Category Archives: News Feature

P1 na taas pasahe sa tricycle, ipapatupad ng Bay

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ni Brando Bernard Bucks

Sa pagpupulong na ginanap noong Marso 19, 2012, Lunes, sa session hall ng bayan ng Bay, napagpasyahan ng Sangguniang Bayan (SB) na pahintulutan ang pagtataas ng pasahe para sa tricycle.

Pangunahing maapektuhan sa pagtataas ng pamasahe sa tricycle ay ang mga mag-aaral. Ipinapayo na lagi nilang dalhin ang kanilang school ID upang makakuha ng diskwento sa pasahe kahit tuwing Sabado o Linggo at mayroon silang gawaing pampaaralan.

Ayon kay Konsehal Emerson Ilagan, chairman ng Transportation and Communication Committee, may dagdag nang piso ang dating mga taripa. Ang magiging minimum na pasahe na ay P9.00 mula sa dating P8.00.

“Ang kapasiyahan naming ay kaugnay ng petisyon ng mga driver noon pang nakaraang taon,” sabi ni Ilagan. Napabalita ngayong taon ang sunud-sunod na pagtaas ng presyo ng mga produktong petrolyo bunsod umano ng pagtaas din ng halaga nito sa pandaigdigang pamilihan. Ngayong araw naman ay nagkaroon muli ng pagtataas ng presyo. Ito na ang ikasiyam na pagkakataon ng gayong pagtataas sa loob lamang ng unang tatlong buwan ng 2012.

Sa dami ng mga nagta-tricycle, malakas na rin ang kompetisyon sa pagkakakitaan kaya lumiliit na rin ang kita ng mga driver. Idagdag pa riyan na patuloy na tumataas ang presyo ng gasolina kaya naman inaasahan nilang madaragdagan ang taripa nila para makaagapay pa sila sa kanilang kabuhayan.

Nagsagawa ng mga public hearings bago ang naging pagpupulong ng SB. Ginanap ang mga public hearing sa Chipeco Building ng munisipyo ng Bay noong Pebrero 29 at Marso 8 at 15. Inanyayahan sa nasabing mga pulong ang mga punong-guro, mga pangulo ng mga tricycle operators and drivers association (TODA) ng iba’t ibang baranggay at ang pangulo ng pederasyon ng mga tricycle drivers ng munisipalidad. Liban sa kanila ay naging bukas din naman ang pulong sa iba pang mga mamamayan.

“Naiintindihan nila na kailangang magtaas na ng pasahe. Pero ang hiling naman nila ay iayos sana ang serbisyo,” pahayag ni Ilagan.

Inilahad ng konsehal na inaasahan sa mga tricycle driver na magsukli ng tama, magpatakbo sa tamang bilis, at ugaliin ang nararapat na hygiene. Dapat din silang maging magalang sa kanilang mga pasahero.

Tinukoy naman ng tagapangulo ng komunikasyon at transportasyon na ang marapat na humingi ng dagdag na piso sa pasahe ay ang mga may kaukulang dokumento gaya ng prangkisa, mayor’s permit at lisensya.

“Hindi naman tama na kung sino pa ang kolorum ay siya ang kumikita, at baka mas malaki pa ang kita niya kaysa sa legal na driver,” komento ni Ilagan.

Kaugnay nito ay iaayos ng SB ang kanilang ipalalabas na resolusyon ukol sa pagtataas ng pasahe. Sinabi ni Ilagan na makikipagsanggunian pa rin siya ukol sa ikatitiyak ng maayos na implementasyon ng kanilang pasiya.

Tumanggi naman siya na magbigay ng petsa ng implementasyon ng pagtataas ng pasahe ngunit maaaring magsimula na ito sa susunod na linggo kapag naiayos na ang ordinansa. “Binabalak pa rin namin kasing magpalagay ng mga announcements sa mga paradahan para huwag namang mabigla ang mga tao,” tukoy ni Ilagan.

Pinatunayan naman ni Aniceto Managat, tricycle driver mula sa Brgy. Sto. Domingo, na kailangan na nga nilang makatanggap ng dagdag sa kanilang taripa.

“Noong halos P50.00 pa kada litro, kumikita pa ako ng P100-P150. Pero ngayon na magiging P60.00 na, halos pang-gasolina na lang ulit ang kinikita ko,” daing ni Managat.

Ayon pa kay Managat, bunga ng kahirapan ng buhay ay ipinasiya niyang mamasada rin  ng tricycle liban pa sa paghahanapbuhay niya bilang farm aid sa BFAR station sa Brgy. Sto. Domingo. Namamasada siya tuwing umaga hanggang bago 8:00 ng umaga, kung kalian papasok naman siya sa BFAR.

