Tropical Storm ‘Gener’ spawns floods nationwide

Rains dumped by Tropical Storm “Gener” (international name: Saola) across the country flooded communities, swelled rivers, triggered landslides, damaged crops and roads, and canceled domestic flights as it moved toward northern Luzon.
A man drowned in Antique on Saturday, while more than a thousand people were evacuated in Negros Occidental and Maguindanao due to flooding.
Rough seas in Cebu province have forced boats to cancel their trips over the past two days.
In Metro Manila, authorities advised local government units on Sunday to evacuate residents near the Tullahan River because the water in La Mesa Dam was about to breach the spilling level. Excess water from the dam drains into the river that snakes through Quezon, Caloocan, Valenzuela and Navotas cities.
As of 4 p.m. Sunday, Gener was spotted 380 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan, with peak winds of 95 km per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 120 kph, said the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa). It was moving north-northwest at 15 kph.
Public storm signal warnings were hoisted over portions of northern Luzon as Gener, whose band of clouds has a diameter of 600 km, slightly intensified as it crept toward the country’s northern tip.
The Pagasa placed Cagayan, including Calayan and Babuyan groups of islands, and the Batanes Group of Islands under Storm Signal No. 2. It said sustained winds of 60 kph to 100 kph were expected in the province until today.
Any form of sea travel in the affected areas would be risky, the agency said as it reminded residents living in coastal areas to be on alert for big waves and storm surges.
Storm Signal No. 1 was hoisted over the provinces of Isabela, Kalinga and Apayao, as winds of 30 to 60 kph were expected to last until Tuesday.
The weather bureau advised against traveling on small seacraft and fishing boats.
The rest of Luzon and the Visayas will experience cloudy skies with scattered to widespread rain showers and thunderstorms, while Mindanao will be cloudy and may have isolated rain showers and thunderstorms.
Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao while winds from the northeast to northwest will prevail over the rest of Luzon. Coastal waters in these areas will be moderate to rough.
Pagasa warned residents in low-lying and mountainous areas against flash floods and landslides as heavy to intense rainfall was expected.
Gener is expected to enhance the southwest monsoon, bring rains over southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
At Ninoy Aquino International Airport, 17 domestic flights, mostly to Caticlan, Aklan, and mostly morning flights were canceled Sunday due to bad weather.
At Terminal 3, nine Cebu Pacific flights to and from Caticlan, the gateway to the resort island of Boracay, were canceled, according to an advisory issued by the Manila International Airport Authority at 2:30 p.m.
An Air Philippines flight from Manila to Caticlan and back was also canceled, along with two Cebu Pacific flights to and from Legazpi City and San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, and a Zest Air flight to and from Legazpi.
In Isabela, the provincial government has set aside funds to provide fishermen, especially those in coastal towns facing the Pacific Ocean, with cash assistance from July 29 to July 31.
Governor Faustino Dy III said P250-P300 cash was allotted a day to each of about 500 fishermen in the towns of Maconacon, Divilacan, Palanan and Dinapigue.
“It is as if we were buying what they would have caught, so they would not go out to sea while the waters are rough and dangerous,” he said.
In Central Luzon, the Pampanga River Basin’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said flooding was possible in communities along the Pampanga River from Nueva Ecija to Pampanga.
Josefina Timoteo, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), said heavy rains in Bulacan on Saturday night caused flooding in at least seven villages in San Miguel town. On Sunday morning, however, the floodwaters, which reached up to 2 feet, started to recede, she said.

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Thank God, says Arroyo now out on bail

She walked free from eight months in detention on Wednesday after a court granted her bail on the ground that the electoral sabotage case against her was weak. But her freedom may be short-lived.

“Thank God,” former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 65, said before exchanging embraces with a small group of relatives and friends gathered in her room at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

That’s vintage Gloria Arroyo, one who kept strong when others showed weakness, her only daughter Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo-Bernas said.

Several senators, however, said Arroyo could be detained anew sooner than expected for the nonbailable charge of plunder that was filed earlier this month in connection with the misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) intelligence funds.

“Once the Sandiganbayan issues another warrant of arrest in relation to the plunder case, she will go back to prison,” said Senator Francis Escudero, chairman of the justice committee.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada joked that Arroyo should have left behind her clothes at VMMC.

