Editorial Staff

Local News
Quarrying,
ruins the
environment

Air pollution is
a big
destruction

Mining Takes it
All!

Mayrel C. Aquino Eddielyn M. Bonifacio
Ragine Debbs I. Oyco Camille S. Robaton
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2018 BEED 4B
National News
Quarrying, ruins the environment
By: Camille Robaton
Mary Rose S. Gomia Brgy. Iglau-an Murcia, Negros Occidental - known for
Mining Threaten
Protected Wildlife
quarrying since 1995.Hectares of agricultural land were
in Davao Oriental converted into quarries. The said place is one of the primary
sources of rock, sand and gravel for construction purposes.
DENR to ACT vs.
Destructive Mining According to the residents of the barangay, quarrying
disturbs people especially from the noise of heavy machineries,
DENR Hit Air dust are everywhere, and they can really feel the trembling of
Pollution Monitors
the ground as the heavy equipment operates every day, but they
have no choice , they are used to it, since they also earn their
International living through quarrying.
News
Quarries change the environment. It displaces huge
Oxygen Depletion amounts of soil and plants, and force animals out of the area; it
Threatens Life in abruptly interrupts the continuity of open space, ruining habitats
Oceans for flora and fauna. It creates noise pollution because of blast
Recycling of Scrap
and heavy machinery and it also create air pollution, notably
Car Parts Yields dust.
Big Savings.
Quarrying can really affect the people living there, it may
Comprehensive give us better life but we must consider its effects on the
Study on Atlantic
environment, organisms and the health of the people living
Mammals
around the area. Thus, it is appropriate that certain laws and
standards must be implemented to minimize the impact.
 Air Pollution is a Big Destruction
By: Eddielyn M. Bonifacio

The Victorias Milling Company, Inc. as it is today, is the result

of the integration of two sugar centrals - North Negros Sugar
Company, Inc. established in 1917 in Manapla, Negros Occidental,
Philippines, and the Victorias Milling Company, Inc. established in
1919 in Victorias, Negros Occidental.

Both corporations were organized by the late Miguel J. Ossorio.

The extensive destruction of the Manapla and Victorias sugar centrals
during the war in 1941-45 made it necessary to integrate the two
centrals and their two cane sugar producing districts. All canes
produced in the combined districts are now processed at the Victorias
mill site. The present operation in Victorias has grown to a size that
dwarfs its early beginnings.

VMC is considered the leader in Philippine sugar industry not

only on its size but also because of its pioneering work in research and
scientific management. As the company gets bigger, the problem it
caused gets worsen, VMC Pollution is a perennial problem and in spite
of R.A. 8749(The Philippine Clean Air Act), which is supposed to be
enacted year 1999, pollution still exist. The Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is so hesitant in
implementing the said law. But on the other hand closing down the
company would entail to a drop of supply of sugar in the country thus
leading to a possible increase in price of sugar. Executive Branch of
the government does not want price increases that are why DENR is so
hesitant in implementing the said law.
 Did you know that 27,000 trees are cut down
each day so we can have toilet paper?
Mining Takes it All!
By: Camille Robaton

Barangay San Jose in Sipalay City in Negros Occidental

has been dubbed as a mining town because it hosts one of the
biggest mining operations, mainly copper, in the country since
the 1950s.Environment Secretary Regina Paz “Gina” Lopez has Did you know a glass bottle made in our time
expressed dismay over the horrid effects of mining to the
communities. Hectares of productive farmlands were lost; bodies
will take more than 4,000 years to decompose?
of water are being contaminated due to chemicals used in mining
operations which resulted in several cases of fish kill.
Communities blame mining operations for the changes in the
bodies of water in their town.
Aside from water and soil pollution, air pollution is also a
major concern for mining- affected communities, which may have Did you know only about 3% of total earth water
been aggravated by dust from the mining’s waste dump.
is drinkable; the other 97% water is saltwater.
Mining operation takes it all even the agricultural lands,
even the habitat of living organisms in land and in water, even
the organisms itself living in a particular area. There is a need for
the government to function as a genuine regulatory body for
mining operations to protect the environment and to ensure
proper compensation for damages. The prohibition of mining
operations in critical areas such as small island ecosystem,
Paper can be recycled only six times. After that,
coastal, primary forests and watersheds should also be ensured. the fibers are too weak to hold together.
Likewise, rules that govern the proper disposition of mine waste
and its implementation should be included.

