the truth about mining

image from Google

We are all aware of one of the largest economic solution here in our state but these “economic solution” are diverge into two roads, one has a positive impact an of course the other one is negative. I’m talking about mining.

We citizens in this state don’t have enough background knowledge pertaining to this subject and by that “illiteracy” about mining makes our perception to mining more narrow.

Last June 9, 2012, I hurriedly went home after finishing some office matters to watch Ted Failon’s Failon Ngayon Special Report about mining and it is indeed an enriching episode and I commend the staffs for such an informative episode. Going back, this article was inspired by the show and most of the information cited below came from the show. Let us think what mining can gave us.

#Mining

Wikipedia define mining as “the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from ore body, lode, vein, reef which forms and package economic interest of the miner”.

In order to collect the minerals in a land, it is subject to remove the side waste material which is not really the direct interest of the miner. Furthermore, it will undergo to a mining process which is “the total removal of ore and waste. Also includes the removal of soil in some cases (Wikipedia)”.

When an individual wants to engage on the mining industry, he must locate an 18 million hectare land for him to start the business. With that vast land, a miner can have minerals such as: limestone, gold, nickel, chromites, metals or metal clay. Here in the Philippines, we have 68 companies who are engaged in mining. 33 of those are metallic mining and the remaining 35 are non-metallic mining companies. With these companies, only 2% is the excise tax that the local and national government can incur which is divided into two sectors. In lieu to that, the employees of the mining companies has a minimum wage of Php 250.00 a day

#Requirement2Operate

 

There are 3 requirements for a company to operate and 2 of that (1) is to have a management plan and (2) to give prior consent for the community that belongs to the land area that the mining company will operate. As cited in the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, Chapter III Sec. 16 “No Ancestral land shall be opened for mining operations without the prior consent of the indigenous cultural community concern”. In lieu to that, the Tigil Mina Group expressed their dismay by saying “Gulatan ang style”. The spokesperson of the group added that with this type of strategy, the indigenous community can’t do a thing for the surprise operation.

In the other hand, we have 3 pillars to title a mining company a “Responsible Miners”.  The first pillar, “it should have a positive effect in the economy”. Second, It’s environmental aspect and concerns on the land that the mining company is operating and lastly, it should have a “social development towards the community” in the nearby or nearest community.

#Issues

Though it may sound a little bit of relief in our economy, mining is also facing a lot of issues and the two of those issues is the environmental issues and health issues.

Environmental Issue

contaminated water (photo from Google)

It is no surprise that most of us know what are the negative impact that mining would gave us. The popular issues pertaining to environmental issues are soil erosion which is obviously flaunt in mining areas, forest logging, contamination of the soil and ground water and even the contamination of the coral reefs. The ocean is now affected by this because of the release of hazardous chemicals from mining most especially those who operates near the river banks or ocean.

Health Issue

One of the most catastrophic mining incidents in history of Philippine Mining was on March 1996 which was marked as the “Mine Tailing Incident” wherein the victims of this incident were exposed and contaminated by a hazardous chemical known as Arsenic and it led the victims to a serious infection referred as Arsenical Keratosis. Health issues are one of the serious problems that the state is facing. These affect the health of the local population which is caused by the hazardous chemicals that the mining company releases.

**These companies are bound to follow the rules and regulation to minimize the impact of the human health but some of these laws implemented will not be enforced by the local and national government due to the developing world.

Moreover, if a mining company stops to operate it will leave the mining area total dump. Now, more than 5 companies were closed due to bankruptcy and lack of requirements. The mining area was left abandon and there are no chances to live in. The government stated that the total amount for rehabilitation would sum up to Php 300,000,000.00 which includes the eradication of the chemicals that was left on the area.

Come to think of it, our country is now developing but is mining a good solution to our economic problem?

Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining

                                 http://www.psdn.org.ph/chmbio/ra7942.html

                                 Ted Failon’s Failon Ngayon

The Pinoy Big Brother Teen Housemates

The Male housemates

 "Vince" (Vincent Buduan Manlapaz)

"Alec" (Alec Brandon Chai Dungo)

 "Tom" (Tom Johnson Doromal)

"Roy" (Roy Dela Cerna Requejo)

"Ryan" (Ryan M Boyce)

"Kit" (Keith San Esteban Thompson)















"Yves" (Yves Romeo C. Flores) 








  










The Female Housemates

  

 "Joj" (Joj Martin G Agpangan)








  


 
 
  "Claire" (Claire . Bercero)

















"Karen" (Karen Mae Reyes)

"Nikka" (Angelika Felize Barbaza Javier)














"Clodet" (Clodet Ann B. Loreto) 

"Mariz" (Mariz Bejer Raneses)

"Myrtle" (Myrtle Abigail Porlucas Sarrosa)
















"Jai"  (Jyra May G. Agpangan)















(photos and details from the official Pinoy Big Brother Facebook page and website)
 @johnpaulemilia

Pinoy Big Borther Conquered Twitter's TRENDING TOPICS

image from Google

Before Pinoy Big Brother Season 4 (and also Teen Edition 4) was televised on the global Television screens, Gandang Gabi Vice was named as the “Trending Capital” of the Philippines but now a new name was born, and of course it’s the Pinoy Big Brother.

The Trends

If you are a twitter addict, I’m pretty sure you always check those TRENDING TOPICS every now and then and you observed that if not #Uber2012, the name of the housemates is the Trending Topic or either the “word of the day”. The trending topic of Pinoy Big Brother can be seen everyday (wooohh!). Moreover, whether the topic is a negative or positive one, it still trends.

The Reality

            If you have been thinking why Pinoy Big Brother Trends always, then, we are on the same boat! Amidst the late time slot (for primetime episode) everyone is glued on their sits when the show starts. As an observation, it may be because of the genuine emotions, reactions, and attitudes of the housemates where in every individual can relate on each episode. And every episode of the show shows different problems that we also encounter. The situation may be a good one or the opposite, we can still relate to it. TRUE that “ito ang teleserye ng totoong buhay”

We Congratulate

            Every housemate has its own personality, and so are we.  We get easily connected to them for particular reason.  Thanks to the producer and the director of the show for bringing this show here in the Philippines and we wont sop checking our twitter homepage. Keep up the good work guys!

@johnpaulemilia

It’s more FUN in KAGAY-AN !!

image from Google

The Department of Tourism’s (DOT) tourism campaign, It’s More Fun in the Philippines went viral in the internet after it was launched and now, massive photos of Filipino culture, tradition and other remarkable events in the country had embedded the DOT’s slogan.

And since we are talking about FUN, well, it’s more fun in Cagayan de Oro! It is indeed a blessing to born in a place where you can experience enjoyment, from your early childhood to your late adulthood.

image from Google

To enumerate those stuffs: First and foremost, the White Water River Rafting which is a renowned river here in the Philippines; second is the undying support of fellow Kagay-anons during times of devastation; third, the abundant history and Kagay-an folklore and the preserve historical buildings that are still well taken care of and last but definitely not the least is the eternal faith of Kagay-anons that you can actually conclude when you passed by the old Cathedral church every Sunday where in vast of people are there to spare time for the Lord.

Moreover, when we define FUN, literally speaking, we are talking about enjoyment but if we go deep into the word, we can say that FUN is a matter of a person’s happiness during his childhood until the day that he will say goodbye and that’s what I am talking about. It’s more fun in Cagayan de Oro because I can actually feel that I have a sense of happiness every time I remember the things that Cagayan de Oro gave me and I did all my best to give back what this city gave me.

I hope that each one of us has shared already the beauty of our city and I hope that we have paid what this beautiful city gave us.

Good day and have a happy weekend :D

STRESS does MATTER

Life is full of twists and turns and one of the abhorrent things when you encountered that route is stress. Let us all admit that each one of us have already encountered STRESS but the difference is, not all of us understands stress. Stress is not always bad, it is sometimes good in our day to day life but the reason why it becomes negative is that it overcomes us and we make it as a daily habit or routine.

image from Google

            Stress may sound terrifying especially for those individuals who have jobs and for those who do not have. It is because; work is usually a cause of stress. Moreover, in the modern society, stress is now an inch away from us. Our lives now are full of deadlines, anxiety, hassles and nuisance. We may think that the rising technology of today’s generation have gone too far (and cool), think again because it is also one of the root causes of stress. Almost a lot of things that the world and individuals produces nowadays can now be a reason of stress problems.

            Moving on, stress have produces a lot of good and positive effects on the human being and the best example is “striving hard to earn high grades”. Some students reflect studying as a STRESS (so am I. HAHA) and ridiculous but the truth is, studying and making projects and homework for deadlines motivates individuals to strive hard. It helps you to perform under pressure and motivates you to do your best.

