DOTr continues to expand Free Bus Service Program for Health Workers; shuttle routes increase to 18

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In order to ferry more health workers to and from hospitals during the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, the Department of Transportatkon (DOTr) announced yesterday, 26 March 2020, that its Free Bus Service Program has been expanded to eighteen (18) routes, from only three (3) routes during its initial implementation on March 18.

Buses are deployed daily to pick-up and drop off health workers at their designated hospitals at 5:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 7:00 PM.

This initiative is in line with the instruction of DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade to road sector officials to ensure the transportation of frontline health workers amid the country’s fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The Free Bus Service program is not just for doctors and nurses. Hospital workers such as administration personnel, utility workers, security officers, and pharmacists will also be ferried by the buses.

Here are the two (2) new routes added to the free ride for health workers program:

North East Area
ROUTE 17

SM City SJDM*
North Caloocan Doctors Hospital
Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial (Caloocan)
Bagong Silang Market
National Center for Mental Health (Camarin)
Caloocan City North Medical Center
Almar Market
Novaliches Market/Queensberry Hospital
Bernardino General Hospital II
SM Fairview/Commonwealth Hospital & MC*

South West Area
ROUTE 18

Robinsons Place General Trias/Divine Grace Medical Center
San Pedro Calungsod Medical Center (Kawit)*
Binakayan Hospital and Medical Center.
St. Dominic Medical Center (Bacoor)
PITX*
Baclaran Market*

*Pick-up/transfer points

For the period March 18-25 2020, the program has already deployed 106 buses, and was able to cater to 1,402 health workers.

The program likewise complies strictly with containment protocols set by the Department of Health such as the observance of physical distancing, body temperature checks, and the regular disinfection of vehicles.

The DOTr Free Ride for Health Workers Program was made possible with the efforts and cooperation of the Office of the President, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, Office of the Solicitor General, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Land Transportation Office (LTO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, and the Inter-Agency Council for Traffic (I-ACT).

It is also made successful with the help and cooperation of private companies such as HM Transport, San Agustin, MetroExpress, RRCG, Megaworld Corp. (Citilink), Precious Grace, Grace Transport, Ceres, Jac Liner, Dagupan Bus, St. Rose Transit, Hafti Transport, Jasper Jean, Pascual, Hi-Star, Pamana, Ube Express, G-Liner, Thelman Transit, Manrose, Pilipinas Autogroup, Beep, Star 8 and automotive company Foton.

DOST-SEI announces 9,788 new S&T scholarship qualifiers

Wazzup Pilipinas!

A total of 9,788 graduating senior high school students will have a reason to celebrate as they clinch a slot in the country’s premier science scholarship programs – the Department of Science and Technology - Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) Scholarship Programs.

Out of the total number of passers, 5,917 qualified as scholars under the RA 7687 Scholarship Program, which provide for academically talented students who belong to economically disadvantaged families; while 3,871 qualified under the DOST-SEI Merit Scholarship Program.

The 2020 DOST-SEI Undergraduate Scholarship Examination, which was held on October 20, 2019 in 347 test centers nationwide, hit a record-breaking 102,526 examinees.

Dr. Josette T. Biyo, DOST-SEI Director, said the scholarships will provide greater opportunity to students especially to those who are hard up in life as they pursue a college science degree.

“This scholarship program is certainly a package of opportunities as qualifiers, especially those who are underprivileged, will get to continue their education in leading universities and colleges. We are hopeful that they – 4 or 5 years from now – will undertake productive efforts in the areas of research and development, industry and innovation, and S&T services.” Dr. Biyo said.

The new S&T scholars will receive a monthly stipend at ₱7,000, tuition fee subsidy up to ₱40,000 per academic year for those who are enrolled in private universities and colleges; book allowance; MS/PE clothing allowance (one-time only); one economy-class roundtrip fare per year for those studying outside of their home province; outright thesis allowance; and group accident insurance.

The scholarship qualifiers must pursue a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree program in any of the priority fields of study at a state university or college or any private higher education institution that is recognized by Commission on Higher Education as Center of Excellence or Center of Development or with FAAP Level III accreditation for the BS program that he/she intend to enroll in. The list of priority S&T programs can be found on the SEI website: www.sei.dost.gov.ph.

DOST-SEI scholars are required to render service in the country along their fields of specialization after graduation for a period equivalent to the number of years they enjoyed the scholarship as a return service.

“We believe that through the different scholarship programs of DOST-SEI, we are helping infuse a new blood of talent and skills into our workforce as well as supply a fresh breed of responsible citizens who use science in their daily lives. Now more than ever, we need young people to serve as ambassadors of science as the issues we face in terms of natural disasters, health pandemics, and others rely on sound scientific information to make better decisions for the public good,” Biyo added.

UN Story: Revitalizing Ipo Watershed Ensures Fresh Water for Manila Residents

A Game of Trees

Gamification makes activities more engaging and works well in the Philippines. Now it’s being used to revitalize a forest which helps supply 20 million Filipinos with fresh water.

Who says saving nature isn’t all fun and games?

The Philippines is losing around 52,000 trees daily. Logging, slash-and-burn-farming and land development are erasing 47,000 hectares of forestland yearly – thrice the size of Quezon City. Just 7.168 million hectares remain, covering 24% of the nation’s land area.

