Photo credits to greenbuildingelements.com

GUIGUINTO, Bulacan — A “refill revolution” has been started here as part of a campaign to reduce plastic pollution in the country.

Some 1,000 housewives and kitchen helpers lined up with tumblers and bottles to be filled with condiments during a government-led antipollution program on Friday that sought to discourage residents from buying commodities sold in sachets.

Manufacturers resorted to packaging items in sachets because of the popularity of sari-sari stores, where consumers can buy tingi-tingi (retail) portions of items like vinegar, salt and even shampoo.

But plastic sachets are nonbiodegradable that have added to the solid waste woes of towns like Guiguinto, according to Lormelyn Claudio, Central Luzon director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).

Pilot project

Guiguinto is piloting what it calls “Refill Revolution,” which, Claudio said, “harks back to the time when our parents directed us to bring a bottle to the store so it could be filled with soy sauce.”

The initiative is not against retailing, she said, which is why the EMB would soon ask manufacturing companies to put up refill booths in major supermarkets and public markets.

The refill market was tested on Friday when manufacturers sold kitchen oil for P50, a liter of vinegar and soy sauce for P10, and liquid detergent for P30, said Sudan Carreon, municipal environment and natural resources officer.

Excited over new system

Ellen Roman, 50, from Barangay Tuktukan lined up with her sisters, nephews and nieces.

“We are excited about this new system. Sachets do become piles of trash at home. We want items that are affordable but which would not create this much pollution,” she said.

“The rules say seven members of a family are allowed to buy a liter of items so I dragged my whole family here,” said Maritoni Catindig-Ortega from Rosaryville Subdivision at Barangay Santa Cruz.

Global problem

During Earth Day on April 22, the Philippines joined other countries in highlighting the global problem of plastic pollution.

The Earth Day celebration in Manila was punctuated by a call to end plastic pollution in the oceans by reducing waste from single-use plastics.

The Philippines ranked third in 2015 among the highest sources of plastic pollution in global waters, after China and Indonesia, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said in his State of the Environment Address on Earth Day.

It is estimated that each year, 31.9 million metric tons of plastic pollution are produced around Earth and about a quarter of that volume ends up around the water.

8.3 billion plastic straws

The world’s plastic pollution problem, according to scientists, is so large that banning plastic straws and stirrers may not be enough.

Australian scientists Denise Hardesty and Chris Wilcox calculated the volume of trash collected on US coastlines during cleanups over five years, and they estimated there were nearly 7.5 million plastic straws lying around America’s shorelines.

They reckoned 437 million to 8.3 billion plastic straws are on the entire world’s coastlines. —Reports from Carmela Reyes-Estrope and AP

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — A group of steel industry leaders urged the Department of Industry (DTI) to file criminal charges against hardware store owners and local manufacturers found to be selling or producing substandard reinforcing steel bars (rebars), in light of a construction boom ushered in by the government’s “Build, Build, Build” initiative.

By: Allan Macatuno

Photo by: vocaleurope.eu

The Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (Pisi) had uncovered more evidence of stores in the Central Luzon provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Pampanga selling defective or low-quality rebars, said Joel Ronquillo, Pisi vice president for technical affairs.

Ronquillo said Pisi conducted a two-day “market test-buy” to verify reports that substandard rebars were still being sold in the domestic market.

Underweight

Of 14 hardware stores in the Central Luzon provinces from which Pisi bought steel bar samples from Feb. 28 to Mar. 1, seven were found to be selling underweight rebars while another store sold a rebar that was not the standard length, according to the Pisi report.

He said his group asked the Metals Industry Research and Development Center for third-party testing.

“This is obviously a burden not only for the legitimate rebar producers and manufacturers but for consumers using substandard rebars without their knowledge,” Ronquillo said in the group’s report.

In a recent interview, Judith Angeles, DTI Central Luzon director, said her office was aware of the complaints and has sent a DTI monitoring team to inspect hardware stores.

“We have issued notices of violation against those found to be selling defective steel products,” Angeles said.

