DOE Prioritizes Assessment of Sual Plant

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The Department of Energy (DOE) has sent a team to the Sual Power Station Monday to assess the restoration of its generating units that went offline.

"We need to make Team Sual aware that we are checking on them and all the others,” DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

Aside from verifying reports, DOE wants to ensure the safety and reliability of the plant.

“Our goals are getting the correct reports and pushing them to a higher degree in doing their jobs,” Cusi said. “It's not just them giving the right account of what's going on. More importantly, it's the higher standard we are after.”

The Secretary said that in the end, audit teams must push and convince plant operators to procure quality materials to achieve a higher level in performing their functions.

"To achieve higher standards, rewards and penalties, monitoring and a fair system of grading should be in place."

Cusi added, “When we visit plants, we always show concern for the workers. We put pressure on the owners to provide the best resources for the workers to excel. Best equipment, facilities and fair benefits will result to better performance.”

Sual Unit 2 went online at 5:21 a.m. while Sual Unit 1 went offline at 10:15 a.m. of Monday, 06 February 2017, due to a possible condenser tube leak but the power situation in Luzon is still manageable, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

“The grid is still normal (at this time),” NGCP said in a statement. Based on the most recent update of NGCP, the Luzon grid will have a net reserve of 1,089 megawatts during the afternoon peak today. "

"Sual Unit 2 is running at 647 megawatts and Malaya TPP Unit 2 will be utilized at minimum stable capacity of 130 megawatts to maintain normal system conditions."

According to Team Energy Sual, Sual Unit 1 is expected to return on line within 3 to 4 days. They will provide DOE periodic updates with regard to the plant conditions.

The Sual Power Station is the largest coal-fired power plant in the Philippines generating and supplying 1,294 megawatts for the Luzon Grid.

Death Penalty Against Drug Traffickers Will NOt end the Drug Problem

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A senator opposed to the reimposition of the death penalty said that capital punishment will not solve the country’s drug problem.

Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros said that countries which imposed the death penalty even on high-level drug traffickers did not curb illegal drug trafficking. The Senator cited the example of Iran where the authorities have admitted the death penalty doesn't work, even after executing thousands of drug traffickers.

“According to the report by the Amnesty International, thousands of people have been executed for drug offenses since 1959 in Iran. In 2015, Iran had 829 executions, 571 for drug-related offenses. However, the Iranian government itself admitted that the death penalty has failed to reduce drug trafficking in the country,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros also cited the experiences of Hong Kong and Singapore which have identical murder rates, despite the former abolishing the death pen in 1993 and the latter mandatorily imposing the death pen for murder & other crimes.

Hontiveros said that the death penalty is a dangerous shortcut. She also said that it is irreversible and irreparable.

The Senator asserted that what is needed are reforms in the country's justice system and a rules-based and modern drug law enforcement strategy targeting big-time drug syndicates. She said that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) must take the lead, with the Philippine National Police (PNP) taking a coordinative role in the conduct of anti-drug operations.

“The government must bring the campaign versus the drug lords and not to the poor. Side by side with a public health approach to the drug problem, our drug law enforcement strategy must shift focus to organized drug syndicates. We must focus on crimes associated with big drug operations, such as money laundering and extortion. We must also strengthen border control in international airports and seaports, and heighten operations against cross-country narco trafficking,” Hontiveros explained.

On Monday, Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. 1313 otherwise known as “the Barangay Health and Rehabilitation Strategy Act of 2017” to replace the government’s corrupt and abusive anti-drug campaign with an “alternative health and law enforcement strategy” to address the country’s drug problem.

Globe to Equip 1,000 Private School Teachers with Digital Literacy Skills

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As the world goes digital, education has gone beyond books, pen and paper, and even beyond the classroom. Both teachers and students now face the challenge of integrating technology in their lessons and making it an effective tool for learning anytime, anywhere.

The changing landscape has prompted Globe Telecom, a strong advocate of education and digital learning, to come out with PRISM, a professional development program designed to help Filipino educators from private high schools, particularly those teaching the new Media and Information Literacy (MIL) subject in Senior High School, to become proficient in technology-enabled instruction and content development.

One thousand private school teachers from all over the country are set to participate in a three-week digital literacy program sponsored by Globe, which includes a two-day immersive boot camp, blended project-based learning, and personalized coaching. There will be one boot camp each in Metro Manila, Naga City, Pampanga, Cebu City, and Cagayan de Oro City, running from January to June this year.

A key component of the blended learning component is the teachers’ access to Brightspace Integrated Learning Platform. The teachers will be enrolled online to undergo distance learning for three weeks where they will have access to the global Brightspace Community, multimedia resources to guide them through the learning process, and a seamless platform to collaborate with learning coaches and teachers in real time. While they may be far apart during this time, the technology is there to ensure that learning and close collaboration continuously happen.