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Hello, We are planning a golf vacation soon and hear the Balanese massage is hard to beat. So what is the best golf club in Indonesia that has a top spa too?

Who doesn’t like to play a new golf course for the first time? Well, word on the ground is that there is a golf club in Bangkok that will shortly be adding an extra nine holes, making it a very interesting 27-hole challenge. According to our sources, these new nine holes are some of the best they have ever played. Expats and tourists keen to be among the first to experience these superb and exciting holes should contact Golfasian, Asia’s leading golf tour operator to find out where these mystery nine holes are actually located.

In Asia, we are amid the green season, with heavy afternoon showers being the norm. However, far from going elsewhere, they're more golfers here now than in all prior months in 2022 combined! Pattaya amateur events Maybe it's because September is tournament month, or there is so much pent-up travel demand from limited opportunities in prior years. Club golfers from 30+ countries now enjoy our growing tournament schedule. Inspired by golfers, in 2023, we’re adding new destinations, including a Masters (over 35’s) tournament in Japan. Full event details are to be released next month. Check out the Asian golf tournament calendar. As usual, Golfasian has been busy updating our tours for the high season and re-inspecting the area golf courses and resorts. Mark Siegel Golfasian’s busy CEO will be in Pattaya, Danang, and Japan playing some new courses and meeting our partnered hotels. You can expect continuous improvement and new tours and tournament launches. Golf in the region is starting to pick up and the courses have never been in better condition. Even the mighty LIV Golf tour and all their star players will be enjoying some Asian hospitality in Bangkok in early October when they come to play the city’s newest 18 holes at Stonehill Golf Club.

Now as the dust has settled after the Pelosi-Tsai debacle and the US-China test-of-wills calms, according to political commentators and experts, we can now see clearly who the winners and losers are from the one-week geopolitical drama. According to broadcaster Herman Tiu Laurel, the standout winner is without any doubt the People’s Republic of China (PROC) scoring a knockdown of all its opponents in just Round 1. And the biggest loser is clearly Tsai Ing-wen, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwanese independence movement as well as the Taiwanese people. The United States of American played the emperor, that lost its clothes in the fiasco. Chinese muscle Suddenly stripped of all its hubris and braggadocio as its warships and aircraft carriers scampered off to safe distances to observe and wait for what else the People's Liberation Army Navy, air force and rocket force would do. Unlike its bravado actions in 1995-1996 3rd Taiwan Strait Crisis where two US carrier groups sailed through and around the Taiwan Strait taunting the PROC 27-years ago. Now the US are unable to confront the PROC head-on with the demonstration of its massive force to subdue any challenge to its control of the Taiwan Strait and its ability to overcome any defense of the Taiwan Island to thwart the eventual and peaceful re-unification of the momentarily alienated island of the coast of Fujian province. This message reverberates too among the Taiwanese people, and this will give the Taiwanese voters some added degree of wisdom. There is a forthcoming November Taiwan local election The topic where PROC's message in the 4th Taiwan Strait Crisis, the current one with its demonstration of total control of the security situation of the Taiwan Strait and island, and its sampling of 2,000 Taiwan exports to China with a punitive ban, may provide a pedagogical moment to the young Taiwanese voters who have been giving the DPP its margins of victory in the national elections of 2016 and 2020. The DPP had been, however, weak in the November 2018 local elections and lost 15 out of 22 local chiefs' election to the China-friendly Kuomintang. 2022 may be the same, for apart from the apparently successful KMT local government chiefs, is this additional campaign platform of “a friendly China is better than an angry China” which is a message that would likely echo until the 2024 National Elections going to work. China’s economic sanctions may improve their voting IQ China and Hong Kong combined is still Taiwan's largest export market. Shipments totaled more than USD16 billion in July 2022, compared with nearly USD7 billion in total exports to the US. How can USA help at all in that respect, as there seems no practical alternative for Taiwan but the Chinese mainland market? Even exporting to the rest of the world won’t work for that would be such a segmented market that cannot equal the economic viability of the China market. The China Customs Administration has suspended imports of more than 2,000 of about 3,200 food products from Taiwan. Meanwhile, the imports Beijing has suspended include now 35 categories including fish and seafood, edible oils, citrus fruits, and biscuits and cakes, severely damaging publicly listed companies in such sectors as instant noodle and soy sauce producers and frozen foods. Beijing has also blocked wax apples, and custard apples, and now added grouper (Lapu-lapu) to the blacklist. The Philippines can supply Whatever fruits and other agricultural products and commodities Taiwan produce for the China market the Philippines can produce, and that makes the Philippines a potential winner as Taiwan loses its share of the China market. The Philippines can and should quickly move to produce and take over those products and import orders from China. In early 2021 China banned Taiwanese pineapples and transferred those purchase orders to the Philippines pushing its pineapple exports up by 40 percent. Taiwan’s adversities now are the Philippines' opportunity. The Philippine government and its Cabinet secretaries should be alert to this and quick to take advantage by maintaining and cultivating even better relations with the People's Republic of China that President Bongbong Marcos has clearly directed to be treated as the “strongest partner” of the Philippines, instead what do some Cabinet members do? They alienate the PROC by poorly conceived public posturing. Sec. Manalo whom our think tank group admires for his professionalism seems to have been mindless in allowing the Amboy (American boys) elements in media focus on this sensitiveness issue of US-PH joint sea patrols issue both to our ASEAN partners and to our major trading partner and now ODA provider China. Did he allow himself to be click-baited by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken into this irrelevant and anathema topic today? The new president Marcos has not given any new direction yet. These super-talkative but out-of-line officials are the bane of our national sovereignty, dismissing it every time they face an American and causing the Philippines to lose ground and face with our Asian partners. The tit-for-tat scenarios will continue for some time into the future. Who will come out the winner, that is the hundred-dollar question. Editor’s note: Herman "Ka Mentong" Tiu Laurel is a broadcast journalist. ... He was also the former Administrator of the Philippine Refugee Processing Center The opinions expressed in the foregoing article are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of the Philippine News Agency (PNA) or AseanNow.com or any other office.

