This Week’s Milestones: July 8-14, 2018

July 8, 1994

The provincial board of Albay province recommended the establishment of a disaster management office in Albay through a resolution that paved the way for the creation of a permanent provincial office that was later called Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (Apsemo).

It is the first disaster management office under a local government unit in Asia.

Apsemo, which aims a “zero-casualty” goal during catastrophes, has been cited by Asian Disaster Management Center based in Bangkok, Thailand, as the best model of disaster management in Asia and the world in April 1999.

Since 1995, Albay recorded no casualty in major disasters, except in 2006, when over 600 people were killed because of mudslide and volcanic eruption caused by Typhoon “Reming” (international name: Durian), and in 2013, when four foreign tourists and a local tour guide died when Mayon volcano blasted ash and rocks into the air.

July 12, 2016

The UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China had no historic title over the West Philippine Sea, which is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

The tribunal said that China had interfered with traditional fishing rights at Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), about 210 kilometers from the coast of Zambales province, and had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights by exploring for oil and gas near Recto Bank (Reed Bank), which lies about 153 km west of Palawan, in the Spratly archipelago.

Compiled by Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research

Sources: Inquirer Archives, DOT, southcotabato.gov.ph