HOSPITAL wastes management officers in Dagupan City enhanced their knowledge on the disposal of hazardous wastes during a seminar workshop conducted by the City
Health Office last Tuesday at the sangguniang panlungsod session hall.

Center for Health Development Sanitary Engineer Ashley Antonio lectured on the principles and strategies of waste minimization; color coding scheme on waste segregation; importance of waste segregation; requirements for packaging of wastes; storage containers; collection and transport; consignment note and treatment technologies, among others.

“Waste segregation is vital because of its public health significance; facilitation of waste recovery and recycling; minimization of wastes that need disinfections; and increase on productivity and cost savings.” Antonio stressed.

She added that hospitals must follow a color-coded scheme in the disposal of wastes thus: black for non-infectious dry waste; green, non-infectious wet waste; yellow, infectious and pathological waste; yellow with black band, chemical waste and waste with heavy metal; red for sharps and pressurized containers; and orange for radioactive waste.

The city health office which coordinated the event said it is important to improve the waste management policy of hospitals, medical clinics and health care facilities “because hospital wastes can cause the outbreak of communicable diseases and it is dangerous if it finds its way into the river system based on a report of the World Health Organization,”

For many years now, some big hospitals in Dagupan have been suspected as somehow disposing medical facility wastes along with ordinary garbage or thru some other means as none of them have visible waste disposal machines or facilities, not even incinerators.

Republic Act 6969 or the Toxic Substance and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act Hazardous Waste Registration was discussed by Zenaida Cortez of the EMB of the DENR.

“In the past, many hospitals simply dumped all waste steams together, from reception area trash to operating room waste, and burned them in incinerators,” according to Cortez.

Incineration however has been found to be the leading source of highly toxic dioxin; furans, mercury, lead and other dangerous air pollutants that have serious adverse consequences on worker safety, public health and environment.

Recent developments, according to Cortez, have moved policymakers and sectors of society to push for the banning of incineration because it is not considered an option for proper waste disposal.

The EMB resource speaker also explained the environmental regulations governing hospitals namely the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 or Republic Act 8749; Classification of Human Wastes based on R.A. 6969; Waste Generators; and the Clean Water Act of 2004 or R.A. 9275. (Sheila H. Aquino)

INDIGENT Dagupeños and Pangasinenses expressed gratitude to the members of Medical Missions Foundation based in Kansas City, USA for the free medical consultation and surgical operation conducted by the visiting group from October 24 to 27 at the Region I Medical Center.

The Medical Missions Foundation headed by Dr. Bong Tumanut conducted surgeries on tumor, surgery on breast, head/neck, and skin; general surgery on gall bladder and hernias; gynecologic surgery on uterine and ovarian tumors; cataracts; strabismus; cleft lips; cleft palates; and thyroid surgery.

A total of 66 patients benefited from major operations, 20 from minor operations and 20 from cataract operations. The City Health Office handled the post surgery follow up of the patients.

The foundation brought its own facilities, supplies and medicines and also provided the patients’ blood examination, chest X-ray, ECG, and free antibiotics.

This is the second time the Medical Missions Foundation, whose members are trained in the United States, conducted such a medical mission in Dagupan City in coordination with RIMC, City Health Office and Lion’s Club International based in Kansas.

Local medical practitioners of Dagupan and Pangasinan, and surgeons of the RIMC also took part in the medical activity.

A GOVERNMENT doctor here has called on the public not to disturb or harm migratory birds dropping by their areas as these may force them to mingle with local fowls thus infecting the latter with the reported avian flu virus.

The call was made by Dr. Jesus Canto, chief of the government-owned Region 1 Medical Center in the face of reports that migratory birds swarm in shallow fishponds in the province of Pangasinan in order to eat fish, especially at this time of the year.

The birds include flocks of herons and egrets that forage for food in the form of left-over fish in fishponds just after harvest not only in Dagupan but also in the towns of Binmaley, Lingayen, Sual, Alaminos, Anda, Bolinao and Bani.

“If these birds are the ones coming from Vietnam, China, Thailand and other countries where avian flu had been reported , the best thing for us to do is to stop hunting and eating them,” Canto said.