            On the contrary, the negative effect dominates an individual. Stress is usually emotional but in some cases, it can also be physical or both at the same time. There are a lot of things that would happen when an individual is engaged to the negative side and the worst scenario that would happen is suicide. It is indeed a very serious problem but stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset but supposedly, we should learn how to handle it and we should know what are the symptoms of this “life-or-death” situation.

 Below are the lists of common stress symptoms:

• ·         Memory problems
• ·         Inability to concentrate
• ·         Seeing only the negative
• ·         Constant worrying

Those are the symptoms of cognitive stress while the emotional symptoms are

• ·         Moodiness
• ·         Irritability
• ·         Inability to relax
• ·         Depression

The aforementioned are the common symptoms that overcomes an individual and it is said that the more signs you notice to yourself, the closer you may be prone to stress overload.

            Each individual should know what are the causes of stress. As I mentioned earlier, technology is now a part of the root cause but there are still a lot of reasons why stress occurs and one of the reasons are (1) Financial Problems, which usually encounters almost all citizens of every country, (2) Work and (3) Relationship difficulties. Those are the external causes of stress. On the other hand, internal causes are (1) Perfectionism, (2) Unrealistic Expectations and (3) Negative Self-Talk. The causes of stress are unpredictable and some of them occur very often and an individual should learn how to handle it.

image from Google

            Handling stress is not as easy as singing ABCD, especially when it is already your daily routine or it has been occurring almost everyday. It takes time for you to handle it and the easiest and simplest form of handling stress is by RELAXATION. Relaxation means a lot for a person who thinks they are stress. Sparing a little time for yourself is enough for you to recover from your stressful life. Once you have already manage to give yourself a break and you give time for relaxation, learn to change your thoughts and point of view of life. Spare some time for your family, friends and colleagues because they are the persons who can give you a LOT of advices for you to change your stressful life. SO that step by step, you can change your hassle life to a new optimistic one.

Reference:

http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm

Submit an Article

                Do you have something you want to share? Do you want to express your thoughts and opinions about the things that are revolving around you or you just want to write. If yes, great! I am looking for a person who have the passion in writing. If you have the talent, then let your voice be heard.

Fundamental Qualifications:

 1. ENGLISH language is a MUST. English language should be use because the blog is not only for Filipinos but also for everybody around the globe. The audience of the blog is not limited only in the Philippines. In fact, we have readers from United States, Russia, Germany, France, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Japan, Ukraine and many more. In other words, the blog had reached the global stage.

 2. Amateur or expert writers who wants to share there ideas and opinions can join.

image from Google

       3. Articles about current issues whether politics, health, facts, news, etc. will be posted at Subject Of The Talk  if the article will be chosen. In the other hand, articles about singers, songs, stars in the music industry will be posted in the blog, MusicBoxDOTcom

4    4. Article that will be submitted should be free from erroneous grammars, proper punctuation marks, etc.

5    5. The writer of article will be recognize.

Subject Of The Talk :

1

       1. One must be objective on his/her article

       2. Current issues are very much appreciated
 3. Strictly no Plagiarism. Articles should be originally made by the writer and not copied. Acknowledge the source that you have refereed for the information of your article, if any.

       4.  Don't forget to write your name in the bottom part of the article that you will submit.

      MusicBoxDOTcom

      1. Must focus in the music industry

      2. If you will write an article of a song, attaching videos on it is appreciated.

      3. Everything about the music scene that you think is a catchy topic can be an article whether old issues or current.

      4. Don't forget to acknowledge the source.

     NOTE: You can submit as many articles if you want. If you submit regularly, you can be one of the writers and be an official writer of the blog.

     Submit your article to this email : paulcadotz.emilia@gmail.com . If your article will be chosen, you will receive a reply of the aforementioned email address.

    Be heard !

Behind The Truth

  A place where there is a lack of proper sanitation, residents live beside mountains of garbage and no jobs. These are the things I want to change in squatter areas, this squatter problems make me think that I’m still fortunate even though were are not that rich but I feel so sorry for the kids and the parents who work hard just to get out in squatter areas where few percent of successful future awaits.

image from Google

             The lack of food is the most common problem I’ve encountered when I had reached in the adolescent stage. Being a part of the deficiency line, I’m still grateful but, can you imagine those who are behind the poverty line? 1 meal a day, that’s what the common scenarios I imagine.

