AS it celebrates 50 years of history, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has started the ball rolling with the launch of two commemorative stamps and the first comic book based on the agency’s mascot, Tron.

The agency is also lining up several related activities that are part of the upcoming National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) on July 7.

Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) executive director Jaime Montoya unveiled the commemorative stamp of the DOST as well as the sub-agency Philippine Nuclear Research Institute.

He also unveiled the coffee table book, which contains photos of past administrators and projects of the DOST. The book is called “SinAg,” from the Filipino words “sining” (arts) and “agham” (science).

Montoya also presented the first copy of the Tron comics, an eight-page paperback that introduces Tron. The book is aimed at promoting science education to children and encouraging more students to take up science and engineering courses.

The Tron comic book is set to be distributed through bookstores nationwide, with plans to have it localized in certain provinces.

The DOST will also honor the 50 most influential people in the field of science, which includes Silliman University Research professor Angel Alcala, radio commentator Angelo Palmones, Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Queena Lee-Chua, Mapua Institute of Technology president Reynaldo Vea, former Science Secretary William Padolina, and former University of the Philippines president Emil Javier, among others.

THE DEPARTMENT of Science and Technology is set to receive a total of $83, 859 or P3.6 million, with an optional contingency fund of another $5,000 to organize the first Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Youth Science Summit.

The amount will come from the ASEAN Foundation (AF), a funding agency focusing on social development, science and technology, environment and culture and information technology.

The ASEAN Youth Science Summit will be part of the upcoming 8th ASEAN Science and Technology Week, which also coincides with the National Science and Technology Week from July 1 to 11.

Under the agreement, the DOST will be responsible for implementing the project in accordance with the project proposal and budget approved by the AF. The initial fund disbursement will be $67,087, with the second ASEAN Youth Science Summit project by AF.

Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro said the fund would bear the cost of flying in participants and delegates from other countries to the Philippines during the Science Summit.

She noted that the aim of the ASEAN Youth Science Summit is to strengthen collaboration between students and faculty from schools in other countries and to promote science and technology education.

Newly installed AF executive director Filemon Uriarte Jr. said he hopes to increase the AF’s reach and to encourage more projects for funding to come from the Philippines.

“We have to strengthen collaboration among the different sectors, from scientists, engineers, researchers, teachers, students and even the media so that we could share our capabilities,” he said.

Uriarte also unveiled an education PC game called ASEAN Quest.

FOR some people, the prospect of visiting an active mine isn’t that thrilling, especially at the thought of getting stuck in a dark and damp underground shaft. However, it isn’t as boring as it seems. In fact, an active mine is as busy as any industry on the surface. Incidentally, it’s not as dangerous.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) brought a few reporters to Philex Mines in Tuba, Benguet, one of the country’s busiest active mines. This is one of the few times that outsiders were allowed to go to Philex Mines, situated about an hour and a half away from Baguio City. Only government officials and some geology-related engineering students and experts are allowed into the mine. It should be because the mine produces billions of pesos in copper, as well as silver and gold.

History

Philex Mines was incorporated in 1956 and mining operations started in 1958. It was the first cave operation in the Far East. From the start, the owners of Philex Mines hired locals for the mining operations. During the early years, the area of Tuba was sparsely populated, so the investors looked for laborers from the outer regions. As depicted in Hollywood films, miners used traditional pick axes and trolley trains to transport ore deposits from inside the mountain to the surface where the precious metals are extracted. The ores are actually blasted from solid rock deep within the mountain using dynamite.

As of 2006, the mine has produced 858 million kilograms of copper, 153 million grams of gold and 169 million of silver. This makes Philex Mines one of the most productive and profitable mines in the Philippines.

Growing community

The trip from Baguio City to Philex Mines is long but not totally unpleasant. The only road leaving Baguio City to Philex Mines is already fully paved. Because very few vehicles pass through this road, the air remains fresh and crisp. Only the presence of large four-wheel-drive buses and trucks signal that modernization has already come to this mountain. For the first hour of the trip to the mines, very few houses could be seen beside the road. But just 30 minutes before reaching the mines, several cement buildings, called “bunker houses,” can be seen sprawled along the roads. These serve as living quarters for Philex Mines employees and their families, some of whom are even children of former miners.

Philex hires about 2,500 people with only a few contract workers. And because Philex Mines is remotely enclosed, the employees and their families form a community, complete with the same facilities as others, including sports clubs, schools, cooperative businesses, and even a hostel for visitors.

