The Philippines stands to receive about $4.6 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the protection and preservation of the country’s coral reefs.
The commitment from the two funding agencies was announced earlier this week on the sidelines of the ongoing World Ocean Conference (WOC) in Manado, Indonesia.
The ADB and GEF are providing $25.5 million for the protection and preservation of the coral reefs of the Coral Triangle countries.
Of the amount, $12.3 million will be allocated to Southeast Asia, while the remaining balance will be channeled to Pacific areas covered by the Coral Triangle.
The two funding agencies said the $12.3-million fund for the SEA “will be divided among three countries” -- $4.6 million each for Indonesia and the Philippines, and $3.1 million for Malaysia.
“As main partners in mobilizing resources to support the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) plan to generate a total of US$25.5 million in funding for Southeast Asia and the Pacific region,” the CTI said in its website.
“The Southeast Asian region is expected to receive $12.3 million in funds to support the collaborative program to protect the coral triangle, while the Pacific region is expected to receive $13.2 million,” it added.
“ADB natural resources economist Marilou Dilon told The Jakarta Post the budget allocation was indicative of how much the regions would receive in the implementation of the collaborative initiative to protect the coral triangle,” according to the CTI.
“The $12.3 million for Southeast Asia will be divided among three countries: $4.6 million for Indonesia, $3.1 million for Malaysia and $4.6 million for the Philippines," Dilon said.
Of the total funds for Southeast Asia, some $10.3 million would come from the GEF, “the largest funder of projects to protect the environment, with a total of 178 member countries.”
The ADB and GEF funds for the Pacific region will be distributed as follows: Papua New Guinea, $4.5 million; Timor Leste, $2.6 million; the Solomon Islands, $2.8 million; Vanuatu, $2.3 million; and Fiji, $958,000.
PGMA orders DILG, PNP to look into the Davao killings
Malacanang will never tolerate, encourage nor sponsor killings for any reason.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the President ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police to solve the Davao killings the soonest possible time.
The Chief Executive also told the Department of Justice to guarantee the safety of witnesses against members of alleged Davao Death Squads.
“ The long arm of the law should not and must not spare anyone,” Ermita said
He said the Philippine justice system will also be basis for addressing criminality.
Ermita also called on the public to help government by coming forward and testify against the Davao Death Squad.
DOH vows intensified surveillance to ensure early detection of H1N1
In an interview in Cebu last Tuesday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo emphasized the importance of surveillance to keep H1N1 in check.
Based on its H1N1 update, DOH reported that the number of cases under observation (CUOs) has reached 46.
Thirty-nine of these tested negative for Influenza A (H1N1) virus, seven CUOs have pending laboratory results.
As of Wednesday, the Philippines is still free from H1N1.
Thirty-two of the CUOs were observed at DOH designated referral hospitals. Twenty-five were admitted at Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), 3 at San Lazaro Hospital (SLH) and 4 at the Vicente Sotto Medical Center (VSMC).
Ages ranged from 1 year to 80 years old. Fifty-four percent of the cases were between 8 to 40 years old. Fifty-four percent (25) of the cases were males. There was no reported death.
The CUOs were all travelers coming from Influenza A H1N1 affected countries: Australia, Canada, China (Mainland), Hong Kong, Korea, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States of America.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the number of confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases increased from 4,694 on May 11 to 5,251 on May 12. Mexico (56), USA (3), Canada (1) and Costa Rica (1) have reported deaths from this novel virus. The total number of deaths is now 61. Currently, the USA has the highest number of cases (2,600) followed by Mexico (2,059). However, fatality in the US remains low (0.12%) compared to Mexico (2.72%).
Thirty countries have reported confirmed Influenza A (H1N1) cases. These countries include: Australia, Austria, Argentina, Brazil Canada, Hong Kong, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA.
DOE, NEDA to reconcile oil price computations
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said today (Wednesday, May 13), that he was informed by Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes of the proposed meeting among DoE and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) officials to take a look at the basis for computing oil prices.
The meeting is expected to reconcile the computations of both agencies and come up with just one official announcement and figure coming from the government.
According to Ermita, Reyes said the output of the meeting will be presented to NEDA Secretary Ralph Recto upon his return from his mission in the United Nations.
Recto left for New York to attend a United Nations (UN) meeting on May 7 to 17, 2009.
“In the absence of Secretary Recto, there will be a meeting probably today or tomorrow of DoE and NEDA officials to take a look at the formula, the basis for their computation as to why prices should be lesser or more than what is coming out in the market.”
Reyes and Recto will meet upon the latter’s arrival from his mission in the U.N., Ermita said.
He said the President wanted Recto and Reyes to meet “so that we have only one announcement and one figure coming out from the government regarding the fluctuation or adjustment of prices of gas and oil.”
Newly-appointed spokesperson for the Economy, Secretary Gary Olivar, said Reyes is doing the best he can under the situation.
On how the economy is doing, Olivar said “the economy remains resilient. As the President has repeatedly pointed out, our situation with our overseas Filipino workers abroad is that we are running at a deployment rate of 3,000 per day compared to 6,700 that have been laid off so far.”
“So as you can see, this is a net gain in terms of OFW performance. We continued to be preferred in overseas markets and this is something the President found out first hand from a recent trip there,” Olivar said.
“According to our own labor force survey, in January, unemployment rate was less than eight percent or 7.7 percent,” Olivar said.
Zamboanga Sibugay offers cash reward to those who could help rescue kidnapped teachers
For the past four months, alleged members of Abu Sayyaf have been holding Janette de los Reyes, Quizon Freires and Rafael Mayonado as hostages.
Authorities have assured that they are doing everything they can to rescue the teachers from their kidnappers.