             A hundred years have passed but things haven’t change, it seems, the history repeats itself. The old problems of the world where the rich and the poor are separated, bigotry still exist, gender inequality are still alive.

                I hope that the upcoming future, we can see a whole new world were all are equal. I hope you can be a part of that transformation.

It's More Fun In The Philippines

                A country rich of natural resources, hospitable people, a dozen of tourist spots all over the archipelago, what could the Philippines could ask for more? Suited in the South East Asia lies a tropical country packed with beautiful landscapes and full of hot spots to visit with.

                Philippines are one of the world’s rich in natural resources and also on biodiversity. In fact, the underground river in Puerto Princesa, Palawan was chosen to be one of the worlds “7 Wonders of Nature”. The year 2011 is really a remarkable year for the Philippines and now this year, 2012, is a another milestone.

                Spearheaded by the Department of Tourism (DOT), introduced their new tourism campaign slogan, “It’s More Fun in the Philippines”. The tourism campaign slogan (Its More Fun in the Philippines) of the Department of Tourism was a trending topic on twitter before it was officially launched and criticism was around on the social networking site saying that the slogan is a plagiarize one and just the same as the Switzerland which the head of the tourism campaign clarified that it was just a coincidence. The tourism slogan of Switzerland, “It’s More Fun in the Switzerland”, was almost a 61 year old slogan because it was created for almost 6 centuries ago, or to be specific, 1951.

                Well, let’s talk about the positive side. Students’ from known universities in Cagayan de Oro answered the question if the new tourism campaign slogan can engulf more tourists and here are their opinions:

image from Google

Marvelous Bencio said “Oh! Yes of course. If the tourist will swiftly to hear that slogan, they will become interested in seeing our beautiful places here and they will expect some fun here in our country. That slogan will make the tourist zealous in going here into our country”

Anonymous said “Yes, because by their slogan, they can make the tourist imagine what is in the Philippines and by their imagination, the tourist can feel the fun and excitement here in our country”

Pearl Therese Aton said “Yes, because Filipinos will be able to share the things that makes Philippines “fun”. Tourists will be then interested to come and visit. Indeed, there’s no other place that’s more fun than the Philippines.

Basically, a positive energy opposes negative energy and like the annotations of our dear fellow men, there are still not that satisfied with the slogan, here are those.

“I don’t think that it can attract the people. How can it be more fun here if there are lots of tragedies happen? Tourist would hesitate to come because of the news such as flashfloods, landslide and other”

“For me, the term that they use is not the appropriate words to describe Philippines. Because, when you say ‘it’s more fun’, that connotes negative side on our country, maybe because you can hear the word fun from the young ones only and the tourists that are coming here in our country are not only for vacation but also for their business matters”

 “No, totally not attractive, since our country is suffering for a typhoon trauma so what’s the essence of having fun in the Philippines, We might just discouraging the tourists …. For me, it’s more pleasant to use a slogan like ‘It’s Priceless to Enjoy Philippines’, it catches more attention to our tourists.”

                Agreements and contradictions on the slogan are one of the hot topics as for now but we don’t hold the future, “malay natin”. As for now, let’s just support DOT’s slogan because in that way because we are connected by a common bond and that is “UNITY” which makes the Philippines more FUN.

ROOT cause

For the past few days, our faith and strength was tested again. Lots of lives of was taken away , innocent lives were took away. Millions of properties was devastated but who's to blame ?? Hours after when Typhoon Sendong left Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, we witnessed the reality, dozens of logs were seen near the river banks that they say that was the caused for the water to pour down heavily and also the reason why mud was their in the flood, no more tress to hold the soil, erosion they call it.


"Total Log Ban" PNoy said, yes! it should be. Nature is on its revenge. Pay back time, for the wrong doing of man kind. We can't predict when nature's revenge will come, we can't say what will happened and the most sad thing is, innocent people are the one who pays for the wrong doings of mankind.


Trees our the life of the human race. For some instances, we cannot blame the government because they don't tolerate that kind of act, there just some people who don't abide the rules of our nation and that should be stopped.


It may not the right time to ask questions like these but the more the time takes when these question will be answered, the more our minds keeps on puzzling the truth behind those stuffs.


As for now, let us help our fellow men to build up again their hopes and dreams and to build up again their faith on God. Don't just have sympathy instead have EMPATHY.


**in memory for victims of Tropical Storm Sendong