Bohol to host foreign scientists,

dignitaries for int’l conferences

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Oct 14 (PIA)—Bohol would be hosting two international events beginning this week and the next as the scientists and policy makers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee on Science Technology and Innovations (COSTI) meets at the Bellevue Hotel beginning today until October 20.

The ASEAN COSTI is responsible for all aspects of ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation cooperation and integration as outlined in the various science, technology and innovation developments and plans of action of ASEAN, simplifies Bohol Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Provincial Director Vina Antopina.

And then, on November 7-10, delegates for the 30th Asia Pacific Legal Metrology Forum would pour into Hennan Resort in Alona, for the APLMF Forum and Working Group Meetings.

​The meetings would be hosted by the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines.

Metrology, is the scientific study of measurement and establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities, Antopina explains.

Speaking during the recent Kapihan sa PIA aired live over the Philippine Information Agency’s youtube channel and facebook page, Antopina said COSTI brings to Bohol ASEAN members of the Committees 11 sub-committees for conferences, breakout sessions, plenary and dialogues.

Established as a committee in 1978, COSTI put up its Board of Advisers and finalized it in 2015, to advise COSTI on the development and implementation of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation (APASTI) 2016-2025 and ASEAN Innovation Roadmap 2019-2025.

It also sees the management and utilization of the ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Fund (ASTIF), the utilization of other possible fundings from dialogue partners, sectoral partners, developmental partners, industry/private sectors and international organizations and any other matters assigned by COSTI.

Expected to arrive here starting yesterday October 14 are officials to the level of undersecretaries from each of the ASEAN countries, and ministers who would be joining the events, she said.

The COSTI sub-committees include Sub-Committee on Biotechnology (SCB), Sub-Committee on Food Science and Technology (SCFST), Sub-Committee on Marine Science and Technology (SCMSAT), Sub-Committee on Materials Science and Technology (SCMST), Experts Group on Metrology (under SCIRD’s purview), Sub-Committee on Meteorology and Geophysics (SCMG), Sub-Committee on Microelectronics and Information Technology (SCMIT), Sub-Committee on S&T Infrastructure and Resources Development (SCIRD), Sub-Committee on Space Technology and Applications (SCOSA) and the Sub-Committee on Sustainable Energy Research (SCSER).

On the other hand, APLMF would be bringing a much larger and more diversified number of foreign dignitaries for their meetings, a number of topics including the annual reports from the APLMF Working Groups, APLMF President and Secretariat, planning APLMF future activities.

Cooperation among APLMF, international and regional metrology organizations will also be addressed. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

BACKROOM OPERATIONS. Bohol Provincial Science and Technology Center director Vina Antopina says they are in the thick of coordination to bring out the best hosting for tow international events to be held in Bohol in the next few days. (PIAbohol)

PSA readies to disseminate

CBMS data of 12 pilot LGUs

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Oct 14 (PIA) –In no time sooner, the results of a technology-based system of data collection, processing and validation of useful data for the first 12 towns in Bohol would be available for the newly elected barangay officials of these 5th to 6th class towns.

This as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Bohol is set to release the first batch of data from the Community-Based Monitoring System, as mandated by Republic Act 11315.

According to PSA Bohol Provincial Statistician Jessamyne Anne Alcazaren, the CBMs in the April data generation in the barangay levels which contain a massive 343 data variables would be available for the pilot towns in Bohol.

These towns with a brand new development tool include Alburquerque, San Isidro, Guindulman. Anda, Cortes, Corella, Clarin, Catigbian, Sikatuna, Dagohoy, Batuan and Sevilla.

Partnering with these LGUs, PSA said the towns were then the primary data collecting authority, and with the guidance of the PSA, took up to the established standards in ethics, guidelines and procedures.

With the elections for the basic local government unit is approaching at breakneck speed, getting the newly elected barangay officials reliable data from which then can base their development plans is the first step, and just in time, the CBMS just provides that, at least to 12 towns in Bohol, explains Alcazaren, during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.

Data available at the CBMS include local facts, figures, maps on the various dimensions of poverty, such as health, nutrition, water, sanitation, shelter, education, income, employment, security and the communities’ economic participation.

With these generated data, these can be utilized for local government processes like local planning, budgeting, program identification and implementation, disaster and risk reduction and management measures, she said.

