Entrepreneurial Farmer

Sand And Gravel At P5 Per Cubic Meter

by Ambrosio R. Villorente

For an Aklanon, to quarry sand and gravel from the river like the Aklan river, he  must apply for a permit to quarry. The process starts from the Barangay like the Barangay Clearance issue where the quarry site is located.

The application passes to the municipal LGU where the quarry site is located and then to the LGU Aklan for approval. Other necessary papers are secured from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regarding the compliance of all laws on environment.

After all the requirements are secured, the application to quarry may be approved. The permittee begins its quarry operation. He pays the required fees to the Barangay, Municipality, province (Aklan) and the DENR. The applicant must have spent a considerable amount of money, time, and effort before his permit to quarry is approved and issued.

In order to recover his expenses in securing permit, operational expenses plus reasonable profit, he sells sand and gravel. 

The last time, about one month ago, I bought a small truck of gravel of three (3) cubic meters, I paid P1,200 or P400 per cubic meter.

With this P400 per cubic meter of  gravel from the Aklan river, I can not stop wondering why STL Panay will be charged sand and gravel from Aklan at P5.00 only per cubic meter. STL Panay will dredge 15,000,000 cubic meters from the Aklan river. Aklan will charge Singapore P5.00 only per cubic meter.

The 15,000,000 cubic meters if sold to the Aklanons at P400 per cubic meter means P6 billion. On the other hand, Singapore will only pay P75 million for the same quantity of gravel and sand. This shows Aklan pays 8,000 percent higher than what Singapore will pay. What is happening to our beloved province?

Moreover, Mr. Edgar Isada has filed the opposition of the Metro Kalibo Water District against the dredging for fear of salt water intrusion in the upland where water for domestic consumption in Kalibo, Banga, New Washington, and other towns of Aklan is being sourced.

Students Listen To FM Radio Stations

In a study conducted by Ronalyn R. Laurei, Liezlyn P. Manocan, and Erlo Z. Zonio, among the 55 AB Mass Communication students of the Northwestern Visayan Colleges, Kalibo, they found the following:

1. The respondents’ age ranges from 18 to 25 years old; 42 are females while 13 are males.

2. Majority of them prefers to listen to FM radio. Those who listen to AM radio tune in to Bombo radyo while those who listen to FM radio prefer Love radio.

3. The respondents had listen to many radio programs. Some listen to newscast for information, some listen to musical drama program for entertainment.

The study concluded that the listening pleasure of the respondents is influenced by entertainment values, the credibility of the radio programs, and the family influence.

Love radyo got the highest listening preference of the respondents because the whole family listens for entertainment, life style, and credibility of the program.

Respondents did not listen to educational radio program which information might have added to their knowledge. To them, most educational news program are irrelevant.

This study recommends that: 1. Radio Station should include timely and relevant educational news in radio programming, highly credible information, entertaining and will uplift their mental ability.

Hello… ED!

Hello… ED! Is this the usual greeting to a person who will nearly pass his prime? For what is ED?

In the medical world, ED means Erectile Dysfunction. This is another term for impotence; ED is the persistent inability to achieve and to maintain erection enough for satisfactory sexual activity. As high blood pressure is a “silent killer” disease, ED is a silent killer of the male esteem.

According to DR. Cesar S. Yap, Jr., “male sexual conquest measures the highest for manliness. Many ED patients suffer in silence-feeling embarrassed, fearful, and depressed.”

“ED can also endanger marital relationship; the wife feels she’s no longer attractive or desirable; she fears her husband is having an affair”, Dr. Yap added.

On the other hand, the ED man, in turn, fears that it is his big failure not to sexually satisfy his wife, hence marital break-up may happen.

ED AT 40

Is ED common? The Massachusetts Male Aging Study shows, according to Dr. Yap, that in men aged 40-70 years, 52 percent of these suffer from ED. Once they reached 40, they have 39 percent chance of having ED, and at 70 years old, 69 percent have ED.

My friend, Mr. Bell Stone from Connecticut joked:At age 20, a man can do it thrice in one setting,At 30: thrice daily,At 40: thrice weekly,At 50: thrice monthly,At 60: tries weakly,At 70: tries anything, and

At 80: tries to remember./MP