Sample form of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (Source: CSC) MANILA – Senator Francis Tolentino on Tuesday said it may be time to require a full disclosure of relatives of government employees who, in one way or another, relate to terrorist groups or criminal syndicates. In his privilege speech on Tuesday, Tolentino said amendments must be introduced to the filing of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) to expand queries on relatives and family relations. “I think it is right that when one enters the government to perhaps declare that you have a relative who is a member of a terrorist organization or criminal syndicate up to the fourth degree of consanguinity,” he said. The senator's speech was in reaction to the involvement with communists of an elder sister of Prospero de Vera III, chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). Adora Faye de Vera was arrested by the police in Teacher’s Village East, Quezon City on August 24. She is wanted for multiple murder (with the use of explosives) and multiple frustrated murder charges filed at the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court Branch 22. She also has a separate criminal case for rebellion. “I have not seen her, and I have not spoken to her for more than 25 years since she decided to rejoin the underground movement. I do not share her views nor support her actions,” the CHED chief said, but added she wished her sister is safe and in good condition while in detention. The sister, according to Tolentino, is accused of masterminding the killing of military and police personnel in the Visayas and is a ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA). “In the other branches of the government, appointed or elected, there are still some in power who have siblings connected with the CPP-NPA or a kidnap-for-ransom gang, Abu Sayyaf Group or any terrorist organization,” Tolentino said. Useful info Senator Ronald Dela Rosa supported Tolentino's proposal not to pressure government officials but for the law enforcement groups to know how to manage information. "Like for example, a Cabinet member is given the highest level of security clearance. But then again, ‘if the security community finds out that the Cabinet member has a sibling on the other side, then they know how to treat [the person]," Dela Rosa said in his manifestation of support. Dela Rosa, who headed the Philippine National Police during the Duterte administration, said a government official may also "unknowingly" share top secret information to a relative belonging to a terror group and which can be used against the government. He said he knows of a high-ranking officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines whose sibling is an NPA member. "It's beyond his control. Pero (But) at least, the security community knows that he has a brother on the other side," he said. Dela Rosa was referring to Brig. Gen. Jim Zumel, who was a superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy during the Marcos Sr. administration, while his journalist brother, Tony, was the first chair of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and later became its senior adviser. Tony died in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 2001 and Jim in 2019 shortly after coming home from the United States. SALN contents A public officer or employee is required by law to submit the SALN upon assumption of office. In the case of the President, Vice President, Cabinet, Congress, Supreme Court, Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public, according to the law. “Public officials and employees have an obligation to accomplish and submit declarations under oath, and the public has the right to know their assets, liabilities, net worth, and financial and business interests, including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under 18 years of age living in their households,” states Republic Act 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. The current SALN requires disclosure of children under 18 years living in the declarant’s household and relatives who are also in government service. (PNA)

