Roxas: Charges to be filed over delayed cleanup of Iloilo oil spill

 News
Dec 042013
 
Roxas: Charges to be filed over delayed cleanup of Iloilo oil spill

Charges await Napocor officials in charge of removing the power barge that has been leaking oil off Iloilo province after it was damaged by Typhoon Yolanda early last month, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said Wednesday. “There will be cases [of] negligence, incompetence, and for bad practice that will be filed,” Roxas said in a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras.” He, however, added that the current focus is on how to remove the barge. Authorities are racing against time to remove the damaged barge that caused the oil spill in Estancia town following reports that the spilled fuel has reached areas two kilometers away from the coastline. Roxas stopped by Estancia to inspect the damage caused by the oil spill during his short visit to Iloilo with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. The Cabinet officials visited Iloilo to discuss rehabilitation efforts for typhoon-stricken areas with local officials. At least 200,000 liters of bunker fuel spilled on the coast of Estancia after Power Barge 103 slammed into the rocky shoreline of  Barangay Botongan when the super typhoon struck on Nov. 8. Iloilo governor Arthur Defensor Sr. has ordered the forced evacuation of nearly 1,800 families  in the area after the Department of Health reported that air pollution from toxic fumes from the oil spill was “off the charts,” with benzene levels 32 times higher than normal. The barge’s crewmembers have tried containing the spill by deploying 100-meter Read More …

Child trafficking feared in Yolanda-hit areas

 News
Nov 292013
 
Child trafficking feared in Yolanda-hit areas

Three weeks after Typhoon Yolanda battered the Visayas, three-year-old Tarin Sustento has yet to be found. A resident of Leyte province, Sustento, whose parents and grandparents were among the over 5,000 killed in one of the country’s greatest disaster, was swept away by a storm surge at the height of the super typhoon. His aunt, Genevieve Bindo-Wilcockson, said she has spent days scouring Tacloban’s evacuation centers in search of him. Daily pleas for information on his whereabouts are also posted on the internet. But these actions have yet to yield positive results. Sustento is just one of the over 1,000 who are still unaccounted for three weeks after Yolanda, many of them children. Authorities are not discounting the possibility that some of these missing children have fallen victims to child trafficking. Carin van der Hor, the Philippines’ director for the aid agency Plan International, said in a crisis like Yolanda, “the risk of child trafficking is estimated to about 10 percent.” “That scares us a lot,” she said at a press conference on Friday. She noted that while roads and transportation in affected areas have improved and become accessible, “it also means that the doors are also open to trafficking.” Van der Hor, however, said they have yet to confirm any incident, “but we have our suspicions,” pointing out the fact that most cases of trafficking are left unreported. “I wish we have (record), but we only have anecdotal evidences from the areas we work in,” she said. “Doing a Read More …

Official Yolanda death toll breaches 5k mark, with over 1,000 still missing

 News
Nov 222013
 
Official Yolanda death toll breaches 5k mark, with over 1,000 still missing

More deaths related to Typhoon Yolanda have been validated by disaster officials Friday, bringing the official death toll to 5,209 with 1,611 still missing and 23,404 injured, based on the latest report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). Of the total number of fatalities, 4,919 were from Eastern Visayas, the hardest hit region of the super typhoon, while the rest were from Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula and Caraga. “These were recovered for the past few days but have to be validated,” said Eduardo del Rosario, NDRRMC executive director, referring too the additional fatalities. Validation was done in coordination with mayors and local heath officers, he added. “We had changes because the official validation and confirmation are slowly coming in from the municipal mayors and municipal health workers,” del Rosario explained. The latest death toll was already more than double than President Benigno Aquino III’s estimate of between 2,000 to 2,500 Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria, the relieved Eastern Visayas regional police chief, had earlier estimated that the death toll could reach 10,000. — KBK, GMA News

Restoration of power lines in Yolanda-hit areas to cost P2B

 Economy
Nov 202013
 
Restoration of power lines in Yolanda-hit areas to cost P2B

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla has estimated that around P2 billion would be spent for the restoration of toppled power transmission and distribution lines in the Yolanda-stricken areas. “(We have) estimated P1.1 billion for transmission alone. (Our) estimate for distribution is about P800 million, or roughly a total of P2 billion. But we have not yet completed the computation,” he said. Petilla said they are also exploring ways on how to raise the funds to finance the restoration efforts. He said they are trying to find out if the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the private concessionaire managing the country’s power transmission highways, can shoulder the rebuilding of the transmission lines. “I think NGCP’s insurance is 70:30 which means 70 percent of the cost it needs to recoup will be shouldered by them and the 30 percent would have to be passed on. But my goal is zero passed on,” the energy chief said, noting that NGCP may not need to seek approval from ERC for costs related to force majeure. Petilla said he would also seek leagl opinion on tapping the Malampaya fund for the rehab efforts. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 According to the energy chief, state-run National Electrification Administration (NEA) has already set aside some P300 million to electric cooperatives affected by the super typhoon. “NEA has already shelled out P150 million to an electric cooperative in Leyte and there’s another P150 million released somewhere in Iloilo. Yes, Read More …

Maynilad employees help in repacking relief goods

 Economy
Nov 192013
 
Maynilad employees help in repacking relief goods

MANILA, Philippines – West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) recently sent 63 employee-volunteers to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) National Resource Operations Center, Pasay, to help load packed relief goods to delivery trucks that will transport the items to relief centers set up for Typhoon Yolanda evacuees. The employees spent the evening carrying packed relief goods for about 600 families, in response to the call for manpower assistance of DSWD. “We have always encouraged volunteerism among our employees.  During this very trying time, we’re glad to help our typhoon-stricken countrymen in whatever way we can,” said Maynilad President and CEO Ricky P. Vargas. Besides the assistance of its employee-volunteers, Maynilad has likewise been donating to the relief effort for typhoon-stricken areas through the provision of potable water, food, and other needed items. Maynilad is a concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the West Zone of the Greater Manila Area.

UN gathers $193M for Typhoon Yolanda victims

 News
Nov 192013
 
UN gathers $193M for Typhoon Yolanda victims

More relief aid delivered for Samar typhoon victims. Residents carry relief boxes from US Aid after an Osprey aircraft of the US Navy landed at a remote village near the eastern Samar town of Guiuan, on Tuesday, November 19, 10 days after Typhoon Yolanda, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, made its first landfall in this town. Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay The United Nations has so far raised about $193 million in assistance for the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan), which battered the central Philippines last November 8. “I would like to thank member states, the private sector and the public around the world for their immense generosity and support for the Filipino people so far,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Valerie Amos Tuesday. “It is clear that their plight has touched everyone,” The amount included both cash and in-kind donations as of November 18. “This includes $87 million for the Haiyan Action Plan that was launched by the Humanitarian Country Team on 12 November. ” Amos noted. Earlier, the UN made an urgent aid appeal to the international community to raise some $301 million to help the Philippines recover from the devastation caused by the super typhoon, the strongest typhoon in history to have made landfall.  “However, we know that the appeal figure will increase significantly,” the UN humanitarian chief added. The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council has so far listed the number of fatalities at  3982. The injured number around 18,000, Read More …

Inflation seen rising in Nov-Dec

 Economy
Nov 192013
 
Inflation seen rising in Nov-Dec

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the inflation rate in the Philippines would rise in the last two months of the year following the massive destruction brought about by Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas region. BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said inflation is now seen averaging 3.2 percent this year and 4.5 percent in 2014, both are upward revisions of an October forecast of three percent and four percent, respectively. Tetangco said that the BSP will announce the final full-year inflation forecast on Dec. 12, its last rate-setting meeting. “(This is just) one of the scenarios in our modeling exercise (that will be) firmed up before (the) next policy meeting,” Tetangco said in a text message. Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the Visayas region earlier this month, killing thousands, wiping out villages and destroying billions-of-pesos worth of agriculture and infrastructure. BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said the jump in the inflation rate is one of the impacts of the natural disaster given possible supply shocks. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “That’s the staff’s initial assessment considering the effects of the disaster,” Guinigundo said. “(We) will continue to monitor until the last Monetary Board meeting on monetary policy in December,” he added. The Monetary Board has kept overnight borrowing and lending rates at 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, since the start of the year. It has been able to do so on the back of the country’s robust economic growth and Read More …

No tax on cash donations from abroad – BIR

 Entertainment
Nov 192013
 
No tax on cash donations from abroad – BIR

U.S. Marine helps deliver relief goods to areas affected by Typhoon “Yolanda” on Friday (Nov. 15) at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. US Agency for International Development (USAID) was managing relief assistance for the victims of Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan). (MNS photo) MANILA, Nov 18 (Mabuhay) – The Burea of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Monday clarified that no donor’s tax is imposed on cash donations from overseas. “Kung pera from abroad, wala naman binubuwisan ang gobyerno. Kasi kung donation, ang batas ng ibang bansa ang iiral, kung may donor’s tax sila or wala. As far as the Philippines is concerned, cash donations from abroad, walang donor’s tax yun. Kung meron babawasan, bank charges yun at di napupunta sa gobyerno,” BIR chief Kim Henares said. She added that there is no donor’s tax on local cash donations given to the government or accredited foundations. Donors can also deduct their donations from their income. However, cash donations made to organizations that are not accredited with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and NDRRMC may be taxed. “Kung nag-donate kayo sa isang hindi accredited (na organization), if beyon P100,000 ang donation niyo meron ho donor’s tax. Graduated yun. Up to P100,000 exempted naman yun,” Henares said. “Yung kumakalat sa Facebook na sinasabi nag-donate sila sa GCASH or Pasa Load ng P3,000 eh nabasawan pa, hindi ho buwis yun, charges ho yun at dapat magtanong sila sa telco nila,” she added. As for in-kind donations sent from abroad, the BIR chief Read More …

UK aid for Yolanda victims exceeds P5.6 billion

 News
Nov 172013
 
UK aid for Yolanda victims exceeds P5.6 billion

The United Kingdom’s contribution to the international aid efforts for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda has exceeded P5.6 billion (£80 million) after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged another £30 million to the relief efforts, a statement from the British Embassy on Sunday said. The new amount supplements the British government’s previous donation as well as donations from the British public totaling £30 million (P2.1 billion). The UK has also deployed a destroyer ship, HMS Daring, and a Royal Air Force C-17 transporter plane to the region. According to a report from Agence France-Presse, the UK was has also pledged 4×4 vehicles and forklift trucks. Despite the steady support from both national and international communities, aid efforts have been slow—a fact reported by most international media covering the event. Malacañang’s Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras said last November 13 that a disaster of such magnitude required meticulous planning, which made such “difficult comments” understandable. He also said that while details needed to be ironed out, their efforts seemed to do well “so far”. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management’s (NDRRMC) 6 a.m. report also stated that the typhoon caused P10,339,290,061 in damage, including P1,250,108,600 in infrastructure and P9,089,181,461 in agriculture. In the same report, a total of 3,681 fatalities, 12,544 injured persons, and 1,186 still-missing persons was recorded. — Rie Takumi/BM, GMA News

US military ‘godsend’ to ‘Yolanda’ victims

 News
Nov 172013
 
US military ‘godsend’ to ‘Yolanda’ victims

Residents protect themselves from strong wind created by a US Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the US aircraft carrier USS George Washington as it takes off upon dropping relief supplies for villagers isolated by last week’s super typhoon Yolanda Saturday Nov.16, 2013 on Manicani island, Eastern Samar. AP ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON — As soon as Navy pilot Matthew Stafford puts his helicopter down in the village of Borongan, he is rushed by dozens of local men who form a line to unload the supplies he has flown in from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier. On the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar that were shattered by Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan), there is no doubt about it: the US military has been a godsend. “It is awesome to see this,” says one grateful villager. “They are saving us.” Villagers stranded by last week’s Typhoon Yolanda scramble for aid from a US Navy Sea Hawk helicopter from the U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the coastal town of Tanawan, central Philippines Sunday, Nov. 17. 2013. But while US military support can be critical when disasters like Yolanda strike, staging massive humanitarian relief missions for allies in need isn’t just about being a good neighbor. They can be a strategic and publicity goldmine for US troops whose presence in Asia isn’t always portrayed in such a favorable light — and a powerful warning to countries that aren’t on board. This aerial photo shows the devastation caused by last Read More …

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