By Jun Tarroza

Isabel , Leyte - Hazardous discharges coming from a newly-revived Phil . Phosphate Fertilizer Corp . ( PhilPhos ) plant here might have caused the fishkills found floating near the discharge canal or outfall of the plant . This according to Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office ( MENRO ) Enrico P . Sorote in an interview in his office last week .

He said the fishkill happened sometime in September , last year . He doubts that the effluents came from Gypsum pond of that company discharge to the sea . But he was not sure enough of his observation because of the absence of chemical test .

The pond , which occupies 4-5 hectares , appears like a dirty white mountain now that has been accumulated since its operations for over 30 years . This can easily be seen across a private port in Pingag , Brgy . Libertad , this town .

Moreover , the chemicalbased fertilizer firm has refused to be monitored despite the insistence of the multi-tripartite monitoring team that watches the industrial wastes in Leyte Industrial Development Estate ( LIDE ). He said they were just told by a personnel of the company that it has not been operating in “ full blast ” since Typhoon Yolanda .

They were told Phil- Phos is on “ recovery phase ” from its near-bankruptcy .

He said nobody from Philphos told them when it was re-starting its operations back after the typhoon . He said he just observed that it was operating when he saw its chimney emitting smoke last year .

Fishkills may occur due to low concentration of dissolved oxygen in the sea water contaminated with hazardous substances . For PASAR ( Phil . Associated Smelting and Refining Corp .), Sorote explained that it has complete facilities to treat its hazardous effluents discharged to land , sea and air .

He said the toxic chemicals such as arsenic acid , sulfuric dioxide , among others , are environmentally safe and sound . These are in “ tolerable levels ,” meaning they pass DENR ’ s standards . #

Merida , Leyte – The climate change phenomenon may already be affecting fish catch in this coastal town after its marine sanctuary was damaged and fish catch dwindled , said municipal agriculturist Florida Y . Orellano in an interview last week ..

She said the catch of over 900 registered small fisherfolks here differed before and after Typhoon Yolanda , as if the sea in Merida town has not fully recovered its natural status before the typhoon three years ago . There are accordingly 596 registered boat here .

The damaged areas included the 11.04-hectare marine sanctuary in Brgy . Calunangan up to Brgy . Binabaye , which need to be rehabilitated .

The negative impact on the fishing industry has been observed in the wake of donations of fishing gears , motor boats , and financial assistance . She said despite these

interventions , fish catch has diminished both in quality and quantity .

Now this supply gap in the local market has been filled up by fish traders from Albuera and Isabel towns . Also illegal fishing , such as dynamite fishing , has been eliminated . Fine mesh nets , used seasonally , were employed only to catch small fishes , like bolinao . Like other municipal waters , fine mesh nets here are regulated .

Moreover , the town has no big commercial fishing boats , which could have depleted fish catch for the small fisherfolk , Orellano said . Merida is a coastal town with a population of 29,863 people , according to the 2015 census .

Though there were shortages of marine products , its agricultural produce such as rice , corn , rootcrops , hogs , among others , are sufficient to supply for the population , she said .( By Jun Tarroza )

( Vintage ... from p . 7 )

ed the spiritual inspiration for the Dios-dios movement , which threatened the Spanish colonial regime in Samar in the 1880s , and the Pulahan movement in Leyte and Samar from 1902 to 1911 , which greatly threatened the early American colonial rule of our region . These related social movements were attempts to establish a native Utopia , a way of life of a communal and egalitarian nature , during times of crisis and uncertainty . Unfortunately , these movements displeased our colonizers and were brutally suppressed , the first by the Spaniards , the second by the Americans . But they would not disappear .

In our time , under a different set of crisis and uncertainty , aspects of Padre Gaspar ’ s legacy continue to exist in one form or another among some religious cults in Biliran , Leyte and Samar , other islands of the Visayas , and parts of Mindanao . Like

it or not , their search for that elusive native Utopia is also shared even by the less religious among us .

The ceremony today , held on the 296th founding anniversary of Biliran pueblo , which was created on September 10 , 1712 , should assure us that Biliran has started to assume a historical personality . We are no longer in the backwater of our national historical experience . On the contrary , we just proved that we are one of its significant facets . Indeed , our small province could be situated in the context of national history , if we only care enough to attempt to situate the developments in this place that we call home in the light of similar situations in the rest of the Visayas and the rest of the country .

So far , we have made a great start . I only hope we can keep some focus , attention and support towards encouraging local historical awareness in the years ahead .#

( Reflectors ... from p . 7 )

( Samar ... from p . 7 )

plain their plans and budgets to the public . This suggests some level of inclusiveness of political institutions .

Why is Samar island poorer than the island of

technological breakthroughs that have raised agricultural yields , the small farmers have remained impoverished in general while the traders reap the windfalls in most cases .

Now , to go back to the issue of Leyte reportedly able to reduce poverty incidence to 23 percent by end of 2015 from 31 percent in 2012 . Can this be real ?

Granting that the agriculture sector of the province received tremendous support from government and various international organizations , did this result in reducing poverty in just 3 years ? Indeed , with Yolanda and the immense devastations it left in its wake , the sector had barely two years to rise from the ashes , so to speak . Personally , I would expect the provincial poverty incidence to have risen and that is not surprising . But to drop ? That is mind-boggling , even if the national poverty trend is decreasing .

I don ’ t take issue with Ordoñez or Gov . Petilla for bringing this “ glowing ” performance

out in the open . After all , the figure came from the Philippine Statistics Authority , not from their own reckoning . But even the most scientific system of gathering data has its limitations and flaws . I wonder how Leyte ’ s poverty figure of 23 percent would compare with estimate from the Social Weather Stations ( SWS ) which collects perceptions on poverty periodically . Unfortunately , SWS does not provide provincial level estimates of self-rated poverty .

Our point here is that accurate information on poverty is always imperative .

Leyte ? It ’ s because elite capture of political institutions in Leyte doesn ’ t stop citizens from engaging these institutions in different ways . It doesn ’ t look the same in the case of Samar island .#

Otherwise , poverty reduction planners are bound to craft poverty reduction interventions and geographic and sectoral poverty targets that do not respond to realities .

The PSA said that , in 2015 , a family of five needed at least an average PhP 6,329 every month to meet the family ’ s basic food needs and at least PhP 9,064 to meet both basic food and nonfood needs . These amounts represent the monthly food threshold and monthly poverty threshold , respectively . With these figures , there is a way of validating the PSA finding , by social sector and by specific geographic area . #

“ There are people in the world so hungry , that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread .” ― Mahatma Gandhi