or clacker toys, particularly the one with lights and the glow-in-the-dark varieties, as these can contain harmful materials.

“Potential hazards may come from ingredients that are not allowed to be part of a toy and childcare article product,” the FDA said in its advisory.

“The use of substandard and possibly adulterated toy and childcare article product may result to health risks including, but not limited to, endocrine disruption and reproductive or development effects; or may result to injury, choking or suffocation due to its small or broken parts,” it added.

The FDA told the public to always check if a product is notified through its website: https://verification.fda. gov.ph.

OCD will conduct a thorough research on related legislations that may already be pending or existing policies for enforcement, such as the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas (E-NIPAS) Act or Republic Act No. 11038. Under the law, Mount Mayon Natural Park is one of the 94 sites declared as protected areas. Mayon Volcano, which remains under Alert Level 3, continued to emit lava, Phivolcs said yesterday.

In the past 24 hours, the state seismology office recorded two volcanic earthquakes and 280 rockfall events at the volcano, which also emitted 978 tons of sulfur dioxide in a day.

The rare encounter with China’s “gray” or military ship after BRP Dagohoy carried P4.95 million worth of fishing and postharvest equipment to fisherfolk groups in Pag-Asa Island.

Briguera, in an earlier interview, said fisheries production in the West Philippine Sea has dropped by seven percent between 2021 and 2022.

Based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, production was down to 275,872 metric tons of fish in 2022, from 295,332 MT in the previous year.

“When we say total production in the West Philippine Sea, we are not just talking about Pag-asa Island. We are referring to the total production of provinces fronting the West Philippine Sea,” he said.

spill recovery completed but containment continues’

THE extraction of the remaining oil from the sunken MT Princess Empress in Oriental Mindoro has been completed – two days ahead of the June 19 target date – but containment efforts will continue, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on Saturday.

About 95 percent of the affected shorelines are now clean and only “very minimal traces” of oil are left in the vessel, PCG spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said.

“The eight tanks are now empty with minimal pipe drips, which can no longer be recovered through siphoning,” he said, adding that two salvage vessels would remain in the area. Balilo said the operation is not yet over. “There’s still much more to do,” he said, referring to the oil containment operation. “We will make an evaluation this week to make sure that the affected shorelines have been cleaned.”

The M/T Princess Empress was reportedly carrying about 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil when it encountered engine trouble on Feb. 28, leading to its sinking off the waters of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

Fatherhood in the age of digital technology

By ANGELICA VILLANUEVA

AND PATRICIA

TACULAO

WHAT does being a father mean? Society perceives a father’s role into three parts: the protector, the provider, and the disciplinarian. But as the world entered the modern age where technology and new ideas reign, the image of a father changed. Today, we see fathers who embrace their emotions and teach their children to express themselves wholeheartedly. But regardless of their philosophies or parenting approach, their love for their children, with a little help from technological advances, trumps all odds.

during 2nd

THE SIGN OF THINGS TO COME.

Water receptacles of all shapes and sizes form a long line along Road 10 in Tondo Manila waiting to be filled up as water rationing is apparently upon the metropoolis, with the staterun Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System giving assurances that every household will get their fair share of clean water even as the faucets run dry during a protracted El Niño season. Norman Cruz

NCRPO: Batasan area ‘no-fly zone’ during 2nd SONA

n By JOEL E. ZURBANO

THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has announced it will enforce a no-fly zone in the vicinity of Batasan Complex in Quezon City in connection with the second State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on July 24.

“The implementation of the "No Fly Zone / No Drone Zone" takes effect in and adjacent to the airspace of the Batasang Pambansa,” said NCRPO Maj. Gen. Edgar Alan Okubo.

Okubo also reminded the public that from 12:01 a.m. to 12 midnight of July 24, all Permit to Carry Firearms Outside Residence in Metro Manila will be suspended.

Meanwhile, an additional 824 police personnel will be assigned for SONA, bringing to 22,905 the total number of policemen who will be deployed to secure peace and order before, during and after the event.

Okubo said of 17,929 of the lawmen will come from the NCRPO; 4,476 from other government units, and the rest assigned as “force multipliers.”