Aboitiz going into resort business

Spy Bits was informed by a reliable source that the Aboitiz Group is developing a major residential resort in a still undisclosed location in Palawan. We’re told the planned upscale project will be a combination of residential and commercial establishments that feature top class facilities and amenities, with former Aboitiz Transport System president and CEO Endika Aboitiz spearheading the development. We also heard that Endika purchased a couple of seaplanes which will provide the only mode of transportation going to the planned exclusive area. It is unclear, however, whether the project is a personal investment of Endika or if it is under the aegis of the Aboitiz Group whose businesses have certainly diversified, with real estate listed as one of the main categories.

Palawan, known as a “tropical paradise” that has been nicknamed the “Last Frontier,” is attracting a lot of visitors because of its reputation as an environment friendly destination. In fact, El Nido won the “Asia’s Responsible Tourism” award in the recent World Travel Awards because of its commitment to sustainability as seen in the way it strictly implements energy conservation and waste segregation. It also has rainwater storage facilities and a sewage treatment plan to make sure that sewage is not discharged into the sea and thereby prevents water contamination.

Although Boracay continues to be a popular tourist destination, more people are shying away because the beaches have become congested, with the place falling prey to over commercialization just like Baguio.  In Boracay most especially, resort owners are also finding it difficult to cope with the garbage problem that goes with the influx of tourists who treat the beach as their personal waste disposal unit.

As a matter of fact, the President ordered the creation of a technical working group, via a Memorandum Circular issued last year to prevent the further “degradation and deterioration” of the two top tourist destinations because of “rapid growth, commercialization and the lack of a comprehensive development and zoning plan.” 

Let’s hope our friend, Gov. Pepito Alvarez, will follow the lead of Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte when it comes to strictly implementing regulations in order to make sure that the pristine and Eden-like condition of this beautiful and bio-diverse “Last Frontier” province is maintained and preserved.

Ebola: New weapon of mass destruction?

Americans are alarmed at news that a “breach of protocol” has caused one of the nurses who came into contact with Thomas Eric Duncan (the first person in the US who was diagnosed with the Ebola virus disease and who died last week) to contract Ebola. Just how the protocol was breached was not indicated in reports, but officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted that they are evaluating the other health workers who were in contact with Duncan and may have possibly committed that same breach of protocol. Hazmat (hazardous materials) units from the Texas health services department have been deployed to secure the nurse’s vehicle and decontaminate her apartment as a precautionary measure.  

The Ebola virus is not transmitted by coughing or simple contact, but through bodily fluids like blood, urine, saliva, etc. that go through a cut in the skin or in the nose, mouth or eyes via contaminated hands. The news of a second – and possibly a third infection – is causing many to be frightened, prompted by suspicions that terrorists could use the virus as a biological tool/weapon of mass destruction to obliterate the West.

A hypothetical scenario is going around the Internet where a group of terrorists voluntarily get themselves infected with the Ebola, then fly to Europe, the US and other parts of the world. Since their condition is not yet contagious, they can pass security scans at airports, then wait until the symptoms – fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting, unexplained bleeding, diarrhea – appear before they deliberately go to public places and touch doors and other objects with contaminated hands.

The terror begins when people start getting sick, causing fear and paranoia as cities shut down and people refuse to go outside. Even if the US is well equipped to respond to a bioterror attack, the magnitude of the infection could still be overwhelming and could cripple the country, so goes the hypothetical scenario which, God forbid, sounds plausible.

In the Philippines, the DOH has stepped up an awareness campaign after downplaying the threat of the Ebola virus earlier, with chief epidemiologist Dr. Eric Tayag saying it was just a matter of time before the Philippines reported its first case since outbreak countermeasures are not enough to contain the virus. Although authorities have reportedly adopted US testing and control protocols, we will need more sophisticated scanners at airports to detect carriers of infectious diseases like the Ebola and the MERS Coronavirus.

At the Ebola Summit last Friday, DOH chief Dr. Enrique Ona admitted that the thermal scanners in our airports are not 100 percent reliable, with a possibility that passengers exposed to the infectious diseases could enter without getting detected – a disturbing thought, indeed.

Petty crimes drive outrage

The 47-second video of a 12-year-old pandesal vendor who was silently crying and shaking in fear after a man took all his pandesal plus P200 earnings at knifepoint has gone viral, with Netizens expressing outrage at the lowlife who took the child’s money.

Offers of help even from abroad have started to pour in for the boy, but not surprisingly, people are angry at the Philippine National Police for its perceived inability to protect ordinary citizens from pretty crimes like pickpocketing, and snatching, with criminals targeting students and young people like what happened to the group of girls who were just talking when a man suddenly attacked them and snatched one of the girls’ cell phone. Many are asking, whatever happened to the 900 new police recruits that were supposed to have been deployed in crime-prone areas in Metro Manila?

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