The mangrove trees affected by the oil spill in Iloilo on Friday (July 3) might die in three months if no action is done, according to University of the Philippines Visayas Professor Dr. Rez Sadaba.

“Ang mga saplings at seedlings sensitive sila, so most likely, mamamatay iyan sila kapag natabunan ng oil spill (The saplings and seedlings are sensitive, so most likely, they will die if covered in oil spill),” he said.

Mangrove trees are known for storing more carbon compared to other trees, which is valuable in the fight against global warming.

Aside from being a breeding ground for several marine life, mangrove trees are also good defenders during storm surges and serve as effective infiltration systems for agriculture.

Over 200,000 liters of oil spilled out from a bunker fuel that exploded in Barangay Barrio Obrero, in Iloilo City. The incident has affected 25 coastal barangays and families were already evacuated.

Meanwhile, authorities already collected over 170,000 liters of oil. They also reported, no marine animals were harmed due to the incident.

Sadaba said the plant life in the area affected by the oil spill would need help unlike other fishes that can swim away once the oil reaches their smell.

To help protect the mangrove trees, Sadaba recommended using dispersants for the oil spill not to reach the shoreline.

“I doubt that they can do that within two weeks unless they apply the dispersants,” he said.

The owner of the power barge, AC Energy Philippines, deployed several of their personnel to assist authorities in the oil spill clean up. —AAC (with reports from Lalaine Moreno)

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided relief assistance to the stranded students and construction workers at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman campus.

“The team distributed a total of 600 family food packs (FFPs) and 600 hygiene kits to the stranded construction workers, while another 600 FFPs were given to stranded UP Diliman students,” the DSWD said in a statement.

Jhonie Barlaan, one of the stranded construction workers said they understand that they won’t be able to receive the social amelioration program (SAP) and are grateful to receive the provided assistance.

“Nauunawaan po namin na hindi kami mapapabilang sa mga kwalipikadong pamilyang makatatanggap ng Social Amelioration Program (SAP) dahil na rin ang aming pamilya ay nasa probinsya at maaaring sila ay makatanggap na roon, (We understand that we cannot qualify in the SAP because our families are in the province and may have already received the cash assistance there),” he said.

“Gayunpaman, nais naming pasalamatan ang DSWD sapagkat hindi nila kami pinabayaan at hindi sila nakalimot (Nevertheless, we want to thank the DSWD for not neglecting us. They have not forgotten us),” he added. –AAC

The University of the Philippines (UP) has made it to the top 500 top universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020.

UP is placed in the 401-500 rank which is higher compared to their 501 to 600 rank in 2019 World University Rankings .

The university outranked top schools like Harvard University, University of Oxford and the University of Stanford in health research citation rankings.

READ: UP beats Harvard, other top universities in health research citations

In a statement the World University Rankings said that global higher education has grown considerably in recent years.

“Between 2000 and 2014, the number of university students across the world more than doubled to 207 million,” according to their statement which cited a paper published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Meanwhile, De La Salle University also made it to the top rankings, placing at 1001+.—AAC