Sunday, March 24, 2019

...the steel bar exporter

PH becomes steel bar exporter

SteelAsia’s first shipment to Canada




Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Manila Bulletin
24 march 2019

Leading Philippine steel firm SteelAsia Manufacturing Corp. is delivering its first export of rebars to Canada, making the Philippines a steel bar exporter again after several decades.

Image result for steel asia davao

SteelAsia SVP and Head of Sales Yvette Sy said the company shipped 10,000 metric tons of rebar to Canada worth over P300 million (around $6 million). Rebars are used by the construction sector to provide tensile strength for infrastructure, buildings, housing, and other structures.
“We are excited to see Philippine-made rebars being used in buildings and infrastructure in Canada. This shows that our steel products are competitive and world-class, having passed the stringent standards on steel set by Canadian authorities,” she said.
SteelAsia is the first steel bar manufacturer in the Philippines to have an Integrated Management System (IMS) certification when its Environment (ISO 14001) and Health and Safety (OHSAS 18001) Management Systems were integrated with its Quality Management System (ISO 9001).
SteelAsia’s Quality Management System has also been certified to conform to UK CARES or the UK Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steel Bars, the only Philippine company to achieve such certification at this time.
“We hope to do our part in raising the reputation of Philippine manufacturing by ensuring that our steel products are at par with the best in the world,” Sy said.
She also assured that SteelAsia will continue to ably support domestic requirements, especially the ongoing massive infrastructure developments in the country.
The Yao-owned SteelAsia is the Philippines’ flagship steel firm with six rebar rolling mills across the country – three in Luzon, one in the Visayas, and two in Mindanao – producing an output of over two million tons per year.
“We are proud to contribute to the country’s development, not only through the manufacture of quality steel locally but also by earning precious foreign exchange for the country through exports,” Sy concluded.
In December last year, SteelAsia Chairman Benjamin Yao have partnered with China’s HBIS Group Co. Ltd. and Huili Investment Fund Management Co. Ltd. to jointly undertake the country’s first integrated steel manufacturing operation in Misamis Oriental worth $4.4 billion.
The facilities in the plant will include those related to port operation, sintering, coking, pelletizing, iron-making, steel-making, steel rolling and further processing. The construction and ramp-up period is scheduled to span from three to five years.

...the new sardine specie

New sardine species thrives in Manila Bay 


Manila Standard
25 March 2019


Manila Bay’s ecosystem is not dying. In fact, a new sardine species, Sardinella pacifica, has been discovered in Manila Bay waters and in other parts of the country. 

According to a peer-reviewed journal article, Japanese taxonomists HarutakaHata and Hiroyuki Motomura collected samples from Manila Bay, Quezon, Sorsogon and Samar and those revealed distinct characteristics from other sardine species, concluding a new species of sardines was found only in the Philippines.
“We appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte to stop all reclamation projects lined up in Manila Bay,” said Gloria Estenzo Ramos, vice president of Oceana in the Philippines.
“This can be the legacy of your administration―that you were able to save the rich ecosystem of Manila Bay that carries national and natural heritage significance, especially with the discovery of this new sardine species i Philippine waters.” 
Manila Bay was identified by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources as a spawning area of sardines and is still one of the main fishing grounds of artisanal fishermen who depend on the sea for their livelihood. Sardines is on top of the kinds of fish caught in the area.

New sardine species thrives in Manila Bay
“Instead of dumping and filling our seas that bury and destroy mangroves, sea grass beds, corals and other fisheries habitats, let’s collectively save and protect these from destruction because of so-called “development” projects,” Ramos said. 
“More importantly, let’s help our artisanal fishermen earn a decent livelihood to feed their families from our rich marine resources that are known all over the world.”
Oceana appealed to Duterte to review and assess the projects submitted to the Philippine Reclamation Authority that would result in irreversible damage to the marine habitats. 
Ramos said the irreparable destruction in Manila Bay would leave the artisanal fishermen almost without income because of low or no catch, and their families hungry and displaced.
“These projects violate our constitutional right to balanced and healthful ecology, as well as our fisheries and environmental laws,” Ramos said. 
Oceana is co-organizing with Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas, and Center for Environmental Concerns a People’s Summit on Reclamation on March 26 to 27. 
The summit will discuss scientific studies and legal review with the government, academe, scientists and legal experts, non-government organizations and the urban poor and coastal communities in Manila Bay. 

...the Happiest Countries in the World

The World Happiness Report 2019 Is Out—Check Out The Ranking Of The Philippines

Cosmopolitan Philippines
24 March 2019


In the latest World Happiness Report (2019), the Philippines ranked 69. The results and ranking compare the happiness quotients of 156 countries. In the last report, the Philippines ranked 71st in the happiness meter, so we upped our happy score by a tiny bit.

The World Happiness Report 2019 is by Helliwell, J., Layard, R., and Sachs, J. (2019) produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. To arrive at the latest ranking, they asked respondents to value their lives on a 0 to 10 scale, with 0 being the worst possible life and 10 being the best possible life. And, the score of the Philippines? We got 5.63 points out of 10 points. While our ranking would still be lower than a 60 percent passing mark in a typical test, we still bested some of our neighbors, particularly the likes of Hong Kong SAR, China which came in at 76th place (5.430) and China which ranked 93rd (5.191).
Some of our favorite travel destinations ranked higher with Canada at 9th spot (7.278), the United States at 19th (6.892), France at 24th (6.592), Singapore at 34th (6.262), South Korea at 54th (5.895), and Japan at 58th (5.886). Topping the list were some of the Scandinavian countries with Finland besting all the others (again) with a 7.769 happiness score.

