MANILA, Philippines — Typhoon “Bising” has slightly weakened and is now moving slowly over the Philippine Sea east of Catanduanes, the state weather bureau PAGASA said on Sunday, April 18, 2021.

At 10:00 p.m. Sunday, the center of the eye of Typhoon “Bising” was located at 270 km east of Virac, Catanduanes packing maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 240 km/h.

“The recent weakening of ‘Bising’ after reaching its peak intensity was caused by a recently completed eyewall replacement cycle. The typhoon is forecast to maintain its current intensity in the next 24 to 48 hours before gradually weakening throughout the remainder of the forecast period,” PAGASA said.

“Bising” will bring moderate to heavy, with at times intense, rains on Monday (April 19) over Bicol Region, Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran, and Leyte.

Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal no. 2 is hoisted over the following areas:

• LUZON:

Catanduanes, the eastern portion of Camarines Sur (Garchitorena, Presentacion, Caramoan, Sagnay, San Jose, Lagonoy), the eastern portion of Albay (Tiwi, Malinao, Tabaco City, Malilipot, Santo Domingo, Bacacay, Rapu-Rapu, Legazpi City, Manito), and the eastern and central portions of Sorsogon (Castilla, Sorsogon City, Prieto Diaz, Gubat, Barcelona, Casiguran, Juban, Magallanes, Bulan, Bulusan, Irosin, Santa Magdalena, Matnog)

• VISAYAS:

Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Biliran

Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal no. 1 is hoisted over the following areas:

• LUZON:

The eastern portion of Camarines Norte (San Lorenzo Ruiz, San Vicente, Vinzons, Talisay, Daet, Mercedes, Basud), the rest of Camarines Sur, the rest of Albay, the rest of Sorsogon, and Masbate including Burias and Ticao Islands

• VISAYAS:

Leyte, Southern Leyte, and the northern portion of Cebu (Tabogon, Borbon, San Remigio, Bogo City, Medellin, Daanbantayan) including Bantayan and Camotes Islands

• MINDANAO:

Dinagat Islands, Siargao Islands, and Bucas Grande Islands

Typhoon Bising is forecast to continue moving slowly in the next 6 to12 hours as it begins to turn generally northward over the Philippine Sea east of Catanduanes.

Afterwards, the typhoon will continue moving northward while gradually accelerating until Wednesday evening before turning northeastward and east northeastward away from the landmass of Luzon.

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Project can be postponed. However, workers in the said project might lose their jobs.

The recent dumping of dolomite in Manila Bay drew ire from netizens saying the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic should be the government’s priority.

DENR Spokesperson Jonas Leones said the budget can be allotted to the COVID-19 response through supervening events; however, Leones stressed that all the budget cannot be allotted to the pandemic response alone.

“Pwede naman iyon kung talagang ganoon ang situation kaya lang hindi naman pupwedeng, sa akin personally, hindi naman pupwedeng lahat ng budget ay ilagay din natin doon (It can be done if that is the situation, but personally, we cannot put all the budget in the [COVID-19] response),” he said.

Leones reiterated the rehabilitation project has already been planned and there will be workers that will be affected if the project is suspended.

“Kung ititigil natin lahat ito, wala na tayong accomplishment wala pa ring work ang mga tao rito(If we will suspend this, we won’t have accomplishments and the people here will lose their jobs),” he said.

The Department reiterates that the project should push through despite the criticisms from various groups.

The Manila Bay Rehabilitation Project is around 50%-60% complete, it added. AAC (with reports from Dante Amento)

MANILA, Philippines — A culvert or drainage pipe was discovered hidden behind boulders at station 640 along Manila Bay’s baywalk area on Roxas Boulevard was found to be discharging untreated wastewater directly into the bay.

Based on water analysis, fecal coliform count in the area was significantly high at 50 million most probable number per 100 milliliters.

After further inspection, three more alleged culverts along the baywalk were discovered. 

Pipes were found beside the Remedios drainage outfall across Aristocrat restaurant, Station 240 beside the Padre Faura outfall, and near the Estero San Antonio de Abad outfall.

“Ang lakas ng tubig. Bumubulwak (Water pressure was really strong),” said Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has ordered the immediate plugging of the illegal outfalls, the establishment of engineering interventions, and the strict enforcement of environmental laws in the bay.

“Noong tine-trace na namin yung existing pipes ng DPWH, ng MMDA at saka ng local government units, itong na-discover namin na illegal pipe wala doon sa records nila,” Leones noted.

(When we were tracing the origin of the existing pipes of the DPWH, the MMDA, and the local government units, none of these illegal pipes were in their records.)

“So the Secretary (Cimatu) has decided na i-seal na namin yung mga illegal pipes and mga culverts. And then let’s see kung saan lalabas yung mga tubig na yan na suppose to be doon lumalabas sa illegal pipes na na-identify na namin,” he added.

(So the Secretary has decided to seal those illegal pipes and culverts and then let’s see where the water would go out aside from the illegal pipes that we have identified.)

Leones said that before they traced the illegal pipes, the coliform level in Manila Bay has already improved from billions of micrograms per normal cubic meters to only thousands.

It just needs to be improved to 100mpn for it to be safe for swimming. -MNP (with reports from Rey Pelayo)