Four Japs Kayaks Bikol Coastlines to Study "Kuyog"

Four Japs Paddle Their Way to Bikol Coastlines
A four-man team of Japanese Nationals will explore the Bikol coastlines using only their kayaks this May-June 2010. Dr. Kosako Yamaoka, 61 year old professor of Kochi University of Japan is the Team Leader of the group. "We will paddle our way from San Lorenzo beach in Tabaco City to San Miguel Island this May 13. Then we will stay in the island to have some interaction with the local fisherman. We want to learn from them something about their "kuyog," Prof. Yamaoka said in an interview.

The navigator of the team is Satoro Yahata, 35 years old and with a 10-year open sea kayaking experience. He has attempted to paddle solo from Cape York Australia to Japan in 2002. He has kayaked the wild seas of Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of the world solo. A TV producer from Japan, Yo Ohnuki, 39 years old is the official documentation specialist of the group. He has with him highly sensitive video and still cameras all encased in underwater camera casings. The youngest in the team is Ryo Unten, 22-year old undergraduate student of Prof. Yamaoka. He will be using this experience as part of his thesis on fisheries sciences.

After a two-day stay in San Miguel island, the group will proceed to Catanduanes, then to the Caramoan in Camarines Sur, and end up to the fishing village in the town of Mercedes in Camarines Norte sometime on the 3rd day of June. From Tabaco to Mercedes, they will be paddling about 370 kilometers of open sea only on their kayak.

The open sea kayak expedition is very important to the Japanese because of their continued study on the Kuroshio Science. According to Dr. Victor Soliman, who just finished his doctorate degree on Fish Ecology from Kochi University in Japan, this body of water is also very important to our country and Taiwan. The team will utilize or use the Kuroshio current as it appears in this time of the year and learn from this body of water the coastal habitat within the Bikol Region. Further studies and research will be conducted same time next year as they paddle further north of the Philippines. By 2012 the team plans to cross Taiwan from Batanes Group of Islands, then ultimately by 2014, they will be back to Japan paddling their way from Taiwan still using the flow of the Kuroshio current system. (PING PERALTA/BU Extension News)

Ping Peralta
BU Extension News
Monday, May 24th, 2010

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View from Space of Panian Mine on Semirara Island, Philippines

A year ago, Semirara island was mentioned many times by pro-mining advocates to rationalize coal mining as well as the economic benefits it would bring to our island. At that time, there was no way to visualize the environmental impact and damage it could have done. Now, Panian Mine on Semirara Island, Philippines is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 23 crew member on the International Space Station.

Panian Mine, Semirara Island, Philippines

This detailed astronaut photograph provides a rare cloud-free view of the northern end of Semirara Island, which is located approximately 280 kilometers to the south of Manila in the Philippines. The northern part of the island is dominated by the Panian Coalfield, the largest of three coalfields on the island. Most of the coal is used for energy generation in the Philippines, with some exported to India and China.

The Panian coalfield is being mined using open-pit methods. The rock and soil above the coal layers (or seams) is known as overburden. Overburden is removed from the pit and heaped into piles, several of which ring the northern half of the pit. Several of the dark coal seams are visible along the sunlit southern wall of the pit (these may be more visible in the larger image version). Plumes of sediment from the overburden piles enter the Sulu Sea along the northern and eastern coastline of the island.

The Semirara coalfields formed from 12–23 million years ago along what was then a coastal plain—similar to the current geologic environment of the southeastern Gulf Coast of the United States. Organic materials were deposited in sequences of sandstone and mudstone, which were then covered by limestones as the environment became progressively more marine. Over geologic time, increased pressure from the overlying rocks changed the layers of organic material into coal.

Astronaut photograph ISS023-E-15142 was acquired on March 31, 2010, with a Nikon D2Xs digital camera fitted with an 800 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 23 crew. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSC.

Source: Image of the Day, NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credits: International Space Station Imagery

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Editorial: Enjoy it while it lasts

They came by the hundreds, on the roofs of passenger buses and jeepneys, festooned on tricycles like Christmas decorations, and hanging on to their drivers on overloaded motorcycles.

Voters who felt like one-day millionaires descended into the capital town in the days after the May 10 elections as they splurge the money they earned from selling votes on groceries, food at the restaurants, appliances, bamboo furniture, bicycles and even brand-new motorcycles acquired on downpayment basis.

Many workers, especially those who were either on-the-job trainees or worked for low-paying jobs, took time off for the week, throwing their companies’ schedules into disarray. One hotel was so short of personnel that the night guard took over the receptionist’s table.

Understandably, the local economy in Virac got a huge boost, with many business establishments enjoying sales at least twice than normal. One supermarket had the advantage of stocking up on goods a week before while another boasted sales of P800,000 in a single day.

The phenomenon did have another downside: restaurants ran out of items on their menus while stores reported losing stocks of beer. After all, the voters needed to chow down good food and they wanted to relax with a cold beer in hand, now that the vote-buying is over.

While the level of money that changes hands paled in comparison to 2007 (the PBM candidates gave only P20 in cash, when they doled out as much as P100 three years ago), the results of the automated local elections showed that even a saintly candidate should buy votes to win a seat in the Sangguniang Bayan. No money, no honey.

