It’s the perfect time to say “I told you so” and “It’s too late.”

Health experts are saying they were right after all in opposing the early implementation of an antidengue immunization program and parents are worried and angry about the dangers that lie ahead for their children who had received the vaccine whose manufacturer said could do more harm.

“We advised the Department of Health (DOH) leadership then, the Congress and Senate that mass vaccination is not advisable without a rigid selection or serological testings,” said Anthony Leachon, a member of the DOH expert panel on dengue formed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s predecessor, Paulyn Ubial.

Leachon said the medical status of more than 700,000 children who had been vaccinated in Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon is unknown since they were not checked for prior exposure to the dengue virus.
On Wednesday, pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur admitted that its Dengvaxia vaccine could cause more severe cases of dengue for those who had not been previously infected.
“We will need massive surveillance program to track them,” Leachon told the Inquirer in a text message.
“It means some of them will develop severe dengue, we don’t know who. All of them will have to live with this possibility for the rest of their lives,” he added.

The DOH suspended the vaccination program on Friday and ordered the close monitoring of everyone who had been vaccinated.

Health Secretary Duque, however, assured that Dengvaxia has a 30-month protection period for those who had been vaccinated, whether the person was previously infected or not.
The news spread on Friday, angering parents whose children had been vaccinated.
Razel Segovia Cablao of Malabon City has two daughters, aged 9 and 11, to worry about. They received Dengvaxia just five days before Sanofi released results of its study

Cablao, whose daughters have not had dengue before, told the Inquirer they got the shots in the house-to-house vaccination project of Barangay Potrero.
“My husband and I thought we could have some peace of mind knowing our daughters would be free from sickness, then you find out that they’re actually at a greater risk just because (the DOH) did not vet their vaccines properly,” Cablao said.

FIRST SHOTS In April 2016, the government introduced to the country’s public health system the world’s first vaccine developed to combat dengue fever. A much-publicized immunization drive targeted over 700,000 schoolchildren, among them this girl in Iba, Zambales province, whose shot was administered by then Health Secretary Janette Garin. —MALACAÑANG PHOTO

She worried about getting the second and third shots for her daughters after several online reports said doing so would expose them to greater risks.

Aissah Andrada’s 11-year-old son got his first shot in October at the barangay’s health center in Pasig City.

“This could have been prevented if only the DOH did not rush implementing their program not knowing the full risks,” said Andrada, who is from Cainta, Rizal province.

The P3.5-billion antidengue program placed high hopes on the Dengvaxia vaccine developed by French pharmaceutical company Sanofi. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Both mothers said their children have not been stricken by any serious illness so far. They plan to consult other physicians regarding the risks of completing the shots.

They wanted the DOH to release guidelines on what parents should expect and what they could do to minimize the risks for their children.

“The children should not be made to pay for the DOH’s failure,” Andrada said.

Esperanza Nocum’s 14-year-old son received the vaccine back in August when local health center personnel gave free dengue vaccine shots at their barangay hall.

The 41-year-old mother from Caloocan City said she already had plans to have her son vaccinated so he would be healthy and safe from diseases, including dengue, which he has not had. The boy was born with a heart condition and had undergone a heart surgery.

She said she had planned to take him to a private pediatrician for vaccination but it would have cost her P4,000.

“So we grabbed the opportunity offered to us, and since it was from the Department of Health, I thought it was trustworthy,” Nocum said.

However, after Sanofi made the announcement, she couldn’t help but fear for her son.

“I thought I could have peace of mind since he is already vaccinated,” she said. “I am so dismayed. What would they do now that the vaccine is already in my son’s body?”

She said at least 100 children were vaccinated along with her son.

Like the other parents, Nocum was concerned about whether to get the next Dengvaxia dose scheduled for February. —WITH REPORTS FROM TINA G. SANTOS, KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING, JHESSET O. ENANO AND JOVIC YEE

source:newsinfo.inquirer.net

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The Professional Regulation Commission announced Tuesday that 1,114 out of 2,093 examinees passed the Customs Broker Licensure Examination given this month.

Maricel Aviso Añonuevo (Philippine Merchant Marine School in Las Piñas) and Auren Clarence Jaranilla (Lyceum Subic Bay Inc.) topped the exams with a rating of 91.75%.