PARTNERSHIP. Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma (2nd from left) and Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco (2nd from right) show the memorandum of understanding they signed at the Conrad Hotel in Pasay City on Tuesday (Aug. 30, 2022). The MOU is for the staging of a multi-month tourism job fair during the Hotels Supplier Show to be held at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia from September 22 to 24. (PNA photo by Avito Dalan) MANILA – The government-led tourism job fairs, starting in September, will help address tourism labor shortages in the Philippines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said Tuesday. The department, together with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), formally signed on August 30 the memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the staging of the "Trabaho, Turismo, Asenso! National Tourism Jobs Fair". "Displaced workers are definitely a priority of the Department of Tourism in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment. So, what we intend to do is to give tourism job opportunities both to displaced workers, fresh graduates, and those wanting to shift into a career in the tourism industry," Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco told reporters in an interview. Based on the latest data from the DOLE, more than 12,000 tourism workers were displaced in more than 700 establishments due to the pandemic in the first half of this year alone. As the sector slowly recovers, several businesses are now rushing to fill gaps in job vacancies – an issue Frasco said was a "matter of linking the demand with the supply." "This Trabaho, Turismo, Asenso is specifically designed to link the demand with the supply and so we anticipate that a number of employers would join this, and a lot of applicants would participate," she said. As of August 27, about 279 establishments surveyed by the DOT, have reported at least 1,186 regular vacancies and 240 part-time jobs. The multi-month campaign will be launched during the Hotels Supplier Show at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City from September 22 to 24. It will conclude in May 2023, with the two other venues to be held in SM City Cebu and SM Lanang in Davao City. The MOU was signed by Frasco and Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and witnessed by Tourism Undersecretary Ferdinand Jumapao and Labor Undersecretary Paul Vincent Añover at the Conrad Hotel. (PNA)

FOR CLEAN OCEANS. A marine-litter collecting vessel. Through KOICA, the South Korean government will extend a USD7.7 million official development assistance to the Philippines for the establishment of a marine litter monitoring system and training for officials of the DENR and the Philippine Coast Guard. (Photo courtesy of the Korean Embassy in Manila) MANILA – The South Korean government is providing a marine litter-collecting vessel to the Philippines to support the country's ocean protection efforts, a ranking diplomat said Tuesday. In a statement, Korean Embassy Consul General Lee Kyoo Ho said Korea is committed to strengthening its bilateral partnership with the Philippines in achieving clean and sustainable oceans by combatting marine plastic pollution. Through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Seoul will extend a USD7.7 million official development assistance that would also include the establishment of a marine litter monitoring system and training for officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippine Coast Guard. "This year, KOICA targets (to complete) designing the vessel," Lee said. "This project is scheduled to be implemented from 2021 to 2025. But due to the pandemic, it has been delayed a bit." The vessel would be stationed in Manila Bay once completed, the diplomat shared. The Korea Export-Import Bank (KEXIM) also pledged to finance a USD105 million maritime safety project in the provinces of Romblon and Cebu in partnership with the Department of Transportation. Through this project, two buoy bases will be constructed and capacity-building programs for AtoN (Aids to Navigation) services would be provided. "Ultimately, this project aims at reducing risks of marine accidents and by doing so, contributing to protecting marine environment," the embassy said in a separate statement. "Korea will remain committed to supporting the Philippines’ initiative to promote and advance regional cooperation to keep our seas and oceans clean, healthy, and sustainable.” (PNA)

