Over 1K houses damaged by floods in northern Negros
BACOLOD CITY – Some 1,062 houses in four cities were damaged by massive floods in northern Negros Occidental last weekend, a report of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division (PDMPD) on Tuesday showed.
The affected houses were located in Talisay, Silay, Victorias, and Cadiz, where many areas went under water following hours of moderate to heavy rains on Jan. 8 and 9.
In Talisay, floods hit 20 barangays (villages), affecting 329 houses, including 49 totally damaged and 280 partially damaged.
In Silay, some 729 houses were affected in 16 barangays, of which 51 were totally damaged and 678 were partially damaged.
In Cadiz, four areas were flooded, resulting in one totally damaged house and five others partially damaged while in Escalante, two houses were totally damaged.
Nadine Lustre nagpaliwanag sa suot bikini habang umaakyat ng bundok
MANILA — Nitong mga nakalipas na araw ng bagong taon, naging usap-usapan ang larawan ni Nadine Nustre na nakasuot lang ng bikini habang umaakyat ng isang bundok.
Ang nasabi umanong larawan ay sa Twitter account daw niya nakita. Pero, itinatanggi ng actress na meron siyang Twitter account.
Sey ni Nadine sa socmed: “I don’t have Twitter.” “Di na ba uso fact checking ngayon? 2021 na o ano ba.”
Very environmentalist ang actress kaya gustong-gusto niyang umaakyat ng bundok para makapagtanim ng mga puno roon dahil nakakalbo na ang ibang kabundukan sanhi ng pagkakaroon ng baha at landslide.
Post pa ni Nadine sa kanyang Instagram: “Fund a seed so we can reach our goal of 88,000 trees.”
May paliwanag din siya kung bakit naka-bikini siya nu’ng time na ‘yun.
Aniya: “Ayokong magsuot ng basang shorts, kaya nagpatuyo muna ng mga 10 mins. Okey, ikaw kaya magsuot ng basang maong habang nagha-hike? (with smiling emoji).
Risa asks Meralco to extend installment payment scheme for poor consumers
MANILA — Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday urged power distributor giant Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) to extend its installment-based payment scheme for consumers, warning that stricter payment policies might lead to a “disconnected nation” that will make life harder for poor families and derail efforts to revive the economy.
“Hindi maganda na ngayong 2021, maliban sa COVID-19 ay magkaroon din ng epidemiya ng tanggalan ng kuryente sa ating bansa. Mas mahihirapan umahon ang bansa mula sa pandemya at sa bagsak na ekonomiya kung mas maraming Pilipino ang mapuputulan ng kuryente sa kanilang mga kabahayan dahil sa mga polisiya ng Meralco,” she said.
The senator made the call as MERALCO announced that it has begun sending out notices of disconnection to consumers using 201 kilowatt-hours and more who are behind in their monthly payments. The power giant also said that it will be hiking power rates up to P8.7497 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this year, which means that an average household consuming 200 kWh per month will be charged around an additional ₱55 in their bill.
Poe urges DOH, FDA to fast track vaccine approvals to dispel doubts
MANILA — Sen. Grace Poe asked the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed up the processing of emergency use authorization (EUA) applications for COVID-19 vaccines to dispel suspicions that officials are just waiting for grease money to fast track approval.
“If the virus won’t kill us, then red tape and slow government action surely will.”
At the Senate committee of the whole hearing, FDA director general Eric Domingo said the FDA should complete the processing of Pfizer’s EUA application this week while AstraZeneca’s application should be processed by next week. The processing of the applications takes 21 days.
“The process can be shortened,” Poe said. “Para mawala ang mga haka-haka ng ating mga kababayan na siguro naghihintay ng kickback ang DOH kaya hindi agad nabibigyan ng permit. It may be an unfair assessment but would you blame them with the track record the DOH has.”
Meanwhile, Poe also asked the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed up the processing of emergency use authorization (EUA) applications for COVID-19 vaccines to dispel suspicions that officials are just waiting for grease money to fast track approval.
“If the virus won’t kill us, then red tape and slow government action surely will.”
Modern skills training center to rise in GenSan
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) has begun preparations for the construction this year of a modern technical-vocational (tech-voc) skills training center here.
Rafael Abrogar II, director of TESDA 12 (Soccsksargen), said Tuesday the modern training facility would be established in a government-owned property in Barangay Tinagacan, in partnership with the South Cotabato first district congressional office and the city government.
Abrogar said the congressional office, as committed earlier by Rep. Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles, has allotted an initial PHP10 million to start the project’s implementation.
The city government, through Mayor Ronnel Rivera, had donated a one-hectare lot in Barangay Tinagacan as the site of the training center, which has a funding requirement of about PHP45 million, he said.(AI/MTVN)
