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(Journal Online) The Aboitiz Group handed over the rehabilitated Wetland No. 4 now known as the Balabag Wetland Park to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) during a turnover ceremony held on June 16, 2022. As a testament to the Group’s commitment to the preservation of biodiversity and environmental protection in the Boracay islands, the one-hectare lagoon area in Barangay Balabag has been transformed into a linear urban park in partnership with key national government agencies led by the DENR Region VI, the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), and the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The event was attended by DENR Acting Sec. Jim Sampulna, Former DENR Sec. Roy A. Cimatu, Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores, Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista, DENR USec. Ernesto Adobo Jr., EMB Exec. Director Natividad Y. Bernardino, DILG USec Epimaco Densing III, DOJ ASec Margaret Castillo – Padilla, TIEZA COO Mark Lapid, Dir. Martin Jose V. Despi from the Boracay Inter-Agency Rehabilitation Management Group (BIARMG) and various representatives from project partners.

Aboitiz Group President and Chief Executive Officer Sabin M. Aboitiz emphasized how central partnerships such as this are to the Aboitiz Group’s Transformation journey. “The Aboitiz Group’s contribution to Boracay’s rehabilitation is part of our commitment to co-create safe, empowered, and sustainable communities. As sustainability is a major part of our Great Transformation into the Philippines’ first techglomerate, we will continue to do our part to uplift and bring focus to environmentally and socially impactful initiatives for all our stakeholders. We are proud to have partnered with DENR, BMB, DPWH, TIEZA, DOT, and the LGU of Boracay to build the Balabag Wetland Park, a space that we hope continues to promote education for the community on the protection, conservation, enhancement, and rehabilitation of Boracay’s natural ecosystems,” said the Aboitiz chief.. Read More

(Manila Bulletin) There has been a lot of talks happening on nuclear energy because of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s executive order to include it in our energy mix and President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s campaign promise to install at least one nuclear power plant and to consider the revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

Both the outgoing and incoming administrations seem to be keen on nuclear energy, but these questions remain: “Can it really lower electricity costs in the country and is it really worth investing our resources into given the falling costs of renewable energy?”

Why electricity rates in the Philippines are high—at around P9.00 per kilowatt-hour (second highest in Southeast Asia, next to Singapore)—is that we heavily import fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, for energy use. Almost 80 percent of our country’s power generation is sourced from fossil fuels, while the rest is from renewables, such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass.

Nuclear energy is not seen to lower electricity costs in the Philippines precisely because we would still have to import uranium or plutonium as nuclear fuel. As in the case of fossil fuels, price volatilities and foreign exchange in the global market will likely be passed on and shouldered by the consumers due to automatic fuel pass-through provisions in power purchase agreements… Read More

(Daily Tribune) Kai Sotto worked out with Sacramento Kings ahead of the 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Rookie Draft on 23 June in Brooklyn.

The 20-year-old Filipino cager boosted his chances of making it to the NBA as he was among the six prospects who joined the Kings’ training session with less than a week left before the draft proceedings unfold.

The workout session also gave Sotto a chance to meet Filipino basketball great Jimmy Alapag, who is currently an assistant coach for Sacramento’s affiliate G League team Stockton Kings.

In a social media post, Alapag expressed his excitement for the 7-foot-3 cager’s attempt to become the first homegrown Filipino to ever get drafted into the NBA.

The Kings own the fourth overall pick in the upcoming draft as well as the 37th and the 49th picks.

“Great to see Kai here in Sacramento! Best of luck on your journey to the NBA,” Alapag said.

It was Sotto’s first training session since suffering an ankle injury during his workout with Atlanta Hawks a week ago.

His training with the Kings was his sixth pre-draft workout as he previously tried his luck with New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and the Hawks.

In an NBA report on Thursday, 24 early-entry candidates have decided to withdraw, leaving at least 150 prospects battling for only 58 spots for the draft.

A mock draft by Sports Illustrated last month ranked Sotto as the 49th pick, which is interestingly owned by Sacramento… Read More

(Interaksyon) The traditional Filipino belief of indebtedness or “utang na loob” was tackled in a podcast episode of the National Public Radio, an American-based public radio, last May 18.

The episode titled “The Utang Clan” was released on NPR’s Code Switch, a podcast about how race affects every part of the society hosted by journalists of color.

The podcast episode was hosted by Malaka Gharib, Gene Demby, Leah Donnella and Christina Cala.

Gharib was the one who introduced the topic of “utang na loob” based on her experiences as an immigrant with Filipino and Egyptian parents.

She also shared stories about familial indebtedness from other Filipinos born from immigrant families.