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng (third from right) with (from left) Jurong Engineering CEO Koichi Watanabe, Keppel Infrastructure CEO Cindy Lim, Keppel Corp CEO Loh Chin Hua, EMA chief executive Ngiam Shih Chun and Mitsubishi Power Asia Pacific CEO Osamu Ono at the signing ceremony on Aug 30, 2022. PHOTO: KEPPEL CORPORATION LIMITED SINGAPORE - Singapore is expected to get its first hydrogen-ready power plant by the first half of 2026 as the Republic transitions its power sector into one using less carbon-emitting fuels reported The Straits Times. The Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant, which can be run entirely on clean-burning hydrogen in the future, will be built on Jurong Island and is slated to produce up to 600MW of electricity, said Keppel Infrastructure, Mitsubishi Power and Jurong Engineering in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 30). This amounts to about 9 per cent of Singapore's peak electricity demand in 2020 and could power around 864,000 four-room Housing Board flats for a year. The combined cycle gas turbine power plant developed by Keppel Infrastructure will use natural gas as its primary fuel for now. However, the plant is also designed to operate on fuels with 30 per cent hydrogen content, which produce less carbon than fossil fuels, and has the capability of shifting to run entirely on hydrogen, the companies said. Hydrogen can be obtained in several ways, and when used as a fuel, produces water as a by-product. Currently, about 95 per cent of Singapore's energy is generated from natural gas, the least-polluting form of fossil fuel. Compared with Keppel's other power plants, more energy-efficient technology, and the use of hydrogen at the Keppel Sakra Cogen power plant will lead to a reduction of 220,000 tons of carbon emissions annually, the equivalent of taking about 47,000 cars off the road each year, the companies said. In addition, the power plant will be able to produce steam that can be used by energy and chemicals customers on Jurong Island for industrial processes, they added. The plant is estimated to cost around $750 million and will be constructed by a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Power Asia-Pacific and Jurong Engineering. The latest move to develop infrastructure suitable for hydrogen comes as Singapore aims to bring carbon emissions by the power sector, which now account for 40 per cent of the nation's emissions, to net zero by 2050. The Energy 2050 Committee report commissioned by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) earmarked the use of low-carbon hydrogen to meet energy demands as one of the strategies to hit this target. 680 new projects Nations across the globe are ramping up production of hydrogen to cut polluting greenhouse gas emissions, with the global Hydrogen Council reporting a total of 680 projects valued at US$240 billion (S$335 billion), a sharp spike from projects worth about US$160 billion six months ago. In addition to signing contracts to build Singapore's first hydrogen power plant, Keppel New Energy, a subsidiary of Keppel Infrastructure, signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to study the feasibility of developing a 100 per cent ammonia-fueled power plant on "a selected site in Singapore". Like hydrogen, ammonia does not produce carbon when it is used to produce energy. Together, the future power plants will contribute to building a more resilient and sustainable energy sector in Singapore and South-east Asia, the companies said. On the Keppel Sakra Cogen plant, Ms Cindy Lim, chief executive of Keppel Infrastructure, said: "When completed, this asset will grow Keppel's power generation portfolio from the current 1,300MW to 1,900MW, allowing us to capture a larger market share as the demand for reliable energy continues to rise with Singapore's economic development." Said Mr Ngiam Shih Chun, chief executive of EMA: "Singapore's electricity demand is projected to grow with increasing electrification and economic growth. "The Energy Market Authority welcomes investments by the private sector to bring in best-in-class technologies in power generation."

Foreign tourists drink beer on Bui Vien pedestrian street in downtown HCMC, August 2022. Photo by Tung Tin The number of foreign visitors in August increased by 38% from the previous month to 486,400 as the tourism industry continued to recover reported VN Express. South Koreans topped the list at 173,000 followed by Americans (139,000) and Cambodians (82,000), according to the General Statistics Office. So far this year the country has received 1.44 million foreign tourists, only 28 percent of the full-year target. Tourism revenues during the January-August period reached VND356.6 trillion ($15.2 billion), 80 percent of revenues gained from the same period in 2019, the year before Covid-19 hit, according to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. With the numbers still not meeting expectations, the administration has urged the government to consider expanding the list of eligible countries for a visa waiver and doubling visa-free stays for tourists from western European countries to 30 days. The government is considering issuing e-visas to nationals of more countries. It now issues 30-day single-entry visas online to people from 80 countries and territories, including Australia, India, the U.K., and the U.S.

