Climate Change/Environment

MANILA – Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Wednesday directed the Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) to immediately dispatch family food packs (FFPs) and other relief goods to flood-affected areas in Mindanao.

“We need to move fast. Deploy the FFPs in batches,” Gatchalian said in a statement as he ordered the DRMG to expedite the repacking of FFPs at the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Cebu City.

COTABATO CITY - SAMPUNG mga bayan sa Maguindanao del Sur ang naitalang apektado ng pagbaha matapos ang ilang oras na pag-ulan nitong linggo sa Maguindanao del Sur.

Binaha din ang coastal barangays ng Lanao del Sur, partikular ang Malabang at Balabagan na nakaapekto sa mahigit isang libong pamilya.

Sa panayam kay Maguindanao del Sur PDRRM Officer Ameer Jehad Ambolodto, ang 29,338 na mga pamilyang apektado ay mula sa mga bayan ng Datu Hoffer, Shariff Aguak, Pagalungan, Datu Montawal, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Pandag, Talayan, Guindulongan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan at Datu Unsay.

The Catholic Church’s development and advocacy arm is opposing a proposed bill that seeks to reduce the royalty fee imposed on mining companies.

Caritas Philippines president, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, said the measure “is a clear betrayal of the people, especially the communities affected by mining”.

The royalty shares, according to him, are supposed to be provided by mining companies to these communities as reparation for the damage they cause to their natural ecosystems.

MANILA – A senator resounded on Tuesday her appeal for the government to move forward and consider climate science as a tool in every decision that it makes in the future.

In her privilege speech, Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda suggested various approaches in pursuing development with responsible action to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Legarda said a transformative mindset in governance, mainstream science, and cascade opportunities to local government units should be adopted.

COTABATO CITY - In continued commemoration of the International Day for the Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystems, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy (MENRE)- BARMM, represented by its Maguindanao Provincial ENRE Office (PENREO) personnel, actively participated in the Mangrove Tree Planting Activity and Coastal Clean Up Drive organized by Cotabato Light and Power Company thru the Aboitiz Foundation, where 500 Mangrove propagules were planted at Brgy. Buaya-buaya, Kalanganan II, Cotabato City on July 29, 2023.

COTABATO CITY - Lubog sa tubig baha ang malaking bahagi ng Poblacion 1, Poblacion 2 at Manuangan sa Pigkawayan, North Cotabato dahil sa mahina subalit matagalang pagulan sa bulubunduking bahagi nito.

Umapaw na rin ang tubig baha sa national highway na nagdulot ng mahigpit na daloy ng trapiko.

Narito ang mga larawan na kuha ni Vergel Divinagracia.

PAGADIAN CITY - Two warehouse workers perished while another was badly injured in a landslide in Barangay Balintawak here at past 4:00 p.m. Monday.

Richard Fabria, chief of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, identified fatalities as George Masayon ang Julien Apamen, whose cadavers are now in a local mortuary.

KIDAPAWAN CITY - The flash floods that swept through agricultural enclaves in President Roxas town in Cotabato last week destroyed no less than P35 million worth of infrastructure and crops, officials announced Monday.

Two women drowned in rampaging floodwaters that displaced 1, 494 families according to the local police and officials of the President Roxas local government unit.

KIDAPAWAN CITY - The local government of Antipas in North Cotabato was in the thick of preparations using various measures to cushion the impact of El Nino phenomenon that, according to the state weather bureau, will commence this July and would probably persists until 2024.

Antipas Mayor Christobal Cadungon said all of the town’s 29 villages have already submitted their contingency plans in order to cushion the effect of dry spell, focusing on ensuring ample water supply in every village.

KABACAN, North Cotabato – Two have died due to drowning in North Cotabato while about 80,000 individuals have been displaced by floods in two Maguidnanao towns on Thursday, disaster officials said.

All the 11 villages of Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur have been underwater while most part of Datu Montawal were also flooded.

Two persons, a farmer and a 14-year-old boy, were separately killed in Magpet and Matalam, respectively, when they tried, but failed to cross rivers with swollen flood water.  They remains were fished out downstream.