AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2010


E D I T O R I A L 4


The rainy season may have caused


rejoicing among farmers but like the proverbial two sides to an issue, the rains have also brought with it more mosquitoes along with the deadly dengue fever. Hospitals in Dumaguete City and


Negros Oriental are already teeming with dengue patients that some hospitals are even refusing to accept more patients. The total number of dengue cases recorded in the government and private hospitals in Negros Oriental stood at 594 cases as of August 26. The good news, if you can call it that, is that this year’s total dengue cases is still lower than last year’s 762. But this could still increase due to the rains, the Department of Health of cials tell us. This time where dengue fever is


at its highest is a regular occurrence not only in Dumaguete and Negros Oriental but in the entire country, where a total of four strains of dengue have already been recorded. The dengue-carrying mosquito


has been around for quite some time now. We have come to know that dengue can be fatal but its deadly effects can be effectively mitigated by prevention, early detection and treatment. Maintaining clean surroundings


and getting rid of plants or waste materials that hold stagnant water is an effective way of preventing the Aedis egypti mosquito from multiplying. Another way of preventing dengue is to wear clothing that covers a big part of your body--wearing tubeless blouses and short shorts should be discouraged at this time of the year. Dengue cannot be totally eradicated


OPINION and EDITORIALS Vigilance


DR. ANGEL C. ALCALA


ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION


suakcrem@yahoo.com


areas appear to be highly in uenced by land forms. This in uence is indirect, through the effect of seasonal monsoon winds on the coastal waters. It is a


T


common observation that coastal areas exposed to the northeast monsoon develop rough seas but those on the opposite rain-shadow side are calm. This situation is especially pronounced if there exists a high mountain on a moderately sized volcanic island, such as Negros. The point I would like to


emphasize in this column is that, although coral reef  sh recruitment took place


he  shery productivity patterns in coastal areas in monsoonal


the year round, the peaks in species richness and density occurred during the relatively calm months with minimal winds in the marine waters on the lee side of southern Negros. Factors associated with the relatively calm season


included temperature but not rainfall. This is demonstrated for the first time in the recently published paper of Rene Abesamis and Garry Russ. Abesamis is a research


Fellow of the Silliman University-Angelo King Center, and Garry Russ is professor at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. This phenomenon was  rst hinted by Daniel Pauly,


JUAN L. MERCADO VIEWPOINT juanlmercado@gmail.com


but if we adopt the simple risk- mitigating measures, we can remain dengue free in the months to come.


CEBU CITY—“Add this to your ‘No Erasures List,” Betty Chalkley of Press Foundation on Asia wrote. “This” was an obit on the recent death of former China Morning Post and Hong Kong Standard journalist: Matilde L.Montilla. Dende, 84, passed away in Tacloban after battling Parkinson’s disease. Former Press Secretary


A MEMBE R OF THE PHI L PP INE P R E S S INS T I TU T E


ALEX REY V. PAL Publisher & Editor-in-Chief IRMA FAITH B. PAL Managing Editor RICHLI D. AVES Cartoonist


Awardee, Best Editorial Page 2007 Community Press Awards


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The MetroPost is published by the UniTown Publishing House. All rights reserved. Subject to the conditions provided by law, no article or photograph published by the MetroPost shall be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without its prior written consent. The views expressed in the opinion pieces are those of the columnists, and not necessarily of the editors and the publisher.