A gas station in An Giang Province announces to run out of gasoline on August 29, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Khanh Gas stations in several southern localities have run out of supplies of petrol, diesel and other fuels and have stopped doing business reported VN Express. In Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province, six gas stations that get their supplies from Ho Chi Minh City-based Dai Dong Duong Petroleum JSC have stopped selling since Monday. A Dai Dong Duong representative said that they have not been able to buy fuel from distributors for the last five days. He attributed the supply shortage to seven fuel distributors who had their import license revoked for 1-2 months mid-August for violating safety and stockpiling regulations. Also, distributors are giving supply priority to companies in their own system on learning that market prices are going up. Huynh Van Thanh, owner of the Thanh Loi station in An Giang’s Cho Moi District, said his station had been out of diesel for two days as of Tuesday, but the distributor would not supply the fuel until Sep. 6. As for gasoline, his station has not bought enough to meet demand for fear of making losses. Thanh said that the station is given a discount of VND210 for each liter of gasoline and is allowed to buy a maximum of 3,000 liters at a time, which means a total profit of VND630,000 ($27). Meanwhile, the cost of renting a tank truck is VND900,000, which means the station has lost VND270,000 even before it has started selling. Then there is the cost of electricity and staff salaries. Every day the gas station loses VND1.5-2 million, he said. 19 petrol stations close According to the An Giang Market Management Department, as of Monday, 19 petrol stations across the province had closed while 36 had announced they were running out of fuel, accounting for nearly 10% of gas stations in the province. The department said the stations were running out of fuel because it was difficult to get them from distributors. A gas station in Dong Thap Province announces to shut down for one day but has been closed for one week by August 30, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Tai A similar situation has been reported in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. Nguyen Huu Dung, director of the province’s Industry-Trade Department, said Tuesday that in the past week, 10 petrol stations have asked to temporarily close for "personal reasons." He said it is possible that they want to stop selling to avoid losses. "The department received an application from a station to suspend operation for three months because they were losing VND350 dong for every liter of gasoline," he added. Also in the Mekong Delta, the Market Management Department of An Giang Province said two of 132 stations have halted operations while two others announced they’ve run out of gasoline. A representative of the Chau Thanh Petroleum Trading Service Co., Ltd in Tien Giang, which supplies fuel to 114 stations in the province, said it only has enough in stock to distribute in three days. The reserves of this firm were running out and supply from its distributor, the Military Petroleum Company Region 4 based in HCMC was deficient, the rep said. In HCMC and neighboring Dong Nai Province, many dealers said that the amount of imported gasoline has dropped as increasing prices of oil and gas are making importers and distributors worry about suffering losses. The Vietnam Petroleum Association had proposed Monday that the Ministry of Industry and Trade regulate the price of gasoline on Sep. 1, instead of waiting until Sep. 5, given the strong fluctuations in global fuel prices. Nguyen Minh Duc with the legal department of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said the current regulation of waiting for ten days to make changes in gasoline prices does not still cannot allow local businesses to keep pace with price fluctuations in the international market. That leads to the situation wherein gas stations run out of stock before each price adjustment, he said.

If you were considering where to live, here is a comparison between Hanoi in Northern Vietnam and Hua Hin in Thailand. Hanoi's old quarter Here are figures as supplied by the data website Numbeo. HANOI HUA HIN Purchasing Power Index Very Low 32.39 Very Low 34.26 Safety Index High 62.26 High 62.64 Health Care Index Moderate 57.59 High 76.63 Climate Index High 79.04 High 64.06 Cost of Living Index Very Low 35.21 Very Low 34.23 Property Price to Income Ratio Very High 19.12 High 15.70 Traffic Commute Time Index Low 28.68 Very Low 19.25 Pollution Index Very High 89.28 High 74.10 Quality of Life Index Very Low 96.96 Low 118.89 Naturally, Hanoi is a capital city so is larger than Hua Hin which is a seaside town and home to the King of Thailand. Hua Hin Here are some real estate comparisons. Index Hanoi Hua Hin Price to Income Ratio: 19.12 15.70 Mortgage as Percentage of Income: 220.87% 125.67% Loan Affordability Index: 0.45 0.80 Price to Rent Ratio - City Centre: 26.36 21.30 Price to Rent Ratio - Outside of Centre: 23.96 19.96 Gross Rental Yield (City Centre): 3.79% 4.69% Gross Rental Yield (Outside of Centre): 4.17% 5.01% According to Numbeo the rents are 3.30% cheaper in Hua Hin and you can earn around 5.43% more there too. If you are a golfer then both places have a great variety of top-class courses. Hanoi though has the edge on travel as its airport handles many international flights, where as Hua Hin’s airport is much smaller.

