Cagayan de Oro.. part two

Economy

Cagayan de Oro is the base to both local and multi-national companies such as Del Monte Philippines, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola, and others. The city's economy is largely based on industry, trade, service and tourism. Link2Support and Arriba are among the few call centers that have recently opened their doors to the city. Cagayan de Oro is a young city compared to other highly urbanized cities in the Philippines. The city's annual income has reached a local record of 1.345 Billion Pesos as of the fiscal year, 2006. With the ongoing construction of the Laguindingan International Airport, business analysts predict the entry of more foreign and local investments and an increase in tourism activity in the region will make Cagayan de Oro as one of the chief cities in the southern part of the Philippines.

Infrastructure Education

Cagayan de Oro has 3 major universities namely: Capitol University, Liceo de Cagayan University, and Xavier University, and one state college Mindanao Polytechnic State College. These institutions specialize in various disciplines such as medicine, nursing, commerce, engineering, law, masteral and doctorate degrees. While AMA Computer University and Philippine Women's University are campus branches offering fewer courses.

See also: List of colleges and universities in the Philippines

Health Care

The city has a hospital bed to population ratio of 1:474 as of 2003. There are 12 major well-equipped private and government-run hospitals including 50 Barangay Health Centers and 20 Family Planning Centers. There are also modern diagnostic centers and laboratories operating in the city.

Northern Mindanao Medical Center (Provincial Hospital) and JR Borja Memorial Medical Hospital (City Hospital) are the two main government run hospitals in the city. The new Capitol University Medical City Hospital is one of the newer developments of the health services in city. In the recent years, private hospitals in the city have embarked on an aggressive expansion program. There has been a strong demand for medical facilities not only within the city but from nearby Mindanao provinces.

Transportation

Lumbia Airport caters to domestic flights to and from Manila and Cebu. From Manila, it is an hour and fifteen minutes away by plane and from Cebu it is forty-five minutes away. There is ongoing construction on the Laguindingan International Airport. When finished, the international airport will serve Northern Mindanao including its major cities; Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

Cagayan de Oro Seaport in 2005 with two quay cranes

The Macabalan seaport serves regular trips to Manila, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Iligan, Jagna and Nasipit/Butuan. It is the busiest seaport in the region.

Cagayan de Oro Seaport is a modern international seaport situated near the estuary of Cagayan de Oro River, it has an anchorage depth of 18 meters and is around 400 meters from the shoreline. Cagayan de Oro Seaport has two authorized cargo handling operators.With the recent completion of the 250 Million Peso Rehabilitation Project, the Cagayan de Oro seaport is now the largest international and domestic seaport in Mindanao.General Milling and Del Monte Philippines also operates their own port facilities within Cagayan de Oro. The US $85 Million Mindanao Container Terminal located in Tagoloan, 17 kilometers from Cagayan de Oro serves the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate.

There are three bus and jeepney terminals in the city which offer regular land trips. The Agora Bus Terminal caters trips to and from Balingoan (port going to Camiguin), Gingoog, Davao, Butuan and Surigao in the Caraga Region, Valencia and Malaybalay in Bukidnon. While the Bulua-Westbound Bus Terminal caters trips to and from Iligan, Ozamiz, and western parts of Mindanao.

Utilities

• There are four major land based phone companies (Philcom, Misortel, Cruztelco and Italtel) serving the city.

• Mobile phone services are provided by Globe-Touch Mobile, Smart-Talk'n'Text-Addict Mobile, Sun Cellular and Extelcom.

• There are several internet companies operating in the city offering dial up, broadband, Wi-Fi and cable services. The Pueblo de Oro IT Park located in Upper Carmen is the first PEZA-registered IT park in Mindanao. The IT Park currently houses one of Cagayan de Oro's call centers.

• Water services is provided by the Cagayan de Oro Water District (COWD), it was the first water district established in the entire country.

