The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Association of South East Asian Nations -Republic of Korea (ASEAN-ROK) Forest Cooperation (AFoCo) are planning to establish a forest regional training center in Candelaria, Zambales that will enhance the knowledge and skills of forest managers and peoples’ organizations (PO) in restoring and protecting the region’s forests and fight global warming and climate change.

photo by: rondabalita.news

Orlando Panganiban, head of the forest resources management division of the DENR-Forest Management Bureau (FMB), the ASEAN regional training center will serve as a demonstration area for the application of assisted natural regeneration (ANR) technology using the landscape approach to sustainable forest management and will benefit forest technicians, including members of the PO.

“The center will develop and promote a 30-hectare ANR demonstration area as a cost efficient way of regenerating the forest by enhancing the establishment of secondary forests from degraded grassland and shrub vegetation by protecting and nurturing the mother trees and their wildlings inherently present in the area,” he explained.

He pointed out that the objective of ANR is to accelerate, rather than replace, natural successional processes by removing or reducing barriers to natural forest regeneration such as soil degradation, competition with weedy species, and recurring disturbances like grass fire and grazing.

“In ANR, seedlings are, in particular, protected from undergrowth and extremely flammable plants such as cogon (Imperata cylindrical) and talahib (Saccharum spontaneum),” he noted

He added that as a protection effort, new trees are planted when needed or wanted in what is called enrichment planting.

According to DENR-Central Luzon Director Francisco Milla Jr., the training center is a big support to the DENR and the ASEAN member countries to further boost its reforestation effort.

“This will enable us to fast track the restoration of degraded forestland and watershed, and with ANR, forests grow faster than they would naturally,” he explained.

The AFoCo turned over to DENR P500,000 worth of equipment, including generators, fire fighting equipment, desktop computers, projectors and geographical positioning system units that will initially be used in the center to help improve the DENR’s reforestation efforts.

AFoCo was first proposed by Republic of Korea in June, 2009 to share their experiences and technologies with other Asian countries in the forest sector as a forest cooperation organization, which aims to promote forest restoration and rehabilitation and sustainable development in the Asian region.

It was formally established in November, 2011 after it was ratified by the 10 South East Asian nations, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Source: news.mb.com.ph

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Marines, sailors and Filipino troops began counterterrorism and disaster-response drills Monday in the Philippines, the U.S. Embassy in Manila said.The Kamandag “Cooperation of Warriors of the Sea” exercise is being held for the first time this year, the embassy said in a statement.

Kamandag was established after firebrand Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte — at odds with America and Europe over his crackdown on drug dealers last year — called for U.S. special operators to leave Mindanao Island and advocated scrapping future war games with U.S. forces.

However, the special operators have remained to help Filipinos battle Islamic militants, and a scaled-down version of the annual Balikatan exercise between the U.S. and Philippines went ahead in May.

Kamandag replaces PHIBLEX, an annual amphibious-landing exercise that involved 1,500 U.S. troops and 500 Filipino servicemembers last year.

U.S. and Philippine Marines participating in last year’s PHIBLEX drills land on a beach on the island of Luzon in amphibious-assault vehicles. SETH ROBSON/STARS AND STRIPES

Nine hundred Marines and sailors are participating in this year’s event at training areas and bases on the island of Luzon, said Molly Koscina, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

Training locations include Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base, Basa Air Base, Fort Magsaysay, Marine Barracks Gregorio Lim, the Naval Education and Training Command and Subic Bay, she said.

It’s unclear how close the exercise will be to what went on during PHIBLEX, when Marines assaulted beaches in armored vehicles.

However, Koscina said: “Part of the training incorporates surface movements from ship to shore for the sake of developing counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts capabilities.”

Kamandag involves Marines and sailors from the Okinawa-based 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade and will run through Oct. 11, an embassy statement said.

The exercise will increase overall U.S. and Philippine readiness, improve bilateral responsiveness to crises in the region, and further reinforce our illustrious decades-long alliance,” the statement said.

In the lead-up to the exercise, Philippines and U.S. forces completed bilateral humanitarian and civic-assistance projects at schools earlier this month in Casiguran, Aurora, the statement said.

“The goal of KAMANDAG is to increase counterterrorism capabilities through bilateral military exchanges between the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] and U.S. forces focused on enhancing counterterrorism capabilities, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities, and performing humanitarian and civic assistance projects,” the statement said.

Servicememebers will practice combat lifesaving, shipboard mass casualty response, live-fire training, urban operations, movement ashore, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response, the statement said.

Source: stripes.com

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SUBICBAY FREEPORT—The rehabilitation of piers and wharves in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone will be the priority of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) in order to fully realize the potential of this premier maritime-logistics center.

In Photo: The Alava Pier in the Subic Bay Freeport, a priority item in the SBMA’s port rehabilitation program, needs dredging and strengthening of piles.

Newly appointed SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the Subic agency has allocated P2.46 billion to repair and further develop port facilities, considered the heart and soul of the Subic Freeport.

“The piers and wharves are undeniably the biggest assets of Subic Bay, and our seaport generates the biggest income among all the SBMA units,” Eisma explained in a recent media briefing.

“We need to put these assets in top condition so that we can service more vessels and also get top returns for our investments,” she added.

Fifteen piers and wharves are located in this former American naval base. These are now used mainly for the transshipment of containerized and break-bulk cargoes, fuels and lubricants, grains and fertilizer, as well as servicing vessels and passengers.

At the same time, business locators in the port of Subic also offers key services, like cargo handling, pilot and tugboat services ship handling, bunkering and tendering, ship agents, onboard repair, cargo survey, underwater survey, and vessel lay-up and line handling.