It may be recalled that with the need to generate updated and disaggregated data critical in targeting possible beneficiaries and lay the groundworks for a more scientific, comprehensive analysis on poverty and need prioritization considering limited government resources, the CBMS came up with the goal to provide information that will enable governments to craft a system of public spending that assures that the government allocation gets to communities and to the individuals who are in most need.

From the CBMS, barangays and municipalities can make their own programs and policies in basic services provision for all, as all the necessary data are there. The data also allows government to pinpoint and identify worthy beneficiaries of the government’s social protection programs for them to earn a capacity to move themselves to a much better position to fight poverty. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

ALL IN. PSA Bohol Jessamyne Anne Alcazaren and Supervising statistician Emmanuel Halab with Fiel Rose Tac-an announced the National Statistics Mont Celebration and the availability of the CBMS data for 12 towns in Bohol. By next year, the rest of Bohol’s 37 towns and component city would also generate their CBMS data, according to the PSA. (PIAbohol)

Know scenario-based hazards to

reduce risks, survive - PhiVOLCS

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol Oct 12 (PIA)—Scientists at the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PhiVOLCS) said there may not be any destructive earthquake in Bohol in the next centuries, but stressed that communities have to know their scenario-based hazards and risks to be equipped with the readiness needed to survive.

Supervising Science Research Specialist and geologist Jeffrey S. Perez, said this during the PhiVOLCS Infopress, a seminar workshop on understanding and communicating geologic hazards in Region 7, held October 12 at the new Capitol Ceremonial Hall.

The DOST PhiVOLCS partnered with media, information officers and disaster and risk reduction officers to make them understand and thus communicate geologic hazards properly without causing unnecessary panic and over-reaction that could even be more destructive than any natural disaster.

The gathering was also to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the destructive 7.2 magnitude earthquake that happened in Bohol in 2013.

He 2013 earthquake in Bohol happened at 8:12 AM on a holiday, October 15, 2013, and hit a magnitude 7.2 on the PhiVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale.

The major tremor, whose epicenter was located between Sagbayan and Catigbian, caused more than 200 deaths and displaced over 600,000 families.

The seminar workshop tackled understanding earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis and focused on explaining to participants the geologic terms needed for accurate disaster reporting and communications, which could be critical in preparing communities to respond to any disaster.

Perez pointed out that in the Philippines, PhiVOLCS record an average of 20 earthquakes every day, but only about 100-150 earthquakes are felt every year.

Unfortunately located within the Pacific Ring of Fire and with three active faults which PhiVOLCS monitors, Bohol would have to prepare and plan based on the scenario that any movement in the tectonic plates in the nearby Pacific Ocean, the potential movements caused by activities of Hibok-hibok in Camiguin and Negros Oriental’s Kanlaon, and the possibility of tsunamis generated by these activities.

Near Bohol, since 1900, PhilVOLCS thought the identified faults in Bohol are the inactive Maribojoc Fault, South Bohol Fault which runs from Loay to Tayong and then straddles the mountains up to Sierra Bullones and Pilar and the Bohol south offshore fault which runs offshore from Anda to Maribojoc.

Last decade, in an unprecedented move, the Bohol North Fault snapped and manifested in surface raptures that stretched for kilometers: a reverse fault that would be the Philippines’ first with an observable surface rupture.

Perez pointed out that in Bohol, from 1922 t0 2014, the most significant earthquakes are the 1922 earthquake which caused a magnitude 6.2 earthquake with an epicenter in Talibon, the 1926 earthquake with an epicenter in Jagna offshore which registered magnitude 6.2, 1941 earthquake that traces its focus in Getafe registering magnitude 5.8.

Then, in 1941, an earthquake that was traced in the Mindanao Sea recorded a magnitude 7.0, followed by the 1990 earthquake that happened offshore in Anda which tallied a magnitude 6.6.

In 2013, the earthquake which exposed the North Bohol Fault recorded a magnitude 7.2 with an epicenter in Sagbayan. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

DISASTER PRONE. Risk reduction in Bohol is better done with knowledge in hazard-based scenarios, according to PhiVOLCS geologist Jeffrey S. Perez. Steeped with potential natural disasters, Bohol is at the risk of earthquakes from its four faults, at least half a meter to 5 meters of tsunamis caused by slips of its offshore faults, ashfall from volcanic eruptions besides storms, storm surges, floodings and landslides. (PIABohol)