• Electricity is provided by the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company (CEPALCO), it covers 64 barangays and caters to more than 80,000 consumers. They are also operating a 1-megawatt photovoltaic-solar power plant in Indahag; it is the biggest solar power plant that is connected to the power grid in South East Asia

Harana..courtship Philippines style

In the Philippines there is something called “HARANA” a little old fahioned now, but you go sit under your sweethearts bedroom window and you seranade her with a good voice and guitar(very romantic), just be sure its your sweethearts room and not that of her brother or even worse her mother (you may just get a bucket of water)
Here is a Visayan song for you too try- he,he,he

“Ushay”
Usahay magadamgo ako
nga ikaw ug ako nagkahigugmaay
nganong damguhon ko ikaw
damguhon sa kununay
sa akong kamingnaw

Usahay magamahay ako
nganong nabuhi paning, kalibutan…
nganong gitiaw-tiawan
ang gugma ko kanimo
kanimo da…

Ng ikaw ug ako nagkahigugmaay
damguhon sa kanunay
sa akong kamingnaw

Ushay magamahay ako
nganong nabuhi pa ning, kalibutan……
nganong gitiaw-tiawan
ang gugma ko kanimo
kanimo da…….

Nganong gitiaw-tiawan
ang gugma ko kanimo
kanimo da………………..

Let me know how your doing!!...

Electric Jeepney finally gets DOTC approval

Manila, PHILIPPINES — The Electric Jeepney or E-Jeepney, a cleaner, safer, renewable alternative to fossil-fuel based public transport, has finally been given the green light to ply the country's public roads. GRIPP (Green Renewable Independent Power Producer) and Greenpeace today welcomed the go-signal from the DOTC (Department of Transportation and Communication) finally classifying the said vehicle and allowing it to operate in major thoroughfares.

The E-Jeepneys were launched last July 4, 2007 in Makati City, as part of a larger initiative called the Climate Friendly Cities Project. The project demonstrates how cities can help mitigate the problem of climate change through implementing measures that would avoid the use of climate change-inducing fossil fuels. Through the project, a fleet of electric-powered jeepneys will derive energy from biodegradable wastes from the city’s wet markets, food establishments and households, thereby helping mitigate climate change even as it addresses urban problems such as air pollution and solid waste, while providing enhanced incomes to the jeepney drivers. The project is sponsored in part by the Dutch Doen Foundation and is currently supported by Makati, Baguio and Puerto Princesa Cities.

The go-signal comes after ten months of waiting and several delays at the DOTC Planning and Transport Division. The guidelines for the E-Jeepneys were signed and issued last April 30, 2008. The guidelines classify the E-Jeepney as "a utility vehicle for private or public use, for non-commercial or commercial purposes or be hired to transport goods and passengers, subject to all applicable rules and regulations governing public transport vehicles."

"GRIPP welcomes this much anticipated set of guidelines for electric vehicles as a major milestone in our implementation of the Climate Friendly Cities Project, especially at a time when skyrocketing diesel and fossil fuel prices have considerably decreased the income of jeepney drivers. The DOTC’s go-signal also means that we can now proceed with scaling up E-Jeepney fleets in various host cities, giving the Philippines the opportunity to leapfrog into climate-friendly sustainable transport," said GRIPP Chairperson Athena Ballesteros.

According to GRIPP, the next steps after the release of the guidelines are: 1) publication of the guidelines in major newspapers; 2) drafting and approval of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR); 3) Land Transportation Office (LTO) registration; and 4) LTFRB for granting of franchises. Project proponents are hopeful that the registration and issuance of plates for the E-Jeepneys will be fast-tracked. LTO Chief Alberto Suansing has committed his full support to GRIPP and will work with the GRIPP and its partners for the speedy registration of the units of the pilot fleet launched last year in Makati City and those about to be ordered by other cities now involved in the project.

