Academe leads environment summit in Bulacan

MALOLOS CITY—Environmental protection gained another boost as leading universities in the province spearhead the first in a series of summits for the care, protection and nurture of the Environment.

Dubbed as “Ora Mismo”, the summit will be held at the Barasoain Center for Innovate Education (BarCIE) at the La Consolacion University of the Philippines (LaCUP) campus here on May 15 to 17.

Spearhead by the Sentro ng Edukasyon Para sa Ekonomiya at Kalikasan (SEEK) of the Bulacan State University (BulSU) and complemented by the LaCUP’s Saint Augustine International Institute for Justice and Peace (SAIIJ), the summit is expected to draw more than 100 participants from the academe, local government units (LGU) environmental advocacy groups.

This came as regional offices of the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued separate memorandums encouraging educators and LGU officials participation in the three day summit workshop.

Marwin Dela Cruz, the director of SEEK said the summit was aimed at opening a venue for dialogue for members of the academe in order to develop honest to goodness measures and programs for the protection of the environment.

“We also want to organize a strong and united academe that will initiate course of action on issues of environment and sustainability,” he said adding that members of the academe must harness and pool resources together.

He said,” it is about time for the academe to make its stand on the issue of the environment because we have been silent for a long time.

Dela Cruz said that knowledge gain in the series of summits they will hold can later be integrated to school’s curriculum.

“If we can integrate environmental protection and conservation to our courses and curriculum, we can mitigate disasters and easily adapt to the threats of climate change,” he said.

The summit will be keynoted by Dr. Particia Licuanan of CHED followed by others experts like Monsignor Pablo David, the auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of San Fernando in Pampanga; Director Lormelyn Claudio of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).

Also invited as resource persons are Dr. Catalino Rivera of the Lyceum of Northwestern University, Dr. Reynaldo Cruz of LaCUP, Dr. Nilo Francisco of the Centro Escolar University, Rodney Galicha of Al Gore’s The Climate Reality Project, Bro, Martin Francisco of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, and Dr. Reynaldo Naguit of BulSU.  (Dino Balabo)Academe

No water crisis in Malolos, water manager said

MALOLOS CITY—There is no water crisis in this city, the general manager of the Malolos City Water District said

However, he admitted that water pressure in their pipelines has been low, and local concessionaires continue to complain.

Both MCWD official and its concessionaire also expressed concerned over water rates in the proposed Bulacan Bulk Water Project which is seen to address increasing depletion of groundwater in the province.

“There is no water crisis in Malolos,” said Nicasio Reyes, the general manager of the MCWD said in vernacular.

In a telephone interview, he insisted that current water supply in the city is enough for it’s over 230,000 population.

However, he said that some concessionaires have to understand that they cannot enjoy the usual water pressure.

“There are areas that have low water pressure, especially those at the tail end of our pipeline,” he said.

But local concessionaires like Eduardo Camua of Barangay Pablo here said that even those living by the main road where the major pipelines are located are suffering for low water supply due to low water pressure.

The same was echoed by concessionaires from Barangays Sumapang Matanda and Bulihan here.

Reyes also admitted that low water pressure was due to increasing ground water depletion aggravated by summer heat and lack of rainfall in the weeks before.

To address the situation, he said that they are now installing pressure pipe in their water pumping stations in selected areas of the city to increase their water pumping capacity.

Meanwhile, Reyes andlocal concessionaires express hope that proposed Bulk Water project in the province will soon be implemented.

But they expressed concerned over possible water rates.

Reyes said that when the Bulaccan Bulk Water Project was introduced to them in 2007, they were informed that water districts in the province are likely to be charged with P16 per cubic meter of water.

“That’s too high because we were only charging P12.50 per cubic meter, and if the project was implemented then, our water rates could have climbed to P30 per cubic meter including production cost,” he said.

Earlier, Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado said they are still negotiating with a number of proponents for the Bulacan Bulk water project.

He said that their main contention ion wagter rate saying they want water rate in the province to be lower compared to Metro Manila.

This is due to the fact that the province was granted water right from the Angat Dam in the early 90s for hosting that dam since the early 60s.