JULY 21 - JULY 27, 2019


4 OPINION EDITORIAL


What just happened?


One step forward, two steps back. This seems to be the peace and order situation of Negros Oriental. About four years ago, Negros Oriental was declared a conflict- manageable and development-ready Province. Members of the New People’s Army were labelled back then as “remnants” who had been “reduced to an insignificant level”. There was a big show in May 2015,


when 33 people who were called ex- rebels were given P65,000 each as immediate assistance and livelihood assistance by Philippine Army officials and the Governor. With Wednesday’s gruesome incident in the hinterlands of Ayungon,


on an intelligence mission were captured, tortured, and later killed by forces believed to be NPA rebels, it is a big wonder how we have managed to deteriorate to this level in so short a time. What did we do five years ago that we are not anymore doing now? If poverty is said to be the cause of insurgency, then the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer program has not lived up to expectations. So many are still poor, the Department of Social Welfare & Development notes. And they are likewise puzzled. Perhaps the challenge lies in how to make the people continually productive and not going hungry. We have a lot of band aid solutions to poverty alleviation, but these are propounded by technocrats who live far from the realities of the communities they wish to serve. In contrast, the Communist Party professes that to be effective and successful in their mission, they must “live with the people”. Could this be a challenge to our barangay officials to make themselves more relevant in the lives of the people they live with?


where four policemen DR. ANGEL C. ALCALA


ENVIRONMENT CONNECTION


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he Philippines and Vietnam explored the Spratly Archipelago and the Scarborough Shoal by the Philippines-Vietnam Joint Oceanographic & Marine Scientific Research Expedition in the South China Sea (JOMSRE-SCS) in 1996-2007. The Spratlys are part of the


Four expeditions visited these islands in a span of four years. The Philippine research team for the first two expeditions was composed of scientists from the University


of the Philippines-Diliman; the research team for the last two trips were scientists from Silliman University and other universities.


exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines.


by low islands, shoals, and atolls. The coral reef ecosystem dominates the environment. There are no mangroves. Seagrass meadows and algal beds are sparse. Much of the productivity in the Spratlys is due to phytoplankton. Monsoons play important roles in surface water circulation which distribute marine propagules, such as larvae of fish and other marine species.


Two gyres (pattern of current) circulating counter- clockwise -- the Luzon Gyre off western Luzon and the Nansha


Scientist for the third and fourth expeditions, and helped Ambassador Alberto Encomienda of the Department of Foreign Affairs implement JOMSRE-SCS 3 and 4.


I served as Chief


The research program was terminated after the holding of the Conference on the results of the expedition in Ha Long City, Vietnam in 2008. The Proceedings of the Conference was published in March, 2008. The marine environment of the Spratly island group is unique and is characterized


Gyre off western Palawan -- distribute fish larvae to western Luzon and Palawan during the winter months. These gyres also circulate nutrients from deeper sea bottoms at these times when the deep sea water is less (or not) stratified. Sampling of fish larvae showed that shallow stations yielded mostly demersal coral reef species, while deep stations were mostly pelagic species of the families Scombridae and Myctophidae.


These two families are likely to reach Philippine waters via ocean currents, like the two gyres mentioned. It is not surprising that Palawan marine waters are


ATTY. WHELMA SITON-YAP


Member, Philippine Press Institute


ALEX REY V. PAL Publisher & Editor-in-Chief (On-leave) IRMA FAITH B. PAL Managing Editor


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Nations unies) has 47 members elected for staggered three- year terms on a regional group basis.


he UN Human Rights Council (French: Conseil des droits de l’homme des


sponsored by Iceland, to launch an independent investigation into alleged crimes committed during the Philippine government’s war on drugs.


It is tasked to investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in UN member- states, and addresses important thematic human rights issues such as extrajudicial killings, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and religion, women’s rights,LGBT rights, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities.


the UNHRC is in Geneva, Switzerland.


Recently, the UNHRC approved a Resolution,


The headquarters of


The Resolution was approved with a narrow margin yesterday, with 18 nations voting in its favor, 15 abstaining and 14 opposing.


The Resolution mandates a comprehensive written report into the human rights situation in the Philippines,with a focus on reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances. In reaction, President Duterte was left uttering his remarks that the reason


Iceland, the main sponsor, filed the Resolution was because “they have nothing to eat in Iceland but ice.”


Teddy Boy Locsin rejected the Resolution, stating that there will be “far reaching consequences” for the governments that had voted for the Resolution.


Primer on the UNHRC


Rights groups have claimed that tens of thousands have died in the Philippine government’s drug war. The police has, meanwhile,


said that the figure is just over 6,000 from the start of the Duterte administration in July 2016 until the end of May 2019.


Foreign Affairs Sec.


productive of fish, as shown earlier by large catches of muro-ami fishermen in the past.


since the early 1990s because of the damage it inflicts on coral reefs, which are the habitats of coral reef-associated fish, and its high efficiency in sweeping coral reefs clean of fish. Pollution and destructive


Muro-ami has been banned


fishing methods are some factors that destroy coral reef and kill adults, juveniles, and larvae of fish.


The South China Sea is a unique marine environment


in that it is the area nearest to the Philippines where many atolls exist, two of which were explored by our research teams (North Danger Reef and Jackson Atoll).


outside the atolls through water movement. Our research team found higher concentrations of nutrients in the upper 20 meters of water.


Also, in lagoons were large numbers of juvenile and adult fishes, thus, functioning as centres from which fish and other useful species are held before they disperse to other areas of the ocean via ocean currents, such as the Luzon and Nansha gyres.


But lagoons of atolls could also accumulate undesirable and even dangerous pollutants, such as heavy metal by-products of industries, and sediments, and silt.


METROPOST


Our survey found that the average biomass of target fish in 2005 and 2007 was low, 42.1 metric tons per square kilometre, down from 114 metric tons per square kilometre in 1997, indicating


The environment, fishery resources of the Spratly archipelago heavy exploitation.


In the remote past, atolls were formed from volcanoes, but I do not need to explain their origin at this time. Atolls are generally roundish, oval, or polygonal in shape with emergent islands or shallow reefs that may be exposed at low tides and serve to mark the atoll outlines that enclose deeper lagoons. Sea water moves in and out of lagoons through deeper gaps in the ring-like structure of the system. Lagoons may retain nutrients that are released


Only four of the eight giant clam species, which are important in providing structure to coral reef systems, were found during our surveys. The giant among clam


(Tridacna gigas) was gone, and so were some important invertebrates, such as sea cucumbers.


One of the recommendations for conserving the environment and biodiversity resources in the Spratlys is for the Philippines and some other countries to create peace parks, a type of a marine protected area. Peace parks function well in at least four areas of the world claimed by two or more nations.


denied involvement in the summary killings, saying that the drug suspects slain in police operations had resisted arrest.


The UNHRC draws its power from its member- nations coming together to wield political pressure and collective actions such as economic sanctions, withholding of aid funding, etc.


The country’s Human Rights Chairman Chito Gascon said the Commission has always pushed for transparency when it came to the numbers of possible human rights violations during the war on drugs.


Government has repeatedly


Gascon said the issue should not be cause of any concern for the government as the country does give regular reports to the UN. “Human rights are a matter of national and international concern, and any effort that will help clear the air and bring clarity to the issue should be welcomed by the government, especially when it takes the position that it has nothing to hide.”


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