Mining Threaten Protected Wildlife in Davao
Oriental
By: Ragine Debbs Oyco
The two protected wildlife and marine areas in Baranggay
Macambol, mat-I City, Davao Oriental the Mt. Hamiguitan a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and Pujada Bay are threaten by the Nickel Project of
Asiaticus Management Corp’s ( Amcor Mining Corp) the mining firm
behind the Pujada bay.
The Mt. Hamiguitan is the only mountain range heritage site in the
country and it is the province most mountain boasts of a unique pygmy
forest of century old trees in ultramafic soil considered by many as one of
the very few all over the world ond hosts a rich biodiversity of
endangered, endemic and the species of flora and fauna.
Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang said that he wants
to permanently suspend the operations of Amcor Mining Corp. and they
already files a complaint against the firm to former environment secretary
Gina Lopez and he wanted to permanently suspend the permit operations
not just the ECC ( Environmental Compliance Certificate). The DENR
secretary Gina Lopez has found that the mining operation has caused
negative effect and putting at risk the biodiversity area including the trees
and birds, she said that they suspended the operation of the company. At
the present the firm is still in the site but operations were temporarily
stopped and some of the equipment of the NPA (New People’s Army).
The Cryptunanoschacoensis a
marsupial species whose data
is represented in this study.
Comprehensive Study on Atlantic
Mammals
By: Mary Rose Gomia
A project aims to highlight regional biodiversity and encourage
conservation efforts. The Atlantic Forest, the second most biodiversity
forest system in South America (after the Amazon), once covered roughly
463,000 square miles of habitat. On this time, only 8-12 percent of this
original habitat space remains.
Ninety – six co- authors compiled trait information on 39, 850
individuals from 279 different mammal species and 388 separate
populations into a single, comprehensive study on Atlantic Forest
mammals to advance zoological research and to emphasize the urgency
of protecting this area’s biodiversity. Deforestation poses a substantial
threat to the regions native plant and animal species, and for mammals
in particular, habitat loss is the main driver of extinction. This, of course
is a troubling reality for scientists studying the Atlantic Forest mammals.
Worries that species are disappearing at faster rates than they
can be studied, 96 of these scientists took collective action and wrote a
paper published in Ecology cataloguing traits. “Ninety-six authors
accepted the challenge to go back to their field notes and send as much
information on mammal traits as they could,” and to them, we’ll be able
to provide raw data for ecological and revolutionary studies for
researchers all over the world, Fernando Goncalves said. And de La
Sancha said “this paper highlights the importance of this forest system,
and that could potentially get locals pumped about conserving it.
 DENR to ACT vs. Destructive Mining
By: Mary Rose Gomia
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has assured the public
that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources under
his watch is still “one with the President in his firm desire to rid
the country of abusive and irresponsible miners that are
concerned only with profits and care nothing for the environment
and our countrymen.
” This, after President Duterte dedicated on Monday, a large
chunk of his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) to
chastise and issue warnings against environmentally destructive
mining operations. To date, none of Lopez’ orders have actually
been implemented pending appeals filed mostly in the Office of the
President. Neither has Cimatu acted on appeals filed in the
DENR.But Cimatu has assured the public DENR will be strict in
its enforcement of mining and environmental regulations.
Aside from fines, suspensions, and closures, Cimatu said
that officials of mining firms found violating laws would “suffer the
penalty of imprisonment at the discretion of the court.”“Mining in
the Philippines can only be responsible if the development of the
country’s mineral resources will be on the basis of technical
feasibility, environmental sustainability, cultural and social
acceptability, and financial viability. The absence of one will not
render a mining project as responsible,” Cimatu said.
Recycling of Scrap Car Parts Yields Big Savings.
By: Mayrel Aquino
Sorting scrap car parts could increase recycling
rates of alloy elements in Japan and it has a huge
savings.Japan mandates automobile recycling, scrap car
parts are usually lumped together for iron, according to
the study of the journal Environmental Science &
Technology.
There are alloys elements that can be seen in the
scrap such are manganese, chromium and nickel. Scrap
car parts are being reused and it is best suited for nine
steel alloys. These scraps are melted and converted to raw
materials such as coils, plates and bars.
It is just a raw material but it has huge savings
,steelmakers would save up to 15.2 percent spent on
alloys.The researchers compared the tradeoffs between
reducing costs versus emissions.
They found that a small compromise on price could
yield almost the greatest emission reduction and helping
find the optimal balance between costs and emissions to
make the most of recycling efforts.Improving car scrap
recycling systems will likely require policymakers to
support development of new automatic sorting
technologies and incentivize steelmakers to take sorted
scrap at fair prices.
 DENR Hit Air Pollution Monitors
By: Mary Rose Gomia
Two advocacy groups are calling for an audit of the air quality
monitoring equipment used by the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR), raising questions about their accuracy
and cost-effectiveness. Doubts were raised over the equipment’s
reliability two days after the DENR released air pollution data in
Metro Manila, which it said reached “extremely dangerous” levels
because of the fireworks and firecrackers used during the recent
New Year’s Eve revelry.
“We discovered that most of these expensive air monitor
instruments are currently not properly working and some are even
not functional anymore,” United Filipino Consumers and
Commuters president Rodolfo Javellana said in a statement.
The Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines
(CCAAP) also assailed the decision of the DENR’s Environmental
Management Bureau (EMB) to use the long-path Differential Optical
Absorption Spectroscopy (Doas) system, rather than a point
monitoring system, saying the former was “grossly disadvantageous
to the government.”Long-path devices measure air pollutants along
a path. Under the Doas system, the pollutants and their
concentration are measured based on their ability to absorb light.
Caancan said the department would conduct an inventory
this month to determine the status of the air monitoring stations
and equipment nationwide.Jean Rosete also the Doas system was
an “equivalent” method for “prescribed” systems of air quality
monitoring.
Oxygen Depletion Threatens Life in Oceans
By: Ragine Debbs Oyco
Imagine if every living species were suffocating and unable to
breathe because the oxygen levels had suddenly dropped, the
scenario is now happening out in the world’s oceans, according to
research effort published on January 5 – this is the first truly global
snapshot of depleted oxygen zone in oceans.
These areas now cover more than 12 million square miles of
ocean and extended as much as 200 meters below sea level- an area
that is larger than North America or Africa. The depletion of oxygen
is due to climate change and industrial pollution, where some of the
factories are putting their chemical waste in some river without
thinking the effect to our environment. The low oxygen problem is
the biggest unknown climate change consequence out there. The
ocean’s “web of life” is certainly being harmed, but so will species on
land as well at same point in the not-so-distant future but while
humans certainly notice when smog or air pollution creates
suffocating conditions in major cities like Los Angeles or Bejing.The
ocean oxygen – depletion show the implications of an ocean system
on Earth that is rapidly losing its ability to provide basic life –
sustaining elements for every species living in the seas.
The most important thing is that we human are the reason
why this is happening and for that, we are responsible to take
action to minimize this kind of situation, we must find a solution
because the depletion of oxygen is literally a matter of life and
death.