Philippine marine scientists are warning that the country faces a potentially serious environmental disaster from the Oriental Mindoro oil spill once masses of the black sludge make their way to the Verde Island Passage (VIP) and damage this biodiversity hotspot. Local governments and agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and...
Tag: Science
A PhilinCon forest patroller inspects a fallen agarwood tree on the mountain trail. —PHILINCON PHOTO
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The stink of agarwood trafficking in Panay
Tree trunks and limbs left in the wild, gutted, severed, or sliced, like a disgusting scene in a nightmare film minus the flesh and blood. No signs of shame or scruple from the band of marauders who left their victims in such an abhorrent state of rot. The mass slaughter of rare trees would have...
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Digging for clues to Abra’s earthquakes
Last Oct. 25 at about 11 p.m., my earthquake alert app sounded while I was finalizing the visual material for my presentation at NIGSCON 2022 in two days. I would be discussing the magnitude-7 temblor that struck the province of Abra three months ago at the annual conference of the University of the Philippines’ National...
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Dolphin discovery hints at unexplored biodiversity-rich marine habitat
A rare Irrawaddy dolphin found dead in the waters of Calabanga, Camarines Sur, has suggested to scientists a rich marine biodiversity corridor yet to be discovered and explored in the eastern side of the Philippines. Named “Calab” by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Philippine Marine Mammals Stranding Network (PMMSN), the...
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Smallest rafflesia blooms reveal some family secrets
Most likely, the world has heard about the awesome rafflesia bloom, its rarity and inherent malodorous turnoff. But Filipino scientists are keen on further unlocking the mystery and meaning of the plant’s parasitic existence. Nearly half, or 13, of the more than 30 rafflesia species currently identified and all endemic to Southeast Asia are found...
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Abra quake was less destructive but a complex seismic event
A magnitude-7 earthquake has long been associated with a nightmarish aftermath: massive devastation and hundreds of deaths. But more than two weeks after one such temblor jolted Abra province and its vicinity last July 27, disaster response officials reported only 11 fatalities so far and a little over P2 billion in damage to infrastructure and...
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Landslides in Leyte: Why the threat persists
BAYBAY CITY—Virginia Queza remembers sharply the Day of the Landslide, for that was when she lost her husband, house and almost everything else she had. “I kept shouting for help while we were deeply covered with mud, surrounded by dead bodies. My husband was still alive. But all my pleas were ignored,” Queza, 60, recalled,...
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Landslides in Leyte: Pain, grief stifle hope to rebuild lives
BAYBAY CITY—Almost every passing day, Rolando Tagnipez lights a candle before an image of his son on a made-to-order tarp installed in his house. The ritual reminds him of his loved one whose whereabouts he has surrendered to nature’s will. “They have not found the body of my son, together with those of his wife...