He said disturbing the birds as they land and look for food might force them to move more inland and in communities where they may come in contact with local birds and fowls, increasing the possibility of infection and contamination.

The Provincial Health Office and rural health units have been urged to contact local government units in places which these migratory birds are known to frequent seasonally so that they can alert their citizens not to harm these birds, he added.

Canto assured however that there is nothing to worry yet because the H5NI virus being carried by the migratory birds has not yet been fully proven to be harmful to humans at this stage.

This only becomes harmful, he added, when the H5NI virus comes in contact with the local influenza virus, in which case it could mutate to become a virus that is harmful to human.

Canto admitted that this early, the R1MC is already making preparation for the possible onslaught of the avian flu in the Philippines on a worst case scenario.

He revealed that they are making initial coordination with the Contagious Disease
Control Center in Chicago U.S.A., including the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) here in the country to seek information on where they can buy prophylaxis or medicines with which to treat avian flu.

He said he was informed that they had developed a vaccine in the U.S. but this is costly and may not be available on quick notice.

CITY Mayor Benjamin S. Lim is now screening the qualified candidates for the U.S. study exchange program that starts sometime in May 2006.

The City Schools Division has submitted 18 qualified students from various schools in the city who are individually interviewed by the mayor. Twelve of the eighteen will officially become student exchange scholars to the US, Lim said.

After the interview of each qualified student, the mayor and the city’s student exchange coordinating committee, in consultation with the City Schools Division, will deliberate on the official list of students for the study exchange.

The qualified high school students are from Mother Goose Special School System Inc. (3), Dominican School (3), St. Albert the Great School (3), Pangasinan Universal Institute (3), La Salette School (3), University of Pangasinan (1), St. John’s Cathedral School (1) and Dagupan City National High School (1).

Lim stressed that the program will allow the students to experience the public/private educational system of Milpitas.

The criteria set by the city’s Student Exchange Coordinating Committee require that the candidates must be at least 14 years old, must have a general weighted average of 85 percent or above (30%); demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities (20%); has excellent oral and written communication skills in English (20%); has demonstrated good manners and right conduct (20%); and actively taken part in extra-curricular activities (10%). (Sunshine D. Robles)

BINMALEY– House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. personally dismissed the snap election being called by members of the opposition who wanted President Arroyo to resign from office as a “non-issue”.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after inaugurating the newly constructed municipal building of Binmaley, de Venecia said there will be no snap election as the same is not authorized under the Constitution.

“It is not authorized by law and if there will be a snap election, Congress must approve a billauthorizing the holding of a snap election and providing funds for the conduct of the same,” he said.

He estimated the huge expenses in holding such political exercise at from three to five billion pesos which the country at this time of economic crisis can not afford to produce.

Calling the call of the opposition not only unconstitutional but also “non-issue”, de Veneciaappealed to the opposition to stop demanding snap election because President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro are not resigning from their posts.”Let us not confuse anymore the Filipino people with statements that have no chance ofreaching first base,” de Venecia begged the opposition.

In the case of President Arroyo, de Venecia said, she agreed that she will honor whatever constitutional provisions that will be included in the transitory provision regarding tenure of office of officials and provided that the same will be approved by the Filipino people.

At the same time, de Venecia laughed off the rumor that former President Fidel V. Ramos is involved in a conspiracy to mount a coup against President Arroyo.

Dismissing the rumor as another attempt to sow political intrigue by the opposition, deVenecia said he knows former President Ramos as one of the closest advisers of President Arroyo.

Ramos is the emeritus chairman of the Lakas Christian-Muslim Democrats, the ruling PhilippineParty while the chairman is President Arroyo herself. De Venecia is the party president.

LINGAYEN – The live-in partner of the driver of a passenger van who was killed in an ambush last October 22 in barangay Seselangen, Sual, along with one of his passengers,, has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the killing.

Now confined at the Pangasinan Provincial Jail, Nena Bautista, once tagged as “shabu queen” of Alaminos City, has sought justice for the slaying of Allan de Guzman, 30, her live-in-partner for five years, till she was arrested last year.

Also killed in that incident was Gheorge Gringo Rivera, 18, a student, of Poblacion, Alaminos, son of a city councilor of Alaminos.

