(Second of two parts) The Philippines is finally going after plastic producers, but some companies are not cooperating Tucked in a corner of the Dultra family’s garage are sacks full of used plastic packaging. There are water bottles and bubble wraps—remnants of the family’s daily living consumption. “Our family has made a practice of keeping...
(First of two parts) Environmental groups in the Philippines have long advocated for a single-use plastics ban, and hundreds of proposed laws and resolutions were filed in Congress in the past decade to support the call. Nothing prospered. Instead, Congress required the country’s biggest plastic-producing companies to pay to collect and recycle their materials. The...
Green currency serves as a means of exchange at a new park in the central business district (CBD) of Alabang, Muntinlupa City, to propagate trees and plants and promote recycling at the onset of what the United Nations chief calls “the era of global boiling.” UN Secretary General António Guterres’ declaration that “the era of...
SunAsia Energy Inc. and its partner and investor Blueleaf Macquarie Capital have been recognized as the first beneficiary of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No.18 “constituting green lanes for strategic investments.” At the ceremonial launch of the green lanes attended by the President and held at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila last July 13, the...
The earth’s last remaining forest cover cleans the air we breathe, purifies water systems, provides habitat for plants and animals, and even helps slow down climate change by removing heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It benefits everyone, but what happens if trees are indiscriminately cut for the high-value wood, if the most profitable minerals...
The government has awarded to SunAsia Energy Inc. and Blueleaf Energy the contract to build and operate the world’s largest floating solar project in the Philippines. The project has a cumulative capacity of over 750 megawatts (MW). The move is viewed as a milestone in the Philippine energy sector, with the Department of Energy (DoE)...
LIBERTAD, Antique—Not only have poachers trespassed on the lush forests of northwestern Panay to cut down rare agarwood trees and collect their precious resin, they are also hunting critically endangered animals, like the Visayan Warty Pig, according to wildlife field researchers. In months-long trips, the research team in the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park (NPPNP)...
Ever wonder what happened to Executive Order No. 26, which then President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law on May 16, 2017? It was practically a nationwide ban on smoking, with strict guidelines similar to what were imposed in Davao City when Duterte was its mayor. What about Republic Act No. 10913, or the Anti-Distracted Driving...
(Last of two parts) ‘Water crisis’: No cause for worry yet, authorities say The first order of business is for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to put its foot down every time the two water concessionaires close their valves to repair pipes and clean filters during the dry season, according to an activist...
(First of 2 parts) Call it déjà vu on a yearly basis. The dry season sets in, dam water dips, taps run dry for as long as 12 hours a day in certain parts of Metro Manila, and “water crisis” comes to everyone’s mind. What else is new? And El Niño hasn’t even set in...