Jigo Panopio Arevalo (Lyceum of the Philippines University in Manila) came in second with 91.25%, while Angelica Olarte Macatangay (LPU-Batangas Inc.) placed third with 90%.

The successful examinees who garnered the highest places in the exams are the following:

You can check the roll of successful examinees here.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com

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OLONGAPO CITY—The Roman Catholic Church here is concerned that the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has allowed ship-to-ship transfers of liquefied natural gas or LNG at the Port of Subic, which it noted can be a risk to the public if not handled with care.

by: Fred Villareal

Rev. Fr. Daniel O. Presto, administrator of the Diocese of Zambales, said the Church was completely unaware of the STS operations at Subic, and had they known, “they could have studied the issue well and their community could have acted accordingly.”

Subic freeport officials, Presto added, “did not involve the Church” in the LNG transfer.

SBMA Chair Atty. Wilma Eisma previously said the Port of Subic stand to earn tens of millions of pesos from this project from services, including tugboat services, port services and anchorage, chandlers, bunkering and food supplies.

Eisma said the port seeks more STS work in the coming months.

The diocese of Zambales has taken an anti-coal and anti-mining stance, Presto said, and sees the LNG operation as dangerous too.

“We champion the protection of the environment and actively campaign for public safety,” he said.

STS operations involve big oil tankers carrying LNG, to be conveyed to smaller vessels bound to different ports for distribution to markets in and outside the country. Such operations address the shipping of petroleum and other energy products to ports that cannot accommodate bulk carriers because of depth issues, the Church said.

Last April 27, SBMA conducted an STS transfer of LNG at the freeport between the industrially-busy Hanjin Shipping complex in Subic town and a stretch where hotels, high-end restaurants and bars are lined up on the Olongapo City side, it noted.

The 105,335-ton Malaysian-flagged Seri Bakti of Jovo Group Company Ltd. Guandong (JOVO) of China, anchored in Subic Bay, transferred an initial LNG load to feeder vessel S/S Polar Spirit, a 72,524-ton Bahamas-flagged vessel, the diocese’s sources noted.

The last transfer was done Nov. 19 with the Seri Bakti a lot nearer to the Hanjin shipyard, where welding and other “ignitable activities” are done practically nonstop, it added.

Seri Bakti’s operations in Subic Bay are said to be a minimum of two transfers per month, and will increase to a maximum of six transfers per month toward the end of year, the Church said.

Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso, in a separate interview, said he wished his office were at least advised by the authorities beforehand, if not thoroughly consulted “on operations that are of public concern in the province.”

“My hands are tied on such issues, since the country’s law that governs freeports, Republic Act 7227 that created the SBMA, grants such economic zones’ authorities a free hand to the use of the zones — too free for comfort,” Deloso said.

“Any intervention from me as the governor of the province to this LNG STS transfer, or any concerns at all, will just be dismissed as ‘politicking,’” he added.

The national government, through state-run Philippine National Oil Co., is looking at six proposals for an estimated $2-billion LNG terminal in Batangas that could break ground in 2018, the Department of Energy said previously.

Source:manilastandard.net

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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has peacefully taken control of a secondary and tertiary school here after it failed to settle its financial obligations to the agency amounting to P19 million.

by: Butch Gunio

The SBMA’s Legal Department, assisted by personnel from the Law Enforcement Department, entered the premises of Comteq Computer and Business College at about 6:30 a.m. and informed the school’s personnel of the takeover.

Atty. Melvin Varias, leader of the SBMA takeover team, said that although Comteq shall be closed to its students and personnel, students and faculty of the nearby UP Extension Program in Olongapo shall be allowed to enter the complex and use the facilities it has been sharing with the computer school.

The SBMA issued Comteq a notice to vacate its facilities it is occupying at Building Q-8131 on Manila Avenue at the freeport’s Central Business District, after the school failed to meet requirements for its continued operation here.

Earlier, the SBMA aired its concern over the fate of students of Comteq Computer and Business College, because of the latter’s failure to pay its rent despite the leeway the agency has given the school to meet its obligations.

“It’s because of the students that the SBMA has given Comteq enough consideration for far too long. This has been a lingering case of irresponsibility on the part of Comteq owners and I am sorry to say that we cannot extend any more generosity to them,” SBMA Chairperson and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said.

Eisma said that as early as last April, the SBMA Legal Department has already issued a Notice to Vacate with Demand to Pay because the school has been operating without any valid lease agreement nor business registration with the SBMA, as well as failing to pay obligations with SBMA in the amount of P17.8 million.

Eisma explained that the SBMA had taken over the Comteq facility last April, but the Board granted a six-month extension to the school’s management for humanitarian reasons.

“However, during this final extension of six months, Comteq should have either settled their arrears with SBMA or should have responsibly arranged for the migration and transfer of their students, but they did not. Instead, they filed a case in court, thus betraying the kindness of SBMA,” she added.

In a letter dated April 27, 2017, Comteq president Danny J. Piano argued that the basis for the SBMA back pay rent of P17.7 million “is highly debatable” and added that the school “just have no capacity of paying back even a significantly reduced back pay rate.”

“Because of this, the new Board of Trustees of Comteq have come to the decision to transfer Comteq College out to Olongapo City where the rates are much lower,” Piano said.

Piano also asked for “a sufficient-enough transition” for the transfer, which he said can be successfully achieved by the end of the 2017 first semester or end of October.

With this, the SBMA Board allowed a six-month extension, but ordered that the school “should be fully out of the Subic Bay Freeport facility before the start of the 2017 second semester, or until October 31, 2017.”

SBMA records indicated that Comteq, which offers courses in preparatory, secondary, and tertiary levels, originally leased Bldg. Q–7932 starting 2008. In 2011, when construction of the Harbor Point Mall began, Comteq relocated to Bldg. Q-8131 where it occupied 10 rooms with a total area of 808.61 square meters, as well 188.55 square meters of common area.

Comteq’s transfer to the new location, however, met some problems as the building was also occupied by the UPEPO, which wanted to solely occupy the building.

After the SBMA Board finally approved Comteq’s lease proposal in August 2015, Comteq asked for a “rent-free” period from January 2011 when it transferred to Bldg. Q-8131, to August 2015 when the SBMA approved its lease. The SBMA, however, denied this request.

In May 2016, the SBMA reiterated its denial of Comteq’s “rent-free” request and further advised the school of its total back rentals amounting to P13.12 million. It also asked Comteq to submit a payment scheme proposal on the settlement of its rental obligations so that SBMA may process a contract for 25 years under the policy on educational institution.

However, without any positive response from the school on these matters, the SBMA Legal Department declared in August 2016 that because Comteq did not have any lease agreement with SBMA, or a sublease agreement with other Subic locator, or a valid certificate of registration, it was engaged in unauthorized operation inside the Freeport and in illegal use of SBMA property.

In January this year, the SBMA Board of Directors approved the issuance of a Notice to Vacate against Comteq and instructed management to file a case against the original owners for collection of the company’s outstanding obligations.

Source:manilastandard.net

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THE Board of Investments (BoI) said it has approved three tourism projects worth a combined P1.13 billion, including a hotel owned by Ayala Land, Inc.

In a statement on Tuesday, BoI said it gave the go-signal for the three projects under the Special Laws List on Tourism facilities in the 2017 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP).

The biggest of the three projects is Seda Capitol Central in Bacolod City. Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corporations invested P662 million to build the eight-storey hotel with 154 rooms and suites.

Located 20 minutes from Bacolod-Silay International Airport, Seda Capitol Central is scheduled to start operations in January 2018.

The BoI also approved UC-1 Corporation’s P267-million Seven Seas Waterpark Resort in Misamis Oriental. The nine-hectare resort features pools, an events tent, restaurant and other amenities.

Seven Seas Waterpark Resort started commercial operations in October with 176 employees. It is targeting to attract up to 280,000 customers every year.

At the same time, 888 Subic, Inc. received the green light from the BoI for its P197-million Central Park Reef Resort in Olongapo.

Central Park Reef Resort is a beachfront six-storey hotel with 110 rooms, two restaurants and two infinity swimming pools. It is expected to open in June 2018 with 64 personnel.

“The recent launching of the tourism road maps under the Hotel and Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) shows we remain committed in collaborating with industry stakeholders to boost tourism in the country,” Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo was quoted as saying in a statement.

“That is why we will pursue a proactive and targeted approach to address the challenges of tourism in partnership with the relevant associations, academe and other government agencies. We can build on the competitiveness of this industry and compete with the rest of our ASEAN neighbors.”

Source: bworldonline.com

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