“She might be back very soon,” said Estrada, who himself once faced a plunder case but was later acquitted in connection with the jueteng funds pocketed by his father, former President Joseph Estrada.

Senator Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the blue ribbon committee, said the evidence gathered by his panel during its hearings on the P366 million in PCSO funds that went missing during Arroyo’s incumbency “is very strong.”

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B-Meg ties PBA Finals; Paul Lee reinjures shoulder

MANILA, Philippines—James Yap came through in the clutch to lift B-Meg over Rain or Shine, 85-80, and tie the two teams’ PBA Governors Cup best-of-seven Finals series at 1-1 Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Yap finished with 24 points including a tough left corner turnaround jumper that gave the Llamados an 82-78 cushion with 15.6 seconds left.
“This was a crucial game for us. We had to, at some point, convince ourselves that we could beat this team. We haven’t changed that yet but this one win can help us turn that around,” said B-Meg head coach Tim Cone.
“‘Big Game’ James turned to ‘Big Shot’ James,” Cone said of Yap. “The defense was so shattered that he was able to get a good look and knock it down.”
B-Meg built an 11-point lead twice in the third quarter before ROS was able to tie the game at 74, with 5:25 left.
Jamelly Cornley, the conference’s best import, sank two free throws that pulled the Elasto Painters to within two, 78-80, before Yap’s clutch shot.
Marcus Blakely bounced back from his poor Game 1 outing with game highs of 26 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks to offset his seven errors.
Game 3 is set on Friday with both teams looking for a pivotal 2-1 series lead.
For Rain or Shine, though, the squad may have to make do sans its best player Paul Lee.
Lee, who came in second to Mark Caguioa as the conference’s Best Player, reinjured his left shoulder after swiping at the ball at the 2:22 mark of the fourth quarter.
The former University of the East star immediately went down on the floor in tremendous pain while grabbing his shoulder. He was then carried out of the court on a stretcher in the waning seconds of the game.
Concerned but unfazed, ROS head coach Yeng Guiao even made a bold statement: “We will win this series with or without Paul Lee.”

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Santiago: Philippines like a mosquito in the face of a dragon like China

A “mosquito” like the Philippines needs only to use its wits against a dragon like China in dealing with their territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago offered this simple yet smart solution, saying one way of dealing with China’s bullying  is for Manila to seek the help of its  allies in dealing with the dragon.
“We neither have money nor weapons.  Our only choice is to depend on the Western allies. Depending on the way we maneuver this situation, we must keep in mind that our allies need something from us just as we need something from them,” Santiago said at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado.
Relations between the Philippines and China have been severely strained by their rival claims over Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) off the Zambales coast and over parts of the Spratlys island chain near Palawan.
Santiago suggested that the Philippines ask allies like the United States,  Australia, Singapore and South Korea “that it would be in their best interest to protect the South China Sea from incursions by China.”
A dragon and gorilla
Santiago raised the point after noting that the Chinese government has stressed that the Philippines “must accept that the South China Sea belongs to China.”
“You don’t want to give China power over a … maritime territory that represents 10 percent of the fisheries catch of the entire world, in the sea lane where half of world’s tonnage passes,” she said.
“Let us tell the Western powers they would lose freedom of navigation over maritime commons if China is able to effectuate its desire to own the entire South China Sea,” she added.
“China is, to put it bluntly, a gorilla…We are mosquitoes and China is a dragon. Mosquitoes just buzz around your ear, you slap them and they’re dead… We cannot engage its economy.  We cannot engage in an arms race with (the Chinese). If we lack the power, then we use our brains,” the senator said.
Armed attack doubted
Santiago, a former chairperson of the Senate foreign relations committee,  supported Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario’s request to the United States for surveillance aircraft and naval cutters that would allow the Philippines to monitor Chinese territorial incursions.
“But we don’t see equipment (being delivered) because the US is under no obligation,” she said.
Santiago said that if one read carefully the Mutual Defense Treaty, “the US will come to the Philippines’ defense only in case of armed attack.”
“That’s why China will never make an armed attack so that it can never be accused of launching an external armed attack that would trigger the implementation of the (treaty),” she said.
This is also the reason, she said, why China only uses “paramilitary naval vessels in the Spratlys and Scarborough and not military boats.”

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Panatag Shoal | Scarborough Shoal | Spratly Islands