In 2016, Pisi challenged sample tests done by the DTI on a shipment of deformed Chinese steel bars which passed through this free port.

Court decision

In November last year, the Makati Regional Trial Court barred the release of imported products that have not been inspected and certified by the Bureau of Product Standards.

Pisi offered to partner with the DTI “to stop this deceitful selling practice of some hardware stores and prevent the proliferation of substandard reinforcing steel bars in the market [which] compromise the safety of the general public,” Ronquillo said.

Pisi president Roberto Cola had relayed the group’s recommendations to Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo, who heads the department’s Consumer Protection Group.

Among the steel makers that Pisi identified in its report were Wan Chiong Steel, Real Steel, Metrodragon Steel, Phil Koktai and Merchant Steel. 

Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

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Did you know that one study has shown that 1 in 2 Pinoys waste 4 vacation days a year because of poor planning? With Labor Day weekend coming up, our friends at Ford Motor Company came up with a few ways to help avoid that — even if you have very little time to spare to work out the logistics.

— AT, GMA News

It’s with deep sadness that people cross off Boracay on the list, but there are plenty of other destinations that are closer to landlocked city folks.

Here’s where else you can go.

1. Zambales

Crystal Beach, Liwliwa, Capones Island — take your pick. There’s also an epic inflatable island in Olongapo City for people who want to do more than just lounge on the shore.

Pack your bags for a “glamping” (or just regular camping) after a full day of island-hopping and enjoy a sky full of stars. Clear skies untainted by light pollution is life!

Anawangin Cove San Antonio, Zambales source: Esquire Philippines

2. Batangas

Near yet far? Batangas feels a little intimidating because of the heavy traffic, but places like Fortune Island make the trip worth it. Some say it’s the country’s very own Athens and Labor Day weekend is the perfect time to find out if this is true at all.

Powdery white sands and turquoise waters await, says our sources!

Fortune Island, Batangas source: Explore by Traveloka

3. La Union

Come to surf, stay for everything else. It’s a fact that some tourists found themselves falling in love with La Union so much that they stay for more than a weekend — so consider yourself warned!

There’s bursting craft beer scene in the coastal town and there’s plenty of places to pig out after catching waves. Sounds like the perfect weekend.

San Juan, La Union — Surfing Beach source: 8list.ph/ Via Revee Rapallo

4. Puerto Galera

Mindoro has so much to offer and even if you’ve been there before, what’s wrong with returning to enjoy breathtaking scenery. If Batangas doesn’t rub you right, hop on a boat and head here!

Big Lalaguna Puerto Galera source: puertogalera.org

5. Pangasinan

Honestly, the Alaminos longganisa is enough reason to go to Pangasinan. However, there’s also Patar White Beach, which they say is the “Boracay of the North” … but why compare? A full weekend in Bolinao — waterfalls, y’all — is just the reward you need for doing so much labor.

Tambobong White Beach in Dasol, Pangasinan source: asensopangasinan.com

Start planning now, make a kickass playlist to help the time spent in the car go faster, and savor the moment with friends or family! (And don’t ever drink and drive!)

source: gmanetwork.com

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GOYANG, South Korea – The leaders of North and South Korea agreed Friday to pursue permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the divided peninsula, as they embraced after a historic summit laden with symbolism.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in (R) at the Military Demarcation Line that divides their countries ahead of their summit at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018. The two sat down to a historic summit on April 27 after the handshake, a gesture laden with symbolism. Korea Summit Press Pool/ Agence France-Presse

In a day of bonhomie including a highly symbolic handshake over the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two countries, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in issued a declaration on “the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.”

Upon signing the document, the two leaders shared a warm embrace, the culmination of a summit filled with smiles and displays of friendship in front of the world’s media.

They also agreed that they would this year seek a permanent end to the Korean War, 65 years after the hostilities ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Moon would visit Pyongyang in “the fall,” the two leaders said, also agreeing to hold “regular meetings and direct telephone conversations.”

The so-called Panmunjom Declaration capped an extraordinary day unthinkable only months ago, as the nuclear-armed North carried out a series of missile launches and its sixth atomic blast.