Support on a national level, however, is crucial to ensure the successful replication of the project, as well as other renewable energy (RE) initiatives. GRIPP and Greenpeace called on the national government to help reduce tariffs for pioneering RE technologies including those for sustainable public transport, and to provide technical, financial and institutional support for renewable
energy-based power plants such as those that will power the E-Jeepneys.
Both organizations emphasized that the urgent need for concerted
global action to stop climate change means that there should be no delay
for the right policies to be in place.

"While Greenpeace welcomes this new set of guidelines, we lament the fact that it took the DOTC ten months to take action. This reflects the Philippine government's current response to climate change--slow and totally inadequate. Our vulnerability to the impacts of this disaster means we need to implement solutions now. Aside from supporting initiatives such as the Climate Friendly Cities Project, the national government should institute large-scale climate change solutions such as phasing out coal-fired power plants, and the immediate passage of a strong renewable energy legislation," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Climate and Energy Campaigner Jasper Inventor.

Contact information

• Jasper Inventor
• Lea Guerrero, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Media Campaigner, +63 920 950 6877
  Athena Ballesteros, GRIPP Chairperson, +63 917 813 1562, or +63 34 434 9269

GREENPEACE SOUTH EAST ASIA

Ban terminator seeds, say no to anymore coal fired stations, ban all GMO,s,junk JPEPA, STOP CUTTING DOWN OUR FORESTS,

Gagayan de Oro.. City of Golden Friendship

History

The area was first inhabited around 377 AD (the late Neolithic Period), island natives lived in a settlement then known as Himologan (now known as Huluga), eight kilometers from present day Cagayan de Oro. The natives were polytheistic animist and paid tributes to Sultan Muhammad Dipatuan Kudarat, the Sultan of Maguindanao. In 1622, two Spanish Augustinian Recollect missionaries came in contact with the natives of Himologan and in 1626, Fray Agustin de San Pedro persuaded the chief of Himologan, Datu Salangsang, to transfer his settlement down river, to the present day Gaston Park. Fray Agustin later fortified the new settlement against warriors who were sent by Sultan Kudarat.

On February 27, 1872, the Spanish Governor General Carlos Maria de la Torre issued a decree declaring Cagayan the permanent capital of Segundo Distrito de Misamis. During this era, the name of the town was known as Cagayan de Misamis. On January 10, 1899, Cagayan de Misamis joined the Philippine government of Emilio Aguinaldo and celebrated its independence from Spain. It was the second time the Aguinaldo government was declared and the new Philippine flag raised on the Mindanao island. By virtue of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States; this caused friction and resulted in the Philippine-American War. In March 31, 1900, the Americans occupied Cagayan de Misamis and on April 7, 1900, battle erupted in the town center led by General Nicolas Capistrano and Filipino resistance fighters. The Americans won the war, and about forty years later, gave the Philippines its independence July 4, 1946.

Through the efforts of Congressman Emmanuel Pelaez, the town of Cagayan de Misamis became a city on June 15, 1950 and its name changed to Cagayan de Oro. Congressman Pelaez appended "de Oro" to "Cagayan" in recognition of the gold mining activities in the area known to Spanish explorers.

Geography

Cagayan de Oro is located along the central coast of Northern Mindanao. To the south, the city is bordered by the Bukidnon Province and Iligan City. The Municipality of Opol, Misamis Oriental borders the city on the west and Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental to the east. To the north lies Macajalar Bay facing the Bohol Sea. Its total land area is 488.86 km² representing 13.9% of the entire Misamis Oriental Province. It includes 25 kilometers of coastline and a fine deep water harbor, Macajalar Bay. 44.7% of the surface of Cagayan de Oro is classified as agricultural land, and 38.4% is classified as open spaces.