Wounded were Elizabeth Caaya, 60; Jell Abarra, 28; Ricky Catabay, 17, and Lilibeth dela Cruz. Three other passengers of the van were unscathed.

Bautista said she applied for a court order allowing her to go home to Alaminos City to see her dead live-in partner and to preside over his burial. In their five-year union, they did not have a child.

She said she will talk to the father of Rivera to persuade him to support her request for the NBI to investigate the incident to pave the way for the arrest of the perpetrators, including the mastermind.

The ambushers were seven hooded men armed with high-caliber firearms who were riding on two vans without plate numbers. The van was proceeding to Alaminos from Dagupan City when the gunmen opened fire.

The police initially said it was de Guzman who was really the target of the ambushers based on the trajectory of the bullets. A background check on him showed that he was involved in illegal drugs.

Bautista denied this, saying that if that were true, he should have had a lot of money but claimed he was always penniless every time he visits her at the Pangasinan Provincial Jail.

The police tagged de Guzman as the number one drug personality in Alaminos today.

He said the widow of the victim cooperated with the NBI all the way for the solution of the case even if her own close relatives would later turn out to be involved.

Mrs. Lopez’ family members had been tagged suspects from the start based on the entries in the prescription pad found by investigators in the victim’s car where he wrote that his father-in-law threatened to kill him on several occasions.

The widow corroborated this saying that his brother and father nurtured ill motives against her husband and wanted to see him dead. (PNA)

(Pangasinan Star, your favorite newspaper believes in spreading sunshine in rather gloomy landscapes. To do that in its pages, all it took our editors and staff was to lift headlines of the “good news” from major newspapers and other periodicals to come up with these “rays of the sun” for all to read – and hopefully bring on a smile with their cup of coffee.)

Parents urged to have babies checked for metabolic disorder
The Department of Health has again called on parents to submit their newborn infants to newborn screening to detect any congenital metabolic disorder that they might have.

Palace nixes snap presidential polls
President Arroyo rejected a resurrected opposition call for her to resign and call snap elections, warning that this would turn the country into a “banana republic.”

US cites Philippines’ antiterrorist role in region
The United States government said the Philippines, despite being branded as the largest training ground for the Jemaah Islamiyah in the region, will have a significant role to play

JDV: Cha-cha over by January
The Cha-cha initiative will be completed and a new Constitution ready by early next year, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said.

‘RP migration system consistent with global standards’
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that the country’s migration system is consistent with the principles set out by the Global Commission on International Migration.

Bunye: ‘Media czar’ a mere media term
Press Secretary and presidential spokesperson Ignacio Bunye corrected a newspaper report that he will soon be appointed as media czar.

RP becoming call center hub of Asia
Philippines is indeed becoming the call center hub of Asia despite the current political noise, with another outsourcing firm, WinSource Solutions Inc. entering the mainstream, joining close to a hundred firms operating in the country.

Mirant plans 3rd power plants in RP
Coal-fired power plant operator Mirant Philippines plans to put a third power plant, which the company has yet to detail but Mirant Phils. president Ed Harris said would be the best in operations.

Morgan Stanley says RP economics remain sound
The political crisis would have resulted in an economic disaster if not for the soundness of the country’s fundamentals, leading US investment bank Morgan Stanley said in a report.

Cheap medicine drive gets P229-M boost
The government’s campaign to make costly medicines more affordable to Filipinos is getting a P229-million funding boost.

Pangasinan ‘kingmaker’ back in govt
Antonio Villar, a staunch political supporter of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who quit as assistant transportation secretary weeks ago, is back in the government service.

OIC set to tackle RP observer seat
The Organization of Islamic Conference has formally included the Philippines’ application for observer status in its agenda during their 33rd session in Baku, Azerbaijan in June next year, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Churchmen warn Catholic laity vs historical movie on Luther
The Catholic Church warned the faithful not to believe the movie “Luther” as it can be misleading because it may perpetuate misunderstandings on some Church doctrines, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines announced.

RP’s skilled workers is world’s 2nd largest
The Philippines had the second largest stock of skilled migrant workers abroad as of 2000, according to a report released by the World Bank.

ERC to settle power supply contract
The Energy Regulatory Commission has decided to intervene to resolve the transition supply contract now between National Power Corp. and Manila Electric Co.

USAID pushes sale of Napocor assets
The US Agency for International Development is pushing the government to hasten the privatization of the power sector to improve the country’s investment climate.

MMDA suspends ticketing system
Although the Metro Manila Development Authority suspended a controversial traffic citation system on orders of Malacañang Palace, at least 400 public transport drivers and operators stormed the MMDA office in Makati City and demanded the resignation of Chairman Bayani Fernando.

Air Force LA Times story
Philippine Air Force officials blamed foreign journalists for concocting stories to discredit the Armed Forces following a report from the Los Angeles Times of an alleged military takeover by five Air Force officers.

Rollback may lessen VAT effects on oil, Senate told
A rollback in the prices of petroleum products looms as the government imposes the Expanded Value Added Tax Law on Nov. 1, Energy Undersecretary Peter Abaya said.

BSP sees $600m direct investments in 2005
Foreign direct investments into the country are expected to reach $600 million this year, lower than the original forecast of $1 billion but higher than the $100 million reported in 2004, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.

Food firm eyes 25% sales growth
Processed food manufacturer Mekeni Food Corp. is eyeing a 25 percent increase in sales to P500 million in 2005 from P400 million last year.

Outsourcing in the Philippines to balloon by 2008
American clients’ demand for outsourcing in the Philippines is seen to increased to 60% by 2008, the Department of Foreign Affairs said, as it urged Philippine Information Technology companies to further promote the local IT industry.

LINGAYEN – Milkfish producers of Pangasinan were challenged to go into processing to produce products that can be exported abroad and earn the needed dollar exchange for the country.

The challenge was made by Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim when he spoke recently before the provincial board which is currently determining the actual state of the province’s milkfish industry.

Lim said processing is what milkfish producers should look into for them to earn enough cash “because deboned and marinated milkfish are much in demand among Filipinos abroad.”

Despite some financial difficulties, the Dagupan mayor is seeking the establishment of a multi-million peso fish processing plant in Dagupan to produce the kind of milkfish that is much-sought after in the United States, Middle East and in other places where there are Filipinos.

The project got snagged as Dagupan is still awaiting the additional P40 million promised by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the project when she guested at the 1st National Bangus Congress held here two years ago. With recent political developments particularly on the impeachment issue, the hoped-for funding however appears to have hit a snag.

Lim assured that thru proper, modern processing, the milkfish produced in Pangasinan, particularly Dagupan City, can be marketed “with distinction.”

Pangasinan officials are planning to brand the milkfish produced in the province to distinguish them from the products coming from other parts of the country, like Saranggani, Iloilo, Samar, Leyte and Sulu.

Lim claimed that the milkfish produced in Dagupan is the tastiest among all the milkfish produced in the entire country, adding that the milkfish produced in the western part of the province are now catching up fast in point of taste.
“When you bring bangus to the market, they all look alike. They can be called Bangus Dagupan when in fact they are not,” he said, adding that this is the reason why local milkfish should be branded.

LINGAYEN – Limited supply of fry produced locally has been tagged as the weakest point of the centuries-old milkfish industry in Pangasinan, according to provincial government officials.

Provincial Agriculturist Jose Almendares said only 10 million fry are being produced locally annually against the high demand of 100 million fry by milkfish producers in 16 coastal towns and two cities of Pangasinan.

The 10 million fry is produced alone by the Dagupan-based National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC), a research facility of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

Almendares said they found out however that the fry being produced by NIFTDC have low survival rate yet compared with the fry being taken from the wild elsewhere in various parts of the country.

In order to sustain the milkfish industry in Pangasinan, the province is sourcing out its additional stocks of fry from adjacent Zambales, Ilocos Norte and as far south as Mindanao.

Since the turn of the century, the milkfish industry in Pangasinan depended mainly from fry being taken by concessionaires from the natural breeding ground of ‘sabalo’ in Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte.

The remaining needs for fry by local producers are being supplied thru importation of this commodity from Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and even Hawaii in the United States, Almendares said.

Through a program supported by House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., congressman of the fourth district of Pangasinan, production of milkfish fry in the NIFTDC through the breeding of ‘sabalo’ in captivity, was started two years ago.

