School drinking fountain: Is it really safe?

STORY BY KAITLIN JOYCE DIONISIO

HOW thirsty are you?

Thirsty enough to drink from a drinking fountain that has been exposed to several insects?

Make it right: Stop Kaliwa Dam project

THE controversial Kaliwa Dam project was started on February 17, 2022, by former President Rodrigo Duterte as a last resort for Metro Manila's water difficulties and was planned to break ground that year before he stepped down from his position.

Prior plans called for the Kaliwa Dam to be built between January 2020 and December 2025. In order to lessen reliance on the Angat Dam in Bulacan, it will cross the provinces of Quezon and Rizal and is expected to deliver 600 million liters of water per day to the capital region and neighboring provinces.

Engineer Ryan James Ayson, project manager for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), revealed the new timeline with an 18-month delay in an interview with CNN Philippines on Friday. The construction is currently anticipated to begin in June, with an August 2026 completion date as the goal.

The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997, which recognizes the IPs' rights to their ancestral property, calls for a Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), which has been the subject of years-long discussions with the Dumagats. According to Ayson, constraints brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic caused these conversations to be postponed. Additionally, it is necessary for the environment department to issue a Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas.

"Once we get those two permits, we would be applying for construction permits na po doon sa ating mga (with the) affected LGUs," Ayson said. "So hopefully by June of this year, we can start our works at the dam site and we will finish by August of 2026."

2 months ago at Lucena City, Indigenous groups from the Sierra Madre and representatives of organizations that support them will begin a nine-day, 148-kilometer protest march on February 15 from General Nakar town in Quezon province to Metro Manila in an effort to halt the controversial Kaliwa Dam's construction.

In a phone interview, Ramcy Astoveza, tribal leader of the Agta tribe, which has historic land claims in the Sierra Madre, said that the government has a number of options for resolving the Metro Manila water issue that don't in-

Clock ticks...

STORY BY MARXIALEEN ANDREA MARIE OIDA

THE Philippines is one of the top ocean polluters in the world, and a significant generator of waste in Southeast Asia, due to various factors such as, rapid population growth, rising waste generation rate, poor waste segregation, and other aspects contributing to the growing problem of the Philippines.

The Growing Population

The Philippines is a country of 80 million people where the average number of children born to a woman is close to four and where a sizable 37 percent of the population is under the age of 15.

The Philippine population has grown by a 1.54% increase from 2022, due to this rapid growth in our population, there has also been an increase in the products consumed by each household, ultimately adding to the trash produced by the Philippines.

Waste Generation Rate

According to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) from June 2020 to April 2022 the Philippines produced around 1,400 metric tons of healthcare waste alone. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an overall increase in the generated waste of the Philippines.

From facemasks to other per- sonal protective equipment, as well as single-use plastics from food deliveries and online shopping, the pandemic has caused a significant increase of waste in the Philippines.

Waste Segregation clude "sacrificing our lives and security in our ancestral domain."

According to a 2020 report by the World Wildlife, Only 33 % is collected and disposed to sanitary landfills and a measly 9 percent is recycled, while 35 % of the total plastic waste produced in the Philippines is leaked to the environment.

The Philippines’ poor waste management has not only affected their environment, but has also directly contributed to global warming and climate change through methane emission from the decomposition and/or burning of waste.

Ultimately the solution to this problem should be a combined effort of the government and the citizens. The government should implement more laws to ensure proper handling of the waste produced. Intern the citizens should be mindful of how they dispose of the trash they produce. These are not just simple numbers and data, these things have a very real impact, not just on the Philippines, but on the world.

Early this month, MWSS announced that the P12.2-billion, Chinese-funded Kaliwa Dam could now be completed by 2026 and start operation the following year.

A contract for official development aid between Manila and Beijing awarded China Energy the construction of the dam, which is intended to address the coming water issue in Metro Manila. The project, however, will submerge parts of the Sierra Madre in Tanay town, Rizal province, and General Nakar and Infanta towns in Quezon province.

Astoveza claimed that the Sierra Madre mountain ranges' indigenous groups, in particular, were in a race against time to stop the dam project.

“The MWSS is now starting construction. It signals the slow death of the Sierra Madre and all who depend on the sacred mountain,” he said.

The 46 indigenous groups that will be impacted by the project, according to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the MWSS, had given their free, prior, and informed permission.