In the overview via NPR’s website, the “utang na loob” is defined as “the Filipino concept of an eternal debt to others, be it family or friends, who do a favor for you.”… Read More

(Manila Bulletin) Kickstarting venture capital investment with food tech.

If you’re anywhere in the Philippines around lunch time and haven’t yet had a bite to eat, you’ll likely receive an invitation from an unlikely source. Be it from a street vendor or even the security guard of an establishment already partaking in a meal, “Kain tayo” is something you’ll hear without fail.

It’s quite appropriate as food is at the heart of Filipino culture. Filipinos spend almost 30 per cent of their income on food alone. This gives any food-related business massive potential for growth. It’s quite appropriate that the Philippines impending tech revolution could be kickstarted by its food industry.

The food and beverage (F&B) business used to be a daunting one, particularly for those new to it. A budding restaurant wouldn’t just need a great chef, but lots of capital, some business acumen, and a great location as well. Brick and mortar restaurants were the true test of great food ideas but required massive investment, management, and lots of time and effort.

Yet these days, we’re seeing a bumper harvest of new cuisine. However they’re not found in new restaurants. Many are only available for order online, and exclusively brought by delivery. There’s greater variety too, from reinterpretations of old favorites, the usual comfort food, to increasingly niche cuisines such as rendang or kimchi… Read More

(Radio Free Asia) The outgoing president spoke out during the commissioning of a Coast Guard “multi-role response vessel.”

The Philippines cannot afford war with China, outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte told Filipino coast guard personnel in what could be his final policy statement on the South China Sea issue, after Manila filed fresh diplomatic protests over Chinese boats in disputed waters.

With a few weeks left in his presidency, Duterte made the remark during a ceremony on Sunday to commission the BRP Melchora Aquino, the latest addition to the Philippine Coast Guard’s fleet. The so-called “multi-role response vessel” will help the force patrol the Philippine archipelago’s vast shorelines and deter Chinese incursions into waters claimed by Manila, officials said.

“We cannot afford fighting with China. We cannot win and we will lose and the population will suffer,” he said, according to an official transcript of his speech released on Monday.

Duterte spoke out after the Department of Foreign Affairs announced last Thursday that it had “protested the return of over 100 Chinese vessels illegally operating in the waters in and around Julian Felipe Reef on 04 April 2022, barely a year after the same swarming incident was protested by the Philippine government.”.. Read More

(The Sun UK) Mark Page, 63, a radio host at the station in the 1980s, will now spend 18 years behind bars.

The disgraced DJ was originally given a 12-year sentence by Judge Paul Watson at Teesside Crown Court in March.

He had been convicted of four counts of arranging the commission of a child sex offence between 2016 and 2019.

Page a divorced father-of-three from Stockton, Teesside, had denied all charges.

But today three appeal court judges concluded his sentence was unduly lenient at a Court of Appeal hearing in London, after an application by Solicitor General Alex Chalk.

Lord Justice William Davis, Mr Justice Martin Spencer and Judge Kristina Montgomery concluded that Page’s “overall criminality” was not reflected by the 12-year sentence.

Barrister Benjamin Holt, who represented Mr Chalk at the appeal hearing, had raised concerned about the “totality” of the 12-year term.

He suggested that the sentence should be between 12 and 24 years.

A barrister representing Page had argued that the sentence was too long.

Trevor Burke QC suggested that the term should be cut to 10 years… Read More

(Time) Boracay is among the finest of the 7,641 Philippine islands and, for a long time, was one of the least known, its four square miles a closely guarded secret. Sequestered in the center of the archipelago, the island’s pristine beaches and gin-clear waters were the refuge of the handful of native Ati inhabitants—until the rest of the world caught on.

Too Late the Hero, a 1970 American war film shot on Boracay with big name stars Michael Caine and Henry Fonda, is credited with sparking international interest in the stunning location. The ensuing trickle of curious backpackers became a flood in 1979, after a German travel author, Jens Peters, published his definitive Philippines Travel Guide and proclaimed Boracay a “paradise.” Just over a decade later, the Tropical Beach Handbook—a Michelin-style compendium sponsored by automaker BMW—hailed Boracay beach as the best in the world.

Naturally, such recognition came at a price. From a community that didn’t even have electricity until 1992, Boracay rapidly turned into an international party hub, its shoreline crammed with dusk-till-dawn bars and clubs.

In 2019, the year before the pandemic brought travel to a halt, some two million tourists visited Boracay, pumping around $1 billion into the tiny island. But over the years, tourism also generated enormous problems, particularly with garbage and sewage disposal. Raw sewage was being pumped into the sea and broken glasses, bottles, and plastic cups littered the shoreline. Things got so bad that President Rodrigo Duterte called the island a “cesspool” and banned tourists for six months in 2018 so that a cleanup could take place… Read More