Kung ihahambing naman sa ibang bayan, mas mababa ang pisong dagdag na pasahe sa bayan ng Bay.

“Sa Calauan, Victoria, at Sta. Cruz, sampung piso ang minimum nila,” paglalahad ni Ilagan.

Ayon pa kay Konsehal Ilagan, dalawang piso talaga ang hinihingi ng mga driver na dagdag sa pasahe ngunit pinakiusapan umano nila ang mga tricycle driver na maghinay-hinay upang maiwasan ang pagkabigla ng mga mamamayan.

Sinasang-ayunan naman ni Meryll Dela Cruz ang pagtataas ng pasahe sa tricycle. Mayroon siyang anak sa elementarya na lagi niyang inihahatid at sinusundo sa paaralan apat na beses isang araw.

“Kawawa naman kasi ang mga driver. Mataas na rin naman ang gasolina,” sabi ni Dela Cruz.

Para naman sa first year student mula sa Nicolas L. Galvez Memorial National High School na si Arvin Bautista, “Mataas na rin iyon kahit dalawang piso.”

Dalawang piso ang dagdag sa pamasahe ni Bautista araw-araw dahil kailangan niyang sumakay ng dalawang beses  ng tricycle para makarating sa paaralan. Magiging P16.00, kung gayon, ang kanyang babayaran mula P14.00.

Samantala, iba naman ang damdamin ni Ruth Batongmalaque, isang second year student mula sa Galvez.

“Okay lang ‘yun. Naghahanapbuhay naman kasi sila,” sabi ni Batongmalaque.

Kaalinsabay ng pagtataas ng pasahe, nanawagan si Konsehal Ilagan na ayusin ng mga driver ang kanilang serbisyo at ang kanilang mga dokumento upang maiwasan nila ang mahuli ng mga awtoridad at maabala pa sila.

Hinikayat din niya ang mga mamamayang pasahero ng mga tricycle na ipagbigay-alam agad sa mga pangulo ng kinauukulang TODA, ng pangulo ng pederasyon ng mga tricycle driver, o sa kaniya mismo ang anumang reklamo o suliranin kaugnay ng pamamasada ng tricycle.

CENRO to complete planting trees for NGP by month’s end

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Suzeth A. Regalado

[NEWSFEATURE] Four hundred twenty (420) hectares of land in Laguna were identified to be part of the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 26. or the National Greening Program (NGP) for the year 2011. This is part of the move to complete planting 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of land nationwide by the year 2016.

By end of October, the tree planting activities are set to be completed and the remaining months of 2011 would be dedicated for maintenance and identifying the NGP site for the year 2012. According to Forester Recillo, target areas in Laguna for the year 2012 will be doubled compared with this year’s.

According to Forester Noel M. Recillo, chief of the Forest Sector of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Laguna, NGP enjoins the different sectors of the community to participate in the effort to rehabilitate RP forests.

The identified NGP areas in Laguna are found in protected areas, locales with community based forest management, and urban watersheds. One hundred hectares of the target site under protected area is situated in Sitio Calo, Brgy. San Cristobal, San Pablo City; 150 hectares under Community Based Forest Management is situated at Brgy. Minayutan, Famy Laguna; and 200 hectares are distributed in target sites under urban watershed located in Malibanban watershed (80 hectares), LSPU Siniloan (100 hectares), Sta. Cruz watershed (10 hectares), and Magsaysay (10 hectares).

One of the strategies used by the greening program is social mobilization. It encourages more people to take part in the effort to conserve the forest. Different sectors of the community, including government bureaus, local government units (LGU), and private organizations have expressed their support to the greening program by taking part on the tree planting activities. NGP also enjoins government employees and participating students to plant ten seedlings individually per year.

According to Forester Recillo, the community’s participation in the greening program is very important. He emphasized that DENR itself can not accomplish the task without the help of the people, he added.

Students listen to a brief orientation before the tree planting activity at Mt. Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape (Photo courtesy of DENR-CENRO)

To increase the community members’ awareness about the greening program, DENR is implementing information-education campaigns through their website and collaboration with the media. Off site orientation are also conducted before the set date of the tree planting activity. This activity orients the participating school and organization on the proper technique of planting tree seedlings.  Part of the offsite orientation is a talk about the tree planting activity, video presentation, and an open forum. The importance and benefits of the National Greening Program are also explained to the students and members of the organization.

Participating students from Laguna College of Business and Arts and UPLB Grange Association climb to Mt. Banahaw for the Tree planting activity (Photo courtesy of DENR-CENRO)

According to Hermie Lantikan, Forester II, in charge of the records for reforestation at CENRO, the orientation is important in the tree planting activities so that participating sectors like students will value what they do, also the survival of the seedlings depends on how it was planted.