Into the ground

After a briefing at the mine’s main headquarters, the reporters rode in Toyota 4×4 drive vehicles that took them to just 770 meters above sea level (the top entrance of the mine itself is about 1,400 meters above sea level). The main entrance is a huge gate with two air turbines on top of the doorway that brings fresh air into the mine. For the first two kilometers, the tunnel is dark, lit only by the headlights of the vehicles. That is until we reached the first level of the mine and already it was abuzz with dozens of workers and huge machines. The place is lit by powerful lamps and one could see several tunnels spreading from the center. One of the miners said that the excavation goes as deep as six levels and the total length of the tunnels is about 35 kilometers. He also explained that the cool air is largely because of the location of the tunnels, which are higher than sea-level. If it were below sea level the temperature would have risen from uncomfortable to even boiling point.

Good job

Miners here work in eight-hour shifts. With 2,500 workers, the mines’ operation is continuous, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Not even national holidays could stop operations in the mines, where 25,000 tons of ore are systematically extracted. But while the labor is tedious it is not without its benefits and it’s surprising that miners here earn more than most blue-collar employees aboveground. The basic salary of a miner is more than P400 a day with enviable allowances, including 16th month pay, food allowances, life and accident insurances, free living quarters for their families, and even free use of all sports facilities. Miners who work night shifts will also get a night differential. Incidentally, it seems that time wouldn’t be a problem especially working in a mine where daytime and night time is virtually non-existent.

Of course, danger still lurks in the tunnels, though. Engineer Edgar Prangan, the division manager of Philex Mines, said however that it is mostly caused by failure to comply with safety procedures. Prangan, who is one of the oldest employees of Philex, said accidents are quite rare in the mines and fatalities are even rarer. However, those who do get into serious accidents are well compensated. Some that figure in accidents even go back to work soon after recovering from their injury.

One of the most dangerous areas in the mines is their explosives storage. Explosives are used to dig holes into the bedrock of the mountain so Philex uses powerful dynamite and not just ordinary chemical explosives. Prangan said that even with such powerful explosives, a cave-in is rare as the bed rock is solid, so much so that they sometimes do not even use cement, called shock-crete, or even trusses to secure the walls and ceilings of newly-dug holes to prevent cave-ins.

Heavy equipment

If mining was more pick axe and wheel barrows in the past, today’s mining is heavy machinery. Philex uses a number of equipment to drill, haul and crush ore. Before, miners used a two-man-operated handheld drilling machine to burrow small holes into the ground for placement of explosive devices. Now, the company uses a huge wheeled machine called a rock bolter to quickly drill holes. Instead of requiring hours, the rock bolter can drill a hole within minutes.

One of the odd-looking machines is called a “load-haul-dump,” a flatbed payloader that resembles a crocodile with a gaping mouth. The LHD can carry up to 10 tons of ore to be crushed by a pneumatic hammer, which breaks large chunks of rock into smaller parts. Some of these rocks are brought to a gigantic underground crushing machine, which are then brought up to the surface via a kilometers-long conveyor belt. These rocks are then physically stripped of the copper and gold deposits via “bubbling” wherein bubbles capture the minerals while the dirt (or tailings) sinks to the bottom. Philex extracts about 25 tons of rock from the depths of the mountain and in every ton of ore, about 0.027 percent of copper and another 0.56 grams of gold are extracted. Incidentally, Philex’s main product is copper while gold is just its “waste” material.

At the milling plant about a kilometer from the main tunnel entrance, a conveyor belt churns out grit-like material, which happens to be unrefined copper and silver. A closer look reveals shimmering particles that, according to Prangan, will be shipped to Japan for refining. Every three months, Philex makes four deliveries of about 550 metric tons each to Japan. At the extraction plant, water seeping out of a huge tank was glistening with particles of gold. Prangan said none of the seeping water is wasted and in fact flows into a catch basin where more of the gold and copper are collected.

Environmental concerns

Prangan said one of the issues besetting the country’s mining industry is the alleged environmental damage due to the use of chemicals, particularly mercury, when extracting minerals from ores. Prangan stressed that Philex Mines does not use chemical extraction, instead using mechanical means to extract minerals. While chemical extraction is sometimes employed, he said the level of usage is way below the danger zone. He also stressed that as they bore into the mountains, they fill up used tunnels with cement or rocks to prevent cave-ins, thus protecting the integrity of the mountain.

Prangan said that mining is an important contributor to the country’s economy and the demand for such metals has been increasing in the last few years, largely due to expanded industrialization in China, Korea and Japan. The mining industry also produces jobs for Filipinos especially those close to its base of operations and is also one of the biggest taxpayers.

“Mining is very important. It’s here to stay,” he said.