Climate

Cagayan de Oro has a tropical climate. The average temperature whole year round is 28 °C (82 °F). The highest recorded temperature in the city was 36 °C (97 °F) on May 1998. Cagayan de Oro receives an even amount of rain through out the year. The driest month is April, while July is the wettest. Wet season in the city starts in June and ends in November. Drier season starts in December and ends in May. Cagayan de Oro is rarely visited by a typhoon since it is outside the Pacific typhoon belt.
More information tomorrow

Dengue fever.. Part three.. safer alternatives

There are recent effective and affordable alternatives to RIDL in controlling mosquitoes that spread dengue fever and other diseases. Extracts from the paradise tree Melia azedarach showed promising larvicide and oviposition deterrent effects on the mosquito. Essential oil from mullila and zedoary plants also proved effective in treating mosquito larvae. Euphoriaceae extracts, particularly Euphorbia tirucalli can be applied as an ideal larvicide against Aedes aegypti.

A study in Thailand surveyed water-filled containers where Aedes mosquitoe pupae were found. Large water containers held 90 percent of pupae in rural areas and 60 percent in urban areas. Covering and treating such large containers should greatly reduce the mosquito population. Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis VectoBac proved effective in treating water jars to combat dengue mosquitoes in Cambodia. In Cuba, studies on the social and environmental determinants of Aedes aegypti confirmed that the greatest risks were associated with failure to treat stored water, and water in flower vases for religious practices. Efforts to reduce infestation should therefore focus on preventive practices.

These low tech practices may prove much more effective than the expensive high technology solutions, which are also far from safe.

It is said prevention is better than cure,it should therfore be first in our minds to cover all sources of water, and also to treat the containers, and do ourselves a small favour by covering up in the evening,the mosquitos meal time,if we do not want to be on the menu, long sleeved shirts and long trousers will help

The bars of P.Burgos Street..MAKATI

The quintessential Philippines girlie bar is a shopworn simulacrum of 1970 kitsch, with faux velvet seats, strings of fairy lights, spinning disco balls and a stage at one end where bored and listless dancers in bikinis go through their uninspiring routines to some of the most dreadful pop music ever inflicted on mankind.
The waitresses become more and more persistent as the evening wears on, asking time and time again, if you want another drink, whilst you still have half the remaining one not finished, be careful between your drunken mood and raging hormones its possible to spend a few hundred dollars.
The young woman employed here are called G.R.O.s- guest relation officers,they get no salary and depend on "ladies drinks", for their pay. These drinks, watery mango juice and iced tea are served in the smallest glass you will ever see, and cost around 300 peso (about £3.50).The girl gets 80 peso the bar takes the rest. In most bars, 10 "ladies drinks", give you the right to take the girl home...no-one uses the word prostitution, but it amounts to the same thing.
Most of the woman are uneducated and arrive from the far off provinces, with dreams of making it big in the big city, they come to pay for their education or that of their siblings, or to help their parents. In the darker parts of the bar other services get offered- for a charge of course!!
Most of these girls have a hard luck story to tell, and if you give them the chance, for obvious reasons they will tell you all about their problems, something the management frowns upon, as they want to create an atmosphere of carefree bacchanalia.
Most of the girls stay doing this work as they can earn more money than working in an office or as a secretary
Other places in P.Bugos street are the many money changers, if you visit here...try to stay a little sober.. its very easy to spend a lot of money, and always bring condoms.

MAKATI has a reputation as a yuppie ghetto frequented by office workers from nearby banks and corporate skyscrapers. Much of the nightlife is inside the malls which makes hanging out here a rather antiseptic experience. The best places, along Jupiter and Nicanor Garcia Streets, for instance, are enormously popular with the locals and expats. The Greenbelt mall has some very fashionable bars and restaurants on the upper floors.Try the:-
ICE VODKA BAR
Level 3,Greenbelt3,Makati Ave
Manila has a pathological obsession with glamour and beauty, come here on Wednesday nights, if you can prove your a famous nonentity, when models get unlimited vodkatinis and canapes for around 400 peso... you just have to prove your a model, how?.. in Manila as long as your tall have fair skin and can speak some of the gay patois..everyone will think you cant be anything else.

Only time understands "LOVE"

LOVE

Once upon a time, there was an island where all feelings lived Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others including Love.

