Feature Stories - Philippines

Feature Stories

	Naawan's Potable Water Supply System Inspires Other Towns by Rita Festin, ADB National Officer Naawan, Misamis Oriental -- This municipality, located just one hour from the city of Cagayan de Oro, was unheard of until it made the front page of newspapers by being proclaimed the "Christmasterpiece: Bayanihang Pasko 2005" Grand Winner. Beating major cities and towns nationwide, Naawan won the Christmas landmark competition with its colorful "Arch of Friendship: Building Future with People" entry. However, despite this municipality’s creativity, it had an unfulfilled need for basic services such as potable water. Read the full story.

It's a Go for "Green" Lightings in Cagayan de Oro By Rita Festin, ADB National Officer Cagayan de Oro City – This progressive city in Northern Mindanao will soon "went green" in August 2009 when 100,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) were distributed free to residential customers under Department of Energy (DOE) incandescent light bulb replacement program. CFLs use far less electricity to produce the same amount of light as old-technology incandescent light bulbs, and – last much longer: up to an estimated 10,000 hours. Read the full story.

	In Nueva Ecija, Carabao Dairy Farming is Booming By Rita Festin, ADB National Officer Talavera, Nueva Ecija - In tourism circles, Nueva Ecija is known for its fresh carabao (water buffalo) milk and pastillas de leche (milk candy). Carabao milk is a welcome alternative to cow's milk as its content of both fat and cholesterol is significantly lower than that of cow's milk. Read the full story.

Philippines Lightens Up on Power Needs By Rita Festin, ADB National Officer Manila, Philippines - As energy demand soars in the Philippines, there is little prospect of investors or finances coming forward to build new power plants to meet the country's energy needs. Read the full story and view the photo essay.

	October 2008 With ADB Support, NEC is Ready to Head Off Next Disease Outbreak In February, when there was an outbreak of about 2,400 typhoid fever cases in Calamba, Laguna, just outside of Metro Manila, it took three weeks before health authorities could send a team to investigate. Calamba did not have its own disease surveillance system and could not immediately act and resolve the problem. Read the full story.

3 July 2007 Sun-Powered Electricity Lights up Remote Philippine Village For two hours every night, a 10-watt light bulb makes it possible for 12-year old Ian Grace to do her homework and keep her place among the top 10 students of her class. Ian's household is one among many in Bunog village, in the Philippines, that benefits from a solar-powered battery system financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with resources provided by the Danish Cooperation Fund for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Rural Areas. Read the full story.

	11 May 2007 Smokey Mountain Now Home to 'Green' Waste Collection Center Smokey Mountain was once a 2 million-ton garbage heap that, for over 40 years, served as a waste disposal facility for the Philippines’ capital city of Manila. It drew a large community of informal settlers who scavenged the garbage for their livelihood. Read the full story.

20 December 2006 How and Why a Poor and Disaster-Prone Province Topped the National Exams Tomas Oppus, Southern Leyte -- It’s no accident that Southern Leyte topped the recent National Achievement Test (NAT) where three of its national high schools in fifth class municipalities bagged a 1-2-3 finish in the freshman level. In fact, eight of its national high schools were in the top 30.

	19 December 2006 ADB Celebrates 40th Anniversary On 19 December 2006, the Asian Development Bank celebrates its 40th anniversary. The work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day. Despite many success stories, Asia and the Pacific remains home to two thirds of the world's poor. ADB is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 66 member countries, 47 from the region and 19 from other parts of the globe. Read more

4-8 September 2006 ADB Board Visits Philippine Projects During a group visit to Philippines during 4-8 September, Board members viewed projects in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, and met with project executing agencies and participants to talk about the ADB-Philippines partnership. View the photo gallery.

