Friday 24 February 2012

     Blue and beautiful … The mouth of the Mambulao Bay as viewed from 
        Baranggay Osmena on the outskirts of Mambulao from where the Calambayungan 
        Island is seen. This expanse of the deeper portion of the bay is being threatened  
        by silt and mining waste pollution. Already, the shallower part of the bay close to 
        the  shoreline has been silted up, causing the water to turn brownish. The beach 
        itself is laced with red mud originating from gold mining quarries and on-going 
        gold operations outside the poblacion. One recent Balikbayan visitor had noticed  
        that  standing on the Osmena side of the bay and looking straight to the other side  
        where Bunog Island aka baranggay Pag-asa is located, he noticed that the bay 
        water on the right of the imaginary line was blueish. However, that portion on the  
        left  of the line stretching towards the shore was brownish despite the clear blue 
        skies. – Text by AP HERNANDEZ/MWBuzzpic by ARNEL P HERNANDEZ


 
    Struggling for survival  … Small fishing boats parked along the 
      shore  at Baranggay Osmena. With their catch dwindling at a faster rate, Mambulao 
      fishermen are finding it difficult to meet the daily needs of their families because 
      their fishing grounds at Mambulao Bay no longer host the bountiful fish that used 
      to thrive there decades ago. Their livelihood is also threatened by commercial 
      fishing operators that venture into the exclusive municipal fishing zone despite the 
      presence of Bantay-Dagat, the sea-patrol of the municipal government.  – Text by 
      AP HERNANDEZ/MWBuzzpic by ARNEL P HERNANDEZ

In This Edition


SATURDAY, February 25, 2012
Volume 1 No 8

1) Blue and beautiful …

EDITORIAL


NEWS

PHOTO ESSAY


TESDA SCHOLARSHIPS

COMMENTARY

FEATURES
25) My chair of memories, by Emma P Valencia, MD 
26) Rainforest of the sea

Column


Archives:
1) To view stories in the 7th edition, please click here
2) To view stories in the 6th edition, please click here
3) To view stories in the 5th edition, please click here
4) To view stories in the 4th edition, please click here
5) To view stories in the 3rd edition, please click here
6) To see stories in the 2nd edition, please click here
7) To see stories in the 1st edition, please click here  


EDITORIAL

        The rubbish-carpeted beach at Baranggay Parang just next to the poblacion. - -  
        MWBuzzpic by ARNEL P HERNANDEZ

Action to deal with Parang beach rubbish

IN AN interview with MBWbuzz early this month, Jose Panganiban Mayor Ricarte Padilla said the pollution problem plaguing the beach of Parang just outside the poblacion “has been a decade-long issue”.

Probably. 

It could be that he looked at it for the first time, and seeing it, decided to forget all about it. 
That’s why about two years into his administration, plastic bags and all sorts of garbage have eventually piled along the beach.

But he had an interesting observation: he blamed the natural action of the Mambulao Bay current during typhoons for the shift of household rubbish that was raked up from the bottom of the bay where it has been buried deep in the sand after drifting from a number of coastal baranggays within the municipality.

All this were carried ashore – to the beach of Parang – to settle there for good.

The term “for good” is appropriate because since reaching the beach of Parang a few years back, it really stayed there -- unmoved until now, awaiting action from Mayor Padilla.

MWBuzz would like to comment on the mayor’s observation.

Five years ago in 2007, the beach in Parang was one pleasant spot to be in Mambulao, especially in the afternoon while the yellow-red sun was languidly slipping behind the Calambayungan Island while tiny white-crested waves gently lapped at the pristine shore. And somewhere, kids played touch-and-go with them.

It was not as bad as it is now, when it has become a sort of a dumpsite soon to rival that of Payatas’s in Tondo, Metro Manila.

In short, the crisis now plaguing the community beach only cropped up during the past five years.
It could be said that when Padilla assumed the helm of the municipality in 2010 after an election victory, such rubbish had already been piling up along the shore’s 1.5km stretch.

But of course, the mayor could have more pressing community issues to deal with at the start of his administration that were much more important than the clean-up of the beach. 

Anyway, this could have been simply initiated at the baranggay or purok level – if only the local leaders and the residents have the sense.

The first line of culprits to put the blame on are the households – both permanent and later-day squatters – that stood along the 1.5km stretch of the beach from the Parang-poblacion bridge up to rocky walls of the rough road to Larap on the outskirts of Parang.

Anyway, Padilla said during the interview with MWBuzz correspondent-at-large Percy A Ostonal, his office is looking to do something about it. 

In fact, he created an ecological team that would monitor the rubbish situation, not only at the beach, but also in the entire municipality.

Recently, he made trips to some coastal baranggays suspected of contributing to the rubbish dump at Parang beach, and urged them to act responsibly when handling their household rubbish.
It was obvious that residents in these baranggays had conveniently done away with their wastes by simply dumping them into their respective beaches and allow nature to take its course.

