RAINS FALL ON LUZON AFTER
3-MONTH DRY SPELL
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Pedestrians and vendors protect themselves with umbrellas from a
sudden downpour in Manila yesterday. AP]
MANILA, MARCH 13, 2010 (STAR) By Helen Flores - Rains finally fell on Metro Manila and some parts of Northern and Southern Luzon yesterday following weeks of scorching summer heat brought about by the prevailing El Niño phenomenon.
State weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said a prevailing cold front over Luzon caused the rains that brought relief to Metro Manila, Batangas, Laguna, Cavite City, Tagaytay City, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Quezon and Aurora.
“The rains are due to the passing of the cold front. We expect we will return to warm weather in a couple of days,” Cruz said.
Cruz explained the rains do not indicate the early end of summer, warning that hotter days would return soon.
“The rain (yesterday) does not mean that the El Niño is over, because we are still and will still experience below normal rainfall,” he said.
Cruz said the prevailing El Niño phenomenon does not mean a complete dry spell. El Nino is the abnormal warming in the equatorial Pacific and is usually characterized by below normal rainfall.
He said there are isolated cases of rainshowers in other parts of the country but these are still below the average and normal amount of rainfall.
Pagasa said the dry spell would peak in April and May and will continue until after June.
The hottest recorded temperature so far was 35.6 degrees Centigrade last March 7.
Yesterday’s rains, however, were not enough to fill the drying dams in Bulacan.
The water elevation at Angat Dam continued to drop to 187. 21 meters, just seven meters from the critical level of 180 meters.
Angat Dam is among the major water suppliers to Metro Manila and other provinces in Central Luzon.
“Unless it rains further, we will hit the critical 180 meters in less than a month and the local farmers’ (water) allocations will be temporarily cut,” said Rodolfo German, manager of the Angat River Hydroelectric Power Plant of the National Power Corp.
Several provinces in Luzon and Visayas have been placed under a state of calamity due to the severe effect of the weather phenomenon.
Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla said on Wednesday damage to the farm and fishery sectors caused by the ongoing El Niño-induced dry spell has already reached P8 billion. -With Dino Balabo, Eva Visperas, Katherine Adraneda
15 couples wed at Manila City Jail (The Philippine Star) Updated March 13, 2010 12:00 AM
[Photo
is loading... Inmates kiss their brides during a mass wedding at the Manila City
Jail yesterday morning. EDD GUMBAN]
MANILA, Philippines - A total of 15 male inmates and a jail officer exchanged vows with their respective common-law partners during a mass wedding held yesterday morning by Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim at the Manila City Jail.
Lim also stood as the principal sponsor in the mass wedding, along with barangay chairwoman Thelma Lim and jail warden Hernan Grande, while those who witnessed the fateful event included District Special Projects Unit Chief Superintendent Alex Gutierrez, Station 11 commander Superintendent Nelson Yabut and Ma. Josefa Encarnacion de Ocampo, chief of the city civil registry.
The inmates who got wedded yesterday were either convicted or have pending cases. Lim also took care of the reception that followed the wedding.
The newlyweds included Jail Officer Edgard Lim and his live-in partner of 21 years.
The barangay chairwoman said yesterday’s mass wedding was the first ever held at the Manila City Jail. – Sandy Araneta
38% of Pinoys to vote for candidates favoring Reproductive Health bill - SWS survey By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star) Updated March 13, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Most Filipino voters will support candidates who favor the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in the May 10 elections, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The SWS survey, conducted from Jan. 21 to 24, indicated that 38 percent of registered voters will vote for candidates who favor the RH bill and only six percent will vote for those who oppose it.
The rest of the respondents say it will not affect their vote (20 percent) or they are not aware of the bill (35 percent).
The survey also showed that 68 percent of respondents favor giving couples access to all legal means of family planning from public health services, while 52 percent find natural family planning methods to be “almost always effective” or “effective most of the time.”
The special SWS January 2010 survey module on reproductive health, sponsored by the Forum for Family Planning and Development, used face-to-face interviews of 2,100 registered voters, divided into random samples of 300 in Metro Manila and 600 each in balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
The proportions of those who will vote for pro-RH Bill candidates were 43 percent in Metro Manila, 40 percent in balance Luzon, 36 percent in Mindanao, and 34 percent in the Visayas.
The support is the same in different socioeconomic classes: 39 percent in class ABC, 38 percent in class D, and 37 percent in class E.
The survey also found that support for pro-RH bill candidates is 39 percent among Catholics and 34 percent among non-Catholics.
The survey revealed that majorities in all areas and economic class support access to all legal means of family planning. It was 78 percent in Metro Manila, 68 percent in both balance Luzon and the Visayas, and 61 percent in Mindanao. By class, it was 75 percent in class ABC, 68 percent in class D, and 65 percent in class E.
Support for access to legal means of family planning was high for both Catholics and non-Catholics, 69 percent among Catholics and 64 percent among non-Catholics, the SWS said.
Twenty-six percent of respondents said the natural family planning method is “almost always effective,” another 26 percent said it is “effective most of the time,” 31 percent “effective only sometimes,” and 16 percent “hardly effective.”
“Opinions hardly vary by area, class, and religion,” the SWS said.
The survey has sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points for national percentages, plus or minus six percentage points for Metro Manila, and plus or minus four percentage points for balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Catholic Church leaders have appealed to voters not to support candidates who are pushing for the RH bill.
House Bill 5043, otherwise known as “The Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood, and Population Development Act of 2008,” makes artificial contraceptives more accessible to the public through health programs and calls for sex education in schools, among others.
The House of Representatives has shelved the Church-opposed reproductive health bill, which was supposed to be debated in plenary.
It was the closest it has ever gotten to being passed in its 23-year existence.
Pinoys favor condom
Another survey, this time by Pulse Asia, showed that a majority of Filipinos would choose or vote for candidates who are in favor of condom and family planning methods.
Ramon San Pascual, Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD) executive director, said latest results of the Pulse Asia survey indicated the need for government family planning programs.
Based on Pulse Asia’s Family Planning Pre-Election Survey (PES), 75 percent of Filipinos think that it is very important or important for a candidate to include family planning in his/her program of action.
The same survey also revealed that 64 percent would vote for candidates who publicly promote modern methods of family planning.
However, 48 percent of those surveyed disagree with the statement, “The church or religion should participate on the issue of what methods couples should use in family planning.”
The survey indicated that a majority of Filipino voters do not believe that using modern methods of family planning is a sin.
When asked whether it is a sin against God to use modern methods of family planning such as pills, IUD (intra-uterine device), ligation and condom, San Pascual said more than half or 51 percent of respondents directly contradict the position of the Catholic Church.
Only 29 percent agreed with the Catholic Church’s position while 20 percent are undecided.
San Pascual pointed out that if the next president is serious in addressing poverty in the country, then he/she must face head on the issue of family planning.
“The next president must have a concrete program of action in helping couples, especially the poor, to plan their families,” he said, adding that the next president must not be cowed by the Catholic Church’s opposition to modern and effective methods of family planning.
The survey was conducted from Feb. 21 to 25, at the height of the controversy on the DOH Valentine’s Day HIV and AIDS awareness campaign.
A high 87 percent said it is very important for the government to allocate funds for modern methods of family planning, such as pills, IUD, ligation, condom and vasectomy.
“The latest survey result is an indication of the Filipino’s clamor for family planning services. It is very clear that Catholics are ignoring the bishops’ objections on using modern contraceptives,” he said. – Mayen Jaymalin