THE NATIONAL Water Resources Board (NWRB), under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) have started a photo contest that aims to build awareness on saving the country’s water resources, as well as highlight various water sanitation issues.

The agencies are also being assisted by the private sector-led Philippine Water Partnership in promoting the competition.

The “Water is Life” photo contest offers cash prizes of up to P25,000 for the top winner. In a statement, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said the competition aims to stress the importance of water to Filipinos and make them realize that it is also their duty to ensure its availability.

He identified several concerns causing water shortage, including over-extraction of groundwater and the pollution of rivers and lakes, as well as diminishing surface water from watershed and forest destruction.

“Water is indeed a very scarce resource, and as the world experiences rapid population growth and urbanization, the demand for water will also increase causing serious consequences on the environment,” Atienza said.

The contest, which started early this month, is open to all Filipino amateur and professional photographers. Three major prizes will be awarded, ranging from P15,000 for third place, P20,000 for second place, and P25,000 for first place.

Special prize categories include Water for Agriculture, Water for People, and Water for Sanitation, all of which offer P10,000 in prize money.

The deadline for submission of entries is May 15.

The winners will be announced on June 5 in time for World Environment Day.

The DENR will hold a series of photo exhibits of the top three winners, special awardees and all finalists at selected malls in Metro Manila.

The guidelines and entry forms may be downloaded from the NWRB and GTZ-Department of Interior and Local Government Water and Sanitation Program sites.

DAGUPAN CITY–Scientists have found a rare species of mangrove in what they described as a unique environmental setting in Masinloc, Zambales.

“It’s a hybrid mangrove called Rhizophora x lamarckii produced by ‘bakauan lalaki’ (Rhizophora apiculata) and ‘bakauan bato’ (Rhyzophora stylosa),” Severino Salmo, a mangrove researcher, told the Inquirer.

Salmo, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in marine science at the University of Queensland in Australia, said the species was so rare that there was only one tree found on Panay Island in Eastern Visayas.

He and his professor, Dr. Norman Duke, are studying the restoration of mangrove ecology in the Philippines and Australia. Duke is a principal research fellow of the University of Queensland’s Center for Marine Studies.

Salmo said he and Duke found 12 trees of the mangrove species (it has no local name yet) in a five-hectare mangrove-formed island (where no other vegetation except mangroves are found) called Yaha by Masinloc residents.

The island is some 5 kilometers from the mainland. From afar, it seems to be a pure stand of bakauan lalaki and bakauan bato, according to Salmo.

“Doctor Duke, however, noticed one mangrove towering over other trees. At closer look, the leaves are greener. Upon collecting specimens and evaluating its flowers, he confirmed that it was a mangrove hybrid called Rhizophora x lamarckii produced by bakauan lalaki and bakauan bato,” Salmo said.

He said he and Duke found only a single tree of the species on Panay Island. In Masinloc, however, they saw at least 12 trees. The species can be found in other countries, like India, but it is also rare there, Salmo said.

The newly discovered mangrove species has an average diameter of 5.5 centimeters and height of six meters.

“The findings can be considered the first record of such species in Luzon. As hybrids are sterile, they cannot reproduce. The only way to conserve it is to protect the population of its parent plants,” Salmo said.

He said local officials and the community were not aware of the existence of the rare species in their midst.

“We informed Masinloc Mayor Jessu Edora about it and he said the local government would declare the site a marine protected area. He also ordered an immediate patrol in the area,” Salmo said.

The two researchers were looking for study sites to compare natural and planted mangroves when they found in Masinloc a natural mangrove area with environmental characteristics similar to those found in Lingayen Gulf. They found Yaha with the help of local officials and fishermen.

“It was difficult to find natural sites as most, if not all, areas have been severely disturbed or degraded. Natural mangroves in the Philippines are very rare now given the massive cutting and conversion to aquaculture ponds. The Philippines already lost 70 to 80 percent of its natural mangroves,” Salmo said.

Yaha can be considered a special place and is different from other mangroves because it is located in a natural environment where mangroves developed over a long period, the researcher said. While there were some observed cuttings and encroachments, the area can still be considered relatively undisturbed, he said.

“It is being used by locals as a docking place when they go fishing. The surrounding water is a rich fishing ground for small fishermen,” Salmo said.

He said older residents in Masinloc told him that the mangrove-formed island had been there for at least 80 years. It also served as a hiding place for Filipino soldiers during World War II, he said.

The study, which Salmo and Duke are undertaking, aims to understand the environmental impact of mangrove areas converted to other uses. They also want to find out how long planted mangroves would resemble the forest structure of natural mangroves.

