Our Children Deserve Better Than Harmful and Dirty Softdrinks

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Congratulations to my son. He just finished Grade 10 which is 4th year high school if not for the K-to-12 program. I will always want the best for him and that includes giving him only what is good for both mind, body and soul. As a parent, I will keep him away from what I believe can be harmful for him.

With so many scientific breakthroughs and discoveries in many fields, it is a wonder why there still exists the destructive products around us which include artificial or processed food products like softdrinks. We all know what's healthy for us, yet we often turn to the cheaper products that would only put us into more danger, and subject us to more expensive hospital and medical expenses because of the degradation in health, leading to sickness, that it will eventually cause.

I have been advocating against these softdrink products since we all know they are health hazards regardless of the quantity consumed. There is noting beneficial about the products and they have been proven so many times, for so many years, that they could not assure the cleanliness of their softdrinks especially the bottled ones. If large foreign objects like candy wrappers can penetrate their system, what more of the minute particles that go undetected by the naked eye.

We should be panicking since this problem has been around for years, yet these big corporations are just paying off the complainants with bribes, and giving generous gifts to influential people, just so they can keep running their business. Why has the issues keep dying down? That would be one of the biggest enigmatic questions.

What is the government, specifically the FDA, DOH and DTI doing with all these complaints? Why are these softdrinks in our school canteens which makes them a threatening alternative to the better fruit juices? It's alright if we spend a little ore as long as we are assured our children will not become sick. 

Two Task Forces to Ensure Power for May Elections

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Energy (DOE) together with Task Force Member Agencies is in full force to ensure reliable, stable, and secure during the critical summer period and May local and national elections.

“We have two operational task forces –the Power Task Force Election and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities–in which various national agencies and power stakeholders are conducting preparatory works, maintenance, and monitoring among other tasks just to provide power supply come election period,” said Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada. This follows as the government recognizes that the provision of electricity is crucial in striving for clean and unquestionable elections, especially that it is automated.

Upon the deputization of Commission on Elections on the DOE, National Electrification Administration, National Power Corporation, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the local electric cooperatives, the Power Task Force Election was created for the delivery of adequate, stable and reliable power supply before, during and after the national and local elections on May 9, 2016 by ensuring availability and operation of power plants and electricity market, carrying out strategic preventive maintenance of all power facilities, and providing enough technical manpower for emergency response and security of vital power infrastructures, among others.

Likewise, it has to be recalled that President Benigno S. Aquino III has created in February the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities (IATFSEF) to address the bombing incidents involving the transmission facilities that apparently escalated late last year, and the right-of-way issues faced by NGCP.

Strong Support for Philippine Renewable Energy Industry

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In pursuit of its mandate of providing a comprehensive energy plan, the Department of Energy (DOE) strongly supports the increased use of renewable energy (RE) in the country under a level playing field and transparent implementation of incentives, such as the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) Program, which are key indicators for this.

Under the FIT System, qualified developers of emerging RE sources are offered on a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of their exported electricity to the distribution or transmission network. This scheme excludes the energy utilized from RE plants eligible for own use.

Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada said that “the government prioritizes energy security, and RE is one of the major contributors to increase the power supply especially that we are also moving towards clean energy technology.”

The DOE highlights that FIT subscriptions for RE resources has significantly increased to 806.82 MW from 646.65 MW installations since the start of 2016. The following are the FIT subscriptions to date: biomass has 11 power plants with a total capacity of 94.25 MW; hydro has four (4) accounting for 26.60 MW; wind has six (6) accounting for 393.90 MW.