The Weekly Vanguard 13th issue 9th issue | Seite 9

Dec . 12 - 17 , 2016

Elmer V . Recuerdo

TACLOBAN CITY -- Christmas came early for thirty families from the fishing community of Costa Brava , in Tacloban City when they received solar kits to provide basic electricity yesterday , over three years since super typhoon Yolanda leveled their homes and infrastructure .

Costa Brava is one of the few remaining communities in the heart of Tacloban still without on-grid electricity due to the slow pace of reconstruction in areas severely affected by Yolanda . The coastal community is among the worst hit during typhoon Yolanda with hundreds died from storm surge .

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities ( ICSC ), in partnership with the housing rights group Urban Poor Associates , the UKbased charity Christian Aid , and the Costa Brava Homeowners Association , distributed the 30 Niwa solar home systems , which each came with three 300-lumen LED lamps , a nine-inch table fan , a solar panel and a battery .

Nineteen-year-old Elma Ocenar said the lights and fan were much needed especially by her one-year-old daughter Mecaella . The two had to make do with a gas lamp and an old , malfunctioning solar lamp since leaving Labrador , Pangasinan last year to join her fisherman husband in Costa Brava .

“ We found it hard to adjust when we came here

Vanguard

In Yolanda affected areas

Solar power lights up homes

because we weren ’ t used to living without electricity ,” Ocenar said . “ My baby wants me to fan her throughout her sleep , as she was used to sleeping with an electric fan . And she would get so afraid of the dark that she ’ d cry .”

Costa Brava ’ s homeowners ’ association struck a payment deal with the abovementioned civil society groups for the solar kits . They would pay P85 per week over the next two years to pay for the kits ’ total cost of P8,700 , according to ICSC project coordinator Arturo Tahup .

“ Their payments will go to their solidarity fund . Part of the money will be used to run solar street lights , assemble new solar TekPaks , and launch new Solar Scholars trainings ,” he said , referring to trainings for Yolanda survivors to learn how to use the TekPaks , or portable solar suitcases , especially in

Gen . Danny D . Lim , AFP ( ret ) & Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa ( RAM ) & RAM Guardians Incorporated - Alakdan

times of disasters .

Civil society groups are urging the government to incorporate small renewable energy systems in humanitarian and reconstruction work because they are easy to deploy , as well as because they set the path towards the future low-carbon development of affected communities . In the case of Costa Brava , the solar home systems offer remedy to their lack of electricity access .

“ The people of Costa Brava have proven that through their own efforts , they can light up their homes on their own . And this light is fueled not by dirty fuels but by renewable energy ,” he said .

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities is a policy group in the Philippines promoting low-carbon development strategies , sustainable energy solutions and fair climate policy in vulnerable countries .#

Season ’ s Greetings

from

( Reflectors ... from p . 7 )

coco peat ; the coco shell into granulated charcoal and , further , into clean coco gas that can energize the processing plant , or even the communities adjacent to the plant . These are highly marketable products and trends in their individual demand are notably rising , both in the domestic and export markets . And the technologies to turn out these products are all locally available . Details of a re-engineered coconut industry that promises windfalls to farmers and farm workers are discussed in a program called SUNRISE developed by this author and two colleagues . We will discuss SUNRISE in a separate column .

Meanwhile , creating these social enterprises would require public and private investments in integrated coconut processing plants to manufacture the foregoing products . The local government units in principally coconut-producing provinces can invest in said facilities and lease these to farmers ’ organizations wanting to benefit from value-adding , in the process creating local employment opportunities . The banks , though , have to participate in terms of financing . The Philippine Coconut Authority has had a program in this direction but bureaucratic meddling , let alone the lack of technical knowledge among those at the helm of the PCA , stood in the way .

Under a re-engineered industry , farmers can deliver their nuts direct to the social enterprises engaged in processing , by-passing the intermediaries . The latter can buy whole nuts even at a pickup , tree-top pricing scheme , based on the price per nut

( From Vintage ... p . 7 )

Visayans , our nearest contender for the label for some time , have now decidedly called their language as CE- BUANO or SUGBUANON .

The first step to strengthening our self-identity as an ethnic group in Eastern Visayas is to straighten out , preferably through reinstatement , the original cultural labels on our people ( WARAYWARAY ) and on our language ( BINISAYA ), before these were gradually garbled and bastardized with modified jargon since the 1950s .#

( From Voices ... p . 7 )

personal and social quagmire that is AIDS . As it is a cross-cutting issue , the solution must not only be a holistic approach with political will and sufficient funding but also behavioral changes , forgiveness and compassion at individual level . #

9 prevailing in the locality . With this pricing system , farmers save on labor costs associated with harvesting , nut-gathering , nut removal , and copra drying , enabling them to raise their revenues considerably . These are costs the processing plant can well absorb arising from the high value-added that processing generates . Results of feasibility studies made by a local consulting firm for a civil society group with affiliate coconut farmers ’ organizations in Quezon Province reveal that the gross value-added , excluding sales of processed coir fiber and coco peat , comes to an estimated Php31.00 per kilonut , or Php124.00 per four nuts which produce an equivalent one kilogram of copra .

A re-engineered coconut industry would lay down the foundation for rural industrialization , thereby creating enormous employment and income opportunities in the rural areas where over 80 percent of the Philippine poor are located . This may yet effectively address the exodus of rural labor to the urban centers in search of employment opportunities which are hard to come by in the rural areas . Indeed , rural industrialization may yet decongest the urban centers like Metro Manila , in effect easing such urban problems as mounting garbage , traffic jams , squatting and even crimes against persons and properties .

• Finally , let the Philippine Congress pass the Bangsamoro statute into law so that peace can reign in Muslim Mindanao , and pave the way for the unhampered development of its full potentials . Likewise , conclude peace agreements with the CPP-NPA .

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