The Point News

Citizens can now report environmental issues and concerns through a mobile application called ‘MASDAN’. MASDAN is a platform for citizen science to map and monitor the water quality of Manila Bay and other similar areas in the country. In 2020, the University of the Philippines- Training Center for Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) launched a two-year program in response to the need for technological interventions concerning the rehabilitation and sustainability of the Manila Bay area dubbed, “IM4ManilaBay”. MASDAN mobile app is one of the outputs of the Development of an Integrated Mapping, Monitoring, and Analytical Network System for Manila Bay and Linked Environments project or MApABLE, one of the four projects of the IM4ManilaBay Program. What is Citizen Science “Everything is mappable. We want to enable mapping and monitoring of the environment using geo-spatial technology such as remote sensing, surveying, graphic report syste...

Manila - The annual celebration of the International Day of Yoga (IDY) was held at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City today. The event was attended by over 200 participants who practiced yoga as drawn from the Common Yoga Protocol under the guidance of the leading Yoga gurus and experts in the Philippines.  The 9th  IDY celebration was held with the theme, “Yoga for Vasudhaiva   Kutumbakam” which means “Yoga for the world is one family.” The event recommenced last year after a two-year gap due to the pandemic.  The event compered by renowned Radio-host RJ Ledesma started with a devotional hymn (Ganesh Stuti) performed by an Indian expatsinger Ms. Sharada Malladi. The yoga practice commenced with the Suryanamaskar (sun salutation), led by Ms. Janice Cuevas, a certified Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher. This was followed by the practice of key Yoga asanas led by Ms. Donna Lampano, a certified Yoga Guru. Thereafter, Ms Clara Day Herrera, a cer...

The Metro Manila Health Research and Development Council (MMHRDC), in collaboration with the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) and the Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI), will be holding a virtual forum to be held on 17 May 2022 with the theme, “Pagkain, Nutrisyon, Kalusugan at Kaligtasan: Pagharap sa Hamon ng Makabagong Panahon.” There will be a series of talks during the forum, which will highlight health, nutrition and food safety. Speakers from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) and ITDI will discuss about health and nutrition during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, proper food handling, nutraceuticals and functional ingredients, food packaging contaminants, and food preservatives. The forum is open to members of the MMHRDC consortia, DOST community, and public. It aims to spread awareness on the interventions being done by the scientific community to address the public’s needs in terms of he...

Call for Climate Justice! Manila/Amsterdam, 7 Sep 2021 — Filipino environmental activists joined the call of civil society groups around the world for an inclusive climate summit amid the worsening COVID pandemic. The activists joined over 1,500 civil society groups from 130 countries, members of Climate Action Network (CAN), to call for a postponement of the substantive negotiations of the COP26[1] due to the COP presidency and the UK government’s failure to ensure a safe, equitable, and inclusive summit.[2] Expressing concern that COP26 must be a platform where highly vulnerable communities and sectors are heard, Kyle Aboy, Filipino youth climate activist, supports the call to postpone COP26. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released this year clearly demonstrates that climate change is a threat that needs transnational collaboration among countries. The Philippines, belonging to countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, must have inclusi...

New UN Report also finds that domestic wild meat use significantly increases risk of zoonotic disease   Bonn, 15 September 2021- The taking of animals for wild meat consumption within national borders is having significant impacts on most terrestrial species protected under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), according to a new report released today. The report is the first of its kind and covered 105 CMS species.   Among its findings, the report found that wild meat is often a key use and a major driver for legal and illegal hunting, particularly of ungulates and primates, and especially during times of conflict or famine and in the course of land-use change. This has led to drastic declines and extinctions of several migratory terrestrial mammal populations. 70% of hunted CMS terrestrial mammal species are used for wild meat consumption.  67 of the 105 species studied were recorded as hunted. Of these 67 species, th...

Speakers and panelists during the Let's Go Bakuna Town Hall entitled 'Public-Private Discussion on Safe ways to Open the Economy in the Age of Community Quarantines’ Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, together with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos, led a discussion with various government officials and members of the business community in a town hall entitled, ’Public-Private Discussion on Safe ways to Open the Economy in the Age of Community Quarantines.’ The discussion was attended by implementers of the COVID-19 response program of the government and Metro Manila mayors, with over 1,000 business owners and also viewed by more than 100,000 audiences across different online platforms. During the discussion, Concepcion expressed his support to the expected implementation of granular lockdowns across select LGUs in Metro Manila which were identified as high-risk areas. "The shi...

SMILES and feeling of satisfaction and contentment were etched on the faces of former informal settlers (IS), who were brought to the new relocation site in Yulo estates in Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna. They used to occupy Sitios Banias and Matang-Tubig, also in Calamba, owned by the San Cristobal Realty and Development Corp. (SCRDC) of the Yulo family. Some 50 households were already relocated to Sitio Tibagan, where they happily related the “positive change” in their life, following their transfer to the area, which according to them “is more developed and urbanized.” The place though, is still in the process of development. Fifty more IS are expected to be brought to Sitio Tibagan from the former disputed land, which some of them refused to leave, claiming that portions of the more than 700 hectare landholding belonged to their forefathers, which they later allegedly inherited. Such claim however, “was baseless,” according to SCRDC spokesperson, Bam Masongsong. He has all ...