By Pigeon Lobien   BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — With 12 of the 900 bamboo saplings to be planted at the Media Camp, the plants capability to recue pollution in an urban setting will be tested, the Philippine Bamboo Foundation believes. This is the belief of PBF president Edgardo Manda who eyes more than 900 bamboo saplings of 15 varieties to be planted at the Camp which he said “would mean a demonstration of bamboo’s capabilty to reduce air pollution in an urban setting, creating a bamboo eco-park as a learning tool to educate students and public on bamboos role in environmental protection.” He said this writer before New Year’s Day that the PBF’s advocacy on bamboo education and use of the bamboo eco-park “proof of concept will drive people or the public to adopt bamboo for nature based solution against environmental degradation.” He said that there is a need for Baguio officials to “take a good look at bamboos role in hillside and slope protections.” He added: “using Baguio’s homegrown well adapted bamboo species called Phyllostachys aurea commonly called Benguet bamboo.” The PBF, its partner All In on December 12 planted 12 multiplex to jumpstart the six month project to populate the Media Camp at the picnic grove of Burnham Park. The rain drenched Friday afternoon ceremony served as the one year celebration of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club memorandum of agreement adopting the portion of the park with the city government led by mayor Benjamin Magalong. The torrential rain was welcomed by the PBF president saying that it was a blessing, in fact, more than a blessing after leading the planting with All In’s Faith Mondejar and the late Nicolas Ilagan’s widow, Laarni nee Sibayan, formerly a Sun Star Baguio reporter. He said that planting will continue until May when the first saplings planted will mature.                    

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) is setting its sights on the full-scale implementation of its automated metering infrastructure (AMI) in the next five years to achieve its mission of making its power distribution system safe, resilient, and efficient, and elevate to Level IV category its current status under the global Smart Distribution Utility Network. BENECO General Manager Engr. Melchor S. Licoben said that the AMI will pave the way for the electric cooperative to read the power consumption of the consumers in the headquarters through an established state of the rt system with the aid of technology, which is part of its ongoing innovations to further improve its efficiency in providing cheap and quality power. Initially, he stated that there is an ongoing pilot testing of the AMI in Barangay Pinget, where some 300 meters have been installed in some households whose power consumption is being read through the said system. The BENECO official announced that the AMI will be implemented full scale within its franchise area in Baguio and Benguet starting next year, which is part of the electric cooperative’s long-term plan of making its power distribution system resilient, reliable, and efficient to conform with global standards in the highly competitive global power industry. He admitted that the full implementation of the AMI is the only aspect of innovation that BENECO has not yet implemented to improve its current Level III status to Level IV under the Smart Distribution Utility Network and become one of the first electric cooperatives to achieve such a coveted status in the future. According to him, there are already some 600 meters that have been put in place within BENECO’s franchise area that are being billed through the AMI, where the power bills of the consumers are being sent through the internet to their registered email addresses. He explained that the billing, disconnection, and reconnection processes, once the AMI is fully implemented, will be more efficient because of the reliability of the established system that will pave the way for fewer inconveniences among the consumers when transacting with the electric cooperative relative to the said matters.