Kim said he was “filled with emotion” after stepping over the concrete blocks into the South, making him the first North Korean leader to set foot there since the shooting stopped in the Korean War.

At Kim’s impromptu invitation the two men briefly crossed hand-in-hand into the North before walking to the Peace House building on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom for the summit — only the third of its kind since hostilities ceased in 1953.

“I came here determined to send a starting signal at the threshold of a new history,” said Kim.

After the summit, he pledged that the two Koreas would ensure they would not “repeat the unfortunate history in which past inter-Korea agreements… fizzled out after beginning”.

The two previous Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, both of them in Pyongyang, also ended with displays of affection and similar pledges, but the agreements ultimately came to naught.

With the North’s atomic arsenal high on the agenda, South Korean President Moon Jae-in responded that the North’s announced moratorium on nuclear testing and long-range missile launches was “very significant.”

It was the highest-level encounter yet in a whirlwind of nuclear diplomacy and intended to pave the way for a much-anticipated encounter between Kim and United States President Donald Trump.

OLYMPIC ICE BREAKER

Last year Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear blast, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

Moon seized on the South’s Winter Olympics as an opportunity to broker dialogue between them and has said his meeting with Kim would serve to set up the summit between Pyongyang and Washington.

The White House said it hoped the summit would “achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula.”

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Seoul had played down expectations before the summit, saying the North’s technological advances in its nuclear and missile programmes made the summit “all the more difficult.”

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.

When Kim visited the North’s key backer Beijing last month in only his first foreign trip as leader, China’s state media cited him as saying that the issue could be resolved, as long as Seoul and Washington take “progressive and synchronous measures for the realization of peace”.

In the past, North Korean support for the denuclearization of the “Korean peninsula” has been code for the removal of US troops from the South and the end of its nuclear umbrella over its security ally — prospects unthinkable in Washington.

Moon said he hoped they would have further meetings on both sides of the border, and Kim offered to visit Seoul “any time” he was invited.

After a morning session lasting an hour and 40 minutes, Kim crossed back to the North for lunch, a dozen security guards jogging alongside his limousine.

Before the afternoon session, Moon and Kim held a symbolic tree planting ceremony on the demarcation line.

The soil came from Mount Paektu, on the North’s border with China, and Mount Halla, on the South’s southern island of Jeju.

After signing the agreement the leaders and their wives attended a banquet before Kim was to return to the North.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

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The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) vessel JS OSUMI (LST-4001), an Osumi-class tank landing ship with approximately 150 officers and crew on board, arrived Wednesday in Manila for a three-day goodwill visit until Saturday, April 28, 2018.

This is the third visit of a JMSDF ship in the country this year. The first one was JS AMAGIRI which arrived last February and the last one was JS AKIZUKI which arrived two weeks ago in Subic.

Landing Platform Dock, JS Osumi was here in the Philippines last 2013 together with extra-regional navies to give assistance in the HADR operation efforts after Typhoon Hainan devastated the country.

Philippine delegates headed by Captain Dennis Rommel G..Quines, representing Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad, accorded the visiting navy a welcome ceremony upon arrival followed by a press briefing and health and security briefing aboard JS Osumi.

Subsequently, Captain Tomonori Kobayashi, the Commander of Landing Ship Division One, JMSDF and Captain Yuji Horikawa, Commanding Officer of JS Osumi (LST 4001), will call on Empedrad.

Like their previous visits, the Japanese navy will engage in a series of confidence-building activities with their PN counterparts such as goodwill games followed by a boodle fight. A send-off ceremony with customary Passing Exercise (PASSEX) will cap off their port visit on April 28.

Captain Lued L. Lincuna, the Director of the Naval Public Affairs Office, said

the visit aims to strengthen the relationship between the two navies.

“It will enhance and sustain the promotion of peace, stability, and maritime cooperation of the two countries through naval diplomacy and camaraderie,” he said.

By Francis Wakefield

Source: news.mb.com.ph

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