But as one native of Parang  Aldrin Toribio, the founder of JP Unland Movement said, the best solution to the beach pollution is to involve a group of volunteers from Parang – maybe from the schoolchildren at Parang Elementary School and those students from Parang who are attending the Jose Panganiban National High School—in the beach clean-up, led by the baranggay captain and his officials.

After all, the beach is theirs. No other parties aside from the mayor himself would be more interested in alleviating its current situation.

But MWBuzz believes that monitoring the rubbish movement in the municipality – with most of it ending up on the beach of Parang – would just be a waste to time, effort and energy.
Just get the local people moving and get done with it.

Of course, this one needs leadership, something lacking right now.

n  -- AP Hernandez

Padilla urges constituents, businesses to pay taxes

        The municipal’s community tax certificate which amounts to P20 only.


By PERCY A OSTONAL
MWBuzz Correspondent-at-large
JOSE Panganiban town mayor Ricarte Padilla has appealed to his constituents to pay the necessary taxes due the municipality to support the local government’s operations.
Padilla made the appeal during an interview early this month with MWBuzz at his residence in Motherlode.
Speaking in Filipino and in English, the mayor said: “Sa ating mga kababayan na may pag-aari, negosyo o kaya'y kahit "cedula" (community tax certificate) lang … I am asking them to pay their real estate and property tax, business tax or any other mandated taxes to our municipality.
 “Supporting our town's population growth sa maliit na gross revenue ay hindi sumasapat (supporting our town’s population growth with very little gross revenue (from taxes) would not be enough), Padilla said.
Specifically, the mayor directed his appeal to businesses in the municipality, which he said could help a lot in boosting the coffers of the municipal government.
There are a few flourishing business enterprises around time, including three hotels and stores.
The only bigger revenue contributors to the municipality are the Johson Gold Mining Corporation (JGMC), which operates a gold processing plant at Baranggay North Bagumbayan and the Pan Century Surfactants Inc, a chemical company with a processing plant at the JP Economic Zone (2) at Baranggay Osmena on the outskirts of the town.
Pan Century is an export-oriented enterprise owned by Indian investors.
JGMC processes gold and sell it to the government in bullion and also export the metal.
Jose Panganiban is a second-class municipality with more than 80,000 people in about 8,969 households spread in the 27 baranggays.
Most of the baranggays are considered “depressed” areas.
Many of the people derive their livelihood from subsistence fishing and farming, gold-panning and small-scale businesses, although a big number work overseas.
However, it is understood that Mambolenos do not pay the basic taxes in the form of “residence tax certificate”, which amounts to only P20.

       The Pan Century Surfactants Inc plant complext at Baranggay Osmena.
 
MV JING GANG SHAN, a Chinese vessel with a DWT capacity of 4,700mt, is       docked       at the port of Pan Century Surfactants Inc in Barangay Osmeña,    Panganiban, Camarines Norte to load up Iron ore from various mining sites in the province and transport them to China for processing. - Photo courtesy of SVUsana, PCSI/PIA

Mayor renews appeal for “bag of cement” donations

       A portion of the Parang-Larap road at the Malapayungan-Calero area. – MWBuzz by 
       ARNEL P HERNANDEZ


By PERCEVAL A OSTONAL

JOSE Panganiban town Mayor Ricarte Padilla has renewed his call for donations towards the town government’s road cementing project, which is now trying to complete the problematic Parang-Larap road.

Ricarte made the call in a recent interview with MWBuzz at his Motherlode residence.

He said: Inaanyayahan ko ang sambayanang Mambolenos sa isang  bayanihang pakikiisa at pagtangkilik ng "a bag of cement for a cause" community  project and complete the Jose Panganiban-Larap road the earliest possible time.

“Napakalaking bagay ang maibibigay nito sa ating mga kababayan na nasa "outlaying barrios for their farm-to-market-produce and directly improve their means of livelihood in general”. 

Padilla said that “easy and accessible roads allow the public to increase their economic activities”.
As of last month, the cementing of the Parang-Larap project has already reached that portion of the road across the property of the late Don Ramon Adea.

The road works have been temporarily stopped due to bad weather and would resume once hot season sets in around next month.

Under the project “a bag of cement for a cause”, Padilla has appealed to the alumni of the Jose Panganiban National High school to donate road building materials such as cement and sand.
Kagawan Carlos Tabuada said earlier that they are seeking support from alumni who are working overseas.

It is expected that Padilla would make another pitch for this project to his fellow alumni, particularly to Batch ’81 to which he belongs, at the forthcoming general homecoming set on April 28-29 at the high school campus in Baranggay Parang.

So far, the municipal government’s cementing project has paved many baranggay roads within the poblacion. 

Outlaying baraggays would soon have their dirt road paved, Padilla said.

The mayor aims to complete the project before his term ends by June of next year.

The deplorable condition of the Larap road has continuously dismayed and frustrated many people from Baranggay Larap due to the difficulty of travel.

It has become a favorite “hate topic” among Larap residents and their relatives overseas on Facebook.