Typhoon ravaged Panay (2008)
In June 2008, typhoon 'Frank' ravaged Panay Island, flooding many regions, with 18 dead in Iloilo Province alone. PESCP was hit hard as never before, and its domiciliary town of Pandan, Antique Province, was affected equally disastrous (see photos by our coworker Arnold Demegillo showing damage in Kalibo).
The water in the streets stood chesthigh which not even the oldest inhabitants could remember to have happened before - that is the typhoon was of Tsunami proportions! One PESCP Community Conservationist in Aklan Province was killed by a landslide, another's wife was washed along with the house by the floods into the Aklan River and never seen again. PESCP's office in Tajanlangit Bldg. was damaged along with the bookkeepers' files of thousands of receipts, excel sheets for liquidation, PCs, printers, fax machines, frige - all flooded. On top of these irreplacable losses torrents of water had found their way beneath the iron sheet roof and ravaged the PC + printer in the Manager's office even in the upper floor along with an unknown number of files, reprints, books etc. As a first emergency measure, the needs of a number of co-workers had to be addressed and the office, more precisely its sad remains, be moved to an apartment first floor in the main street of Pandan. Donations enabling PESCP to cope with this apocalypse are highly appreciated.
How you can help
|
|
|
Central Panay Mountain Range forest legally protected! (2008)
PESCP elected to support the DENR
For a long time the PESCP had advocated legal protection of the priceless forests of the Central Panay Mountain Range and their endemites. Now the Central Office of the DENR, Philippine Government, instructed the Regional DENR Executive Director to designate the area as 'Critical Habitat' under the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act. In living up to this mandate, the DENR Region VI, that encompasses Panay, is advised to collaborate with PESCP. Accordingly PESCP is rightly proud of being elected from among all other 'green' NGOs in the W Visayas to contribute its knowledge, skills and financial means, as found permissive, to this noble and extremely timely goal.
PESCP Forest Rangers on rescue missions (2007)
PESCP FRs are proud of having gone on recue missions recently. When alerted by local families the FRs swarmed out searching for missing elderly family members that had gone astray in the forest. FRs could rescue one older man alive and sadly retrieved another man and an elderly woman only after they had fallen dead. Mrs. Ibabao, the FR Coordinator, personally paid her last respects to the dead and brought them home.
New Board of Directors in our umbrella organisation PhilConserve
and additional reshuffling of PESCP management (2007)
In the course of 'Filipinisation' of the PESCP the foreigners at the top of the organisation have stepped down from their positions held so far and Filipinos have been taking the helm. Accordingly Ms. Maria Theresa Ibabao became Manager, thereby replacing Mr. Thomas Kuenzel, B.Sc., who became Technical Consultant, and the PESCP's founder, Prof. Curio, stepped down to become Scientific Adviser.Furthermore, there have been elections to the Board of Directors (Incorporators) of PhilConserve, the NGO under whose umbrella PESCP is working since 2005. Accordingly, during the Assembly in October 2007, Ms. Ibabao was elected President, Dr. Enrique Sanchez, DVM and PESCP's vet, Vice President; PESCP's Forester Mr. John Espiritu became Secretary; Arnold Demegillo Treasurer; Mr. Leocadio Dioso Liaison Officer.
See the PhilConserve contact page for details
New NGO (2005)
The PESCP erected a non-governmental organisation, the Philippine Association for Conservation and Development, Inc. (PhilConserve), in March 2005, under whose aegis it will be operating with a focus on Panay Island. Its main objective will be the conservation of Philippine biodiversity with the local people and their sustainable economic development.Canopy platform erected (2005)
PESCP has mounted the first Philippine canopy observation platform on a huge Almaciga tree in Panay's rain forest, near the project's Research Station Sibaliw, Buruanga, Aklan. The platform consists of a lightweight 1.6 x 1.8 m² fortified aluminum sheet supported by galvanised iron tubes and surrounded by a perlon net balustrade. The platform will allow researchers to document animals and their interactions with rain forest trees. More information.