Day: May 30, 2023

Some 20 students of Bacolod City College (BCC) fell ill after inhaling colored smoke from the props used during a Physical Education (PE) culmination event at the school’s activity center late Monday afternoon. City Administrator Pacifico Maghari III said on Tuesday seven students were brought to medical facilities, including the five at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, but all of them are already in stable condition. ‘So far, everyone is okay. Their (condition) is stable,’ he told reporters. BCC administrator Johanna Ann Bayoneta said the affected students received first aid treatment and among those brought to various hospitals, only one was confined upon the decision of the student’s parents. ‘We made sure all the students were accounted for and safe. This is being monitored through the Office of the Mayor,’ she said in a radio interview. The activity involved presentations for the final performance task of freshmen students enrolled in PE classes, she added. Bayoneta said the affected students experienced anxiety attacks and difficulty of breathing after inhaling the colored smoke. Teams from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), Philippine Red Cross, Amity Volunteer Fire Brigade and Mountain Tigers Search and Rescue responded to the incident. Bayoneta said that smoke-producing props, including smoke and fog machines, are not allowed inside the campus. ‘I asked the concerned group of students if they were required to bring those props and their reply was negative. Probably in their excitement, they brought it not even knowing these were dangerous and were not for indoor use,’ the BCC administrator said. She added that school authorities will meet soon to discuss the incident and to determine where the smoke props came from.

Source: Philippines News Agency

More than 1,200 local farmers from different towns in Albay province received government assistance on Tuesday during the ongoing Agri Fiesta 2023 at the Albay Farmer’s Bounty Village in Camalig town. In an interview, Lorena Quising, Albay provincial information officer, said each farmer got PHP5,000 in cash as part of the Rice Farmer Financial Assistance (RFFA) of the Department of Agriculture-Bicol (DA-5). “Aside from the 1,235 local farmers who received cash assistance, farm implements and fingerlings were also distributed to different local government units (LGUs), while farmer cooperatives also got agri inputs,’ she said. Quising said the three-day Agri Fiesta 2023 which started Monday features goods from chosen exhibitors from the different municipalities and cities in the province, selling them at lower than market prices. She said it showcases the local industries’ top products ranging from fruits and vegetables, local delicacies, handicrafts and home decor, plants and abaca-made merchandise. A total of 36 exhibitors displayed their very own versions of “the best that Albay has to offer”. Albay Governor Edcel Greco Lagman said his administration prioritizes agriculture as he recognizes the support needed by the local farmers to maintain the province’s food security, especially in anticipating the impending crises that the El Niño phenomenon will bring to Albay’s agriculture and fishery sectors. ‘On the heels of the pandemic, grabe po su inagihan kan satuyang sektor sa agrikultura (agriculture sector suffered a lot). The sector that literally fed our province. . . Before we talk about our plans, go into manufacturing, we have to remember that we are an agriculturally driven economy. Wala pong makakapagsabi na hindi iyan totoo (Nobody can claim that it is not true),’ Lagman said. The provincial government of Albay, through the Albay Provincial Agriculture Office, has partnered with the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Agriculture, Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine Rice Research Institute, and the National Food Authority to make the Agri Fiesta a success. Meanwhile, the provincial government of Catanduanes provided relief assistance to 148 fisherfolk families in San Andres town affected by the strong winds and rough seas conditions brought about by Typhoon Betty. In a social media post, it said the families were dependent on fishing as their primary source of income. “This relief aid is aimed to alleviate the challenges endured by the fisherfolks during the days when they were unable to venture out into the seas due to the typhoon’s impact,” the post read.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will test the air quality in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, whose residents have been experiencing foul odor following the molasses spill incident in the compound of Victorias Milling Company (VMC), the country’s largest refined sugar producer, on May 5. On Tuesday, the Victorias City Environment and Natural Resources Office (VCENRO) said in a statement the DENR will ‘provide a gas tester to monitor the air quality in the city next week.’ It also said the VMC itself procured a gas tester and borrowed a portable gas tester from its nearby Manapla Distillery Plant to monitor the air quality in its wastewater treatment facility. ‘VCENRO already requested VMC to provide data on the pH level of all of their operating ponds for better monitoring,’ it added. According to the VCENRO, the pH level, which measures the acidity or basicity of a solution or substance, “must reach at least 6.5 to reduce the foul odor caused by hydrogen sulfide gas”. “The higher the pH level, the lower the hydrogen sulfide present in the water,” it said. The molasses leak has brought health and environmental concerns in the northern Negros city after the spillage led to the contamination of the Malihaw River and the emission of stench from the wastewater treatment pond that has spread to 11 villages in the city proper. On Monday, the City Council approved three resolutions. First was for the City Legal Office to explore, study and recommend possible legal actions and remedies related to the molasses spill incident. In a statement, Councilor Dino Acuña, chairman of the committee on natural resources, environmental protection, and ecology, said the city government is serious in its efforts to protect the environment and the people’s health that charges should be filed against those responsible for the incident. In another resolution, the City Council called on the executive department, through Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez, to sign a memorandum of agreement with the VMC for the implementation of the latter’s rehabilitative actions. Acuña said this will ensure that the plans will not remain only as promises but will be fulfilled and implemented soonest. These include mitigating, contingency, long- and short-term plans, environmental cleanup drive, corporate liabilities, and social responsibilities, he added. A third resolution sought the intervention of the DENR as a third-party agency that will assist the city in addressing the problem caused by molasses spillage and the spread of foul odor.

Source: Philippines News Agency