It was de Venecia, through his Countrywide Development Program who helped fund the country’s National Research and Breeding Center for Milkfish at the NIFTDC that initially produces 10 million fry.

Dr. Westly Rosario, NIFTDC chief, said that the program envisioned the setting up of satellite bangus hatcheries in various parts of the country where the eggs produced by the national research and breeding center would be channeled to be grown before their dissemination to the farmers.

Rosario is optimistic that in 10 years, not only Pangasinan but the entire Philippines will soon be sufficient in milkfish fry, and the country need not import the commodity from abroad anymore.

Almendares told the provincial board that there are 12,000 hectares of fishpens and 182 hectares for fish pens and cages in the province of Pangasinan that need regular supply of fry.

Statistics in 2004 alone showed that milkfish production from fishponds was pegged at 25,800 metric tons. This was dwarfed by the milkfish production from pens and cages at 222,000 metric tons.

Dagupan City, which earlier self-declared as the ‘bangus capital of the world’, produces 25 percent of the total milkfish production in the province. The average harvest per hectare in fishponds is two tons while the average harvest per hectare in pens and cages is 200 times more. (PNA)

SAYAN INDIO
Mario F. Karateka

SALAMAT ta akapantalosan metla amo irayay Deparsmin op Pablik Werks and Haywis (DPWH) dadauloan nen Inhinyero Pidel Hinis diad Rehiyon Unio (Ilokos) tan si natan beteranolad politika a Meyor Bendyi Saplan Lim na Dagupan (anggaman saya manonad amin et sakey a negosyante). Nen imbeneg a simba labat et akapantoyaw laraya tan bulos ya imbesngaw nen BSL so liknaan tod si Indyiner Hines – a samay dalan ya gagaweendadtan ed bandad Lucao ya onsuldong komon ed De Benesya Haywey pian nakompleto so tatawagen nen Ispiker Dyo ya “circumferential road” na Dagupan et agto amo natotonton so onaan ya paknaan o disenyo.

No nanonotan nankompleyn si meyor ta singa isasabidametla amo kono so konstruksiyon na dalan dimad paonlad CSI The Siti Mol ya kayarian nen karibal tod bisnis a Bilin Pirnandis. No onman so nagawa, sankanengneng ya nabenepisyoan a baleg so CSI ta magmaliw iman a dalan ya duga-rugad olsoran na CSI.

Kuay BSL, aliwan satan balet so rason na isusunggay tod gagaween na DPWH no agsay ta lapud mas babaleg a pondo so kaukulan na gobyerno no parokeyen so walan likoan na dalan dimad ombutaw ed bandadmani na Lucao imbes a dimad bandad NelArs subdivision la ya bandadia labat ed wangalan o “intersection” mismo na de Venecia
Haywi. Baleg met iman a puntos nen BSL ingen ta mas melag so kaoren na gobyernon pondo.

Ompapaway manayan anggaman singa paonlalad CSI a tua imay dalan, agmetni talagan pinal ya diman so laento. Inikdan nen Hines si meyor na tsansan nakonsiderametni so kerew to. Walan gaween kono so sananey nin pan-aral na disenyo tan saya et isumiti lamet dimad DPWH Sentral, say Byuru op Disayn da, pian diman desiyonan no antoy mas magmaong parad gobyerno.

En pirnis ed si Indyiner Hinis, agto manaya amta itay agawan paknaan da di Inhinyera Tangco (na DPWH) met tan si BSL nipaaakar ed samay mas antiktikey ya pangisuldongan na dalan ed NelArs. Kakapanegna to kono na proyekto sanen mantapos so 2004 tan agto amta iman a talusan, anggad saya natan labat nen nginmikngik si Meyor Lim.

Komon ta ols wil dat ens wil lad sayan tsapter … tan napaspasan la so proyekto.
Ta ni maatap lay panaoy politikadia. Ompan nasorani itan so pondo to no alimbawan namaniobra si inadaron JDV tan sakey a Petsay so naikday ponget ed Kamara.
Aleg pa komon. Talimokor tayon amin, kaibaratay aso tan pusa yoradtan!
Labay tayoy Petsay… no satan et ipising labat. Antoy kuanmod satan Mama Rudi Istrada?