Filed under: Stop climate change, Project Clean Water, Life at work, Philippines | Tags: SONA, President Noynoy Aquino, State of the Nation Address, Nereus Acosta, Bebeth Gozun, Fr. Robert Reyes
Every year the President of the Republic of the Philippines, opens the resumption of the joint session of the Congress to report on the status of the nation in what we call the State of the Nation Address (SONA).
Early this morning a handful of Greenpeace volunteers and concerned citizens together with Fr. Robert Reyes, Former Representative Nereus Acosta and Former Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary, Bebeth Gozun braved Commonwealth Avenue, in Quezon City all the way to Batasan Pambansa, starting their march from Quezon City Hall, where Fr. Reyes was able to speak about the ‘real state of the nation’ in as far as the water crisis that Metro Manila and nearby provinces in Luzon are experiencing as the Angat Watershed’s dam reached a historical low of 157.55 masl last July 16 despite the rains, triggering interrupted water supply in Metro Manila. Prompting water utility companies to implement a water rationing scheme to address the dwindling volume of water in the reservoir.
Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: climate, Water, GEI, angat dam, water crisis, angat
From Solar Generation – Pilipinas
Where does water come from? A question that has been asked of me unexpectedly in one of the meetings I’ve attended for a cause. I was taken aback for it was actually the first time that I heard someone asked that kind of question. I then began formulated uncertain answers such as “from the faucet?” or “from the purified water station near our apartment?” or rather “from the sea?” Could be, right? And from that moment on, I keep on asking myself, “where does water really come from?” This is the question that all of us ought to know the answer.
Filed under: Greenpeace, Stop climate change, Project Clean Water, Life at work, Philippines | Tags: Greenpeace, Philippines, Climate Change, Global Warming, Water, tubig, water crisis, water scarcity, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, tagtuyot, summer, el nino
As I walked in the 5 hectares of land in Brgy. Mangumbali, Candaba Pampanga, I can feel the land crumbling under my feet. The land is so dried that Mr. Numeriano Alabado was not able to harvest any rice crop that he planted in his area. His fields are now full of bigcracks that if you’re not cautious, the soil might collapse.
Their water source is from UPRIS-Upper Pampanga River Irrigation System.Pantabangan Dam is the main source of their irrigation system, because the dam has stopped supplying water due to drought; their rice lands have been destroyed. Almost all the farmers in this town have lost their income due to extreme drought. All of them we’re saying that this was the first time that they’ve experienced this kind of phenomenon.
The local government provided them aid by giving them STW or Shallow Tube Well but its already late to be use for this season because of lack of water. For them, only rain could restore their devastated lands.
A.C. Dimatatac
Filed under: Greenpeace, Stop climate change, Project Clean Water, Philippines | Tags: Philippines, Climate Change, Global Warming, Water, tubig, water crisis, water scarcity, san galing tubig mo, tagtuyot, summer, el nino
We’re on our last day of our travel in the drought affected lands of Central and North Luzon. We went to Brgy. San Isidro in Naguilan, La Union wherein we met some farmers who are members of Pakisama, an organization which is into sustainable agriculture and supports capacity building of farmers in the North.
Mr. Ronaldo B. Calica, a farmer whose crop
s are mainly corn, said that this is the worst drought ever. The sources of water in their area are the small creeks nearby and they are mostly dependent to rain. According to him, the last rainfall they had was when typhoon Pepeng hit the country last October 2009. After that, they didn’t experience any rainfall at all. He normally earns around 10 to 15 thousand pesos from his 1 hectare of corn but now it’s zero balance. He spent too much for the gasoline of his water pump and fertilizers but it was all for nothing because his land got dried up due to insufficient supply of water. He showed us his corn crops that are so small he can no longer use it. Continue reading
Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Dick Gordon, Erap Estrada, Forests, GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, Jamby Madrigal, JC Delos Reyes, Manny Villar, Nicky Perlas, Noynoy Aquino, UP Baguio Mountaineers, UPBM Run for Trails 2010, Water, water watch
I
t was 14 degrees Celsius up here in Baguio City when we arrived to join the University of the Philippines(UP) Baguio Mountaineers Trail Run 2010 this morning. The cool temperature suited the runners’ mood for a 13-K run for trails which kicked off at Scout Barrio. The event started at exactly 8 AM after the briefing and orientation, with more or less 80 participants. Greenpeace supports the 7th Edition of the Run for Trails 2010 which is an annual run organized by the UP Baguio Mountaineers to highlight the importance of conserving our forests and promote trail running as a sport. Continue reading
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
Greenpeace boat team members, Tomas and Moss show us where our drinking water comes from.
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
When the GMA news crew arrived at camp today, we had to make some quick decisions whether it would be prudent to bring them along with us to try and cross the Kamanoyo mountain to get to the main body of Matulid River on the other side. According to the AWAT rangers, it usually takes Dumagats around 30-45 minutes to cross the forest. But Dumagats are fairly known to move like Spiderman even on the sheer slopes of Angat. We were also told that the last time a band of AWAT personnel crossed Kamanoyo, it took them seven hours, but they didn’t have a Dumagat guide with them that time. Continue reading
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
View of the night sky from the Water Watch Campsite.
Astronomers say that on a clear, moonless night in a place far away from city lights, you should be able to see about 2000 stars. The darker the skies, the more stars you can see. Astronomers have calculated that there are about 6,000 stars potentially visible with the unaided eye, below are images of the night sky at the Water Watch camp, could you count how many stars there are in the pictures?
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
Here are some images on our 4th day on camp:
The Water Watch team.
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
The water level in Angat Dam breached the 180 meter above sea level (masl) critical point at around 3pm on April 13, and we got word that it finally made the news headlines this morning.
A news crew from the GMA network, led by reporter Cesar Apolinario, visited the camp to do interviews and take some shots of the things that were going on in the watershed. They arrived in the afternoon and had to rush to make the deadline for the evening news.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia 