SU environmentalists protest to shut down Dumaguete trash incinerator

by RANJIE NOCETE & NATHANIEL CARAMPATANA

SEVERAL SILLIMANIANS protested Saturday to shut down the pyrolysis-gasification machine in Barangay Candau-ay that incinerates the city’s trash and releases toxic gases.

One of the protest organizers and co-convener of War on WasteNegros Oriental, Merci Ferrer said that Dumagueteños were not consulted or informed that the incinerator “will kill them eventually.”

The local government aimed for the machine to convert wastes into solid materials for infrastructure projects like hollow blocks. However, environmentalists and protestors warned against its damaging impact on public health.

During the protest, former Technical Adviser for the United Nations Development Program and expert on pyrolysis-gasification technology Dr. Jorge Emmanuel revealed that pyrolysis releases toxic gases that “will stay in the environment for hundreds of years.”

He said that it could cause an increased risk of miscarriages and birth defects, reduced fertility and sperm count for males, and different types of cancers.

Pushing to shut down the machine, Ferrer said, “The deadline is today or tomorrow. I hope a beautiful light will shine on Mayor Ipe Remollo, to the administration, enabling them to see the correct way of addressing this issue,” she said.

During the protest held on Rizal Boulevard, protestors lined up on the roadside holding biodegradable signs, others gave out primers, and organizers spoke up about the dangers of pyrolysis to the passersby.

One Sillimanian protestor, Mayumi Maghuyop of the College of Performing and Visual Arts said that she joined the rally because “we should be saying more about the things that we care about, especially the environment…[because] it’s going to affect a lot of people, not just us.”

A senior high school student also expressed that she went to the protest “to support and [to] defend our right to breathe properly.”

Instead of incinerating all the city’s trash, the protest called for the local government to transition towards a zero-waste and sustainable circular economy.

Silliman University Student Government Environment Committee

Chairperson Dignity Lagunay

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SU hosts Harvard for leadership forum

by ALLIANAH BOLOTAULO

HARVARD PHILIPPINE FORUM (HPF) conducted its annual service and culture trip to the country at the Silliman University (SU) Hall last Jan. 9 along with Sillimanians and delegates from 11 schools across the Visayas region.

With the theme “Igniting Transformative Leadership Across Seas,” members of the HPF chose SU as this year’s host for the Dumaguete leg of their twoweek-long January Term Trip.

Silliman University Student Government (SUSG) President John Christian Entrata

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Sillimanians elected as officers for new regional writers’ guild

by RANJIE NOCETE

TWO STUDENTS from the Silliman University (SU) College of Mass Communication (CMC) were elected as secretary and SU representative in the newly founded region seven writer’s guild Batang Kaparis ni Rizal (BATARIZ).

These Sillimanians were among the 30 campus journalists and youth leaders from schools across Central Visayas that comprise the writers’ guild spearheaded by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) region seven.

Elected SU representative and second-year student

Nathaniel Carampatana said that the guild aims to write newsletters that feature “stories of hope,” focusing on development journalism.

Moreover, third-year student Justynne Keigh Dano elected as the secretary, said that this guild would serve “as a bridge” for the DILG to improve youth participation in local governance.

“For example, if there is a project by the DILG in our locality that has helped the community…we are the ones who will write a story, and those stories will be compiled as one to make a newsletter,” she said.