One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their boats and left. Love was the only one who stayed.

Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment. When the island was almost sinking, Love decided to ask for help. Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you." Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel.

"Vanity, please help me!" "I can't help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered. Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me Go with you." "Oh...Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!" Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her!

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder her name. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way.

Love realizing how much he owed the elder asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who helped me?" "It was Time," Knowledge answered.

"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

Knowledge smiled with deep Wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

Trangenic Mosquitos and Dengue fever.. part two

Genetic modification to produce RIDL

The RIDL trait was created using a transposon. Transposons are mobile genetic elements (‘jumping genes'). They are similar to viruses, but lack the ability to form viral coats. RIDL was created by the piggyBac transposon originally isolated from a culture of cells of the cabbage looper, and has been used extensively in insect genetic-engineering. The piggyBac vector is prevented from replicating independently of the chromosome bearing it (non-autonomous) by removing its transposase enzyme that enables it to multiply and move among the chromosomes of the cells that it infects (though this is by no means a safeguard, see below) .

The transgenic male mosquito to be released has incorporated a gene for a red fluorescent marker protein for easy identification, but the key gene that confers dominant lethal trait is tTAV , encoding a tetracycline repressible transcription activator protein, driven by the promoter tetO of a Drosophila heat shock protein gene. In the presence of tetracycline, tTAV binds tetracycline and the complex does not bind to tetO , so no further expression of tTAV takes place. In the absence of tetracycline, there is a positive feedback loop in which tTAV binds to tetO , driving more expression of tTAV. The over production of tTAV is toxic, and kills the insect. But it is uncertain why excessive tTAV is lethal. In summary, RIDL is a tetracycline-repressible lethal system. It has been suggested that the lethality of excessive transcription activator is due to transcriptional ‘squelching' or interference with ubiquitin-dependent breakdown of proteins. Mice modified with a gene for the tetracycline repressible transcription activator were not killed when the gene was activated by removing tetracycline.

Is this terminator insect safe?


The most glaring aspect of the proposed release is that the lethally acting transcription activator tTAV has a rather ill-defined action. The information presently available does not tell us what is killing the target animals. Even though a homologous tetracycline-repressed gene was not toxic to mice upon its activation, the killing toxin in the mosquito should certainly be identified before released to the environment is contemplated.

Another major hazard is horizontal gene transfer of the piggyBac insert. This issue has been thoroughly addressed in ISIS' submissions to the USDA with regard to the release of the pink bollworm in 2001. We provided evidence that the disabled vector carrying the transgene, even when stripped down to the bare minimum of the border repeats, was nevertheless able to replicate and spread, basically because the transposase function enabling the piggyBac inserts to move can be supplied by ‘helper' transposons. Such helper transposons are potentially present in all genomes, including that of the mosquito. The main reason for using transposons as vectors in insect control is precisely because they can spread the transgenes rapidly by ‘non-Mendelian' mean within a population, i.e., by replicating copies and jumping into genomes, including those of the mammalian hosts. Although each transposon has its own specific transposase enzyme that recognizes its terminal repeats, the enzyme can also interact with the terminal repeats of other transposons, and evidence suggest “extensive cross-talk among related but distinct transposon families” within a single eukaryotic genome.

It is disingenuous to claim that because only male mosquitoes are released that don't bite people or other mammals, the technique is “environmentally benign”. First of all, the transgenic mosquitoes, both males and females, have to be mass-produced in the laboratory. In order for transgenic females, also carrying the dominant lethal in double dose, to propagate the line, they have to take blood meals from laboratory animals such as mice or rabbits, not to mention the odd lab worker, which gives plenty of opportunity for horizontal gene transfer. Second, the transgenic males have to be sorted from the females, and this takes place at the pupae stage, when males are generally smaller than females, but this may not be 100 percent accurate. Third, the tetracycline-dependence of the transgenic lines is not absolute. In the absence of tetracycline, 3 to 4 percent of transgenic progeny actually survive to adulthood.