The World Happiness report “attempts to show how six key variables contribute to explaining the full sample of national annual average scores…. These variables are GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and absence of corruption.”

“We do not construct our happiness measure in each country using these six factors – the scores are instead based on individuals’ own assessments of their lives,” say the experts behind the study. So, if you were to rate your happiness against similar metrics, how would you fair? Would you say that you’re truly happy?

Checkout the ranking of156 countries below:
1. Finland (7.769)
2. Denmark (7.600)
3. Norway (7.554)
4. Iceland (7.494)
5. Netherlands (7.488)
6. Switzerland (7.480)
7. Sweden (7.343)
8. New Zealand (7.307)
9. Canada (7.278)
10. Austria (7.246)
11. Australia (7.228)
12. Costa Rica (7.167)
13. Israel (7.139)
14. Luxembourg (7.090)
15. United Kingdom (7.054)
16. Ireland (7.021)
17. Germany (6.985)
18. Belgium (6.923)
19. United States (6.892)
20. Czech Republic (6.852)
21. United Arab Emirates (6.825)
22. Malta (6.726)
23. Mexico (6.595)
24. France (6.592)
25. Taiwan Province of China (6.446)
26. Chile (6.444)
27. Guatemala (6.436)
28. Saudi Arabia (6.375)
29. Qatar (6.374)
30. Spain (6.354)
31. Panama (6.321)
32. Brazil (6.300)
33. Uruguay (6.293)
34. Singapore (6.262)
35. El Salvador (6.253)
36. Italy (6.223)
37. Bahrain (6.199)
38. Slovakia (6.198)
39. Trinidad and Tobago (6.192)
40. Poland (6.182)
41. Uzbekistan (6.174)
42. Lithuania (6.149)
43. Colombia (6.125)
44. Slovenia (6.118)
45. Nicaragua (6.105)
46. Kosovo (6.100)
47. Argentina (6.086)
48. Romania (6.070)
49. Cyprus (6.046)
50. Ecuador (6.028)
51. Kuwait (6.021)
52. Thailand (6.008)
53. Latvia (5.940)
54. South Korea (5.895)
55. Estonia (5.893)
56. Jamaica (5.890)
57. Mauritius (5.888)
58. Japan (5.886)
59. Honduras (5.860)
60. Kazakhstan (5.809)
61. Bolivia (5.779)
62. Hungary (5.758)
63. Paraguay (5.743)
64. North Cyprus (5.718)
65. Peru (5.697)
66. Portugal (5.693)
67. Pakistan (5.653)
68. Russia (5.648)
69. Philippines (5.631)
70. Serbia (5.603)
71. Moldova (5.529)
72. Libya (5.525)
73. Montenegro (5.523)
74. Tajikistan (5.467)
75. Croatia (5.432)
76. Hong Kong SAR, China (5.430)
77. Dominican Republic (5.425)
78. Bosnia and Herzegovina (5.386)
79. Turkey (5.373)
80. Malaysia (5.339)
81. Belarus (5.323)
82. Greece (5.287)
83. Mongolia (5.285)
84. Macedonia (5.274)
85. Nigeria (5.265)
86. Kyrgyzstan (5.261)
87. Turkmenistan (5.247)
88. Algeria (5.211)
89. Morocco (5.208)
90. Azerbaijan (5.208)
91. Lebanon (5.197)
92. Indonesia (5.192)
93. China (5.191)
94. Vietnam (5.175)
95. Bhutan (5.082)
96. Cameroon (5.044)
97. Bulgaria (5.011)
98. Ghana (4.996)
99. Ivory Coast (4.944)
100. Nepal (4.913)
101. Jordan (4.906)
102. Benin (4.883)
103. Congo (Brazzaville) (4.812)
104. Gabon (4.799)
105. Laos (4.796)
106. South Africa (4.722)
107. Albania (4.719)
108. Venezuela (4.707)
109. Cambodia (4.700)
110. Palestinian Territories (4.696)
111. Senegal (4.681)
112. Somalia (4.668)
113. Namibia (4.639)
114. Niger (4.628)
115. Burkina Faso (4.587)
116. Armenia (4.559)
117. Iran (4.548)
118. Guinea (4.534)
119. Georgia (4.519)
120. Gambia (4.516)
121. Kenya (4.509)
122. Mauritania (4.490)
123. Mozambique (4.466)
124. Tunisia (4.461)
125. Bangladesh (4.456)
126. Iraq (4.437)
127. Congo (Kinshasa) (4.418)
128. Mali (4.390)
129. Sierra Leone (4.374)
130. Sri Lanka (4.366)
131. Myanmar (4.360)
132. Chad (4.350)
133. Ukraine (4.332)
134. Ethiopia (4.286)
135. Swaziland (4.212)
136. Uganda (4.189)
137. Egypt (4.166)
138. Zambia (4.107)
139. Togo (4.085)
140. India (4.015)
141. Liberia (3.975)
142. Comoros (3.973)
143. Madagascar (3.933)
144. Lesotho (3.802)
145. Burundi (3.775)
146. Zimbabwe (3.663)
147. Haiti (3.597)
148. Botswana (3.488)
149. Syria (3.462)
150. Malawi (3.410)
151. Yemen (3.380)
152. Rwanda (3.334)
153. Tanzania (3.231)
154. Afghanistan (3.203)
155. Central African Republic (3.083)
156. South Sudan (2.853)