Cris Icban and I scribbled the original “No Erasures Li st” on a napkin at Mythers, watering hole for Manila-based journalists. We jotted down the names of departed colleagues. “No traveler returns …


from this undiscovered country,” Hamlet muttered. So, there are no erasures on this kind of list. Dende is the latest


Support Group in Hong Kong. Earlier, we tacked on the


Trinidad was the  rst Asian editorial cartoonist to be syndicated in the U.S. His cartoons were picked up by diverse papers from New York Times to Politiken in Sweden, B u e n o s Aires’ Herald and Manila Ch r o n i c l e . “He sp e c i a l i z e d i n caricaturing and skewering politicians, most notably Ferdinand Marcos.” Name recall, however,


addition. She completed her journalism at UST. She won a Rotary scholarship to Marquette University in Milwaukee. On return, she worked as business reporter/editor for the Manila Chronicle, Manila Daily Bulletin, and later public relations of cer for DRB Holdings. She also helped to establish the Parkinsonian


name of Corky Trinidad, 69. He was Honolulu Star Bulletin’s award-winning editorial cartoonist. Born in the Philippines,


plenty of time.” Before the year ended, Geny was gone. Life beyond a handful


of ashes is the capstone for All Souls’ Day. “Death is not the extinguishing of life,” Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote. “It is putting out the lamp because dawn has come.” The No Erasures List


Add on


dims among people whom columnist William Safire joshed as the “almost-old.” We cast about for names of those we worked with, for almost two decades, in the United Nations. Did half a century of journalism pile up so many names? “We’re in the twilight of


life,” I told Press Foundation of Asia of cers. “Don’t say that,” publisher Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr. gently remonstrated. “We’ve


one of the great fishery scientists, but demonstrated by Abesamis and Russ. I will not be surprised if this significant finding will trigger more research act ivit ies on reef fish recruitment in an archipelago like the Philippines. Those


who read this column will understand why research to better understand nature is necessary. The role of monsoon-


the coastal areas of the country is not one to be proud of. Fishery experts and marine scientists are worried that most  shery productive marine areas have become depleted, and management effort to restore the productivity should be their urgent and priority concern. Certainly, the finding


The present status of Fishery productivity in coastal areas


related fish recruitment patterns just described must have evolved in the past, just like most other biological or ecological trends in nature. This is the academic lesson learned. But we must ask about


the implications for the present and for the future.


mus t be appl i ed t o strategies of conservation. For one thing, it is clear that conservation needs to be done during the whole r epr oduc t iv e per iod of the species on which we depend for our well being.


beyond our ability to control is the extreme weather condi t ions expec t ed because of climate change. If the weather changes involve extended periods of rough and stormy seas, the expectation would be less fish recruitment and less  sh catches in the future. Under such conditions,


what are we to do?


flowers and light candles for family graves. And those graves will include ours, sooner rather than later”. Oh that.The celeberations


One of the problems


do differ. But the essentials remain. “We give them back to you O Lord, who first gave them to us,”an ancient prayer of this day says. “Yet, as you do not lose in giving, so we have not lost them by their return… Death is only a horizon. And a horizon is the limit of our sight. “We thank you for the


also stresses aching beyond the grave. “It is a good and wholesome t h o u g h t t o pray for the d e a d , ” t h e ancient Book of


Macabees teaches. In the year 998, the


Benedictine abbot Odilo of Cluny picked Nov. 2 for this remembrance. This practice spread to other countries, including the Philippines. In Europe, “All Hallows


Eve” marked the Celtic new year Irish immigrants brought those spooky costumes to the US in 1848 . Today, it’s called “Halloween”, a fun-filled kids’ feast. ”In Cal i fornia, our


deep sense of mystery that lies beyond our mortal dust… Lift us up that we may see further, as one by one, you gather scattered families from the strife and weariness of time to the peace of eternity.” The liturgy for All Souls


spotlights this reality. ”For unto your faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away,” the priest leads in in the Eucharist’s preface. The same theme resonates wherever religious or laymen pray the Liturgy of the Hours. Our grandchi ldren


belong to the post-Vatican II generation. They never heard the Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) of requiem services of our long-vanished


grand-daughters Alexia and Tai Noelle join trick-or-treat parties”, the wife mused. “Here, grandchildren bring


/Per sepulchra regionum/Coget omnes ante thronum, the choir would sing. My now-hazy freshman Latin translates that into: “Trumpets blare


youth. Tuba mirum spargen sonum


TO PAGE 6


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