A Filipino-American who is now serving in the US Navy has credited his father and his childhood experiences in Olongapo City in the Philippines for his successful career.

“My dad taught me to be on time and be prepared for everything,” said Seaman Recruit Eldridge White. “It helps me in the Navy because it is important to get the job done in a timely matter.”

A graduate of Saint Joesph High School, white works as a yeoman, or someone responsible for administrative duties, aboard the amphibious USS Makin Island operating out of San Diego.

White has military ties with family members who have previously served and is honored to carry on the family tradition.

“My dad was in the Navy,” he said. “He influenced me to join. I always thought he was so fly, hearing the stories he had to share.”

The US Navy describes Makin Island as one of its most advanced and largest amphibious ships. It is designed to deliver Marines and their equipment where they are needed to support a variety of missions ranging from amphibious assaults to humanitarian relief efforts.

The ship, which resembles a small aircraft carrier, is longer than two football fields at 847 feet, is 106 feet wide and weighs more than 41,000 tons when fully loaded. It has gas turbine engines and two variable speed electric motors that can push the ship through the water in excess of 20 knots. It can carry more than 12 helicopters and six fixed-wing aircraft.

source: gmanetwork.com

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ABUCAY, Bataan — Three persons were arrested the other night after they were caught in the act of dumping toxic waste materials in the remote Sitio Tamoto road, Mabatang this town.

Photo credit: National Geographic

Sr Inspector Jennifer Cruz, chief of police, reported to Sr Supt Marcelo Dayag, Bataan police director, that one Isuzu Truck bearing Plate No. DOF526 with three men identified as Cecilio Punzalan, of Mt. View Mariveles; Reynaldo Apollo, of Purok 7 Sitio Mambog Hermosa, and Delfin delis Santis Jr of Purok 2 JRC Mandama Hermosa, were then dumping wastes into the area when someone tipped them off to the police.

“We received a telephone call from a concerned citizen informing this station that one Isuzu Truck bearing Plate No. DOF526 was dumping waste plastic material along the wayside of the road in Sitio Tamoto Road Brgy Mabatang, Abucay,” said Captain Cruz.

Cruz then dispatched her PNP personnel led by SPO1 Bonifacio Corpuz and caught one Isuzu Truck bearing Plate No. DOF526 and three persons dumping waste plastic materials, cartoons and socks along the wayside of the road.

A case for Violation of Section 48 Paragraph 1 of Republic Act 9003 “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000” is being prepared against the suspects, said Cruz.

source: news.mb.com.ph

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Photo credit: commontablepr.blogspot.com

Clark, Pampanga—A joint venture between a Filipino investor and a Korean businessman has expressed keen interest in investing in Zambales, particularly in the dredging and desilting projects of its river channels clogged with lahar sand.

AJ Marketing and Consultancy Services, a partnership between Filipino businessman Jonathan Mendoza and Korean Andrew Lee, signed a Memorandum of Agreement with L. C. Soliman Marketing headed by Lydia Soliman for the joint venture in the dredging and desilting of Sitio Nahuko River in Barangay Santa Fe in San Marcelino, Zambales.

According to Mendoza, the project will enable the river to be cleared of lahar sand and give them a supply of materials in their infrastructure projects in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

“We are aware that Gov. Deloso wants the rivers in Zambales dredged and desilted so that the residents of the province will not suffer from floods, so we are happy to embark on this project,” Mendoza said.

He added that his partnership with the Korean partner was also a result of President Duterte’s recent visit to South Korea, where he called upon Korean businessmen to come and invest in the Philippines.

“Mr. Lee is one of the 15 Korean investors who answered the call of the President,” Mendoza said.

He said the sand they will remove from Sitio Nahuko River will be taken to Cebu where their firm has a 400-hectare reclamation project.

Aside from the Aetas, who will benefit from the project, Mendoza said the venture will provide additional revenue to the provincial government in terms of taxes and livelihood for the town’s residents.

Mendoza said the joint venture will work closely with the provincial government as well as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to ensure the environment will not be abused.

Mendoza said he and his Korean partner will bring in new technology and funding to the project.

source: manilastandard.net

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“Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.” (The youth is the hope of the motherland)

This famed quote from the Philippine’s National Hero (who celebrated his 157th birthday, June 19) goes perfectly with the activity conducted at the Le Charme Hotel yesterday. Dubbed the International Coastal Cleanup – Sangguniang Kabataan (ICC-SK) Coordination Meeting / Workshop, the event was organized by ICC-Zambales, and comes on the heels of the recently concluded Beach Cleanup organized by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

The one-day event was intended to orient SK Chairs and Officers from all 17 Barangays from Olongapo about the importance of their role in achieving sustainable development in the greater Subic Bay area.

International Executive Nik Schwarten led the discussion during the day-long event.