In particular, the Alava Pier, which services military and passenger vessels in Subic, needs to be dredged and its piles strengthened in order to accommodate bigger cruise ships, Eisma said.

“We have concluded talks with some cruise liners and the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will dock in Subic starting next May, but we can’t bring in those with passenger capacity of up to 5,000 because our piers are not yet upgraded,” Eisma said.

She said she realized it was necessary to rehabilitate Alava Pier to bring it on a to par with global cruise standards when she atttended the 2017 Asia Cruise Forum in Jeju, South Korea, in August.

Eisma said that while Subic has its own airport, its seaport is the most viable facility to develop and earn from.

“With the money the government is pouring into Clark today, Subic cannot hope to compete with its airport, so we have to prioritize development of our seaport,” she explained.

Aside from the repair and development of ports, the SBMA also plans to undertake major projects, like the construction of the Magsaysay Bridge at the free port main gate; upgrading of Subic Bay International Airport facilities; concreting and repair of roads; port dredging; and building the proposed SBMA-Olongapo Museum.

The Subic agency is also planning to build an SBMA Corporate Center to house the various SBMA offices that are now scattered among several US Navy-era buildings, Eisma said.

With an estimated cost of P2.45 billion, the repair of Subic piers and wharves is expected to take up the bulk of the SBMA’s P3.548-billion infrastructure budget for 2018.

Source: businessmirror.com.ph

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SUBIC BAYFREEPORT—A two-day environment summit was held here this past week to conclude the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) campaign in Zambales and consolidate community efforts in protecting the marine environment in the province.

Story and photos by Henry Empeño / Correspondent

In Photo: Figures made of empty plastic bottles adorn the Subic Bay Freeport waterfront, roving that wastes are simply resources out of place.

Zed Avecilla, ICC Zambales area coordinator, said activities for the summit was scheduled for September 28 and 29 simultaneously at the Ayala Malls Harbor Point Mall and the International School of Sustainable Tourism in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

“The ICCPH Environmental Summit is all about lifting the levels of awareness and inspiring more people to come together and build a legacy of a healthy planet for future generations,” said Avecilla, who is also deputy chief of staff for marine environmental protection of the 111th Squadron of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary.

“Although many people helped clean our beaches last week, there is still a lot of work to be done and beach cleanup is not enough,” he said. “We need to strengthen our connection with our environment and realize it is under threat due to indiscriminate human activities and behavior, and an inadequate understanding of its consequences.”

Avecilla explained the environment summit would be part of the Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month celebration, which aims to enhance the awareness and consciousness of Filipinos on the important features and concerns of the Philippines as a maritime and archipelagic domain.

Volunteers joining the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) drive sort trash collected along the Subic Bay shoreline during the ICC on September 16.

President Duterte signed Presidential Proclamation 316, which declared September as Maritime and Archipelagic Nation Awareness Month, the day before ICC Day. Avecilla said the speakers during the summit included several young and passionate environmental social entrepreneurs, and experts on waste management and leadership.

The two-day event also featured the screening of two award-winning independent films, Nick and Chai and High Tide in partnership with Active Vista, a human-rights education group that seeks to empower audiences in bringing about relevant social change. Both films tackle contemporary environmental issues.

The environmental summit was organized by the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary 111th Squadron, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, The Lighthouse Marina Resort Legacy Foundation, National Solid Waste Management Council of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the National Coast Watch Council Secretariat.

Avecilla said the event partners wanted to make the call for everybody to take action to conserve the Earth and be responsible citizens of the land.

In September 16 thousands of volunteers in Zambales took part in the global coastal cleanup in response to the call to help protect the marine environment.

Partial results from municipal ICC coordinators in Zambales indicated at least 71,000 participants from eight of the 13 municipalities in the province, with the capital town of Iba registering the biggest delegation at 20,700.

Avecilla said coordinators from five more towns have yet to submit their lists.

The ICC Day is held every third Saturday of September, as declared by Presidential Proclamation 470 signed in 2003 to enjoin Filipinos to observe the global coastal cleanup celebration.

Source:businessmirror.com.ph

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Aeta students, a number of them walking all the way to school in Zambales, will not have to attend their classes barefoot anymore. More than 600 “underprivileged but deserving” students in Olongapo City received recently free pairs of shoes and school supplies under the project of the Taguig City Chapter of the Department of Education-Partnership of Employees and Non-teaching Staff (DepEd-PENS).

Photo by: Mike Ramil Bala?

A total of 627 students from Iram Elementary School were the first recipients of DepEd-PENS’ Opensa Kontra Kakulangan sa Edukasyon (OKKE) project. Each was given three notebooks, one pair of shoes, two pencils, two ballpens, pad papers, and reading materials.

The OKKE, which was launched during its first national convention last August in Baguio City, aims to provide free school supplies to public schools students in remote areas throughout the country. The supplies were put together in donation boxes placed in different public and private schools in Taguig City.

DepEd Office of the School Governance and Operations’ Chief Education Supervisor and DepEd-PENS National President George P. Tizon shared that an Aeta student from Zambales, who has been enthusiastically attending classes even if he was barefooted, inspired them to start the project.

He added that in other provinces, they also saw several students wearing mismatched pairs of slippers and carrying bags with almost nothing inside.

“We’ve seen that despite their unfortunate situation, they are still eager to learn and that’s why we wanted to help them,” Tizon expressed.

Moreover, he stated, the OKKE was also in line with the Taguig City government’s priorities, one of which is education.

Apart from school supplies, public school students in Taguig are given health kits and sets of ready-to-wear uniforms.

Source: news.mb.com.ph

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