Salmo said the study would give conservationists and environmental managers a “realistic idea” of how much mangrove planting projects can achieve over a certain period.

The study is timely, considering the extent of mangrove cutting in the country and the various efforts at rehabilitating mangrove areas through massive planting projects, he said. Its sites for the planted mangroves have been designated in the western part of Lingayen Gulf, covering the towns of Bolinao, Anda and Bani and Alaminos City, where Salmo spent 12 years of research.

THE PHILIPPINE chapter of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is promoting Earth Hour, a one-day worldwide program that will have participating countries turn off their lights for one hour as a means to save energy and cut back the effects of climate change.

Earth Hour will be held on March 29 from 8 to 9 p.m. in each of the participating countries from Europe, North and South America and Asia.

So far, 24 cities across the world have given their intention to join. They will be switching off all lights in certain areas as part of the program.

Earth Hour was initiated in Sydney, Australia in March 2007 and was attended by over two million people, with 21,000 companies also turning off their lights for an hour, reducing their power consumption by 10 percent.

In the Philippines, Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad is the first politician to join the event. He has agreed to turn off all the lights along Roxas Boulevard for one hour on March 29.

In an interview, WWF Philippines communications officer Gregg Yan said they have only recently started promoting the one-hour event though they are already looking for other leaders and celebrities to support the cause.

“The intention of Earth Hour is to encourage more people to save on energy consumption, which is borne out of using fuels that pollute and cause global climate change. If we could save just 5 to 10 percent of energy consumption just for a day, then that’s already a win,” Yan said.

Yan said WWF-Philippines is calling on all private and public institutions to be part of the program on March 29 by shutting off all appliances for just one hour, as well as to encourage others to do the same.

Earth Hour activities are also being monitored through their website, which lists down all participating cities, businesses and individuals.

AN ONGOING project of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) puts Japanese know-how in the creation of “eco-towns” nationwide.
The project, officially called “Green Framework of Innovative Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Productivity” or GFIS, is being undertaken by the Industrial Technology Development Institute (a DoST agency) and Japan’s International Center for Technology Transfer (ICETT).

The program adopts the Japanese concept of an eco-friendly town (hence, eco-town) where technology is applied to local industries, resulting in environmental benefits such as waste reduction or incorporating recycling processes.

Through this program, ICETT’s goal is to help protect the environment by transferring Japan’s environmental conservation systems overseas.
Pilot eco-towns will be established in three regions: Region 5 (Bicol), Region 4A (or the Calabarzon area), and Metro Manila, according to DoST.
The program also intends to create an environmental management system in each of these towns to address the immediate and long-term impacts of local products and services on the environment.

A team from ICETT visited the country in November and met with Camarines Sur government Luis Villafuerte to evaluate project beneficiaries in the province.

Identified as possible GFIS beneficiaries are the Camaligan Fish Port, Calabanga Fish Processing Facility, J. Emmanuel Pastries and the CamSur Water Sports Complex.

An initial evaluation shows that some of these facilities need assistance on pollution prevention, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, product and process development/improvement including packaging.

Governor Villafuerte also recommended a bamboo processing facility for possible technical assistance and improving the propagation of pili trees due to high demand for pili nut products both from local and overseas markets.

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THE PHILIPPINE Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has refurbished its upper air station in Legazpi City that will cover the Bicol region.

The refurbishment is part of PAGASA’s efforts to complement the three other upper air stations in Laoag, Tanay and Cebu.

Upper air stations are responsible for monitoring and forecasting in real time the movement of thunderstorms, rainfall, flashfloods and ash fall in specific regions. These facilities send weather balloons with attached wind speed and temperature measuring equipment.

The Legazpi upper air station was damaged during typhoon “Reming” in 2006. While the station did operate afterwards, some of its equipment could not be fully utilized.

In a press conference, Science Secretary Estrella Alabastro said the cost of rebuilding and upgrading the equipment of the Legazpi station would amount to P18 million, at least P11 million of which will be used just for the weather balloons.

In a day, an upper air station sends out at least two disposable weather balloons, costing between P26,000 to P30,000. The number of daily balloon releases could be as high as three during inclement weather.

Science Undersecretary Graciano Yumul noted that the upper air stations, particularly in the Bicol region, will be complemented by additional seaborne meteorological buoys and wind sheer equipment.

He also noted that PAGASA will be putting up several Doppler radars, which are more accurate than regular radars in monitoring the specific movement of storms affecting the country.

Alabastro said that part of their upgrading plans for PAGASA is adding more weather forecast professionals in the Philippines, deployed in different regions in the country, particularly those that are frequented by storms.