• Palace recognizes PNP’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs
• Government agencies closely monitoring two active volcanoes, says Palace official
• CCC says renewable energy has huge potential for Phl businesses

A recent Philippine National Police (PNP) report showed that 68 drug suspects were killed this year, including 39 from January 1 to May 9.

The PNP said 29 drug suspects were killed from May 9 to June 15, indicating an increase of about 200 percent in the number of dead drug suspects after election day.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the increase in number of fatalities is part of the PNP’s intensified anti-illegal drugs campaign.

“Ang pagkaunawa ko diyan ay nag-ulat sila hinggil sa statistika ng kanilang anti-drug operation sa buong taon at tila ang kanilang ipinupunto diyan ay nagkaroon ng halos pantay na bilang ng mga nasabat o napaslang nitong period after the May elections kumpara doon sa unang limang buwan ng taong 2016,” said Coloma in an interview over Radyo ng Bayan.

“At ayon din sa natunghayan kong pahayag, sila na mismo ang nagsabi, na ito ay bahagi ng kanilang pinaigting na kampanya. Yaman din lamang at tungkulin ito ng ating Pambansang Pulisya ay dapat kilalanin natin ang kanilang pagsisikap na magampanan ang kanilang tungkulin sa pinakamahusay na paraan at ito ay ginagawa nila bilang pagpapatupad sa ating mga batas,” said Coloma.

The PNP also reported that 17,680 individuals were arrested from January to June 15. Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Quezon) has the most number of arrested individuals with 4,874 followed by Metro Manila with 3,760 and Central Luzon with 3,004. PND (jm)

Mount Kanlaon in the Negros Island Region remains in a state of unrest after its eruption last Saturday while Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon Province erupted last June 10.

“Patuloy ang pagtutok ng ating PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) na siyang siyentipikong organisasyon na nagmo-monitor ng ganyang mga kaganapan at iyon namang NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council) ay patuloy pa ring tumututok rin at nagpapalabas ng mga napapanahong alert status hinggil sa activities ng Mount Bulusan at Mount Kanlaon na itinuturing nilang active volcanoes sa kasalukuyan,” said Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. in an interview over Radyo ng Bayan.

“Iyon namang kanilang mga field operatives ay kanilang pinapakilos din para tiyakin na ligtas ang ating mga kababayan. Meron kasing mga ino-obserbahang permanent exclusion zone within a certain perimeter nitong mga nasabing bundok,” the Palace official added.

After its phreatic eruption last Saturday morning, moderate steaming of plumes was seen from the summit of Mount Kanlaon, whose crater was covered with clouds, according Phivolcs.

Based on the latest Phivolcs bulletin issued at 1pm on Sunday, Mount Bulusan “generated a steam-driven explosion that lasted for approximately seven minutes based on the seismic record and produced approximately 300 meter-high dirty white ash plume that drifted towards the northwest”.

“Alert Level 1 (abnormal) remains in effect over Bulusan Volcano. This indicates that hydrothermal processes are underway beneath the volcano that may lead to more steam-driven eruptions. The local government units and the public are reminded that entry to the 4-kilometer radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) is strictly prohibited due to the possibility of sudden and hazardous steam-driven or phreatic eruptions,” the Phivolcs bulletin said.

“Civil aviation authorities must also advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ash from any sudden phreatic eruption can be hazardous to aircraft. Furthermore, people living within valleys and along river/stream channels especially on the southwest and northwest sector of the edifice should be vigilant against sediment-laden stream flows and lahars in the event of heavy and prolonged rainfall,” the bulletin further stated. PND (jm)

According to Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman of the Climate Change Commission (CCC), the country has “nothing to lose but all to gain” if it is able to shift investors away from coal to RE sources, particularly solar, wind and geothermal energy.

“It is Renewable Energy (RE), not coal, which constitutes the biggest investment opportunity ever for the Philippines,” De Guzman said.

Given the range and potential magnitude of negative externalities associated with fossil fuel, De Guzman said that scaling up RE is the best and only alternative for the country to meet its energy demands and proposed contribution to international efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), there are presently 20 coal-fired power plants operating across the country and 12 more are in the pipeline, which are expected to be operational by 2016 to 2020. These plants are expected to produce 4,592 megawatts, or about 42 percent of the country’s demand.

In contrast, the Philippines’ abundant natural supply of energy sources offers a huge potential to meet the power requirements in the country.

Renewable Energy (RE) has the technological potential to contribute more than 40 percent of the country’s installed power capacity by 2020 from geothermal (8.7 percent), hydro (15.7 percent), wind and solar (14.8 percent), and biomass (3.8 percent), based on the updated National Renewable Energy Program.

De Guzman said that “investing in RE is practically the same as investing for a less carbon-intensive future.”

“It is high time for the government to account for the balance of payment benefits when we decide to wean off coal and rely more on renewables,” De Guzman said.

“Opportunities await the bold. We can also do no less than shield our struggling people from further harm,” he added.

Coal-fired power plants are the biggest sources of man-made carbon emissions, accounting for about 35 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Among the externalities that arise from the burning of coal for power generation are reduction in life expectancy, respiratory hospital admissions, congestive heart failure, and ecosystem loss and degradation.

In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 3.7 million premature deaths from ambient air pollution and 4.3 million deaths from household air pollution.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), an international organization that supports nations in their transition to a sustainable energy future, the external effects of energy supply and use related to climate change and air pollution hover around US$2.2 trillion to US$5.9 trillion a year. In comparison, the cost of global energy supply is about US$ 5 trillion per year.

De Guzman said this only shows that the negative externalities of coal-fired electricity generation are even higher than the actual price of electricity itself.

“Coal companies have a responsibility to internalize accounting of negative externalities. Government actually must make sure coal companies internalize externality costs, because these are implicit subsidies our people cannot afford and should not pay for,” De Guzman pointed out.

Besides health costs, De Guzman said air pollution directly impacts on the productivity of the labor force in terms of total man-hours with time lost at home, health facilities or attending for the care of others.

“We should actually bring in the Department of Health and the Department of Labor and Employment, and ask each to assess the country’s share of the 4 million coal and diesel deaths that the WHO has estimated each year in Asia, plus the labor productivity losses of keeping to 1.5C,” De Guzman said.

Just recently, President Benigno Aquino III signed a CCC resolution allowing the commission to conduct a comprehensive review of the government’s energy policy to pave the way for a swift transition to renewable and sustainable energy.

Under the resolution, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) are urged to harmonize policies and regulations on new and existing coal-fired power plants and assess their impacts on the environment, as well as include low-carbon development and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in the formulation of all national and local development plans.

De Guzman said the CCC resolution is an affirmation of the government’s resolve to mainstream low-carbon development pathway in accordance with the country’s commitment under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its intended nationally determined contribution (INDC).

In October 2015, the Philippines submitted during the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC its INDC in which the country pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 70 percent by 2030, subject to support provided by developed countries.

The reductions will come from the energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry sectors. PND (ka)