The proceedings were led by George Nikolaus “Nik” Metaxa-Schwarten, a widely acclaimed international executive communications consultant and corporate social responsibility manager (for ISO 26000). The half Greek – half German executive shared his sentiment about how the previous generation has left the current generation with a host of environmental problems and that the end goal for the activity is to show the nation what the small group can accomplish if they sync together, plan together, and work together.

He related the story of how ICC Zambales started with a membership of a mere 80 people, but through sheer determination and good marketing, managed to grow that number to well over 90,000 in a few years.

Zedrik Avecilla, Director of the Lighthouse Marina Resort Legacy Foundation (the major driving force behind the ICC), shares a few words of encouragement with the SK representatives.

Sanguniang Kabataan Representatives from barangays in Olongapo City participated in the discussion by sharing the unique issues that their communities are faced with.

The latter half of the day was spent on an interactive forum between Nik and the SK representatives from Olongapo. Several important issues specific to each barangays were identified and solutions for each were discussed. Curfews, sexual education, widespread illegal drug usage, and teenage pregnancy were among those identified.

Nik gives a brief tutorial on how to use online collaborative tools in order to streamline projects and processing deliverables.

Nik ended the day with a short discourse on some of the collaborative tools the group will be using in the days to come. In addition to the Facebook group that was created specifically for coordination and communication between him and the SK representatives, Nik also discussed how to use Trello for setting project goals, Doodle for decision making, and Bitly for easier information dissemination.

As a major partner in the endeavor, MoreFunPH pledged its resources in order to ensure that the activities of the newly founded coalition between ICC Zambales and the Olongapo SK are optimized for high visibility on the world wide web (through strategic implementation of SEO).

The participants in the activity pose for a group picture after a day of lively discussions.

Overall, the one-day activity served as a glimpse of what the Youth Empowering Summit 2018 will be like.

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MANILA — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday urged the creation of a single body similar to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) that will take over the development and management of Boracay Island, stressing that a powerful governing authority is needed to coordinate the efforts of all concerned agencies in the island’s rehabilitation and development.

Drilon made the call after noting that rehabilitation works are being hampered by finger-pointing among several government agencies, including the local government units (LGUs), on who is ultimately to blame for the various woes besetting Boracay, like sewerage and illegal structures among others.

“As we have witnessed, about a dozen of the agency would have their own little kingdoms, issuing permits, etc. (and) the local government would utilize their powers under the Local Government Code. So what do you have? A chopsuey of a management,” Drilon said in an interview following the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources’ hearing on the degradation of Boracay.

During the hearing, Drilon said that having different agencies handling the development and rehabilitation of Boracay and expressing different views on certain matters is not helping the cause.

“In every issue, different agencies would handle it and have conflicting views. That doesn’t include yet the local government unit,” he told the Senate panel.

“We may want to take a serious look at consolidating the authority of watching over Boracay to a centralized agency which will assume many of the powers that various agencies are exercising right now,” Drilon added.

Meanwhile, Drilon told reporters that the ongoing six-month rehabilitation works in the island are just “ad-hoc solutions” that, in the absence of a master plan, cannot be sustained over time.

Photo credit: independent.co.uk

“Boracay contributes so much to the development of our country particularly in the field of tourism, and yet, there is not one single body in-charge. What we would suggest is a strong administrator which can manage the place like this. It cannot be left to where it is today,” Drilon said.

“We need a master plan to be implemented by a single authority. Otherwise, maybe after six months, we have some reforms done but these cannot be sustained unless there is a single authority,” he added.

Drilon said that the creation of a SBMA-like body to manage Boracay Island has the support of Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores “even if it will mean a reduction of the powers of the LGUs.”

“For the national interest, we need a governing authority with stronger powers and can coordinate and has the final say on all these development. It must be manned by career and professional people so it could not be a political patronage,” Drilon said.

Drilon has been pushing for the creation of a Boracay Island Council (BIC) at the Senate.

He is the author of Senate Bill 1765 that, once passed into law, would create a BIC which “shall take over the management, development, regulation, protection, and maintenance of the island, including its coastal resources and marine biodiversity.”

“A more permanent management body is what we need. We cannot do in six months what we failed to do for several decades. We need political will,” he said.

Senator Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, fully supports Drilon’s proposal on the need to establish a single body to oversee Boracay.

“This is not a new concept like Subic Bay is managed by one body, Clark is managed by one body. There is something like that in Palawan, Batanes, in Intramuros, Rizal Park, so pwedeng gawin iyon (it can be done),” she said in a separate interview.

“Kaya lang syempre (But of course), every situation is different from another. We have to discuss and see to what is the best way to do it,” Villar said.

Villar said that a technical working group has already been formed to study Drilon’s proposal. By Jose Cielito Reganit

source: pna.gov.ph

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