It is obvious that transgene escape can readily occur. As Ho commented: “ These artificial transposons are already aggressive genome invaders, and putting them into insects is to give them wings, as well as sharp mouthparts for efficient delivery to all plants and animals and their viruses.”

One cannot stress enough that horizontal gene transfer and recombination is the main highway to exotic disease agents.

The piggyBac inserts may also be mobilised by the transposase of piggyBac transposons already carried by Baculovirus (a common soil-borne insect virus) that infect insect cells, and this possibility has not been evaluated in the laboratory. Baculovirus not only carries piggyBac transposons, it has also been used in human gene therapy as it is capable of infecting human cells. It is indeed strange that the mobility and horizontal gene transfer of the piggyBac vector has not been thoroughly studied even though the activity of the vector is widely recognized.

The piggyBac transposon was discovered in cell cultures of the moth Trichopulsia , the cabbage looper, where it causes high mutation rates in the Baculovirus infecting the cells by jumping into its genes. The piggyBac itself is 2.5 kb long with 13 bp inverted terminal repeats. It has specificity for the base sequence TTAA (at which it inserts); the probability of this sequence occurring is (0.25) 4 or 0.4 percent in any stretch of DNA, where it can cause insertion mutations: disrupting and inactivating genes, or inappropriately activating genes. This transposon was later found to be active in a wide range of species, including the fruit fly Drosophila , the mosquito transmitting yellow fever A aegypti , the medfly Ceratitis capitata , and the original host, the cabbage looper. The piggyBac vector gave high frequencies of transpositions, much higher than other transposon vectors in use, such as the mariner and Hirmar. The piggyBac transposon is also active in human and mouse cells, and in the mouse germline; and a version with minimal terminal repeats exhibited greater transposition activity in human cells than another, well-characterised hyperactive Sleeping Beauty transposon system widely used for preclinical gene therapy studies.
Tomorrow ..A safer solution perhaps

Tropical storm lashes Northern Philippines

TROPICAL storm Halong battered the northern Philippines today with powerful winds triggering floods and landslides and displacing about 6000 people, relief officials said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the civil defence office in Manila said huge waves known as storm surges destroyed 23 houses and 12 fishing boats while displacing 845 people in the towns of Iba and nearby Botolan, about 145km northwest of the capital.

The northwestern coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon as well as the northern mountain resort of Baguio were without electricity while the coastguard barred small ferries from taking to sea, it said in a report.

More than 5000 other people were displaced by flooding and landslides in the central island of Panay when the storm brushed past the region last week, the relief agency said.

The storm struck the country's north-west coast yesterday at wind speeds of 95km/h before weakening slightly to 85km/h as it raked northeast across the Cordillera mountain range, the weather bureau said.

Floods cut off key roads in Panay, the neighbouring island of Mindoro and northern Luzon, while landslides damaged a house and shut down roads to Baguio and nearby areas in the Cordillera, it said in an update.

The storm uprooted trees and even a school building in Iba, where a Philippine Army battalion of about 500 soldiers mounted a search and rescue operation for families displaced by the storm surges, it said.

In the town of San Jose, in the central Luzon plain east of Iba, residents laid sandbags to protect their village from rising floodwaters, the agency said.

The eye of the storm was tracked 30km east of the northern city of Tuguegarao at 10am (12pm AEST), the weather bureau said.

It was expected to cross the Sierra Madre mountain range and blow out into the sea off Luzon's northeast coast early tomorrow, it added.

The bureau warned residents of low-lying areas and near mountain slopes across Luzon to “take all the necessary precautions against possible flashfloods and landslides,” saying the storm was enhancing the rain-laden seasonal winds of the southwest monsoons.

Luzon's west coast and the islands on the western half of the central Philippines could be hit by big waves, it added.

One person is reported as being killed in the floods, also flooding has occured in Ilio Ilio, in the central Visayas.