Aside from saving denuded forest areas, NGP seeks to contribute to poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation and adaption. Among the tree species planted on NGP sites are indigenous like the Narra. Other sites also plant fruit bearing trees which will also benefit the Public Organization and beneficiary group as a source of livelihood.

The greening program also covers Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) for the maintenance Community Based Forest Management site. In the case of Laguna, the identified CCT beneficiary is the Famy Upland Farmers Association. In other areas, plantations under urban watershed are maintained by the local government.

The total budget for tree seedlings per hectare of land is Php 6,000 which is bought on reputable nursery. An additional Php 2,500 per hectare is allotted for site preparation which will cover hole digging, bamboo, clearing of the site, and fertilizers. According to Forester Recillo Php 2,500 per hectare site preparation alone is too small.  The current proposal of the DENR to double budget allocation for NGP will help cope up with the project expenses, he added.

Proper planting of tree seedling is very important in the survival of the seedling. However, According to Hermie Lantikan, although off site orientations are done, during tree planting activity, students seem not to take the task seriously. It seems that students plant trees only for completion, she added, which should not be the case.

Despite of the effort to save the lost forest, there is still incidence of illegal logging. Recently, the DENR-CENRO confiscated 70 pieces of squared timber about 2000 board feet at Brgy. Anitay Paete Laguna. Forrester Recillo said that the safety of DENR staff is also a concern. To ensure the safety of DENR staff, Forester Recillo said that they ask assistance from the army.

Other people say that NGP is ambitious, Forester Recillo said, but with people’s cooperation the goal of the project can be accomplished.

A Fishy Story: Laguna, Quezon receive P30K-worth tilapia stock

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Noel Angelo S. Arboleda

[NEWSFEATURE] In line with BFAR’s mission of providing livelihood assistance in aquaculture, the CALABARZON regional office (BFAR IV-A) continues to support small-time fish farmers through the Tilapia Broodstock and Fingerling Production and Dispersal Program.

BFAR IV-A’s extension office in Bambang, Los Baños houses nursing tanks where tilapia stock for dispersal are stored.

On July 8, BFAR IV-A transferred around 100,000 fingerlings and 8,000 breeders worth 30,000 pesos in total from their extension office in Bambang, Los Baños to municipalities in Laguna and Quezon.

BFAR farm technicians along with municipal agriculturists from Sta. Cruz and Victoria, Laguna and Real, Quezon dispersed tilapia stock to more than ten requesting fish farmers.

This is just one of the many requests approved by BFAR IV-A in a month as part of their tilapia dispersal, an assistance program for farmers venturing in the field of aquaculture.

In 1970, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources started the program to support low-income fish farmers in growing tilapia, a popular fish in the region. Originally, the Tilapia Broodstock and Fingerling Production and Dispersal program existed with a “stock now pay later policy” wherein requesting fish farmers are loaned fish stock (fingerlings and breeders) which they have to pay after harvesting period.

Due to tilapia’s popularity as a fish that is relatively easy to raise in fresh and saltwater conditions, the Department of Agriculture increased funding for tilapia research and production in 1990. This allowed BFAR to drop the loaning system and provide each requesting fish farmer with up to two free stock grants of 500 – 100,000 tilapias each.

According to Ms. Julia Arida, Officer in Charge of the BFAR IV-A Extension Training and Communications Division, interested parties only need to send a letter of request addressed to BFAR IV-A regional office in Diliman, Quezon City. Few requirements such as the amount of fish stock requested, farm measurements and address specified in the request letter are needed. This is done in order for the program to be more accommodating to low-income fish farmers.

Processed requests are then sent to the Extension office in Bambang, Los Baños for verification. During this phase, BFAR farm technicians are sent to different farms to conduct measurements and logistical surveys. This ensures that the amount of stock requested by farmers is applicable to the size of their growing facility, preventing cases of overstocking which may result to fish kill.

Mr. Dionisio Zapanta, BFAR IV-A farm technician, said the tilapia is popular not only to consumers but to producers as well because it is a very adaptive fish, known to survive in harsh conditions. “Tanggalan mo lang ng konting kaliskis ang bangus o galunggong, mamamatay na yun. Ang tilapia, kahit wala nang kaliskis, makakalangoy parin (Take off some scales from a milkfish or a mackerel scad and it’s bound to die, while a tilapia can swim with hardly a scale left),” Zapanta explained. However, he cautioned that inadequate space for the fish to grow causes stress which may kill the tilapia. That is why verification of farm size is important.

Through years of the BFAR Tilapia Dispersal program, technicians have encountered fish breeders lacking basic knowledge in tilapia breeding. To address that, BFAR IV-A provides seminars and modules on tilapia breeding in order to help starting farmers in their business. Trainings are conducted by BFAR specialists who come to the farms of beneficiaries needing assistance. Aside from this, tilapia breeders can also download the training modules from the BFAR IV-A website.

According to Mr. Zapanta, proper knowledge in tilapia is crucial in the business; it’s not just a matter of feeding the fish and you’re set. Overfeeding tilapia stock is a bad as underfeeding it as they might die from fishmeal residue contaminating their tanks.

Farmers need to be familiar with the tilapia’s breeding season as to successfully inseminate tilapia breeders for reproduction. “Madami talagang matigas ang ulong nagsasayang lang ng stock namin (There’s just a lot of hard-headed farmers just wasting our stock,)” Mr. Zapanta added, stressing the importance of basic training for starting fish farmers as the provincial office has experienced cases of failed businesses due to improper breeding practices.

Last May 28, a massive fish kill incident hit Taal, Batangas wherein approximately P57 million pesos worth of milkfish and tilapia. The incident affected 27% of Metro Manila’s supply of two of the country’s most popular fish. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and BFAR were the government bodies primarily involved in the investigation of the incident.

When asked regarding the effect of the fish kill to BFAR IV-A’s tilapia dispersal program, BFAR IV-A Farm Technician Mr. Alfredo Fang replied that it has not affected their fish stock. He clarified that BFAR IV-A along with the other 15 provincial offices around the country, gets their tilapia from the bureau’s main breeding farm in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

According to Mr. Fang, the incident in Taal Lake was caused by abrupt changes in water temperature. The water on the surface of the lake suddenly became cool, forcing the heat from the bottom to rapidly rise. In BFAR’s case however, their tilapia grown in Muñoz are stored in fish tanks providing the fish with a controlled environment, unlike the cages in Taal where the stocks are susceptible to sudden changes in temperature.

Among the 16 provincial offices of BFAR throughout the country, the CALABARZON provincial office is considered as the pioneer in Tilapia Breeding research. The provincial office is also the first to implement the Tilapia Broodstock and Fingerling Production and Dispersal Program. On the average, BFAR IV-A disperses a total of 300,000 fingerlings and 25,000 breeders in a month catering to around 10-12 individual tilapia breeders.

But despite the bureau’s efforts to provide assistance to small-time tilapia farmers through tilapia dispersal, still, there are some gaps that must be considered for the improvement of the program.

Mr. Raymond Jogus, a tilapia farmer for 17 years in Calauan, Laguna noted that individual requests take too long to get approved by the bureau. “Masyadong matagal, ang daming nakapila, eh hindi aari yan pag may hinahabol kang schedule (It takes too long because of a lot of pending requests, and that won’t do if you’re following a tight schedule,)” said Mr. Jogus.

Mr. Raymond Jogus has been raising tilapia in his farm (below) for 17 years.

Aside from the usual delays in the approval of stock requests, Mrs. Herminia Paunil, a former tilapia farmer in Calauan, said that BFAR’s tilapia is a bit challenging to raise.

She explained that this may be attributed to the fact that BFAR produces its tilapia in Pampanga, noted for its brackish water. She added that the tilapia may be more accustomed to a more saline condition and may take time to adjust to Laguna’s fresh water.

It’s a fact that tilapia breeders like Mr. Jogus, follow a strict schedule of operations, as one has to consider time-specific factors involved such as the breeding season and spawning season in tilapia production. With tilapia farming as their main source of livelihood, most fish farmers cannot afford to deal with problems that would impede their production and make them lose a harvest. Because of this, a lot of farmers are resorting to private breeders for their supply of fingerlings and breeders rather than rely on the free assistance program offered by BFAR.

In response to this, Ms. Arida said that the bureau still aims to improve its Tilapia Broodstock and Fingerling Production and Dispersal Program through continuous research on the field of tilapia breeding.

Through feedback data (tilapia growth rate, survivability rate, reproduction rate, etc.) given by the beneficiaries of the program, BFAR IV-A aims to improve the quality and increase the production of their tilapia stock to be able to cater to more individuals interested in making tilapia breeding their livelihood.

Currently, the BFAR IV-A regional office is located at the NIA Complex in Diliman, Quezon City, while its Extension Office is located in Bambang, Los Baños, Laguna.  Local fish farmers interested in the Tilapia Broodstock and Fingerling Production and Dispersal Program may contact the BFAR IV-A regional office through landline at +63(2)926-8714.