Nghi Son 2 Thermal Power Plant in Thanh Hoa Province. Photo by VnExpress/Le Hoang The 1,330-megawatt Nghi Son 2 Thermal Power Plant in the central province of Thanh Hoa, which can supply electricity to over six million households, has gone on stream reported VN Express. With a total investment of nearly US$2.8 billion, it is the second biggest foreign project in the central province behind the $9 billion Nghi Son Oil Refinery. It is owned by the Korea Electric Power Corporation and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and Tohuku Electric Power Corporation. It will be operated by these companies for 25 years before being taken over by national utility Vietnam Electricity. Its first turbine began operation in January and the second in July. Hirohide Sagara, chairperson and CEO of Nghi Son 2, said it is one of the few power plants in Vietnam to use advanced ultra-supercritical technology, which requires less coal and produces lower emissions than traditional plants. Coal-fired plants account for around 44% of Vietnam’s power production followed by hydropower (28%) and solar (14.8%). The country wants to reduce the use of coal and increase renewable energy to achieve its net-zero emission target by 2050.

Doctors treat a severe Covid-19 patient in HCMC, September 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran With more people contracting Covid-19 and the number of severe cases rising again, a Ho Chi Minh City health official has warned of another wave reported VN Express. According to official numbers, 164 people contracted Covid-19 each day in HCMC in the past week compared to 127 the previous week. In the week to Aug. 28, HCMC recorded more than 1,100 new cases, up 258 against the previous week, Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, deputy director of the municipal Health Department, said Sunday. The real number of cases, however, could be higher because many have tested and treated themselves at home without visiting any healthcare facilities, and these infections were not added to the official database. Along with the rise in daily infections, the number of severe cases admitted to hospitals has also increased, with an average 64 cases per day so far this month compared to around 30 in July. Currently, the city has a total of more than 250 severe Covid-19 patients and around 80% of them must rely on ventilators. Most are in the high-risk group of elderly people, those with chronic diseases and those that have yet to be fully vaccinated with two doses. In the past few weeks, the Omicron subvariant BA.5 has become the dominant strain of the new coronavirus in the city. "This variant has been confirmed to spread faster than others, leading to a possibility of a new wave of Covid-19 in HCMC," Chau said. HCMC, which was hit hard by Covid between May and October last year, has planned to reactivate one of its field hospitals should more severe cases be recorded in future. World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Aug. 27 the world had reached "a tragic milestone" by recording a million Covid-19 deaths so far in the year. He again urged all governments to step up action to vaccinate all health workers, older persons, and others at highest risk, as part of efforts towards inoculating 70% of the global population.

DROWNING INCIDENT. Responders provide assistance to excursionists after a drowning incident at the Kabilang-bilangan Reef in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental on Sunday (Aug. 28, 2022). Four of the 16 persons who visited the area drowned due to strong current, the police said. (Photo courtesy of Cadiz City Coast Guard Sub-Station) BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental said on Monday the city government will temporarily prohibit the public from going to the Kabilang-bilangan Reef in Barangay Sicaba after four excursionists drowned on Sunday afternoon. “Starting today, we will try to close the facility until further notice or until such time we can introduce appropriate safety measures,” he said in a radio interview. Escalante said the area is a coral reef and people are allowed to visit although they are just being cautioned to be always alert to strong currents which usually occur during high tides. On Sunday, a group of 16 people visited for a day’s relaxation, but the trip turned tragic after four of them drowned at around 1 p.m. The Cadiz City Police Station identified the fatalities as Marlyn Aguirre, 33, and son McJohn Aguirre, 15; Remymar Ocon, 31; and Michael John Merabe, 13. The report said the elder Aguirre and the two other victims attempted to rescue McJohn, but they all drowned due to the strong current. Escalante said the city government has been planning to regulate visits to the Kabilang-bilangan Reef, considering that a lot of people have been coming lately to the area, which is just near the mainland of northern Negros city. At present, there is a 15-foot tower with a roof deck on the reef. He said the plan is to replicate the management of the famous sandbar in Manjuyod, Negros Oriental in regulating the activities at the reef, adding they intend to set up safety facilities and deploy Philippine Coast Guard and Bantay Dagat personnel. “I’ve long planned to implement this. We have budget limitations but it’s already in the pipeline. Then there is an untoward incident and it’s just unfortunate it happened to this group,” Escalante said. (PNA)