	21 July 2006 Sisterhood of Mindanao Market Vendors Helps Them to Learn and Earn More At the market in Panabo, in the southern Philippine province of Davao del Norte, times have been hard for 68-year-old vendor Remedios Homesillo. But a new project has been trying to bring new hope and incomes to the vendors to help break them out of the cycle of poverty and debt, by teaching them new skills, improving working conditions, and in the process helping them become better parents. Read the full story.

15 June 2006 Upgraded Davao City International Airport is Ready for More Passengers & Bigger Aircraft Davao City – With air transportation crucial to economic and social connectivity in the Philippine archipelago, the new $128 million state-of-the-art international airport in this city is a welcome development. It is now fully operational and is raring to take in more passengers and bigger aircraft. Read the full story and view the photo gallery.

	26 April 2006 Bringing Early Childhood Development to the Philippine Poor Saludita Buton or Lola Salud, 53, has ten children and eight grandchildren. During the day, she babysits up to five other toddlers as a volunteer day-care mom for children of poor working mothers. She does this in a space less than 20 square meters adjacent to her home in Barangay Catadman, Catmon, Cebu. Read the full story and view the photo gallery.

18 April 2006 Reducing Tricycle Noise in the Philippines' Puerto Princesa City Puerto Princesa’s tricycles are fast-becoming tourist icons on their own like Thailand’s tuk-tuks. Its unique larger-than-usual design is intended to transport not just people, but cargo too. They are fitted with sidecars with shelves at the front and back sections to load agricultural produce. The windshield is wide and the sidecar is roomy to accommodate more cargo or passengers. The city is basically an agricultural and tourism area, hence the need to have a rear cargo compartment, inspired by the vintage cars of the 1950s. Read more.

	10 February 2006 Lilo-An's "Decentralized" Waste Water Treatment Facility Improves Cebu's Beaches In this small town of 80,000 inhabitants, a bold initiative of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila has made a significant contribution to the improvement of coastal environment. On 23 November 2005, Lilo-an municipality, DENR and ADB inaugurated a decentralized water treatment facility which is going to clean all waste waters from a public market in Poblacion, which was known to be an environmental "hot spot" at Lilo-an's beach. This market had been polluting this popular weekend beach of the Cebuanos for many years, and had caused headaches and health concerns to many of the city's visitors and its administrators.

25 October 2005 Southern Philippines Irrigation Project Agriculture production and farmers' income in the Southern Philippines will be raised as a result of the US$60 million Southern Philippines Irrigation Sector Project.

	19 October 2005 With ADB Funding, Puerto Princesa Eyes to be No.1 Puerto Princesa City -- Almost P2 billion worth of infrastructure projects funded by the Asian Development Bank in this city are boosting its US$100 million development plan which will make it ready for a massive tourism promotion that aims to bring in 600,000 tourists in just three years’ time.

2 September 2005 River Waste Goes Up in Smoke and Helps Poor Fisherfolk in the Process An environmental army in Calauan, Laguna has taken the matter of cleaning up the Laguna Lake Basin into their own hands and making money out of it in the process.

	27 June 2005 Saving the Fish for Another Day PANGASINAN, PHILIPPINES - The Fisheries Resource Management Project seeks to reverse the trend of declining fisheries resources in municipal waters - the area within 15 kilometers of the shore - caused by overfishing and destructive fishing using dynamite, cyanide and fine mesh nets.

25 May 2005 ADB Charm Offensive Brings New Hope to Upland Farmers SAGADA, MT. PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES - The Cordillera Highland Agriculture Resource Management (CHARM) is a seven-year project that aims to reduce poverty in the Cordillera region by increasing incomes of smallholder farm families through improved agricultural productivity and the development of sustainable systems of resource management.

	19 December 2004 From ‘HOME ALONG DA RILES’ to ‘DREAMLAND’ SAN PEDRO, LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES - Informal settlers living near the Muntinlupa railroad tracks no longer risk life and limb and hear the incoming screech of trains but have their own homes and livelihood in Dreamland Heights, San Pedro, Laguna, made possible through a US$1 million grant from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan.