Day: April 19, 2024

New York: A representative of Vietnam has affirmed the youth’s commitment to joining hands in climate change response, while attending a plenary session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum in New York on April 17.

Addressing the event, Nguyen Ngoc Luong, Permanent Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) Central Committee and President of the Vietnam Youth Federation (VYF), said climate change is a global issue with increasing impact that requires better awareness and joint action by the whole world to resolve, and the youth have a crucial role to play in this regard to help with sustainable development in the future.

He stressed that at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in 2021, Vietnam made a commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. With its role, the HCYU and the VYF always view promoting and mobilising the enormous force of the youth, whose strengths are wisdom, creativity, and enthusiasm, as a focal and strategic task in both short and long
terms.

The two organisations have worked to improve awareness among the public, including young people, through communication campaigns and training courses, especially the Green Sunday model. Youth clubs, teams, and networks for environmental protection and climate change response have been established from grassroots to central levels. Environmental protection models, ideas, and facilities have also been built and applied such as the ‘flood resistant house’ model. Young people have also actively engaged in the planting of 1 billion trees during 2021 – 2025, according to the official.

Luong stated that the Vietnamese youth are strongly committed to join hands in taking drastic, concrete, and effective action to protect the environment and respond to climate change.

He also called for cooperation and mutual assistance among organisations and individuals to together build a world of sustainable development in the future.

In his opening remarks at the forum, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the en
ergy and conviction of young people are widespread and have become more vital than ever. He appealed to young people to be on the frontlines for bold climate actions, deliver solutions, and create a world of peace and prosperity for all.

The ECOSOC Youth Forum, taking place from April 14 to 22, provides a global platform for dialogue between UN member states and young leaders from across the globe to search solutions to the challenges affecting youth welfare. It also gathers young people to share recommendations and innovative ideas in regional-focused discussions and in preparation for the Summit of the Future, to be held under the auspices of the General Assembly this September./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

MANILA: Malacañang Palace on Friday released the names of 13 new appointees, including former Foreign Affairs and Justice undersecretary Brigido Dulay.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. appointed Dulay as Inspector General of the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police.

The list also includes four new members of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority Board of Directors, namely Maricris Carlos, Paul Christian Cervantes, Pablo De Borja and Bryan Matthew Nepomuceno.

Larry Lacson was likewise named Acting Administrator and member of the National Food Authority councils.

Eric Zerrudo is the new National Commission for Culture and the Arts Executive Director.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines also has three Board of Trustees members: Felix Duque, Gizela Gonzales and Kaye Tinga.

The other appointees are as follow:

Department of Health – Luz Jordana Jose, Director IV

John Hay Management Corporation Board of Directors – Arthur Ledesma and Romeo Prestoza, acting members.

Source
: Philippines News Agency

SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA: The Antique provincial government on Friday told the public visiting the 50 caves in the province to help stop the destruction of rock formations, avoid littering, and gathering of birds’ nests to protect and conserve these underground chambers.

The call was made as the province observes Cave Month this April.

Environment and Natural Resources Officer Ma. Vivian Marfil said Provincial Ordinance 2021-156, institutionalizing the Cave Month celebration in Antique, aimed to raise public awareness on the importance of caves, serving as habitat for the flora and fauna and water reservoir.

‘The caves in Antique served as a refuge of the people during the war,’ she said in an interview, one of which is the Igbaclag Cave in Barangay Aningalan in San Remigio, now a tourist attraction.

‘We are enjoining tourists and explorers to help protect the caves by not destroying the rock formations and leaving them as they are because of their cultural and archaeological importance,’ she said.

They ar
e only allowed to take pictures and ensure they bring with them their garbage and not leave them.

Meanwhile, Board Member Pio Jessielito Sumande, author of the Cave Month ordinance, said the technical working group would convene next month to discuss measures for the protection and conservation of the caves.

He said he would propose that tourists and explorers coordinate with municipal tourism offices, especially on their purpose for visiting caves because some gathered bird nests.

‘The cave explorers gather bird’s nests using a torch to drive away the mother birds, destroying also the cave environment,’ he said.

He said some explorers are out to do treasure hunting and destroy rock formations.

The province has around 50 caves, Sumande said.

The Cave Month celebration was launched in the province on April 15 with the mounting of an exhibit showcasing the Igbaclag, Giyub, and Kagang caves and flora and fauna at the Antique capitol lobby for two days and at the University of Antique (UA) in Sibalom campus
for a week starting Wednesday.

The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP)-Iloilo will bring its traveling exhibition Pambansang Museo sa Barangay to Antique on April 22-26.

NMP will display five boxes containing replicas of collections displayed at the galleries of the former Prison of Iloilo, including the Oton Gold Death Mask, the fossil molars of elephant and stegodont, dioramas of a dipterocarp forest and its flora and fauna, the heritage textile of Western Visayas, and infographics about caves as anthropological and biodiversity sites.

The museum boxes will be in UA on April 22 to 24, 2024, and at Saint Anthony’s College in San Jose de Buenavista on April 25-26.

‘We are also encouraging students of UA and SAC to join the culmination activity in Libertad on April 30,’ Marfil said.

She said the culmination activity will be an eco-tour in Kagang Cave in Libertad, a part of the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park.

Source: Philippines News Agency

ASINGAN: Residents of the small village of Bantog in this town were in a festive mood on Friday as they celebrated the first ever Kalabaw Food Festival.

The Bantog Samahang Nayon Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BSNMPC), together with the municipal government, spearheaded the holding of the event to mark the success of the local dairy production.

“Hindi pa rin ako makapaniwala (I still cannot believe this),” BSNMPC chairman Rolly Mateo Sr. said in his speech, as he recalled the hardships they went through before the industry attained success.

Road to success

He relayed that way back in 2009, the cooperative started with only a PHP10,000 capital and many payables in the bank.

Mateo said from over 200 members at the start, they now have 300 who are all committed to the group.

Fast forward to their first Kalabaw Food Festival, he said they have allotted PHP500,000 from the cooperative’s funds for the festivities.

Mateo said they are grateful to national government agencies and the municipal government who have
helped them since they started in 2009.

He said that at present, the BSNMPC has assets amounting to over PHP100 million.

Last year alone, they earned PHP26 million from their contracts with the Department of Education (DepEd) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for 50,000 liters of carabao milk.

Mateo said they now have a total of 900 carabaos, of which 90 are milking.

He said they target to increase their production to 500 liters per day from the 180 to 200 liters daily production at present.

BSNMPC’s latest achievement is the construction of a PHP10.5-million building and warehouse on a six-hectare land it procured from its earnings.

“We would like to encourage our kababayans (townmates) to try dairy production to elevate their livelihood,” Mateo said in Filipino.

Beginnings and future plans

Mayor Carlos Lopez Jr., in his speech during the opening ceremony, said the success of the dairy production industry in their town through the BSNMPC started during the pandemic.

“A truckloa
d of carabao milk was distributed to the residents since they cannot sell it due to the lockdowns but through social media, they were made known to national government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Education (DepEd) which launched them huge contracts for their feeding programs,” he said in Filipino.

Lopez urged the cooperative to maintain its honest conduct of business even as he assured of the local government unit’s continued support to the group.

He said the municipal government plans to incorporate dairy production in the town’s agri-tourism projects in the near future.

“There would be a tour to their production facility to show tourists how the dairy products are made,” he said.

For her part, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Pangasinan provincial director Natalia Dalaten said the success of the cooperative was a product of a whole-of-government approach, to which Mateo agreed.

Dalaten said DTI has provided different types of training and e
quipment to the BSNMPC, with the help of other national government agencies.

The latest equipment they gave was a freezer van, a milk processor, and a meat processor for carabeef products, she said.

Gloria dela Cruz, former Philippine Carabao Center director, congratulated the cooperative and the town for staging the 1st Kalabaw Food Festival.

“It started in 1978 when it was a challenge to grow the cooperative in the dairy production but through your initiative, it has happened,” she said in Filipino.

The Kalabaw Food Festival, which runs from April 19 to 21, includes activities like the “Dress Your Buffalo Contest”, ribbon cutting for their new processing building and warehouse, carabeef cooking contest, Nuang (carabao) parade, milk feeding, Zumba dance contest, and a raffle promo where the grand prize is a live carabao. (PNA)

Source: Philippines News Agency

ORMOC CITY: Authorities seized 400 grams of suspected shabu amounting to more than PHP2.7 million from a construction worker during a joint buy-bust operation in Ormoc City Thursday night.

Authorities identified the suspects as Yoyo, 39, a construction site laborer and resident of the city’s Barangay South.

A police officer acted as the poser buyer during a buy-bust operation.

According to the police, Yoyo admitted that he gets the illegal drug supply from Cebu City through the seaports of Hilongos and Isabel towns in Leyte.

Lt. Col. Joel Camacho, deputy chief for operations of the Ormoc City police office, said the suspect also confessed to transporting a kilogram of shabu, which had been distributed by some pushers earlier.

‘We are grateful to the civilian informant whose tip-off led to the suspect’s arrest,’ Camacho said.

He said the suspect admitted that financial hardship drove him to work as a drug courier and get a PHP20,000 pay per delivery.

Capt. Jose Rodel Villaruel, the Police Drug Enforceme
nt Group team leader, said Yoyo has been identified by a suspect arrested during a previous operation. A three-month-long case build-up led to the apprehension of the suspect.

The suspect is facing charges of violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Source: Philippines News Agency