Thursday, June 14, 2007

Bamboo grove

RX: Bamboo, 18 Feb 2006, Aznar Coliseum, SWU, Cebu City.

The title is appropriate. RX: Bamboo. Meaning, I have to take Bamboo pills (or eat Bamboo shoots--the sexual undertones, hmmm...joke....) because, face it, the man is sexy. Now since I am currently incapable of writing a review (since when did I become capable?), let me tell you this: While others were dancing to the beat, I stood on my chair and seriously contemplated having an immediate breast implant. Man, Bamboo Manalac the lead singer is really really hot he must be prevented from going to the South Pole because the icecaps might melt.
I'll stop here. It's time for my Bamboo medication.

Salt water intrusion now reaching Lahug (04-25-04 Issue)


Cebu, Philippines Local News

SEAWATER has already intruded into the subterranean areas of the city as far as barangay Lahug.

This was disclosed by the University of San Carlos-Water Resource Center to the Cebu Uniting for Sustainable Water Foundation Inc., in an open forum yesterday, which focused with the Integrated Water Resources Management.

Fr. Martino Aliganga, Executive Director of CUSW said that the intrusion of seawater is due to the degradation of the principal watersheds of Central Cebu and the worsening condition of the coastal aquifers depleted by over pumping together with the destruction of natural recharge areas by infrastructure constructions and other human developments.

Principal watershed areas of Central Cebu include the Mananga Watershed Forest Reserve in Talisay City, the Kotkot-Lusaran Watershed Forest Reserve, the Buhisan Watershed Forest Reserve, the Central Cebu National Park in Balamban and the Sudlon National Park.

The sustainability of water supply for the Metropolis is linked to the integrity of the Central Watershed areas and Coastal aquifers, which is the primary source of freshwater in the City. Alingasa said that the water tables are declining due to the overextraction of water from underground where fresh water is present, by the other unlicensed pump and well owners which is not monitored by the National Water Resources Board and the denudation of the forest canopy whose roots contribute much to the water table levels.

“Saline water has already mixed with our underground fresh water supply because there is an imbalance of the sea pressure into the inland, our source of water has already declined as rivers and lakes have already dried up and our watershed areas have been deforested and eroded,” Aliganga said.

Aliganga added that the proper maintenance of these watershed areas should be carried out with the planting of trees. He also added that there should be an implementation of proper waste management and riverbank stabilization to maintain the freshwater supply in the metropolis.
“Desertation (sic) could happen if we continue to abuse our forest lands and if we will not do our part in preserving them,” Aliganga said further

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Take on me - rehashed

Here's a song that's a sure fire hit and has proven to have ticked the Hardy's clock, might as well share it for those feeling down and stressed out lately. Enjoy the treat and believe in the lyrics!

* originally done by AHA and recently reigned in by A1

Take On Me

We're talking away
I don't know what
I'm to say I'll say it anyway
Today's another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for your love, OK?

Take on me, take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or two

So needless to say
I'm odds and ends
But that's me stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is OK.
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry

Take on me, take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or two

Oh the things that you say
Is it life or
Just a play my worries away
You're all the things I've got to
remember
You're shying away
I'll be coming for you anyway

Take on me, take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or two



Sunday, February 11, 2007

Please help the plight of the twins...


Note: The Freeman Foundation is currently raising funds for the operation of conjoined twins that a teenage mother gave birth at a hospital in Cebu City recently...In my personal capacity, I am appealing to those who might read this news story to please help them for humanitarian reasons...they have nothing to eat, no money for medicines and hospital bills. The operation is needed for the survival of the twins...Please call the Freeman Foundation at (032 ) 253-1276 to 78...Thank you very much

Rape victim has conjoined twins
By Jasmin R. Uy, Staff Member
The Freeman 04/02/2006

A 13-year-old girl from Western Mindanao, who was raped last year and got pregnant as a result, gave birth to a pair of conjoined twins at a private hospital in Cebu City last Tuesday, the apparent product of that savagery.

The girl - whose identifying circumstances, as well as that of her mother who accompanied her, are being withheld by The Freeman - was in a state of apparent shock from both the birth and the realization of what she gave birth to and refused to be interviewed.

Only her mother did the talking, but even then, she had been very sparing with the details. The doctor who attended to the birth could not be contacted to provide information on the condition of the babies.

The twins, both girls and delivered by caesarian section, were conjoined from mid-chest down to the navel. In the absence of official information, there was no way of knowing as of press time if they shared any vital organs.

It was the mother who said the girl was raped last year when she was 12 by a 20-year-old neighbor. The girl turned 13 only last October. The mother said the girl was watching tv in the house of the suspect when she was attacked. Charges were filed but the mother said the suspect managed to flee before he could be arrested and the case has consequently stalled.

The mother said they chose Cebu City for the girl's delivery on being advised by well-meaning friends that better hospital facilities are available here. It was not clear if they already knew the girl was carrying twins.

The mother and the girl had actually been in Cebu since March 10 and tried to find a place to stay with relatives. On failing to locate them, they sought and were granted shelter at a seminary.

She said she and her daughter are expected to check out of the hospital tomorrow but intend to leave the newborn twins at the hospital because they require specialized medical attention.

She said the doctor left for Manila to consult with experts and explore the possibility of surgery to separate the twins. Dr. Remedios Bacasmas, director of The Freeman Foundation, yesterday visited them at the hospital to offer assistance in raising money for the surgery if it materializes. Conjoined twins are monozygotic multiples that do not fully separate from each other due to the incomplete division of the fertilized ovum.

Such individuals will be connected at certain points of the body, and may share tissue, organs or limbs. Monozygotic twinning rates are the same throughout the world; they are not affected by heredity, ethnicity, infertility treatments, maternal age, or any of the other factors that affect dizygotic twinning. No one really knows what causes monozygotic twinning.

However, the majority of conjoined twins are female. Again, there is no identified reason for this. It is not known whether more female twins are actually conceived, or if simply more female conjoined sets survive the pregnancy.

Conjoined twins occur in an estimated one in 200,000 births, with approximately half being stillborn. The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is between 5 percent to 25 percent. Conjoined twins are more likely at 75 percent to be female. Some pairs, depending on the degree of conjunction in particular, the degree to which they share internal organs, can be separated successfully by surgery.