But gamification, the process of turning otherwise serious activities into games, might help reverse this.

A partnership between GCash, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), plus the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) aims to harness Pinoys’ natural love for games to plant 365,000 trees starting July 2020.

Earth has roughly three trillion trees, forming the last remaining forests which harbour 80% of all known terrestrial plant and animal species. Forests not only mitigate climate change by absorbing and storing greenhouse gases while releasing life-giving oxygen, but ensure the availability of fresh water, a resource which is becoming scarcer each summer.

“Water comes not from faucets, but from nature, particularly healthy watersheds,” explains WWF-Philippines project manager Paolo Pagaduan. “Given current trends of deforestation, we might face a future where there isn’t enough water for Filipinos. To secure a clean and reliable source of water, especially during the dry summer months, we need to revitalize our watersheds. No water means no life.”

While currently reeling from the global COVID-19 pandemic, Metro Manila also suffered a dramatic water shortage this time last year. In March 2019, 10,000 Metro Manila households lost water access as La Mesa Dam dropped to its lowest water level in 12 years. Manila’s residents were forced to walk and line up for hours just to secure water for washing, bathing and brushing their teeth.

It is estimated that for 2020 and 2021, Metro Manila’s water demands will overtake supply by as much as 13% during peak days, meaning more dry faucets and unserved households – but taking care of our life-giving watersheds can avert this.

Ipo Watershed

Watersheds are zones which naturally collect and store water. They are typically heavily-vegetated because trees absorb rainwater which drains into streams, rivers and lakes.

Ipo Watershed, together with the Angat and Umiray watersheds, supplies 98% of the water consumed by Metro Manila. Situated northeast of the sprawling Metropolis, it covers 7236 hectares in Norzagaray and San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan, plus Rodriguez in Rizal. It is home to several species of charismatic animals, including the Philippine Brown Deer, Philippine Warty Pig, Tarictic Hornbill, Grey-headed Fish Eagle and Osprey.

Sadly, the watershed’s forests have been in full retreat. Though protected by several proclamations including a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title for the Indigenous Dumagat tribes of the watershed, the area is pockmarked by patches of burnt soil. From 85%, forest cover plummeted to 40% in recent years, mostly due to slash-and-burn or kaingin farming and charcoal-making.

Gamification

Pinoys have always loved games – ranging from cockfighting to countless hours spent playing Pokemon Go and bumping into things. So too can this natural love for play be used for conservation.

“Over 20 million people use GCash and the majority of them are millennials,” explains Mabel Niala of Mynt, mother company of GCash. “The challenge is to channel the passion and energy of the country’s 35 million millennials for good.” GCash is the Philippines’ top cashless service and services a fifth of its population, plus 75,000 partner merchants and 75 nonprofits.

Using their mobile phones, Pinoys can plant trees through GCash Forest, part of a larger programme called GCash for Good. Users earn Green Energy Points by reducing their individual carbon footprint. Paying bills online for instance, eliminates the need to drive to a bank and consume paper for receipts and forms. More points can be garnered for walking to work, taking the stairs and avoiding single-use plastic items. GCash Forest interfaces seamlessly with existing mobile fitness apps to accurately measure not just energy saved, but exactly how much carbon emissions are reduced.

Each green energy point corresponds to a gram of carbon saved. Points are then used to nourish a virtual tree in GCash Forest. When users reach 20,560 points, his or her virtual tree will be fully-grown. WWF, BIOFIN, GCash and its allies will then plant the user’s tree species of choice this July 2020.

The partnership between GCash, BIOFIN, WWF and DENR was formalized in June of 2019 and aims to bolster Ipo Watershed with 365,000 new trees starting July. “We are depleting our natural wealth at an unimaginable rate. While the Philippines is megadiverse, it is also a hotspot given the extent of the threat to our natural environment. There is no one magic bullet that can turn the situation around. We need diverse actors to engage and find diverse solutions. And we need unusual partnerships – which in time will become usual partnerships. GCash, WWF and DENR are now embarking as one to reduce our carbon footprint and help the Philippines meet its reforestation targets. UNDP through BIOFIN is delighted to bring these actors together to stem the tide on our rapid loss of forest cover,” concludes UNDP Resident Representative Titon Mitra.

The project was inspired by the Ant Financial’s highly-lauded Ant Forest, which was launched in August 2016. Ant Forest encouraged users to grow a virtual forest, which would later translate into a real forest. By August 2019, over 122 million trees were planted in China. “GCash Forest is the localized version of this app. We’re proud that it is the pilot site in Asia,” shares GCash CMO and Head of App Product Chris Manguera.

Today there are over 2.3 million registered users of GCash Forest and plans are well underway for expansion.

“We have always said that the G in GCash stands for good and that our objective is to use technology to give back to the world. This initiative is about more than reforestation or securing vital fresh water for the residents of Metro Manila,” concludes Niala. “It’s about empowering millennials and other mobile users to fight the biggest issue of our era – climate change. But we need to spread the word more, so we call on all Pinoys to try the GCash Forest app today.”

What kind of ending can we expect from this Game of Trees? Though it will affect all Pinoys, it all boils down to the choices of its gamers