It certainly compels some people to push our leaders to declare Catanduanes as the vote-buying capital of the Philippines, to add to our having the juiciest crabs, finest abaca fiber and durable tiger grass. Come to think of it, we can even put up a trade and entertainment festival on the next three days after an election. It should be easy to convince local stores to join, considering that last Monday alone, our honorable candidates gave away P300 million just to buy votes.

Aside from this, the boost for local tourism is obvious. Our natives who have resided in other places in the country don’t normally go home for elections. Now, they will in 2013 so they will be included in the warding list of local politicians and get as much as P5,000 each for voting.

Now, since Catanduanganons are no longer ashamed of being branded vote-sellers, then we should embrace this idea. We have enough time to prepare. In three years, our rich candidates will be running again. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

Source: Editorial, Catanduanes Tribune - 20 May 2010

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Caramoran Church: The Oldest Structure on the Island of Catanduanes

The oldest structure on the island is a church — the St. John the Baptist Church, erected as the first parish church of the eastern town of Caramoran. It is still in use to this day.

Caramoran was founded as a town in 1676 side by side with the Catholic Church.


RELATED LINKS:

• Bato Church - It took 53 years, from 1830 to 1883, to build this Church under six different parish administrators.

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Editorial: Now, back to business please…

The elections are over.

For those who won, and have yet to assume office, take a break somewhere where the cool breeze and the sights on a sandy beach will recharge your weary body and calm your spirits.

Those who lost and whose ambition is undaunted by defeat, just the same take comfort from your loved ones for whom you still remain number one.

For those who fell by the wayside and may never get up politically, now is the time to think about life outside politics. God may have plans for you elsewhere.

But for those who remain in public office, including those whose terms have been extended by another three years, kindly take a breather for a few days and then go back to work. Even those who have lost, and will have to endure a month-and-a-half of mental and emotional torture just preparing to bow out of public service, must gather their remaining strength to at least spend their remaining days giving the public what it deserves.

And the first order of the day should be to make sure that the local government concerned will deliver the same basic services as it did before the campaign. The transition team could focus on an inventory of the resources to be turned over and programs that needs to be continued by the next administration. The departing local chief executive should go out with head held high but no more going back to programs and projects that led to your defeat.

The first order of the day should be to direct the scores of casual workers hired for the campaign to rid the streets, trees and buildings of its unsightly infestation of posters, streamers and other campaign paraphernalia. Barangay councils and non-government organizations should be asked to help in this campaign, along with the DPWH and other agencies tasked by the Commission on Elections to undertake that one-day Operation Baklas in April, a show staged only for the benefit of the local media.

The sooner our LGU bosses remove their names and faces as well as that of their erstwhile political enemies from the hapless trees, fences and walls, the easier it would be for him to either forget the stigma of defeat or savor the nectar of victory.

Source: Editorial, Catanduanes Tribune - 12 May 2010

RELATED LINKS:

• A Transformed Society is Built of Renewed Individual Citizens - Church leaders yesterday made a “crucial call to conversion” for the faithful to turn away from “worldly allurements” that would only lead to poverty, graft and corruption, including electoral fraud.

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Virac's Representative to the Ms. Philippines Earth 2010

Virac's representative to the Ms. Philippines Earth 2010 beauty pageant last Saturday (April 24), Aiza Angelica Tabinas Tabios, failed to make it as semifinalist but she gave the crowd something to feast, showing her form with her evening gown.

The only daughter among four siblings of Pastor delos Santos of Las Piñas and Ma. Liza Tabinas of Cavinitan, the 24-year old ramp model graduated as magna cum laude in interior design from UST.

A talent coordinator convinced her to join the contest while Gov. Joseph Cua sponsored her cultural gown crafted by Tinabas. - CT

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• EBMC Nurse is ‘09 Bb. Catanduanes - Nurses do have the "IT" factor as a 20-year old casual nurse at the Eastern Bicol Medical Center walked away with the Bb. Catanduanes crown during the pageant night at the Virac Sports Center Oct. 23.

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First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) Maintained It’s A+ Rating

The First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FICELCO) maintained it’s A+ rating in the latest report of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) on the performance of 106 electric cooperatives all over the country. The only other A+ cooperative in the Bicol region is CANORECO.

The report issued by NEA Administrator Edita Bueno showed FICELCO with an average Systems Loss of 13.74 percent, meaning such a percentage of the electricity flowing through its power lines is lost to pilferage, technical defects and other reasons, including power use by the cooperative itself and its key officers.

This percentage is just below the limit of 14%, which has been set by NEA. If the Systems Loss of a cooperative goes beyond this limit, the excess would have to be shouldered by the cooperative, not by member-consumers. As it stands, the Systems Loss Charge appearing on your electric bill for the month of March is P0.8785 per kilowatt-hour. Add to this EVAT (why do they tax a loss?) and the SL charge is about eight percent of what we pay monthly for our power needs.

The systems loss reflects the inefficiency of an electric cooperative. The higher it is, the more inefficient are the co-op’s officials and work force. And there are rumors that co-op officials regularly "massage" their figures to reflect a lower Systems Loss.

Source: Inside Page by Fernan A Gianan, 17 April 2010 - Catanduanes Tribune

RELATED LINKS:

• Power Load Characteristics - Here are some interesting facts regarding power load characteristics in our province.

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