Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Elections 2023 Schedule

Hello mga Kapitbahay! You've probably seen posters of "candidates" around your neighborhood and like me, you're probably wondering about the schedule of the barangay elections.

Here's the schedule:

August 28 to November 29, 2023 - election period, gun ban

August 28 to September 2, 2023 - filing of candidacy

September 3 to October 18, 2023 - campaigning is prohibited

October 19 to 28, 2023 - campaign period

October 29 to 30, 2023 - campaigning is prohibited

October 30, 2023 - election day, 7 am to 3 pm

Cubao Fire View from Paranaque

We were enjoying the good air quality yesterday when it suddenly went bad. Went outside to check the vicinity and was surprised to see a huge cloud of smoke billowing from the North. We saw the smoke at around 5:20 pm. 

5:22pm

Immediately checked Twitter and saw that the smoke was from an ongoing fire in Cubao. It was later on reported to be the old Araneta Center Bus Terminal. Video footage from netizens and the news showed the fire engulfed the whole block where the bus terminal was located. The fire was escalated to Task Force Bravo almost two hours after it first started. 

5:56pm

GMA News reported that the fire started past 4 in the afternoon. BFP and fire volunteers from different cities arrived to respond. The incident was declared fire out at 10:09 p.m., much faster than the recent incident in Paranaque City which took more than 12 hours to address (maybe their water supply was more reliable). 

Hope and pray for everyone's safety. Ingat lagi mga kapitbahay!

Suspicious Bag Found in Dona Soledad, Paranaque

A suspicious bag was found in the vicinity of a gas station late evening last February 9, 2023. Video of response made by the Bomb Squad and Sun Valley and Moonwalk fire department/brigade was posted by the Moonwalk Fire Rescue Brigade (video here).

Screenshot of incident from Moonwalk Fire Rescue Brigade video.

For safety, both lanes on Dona Soledad was closed to traffic while the bag was being assessed. After almost an hour, the team said the item was safe. No other info was provided regarding the contents or owner of the bag. 

Huge Fire in Sucat, Paranaque

We were about to head to the bedroom last night when we heard a lot of sirens. Immediately checked Twitter and saw a news channel say it was in our area. Alarmed we looked for the warehouse, but results did not show any DPWH offices in our area. After monitoring a bit more we eventually found out the fire was in Sucat, Paranaque. It was later on clarified it was a warehouse for lumber and not the DPWH office. 

As of writing, BFP has not declared fire out. Bam Alegre of GMA News mentioned in his report that BFP had a hard time getting water in the area. Maynilad has been turning off water in parts of Paranaque in the past two weeks. We stayed up until about 3 in the morning monitoring the situation. The fire happened just behind a gas station and that was really concerning. We knew though from the fire that happened in December 2022 that it will take awhile before it's fully out. 

Here's the news by TeleRadyo about the fire -

Here's the area of the https://goo.gl/maps/rdeNhDqA6ma9E8Bn6

The huge fire in Sucat was the second one in Paranaque in less than a week. There was a fire in Saudi Street in Barangay Don Bosco last week according to txtfire.net. It was a storage facility, luckily the fire was put out within an hour. 

Hope and praying for the safety of everyone. Take care always mga kapitbahay!

Paranaque Basura Collection Status

As advised by the Paranaque City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), they would be prioritizing collecting trash from main roads. Saw the team collecting trash this morning. 

Hope everything will normalize soon.

Update on Paranaque Basura Collection

You would have noticed by now that trash hasn't been collected since last week. We've brought out our trash a couple of times in the past few days hoping it would be collected. The Paranaque City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) has posted this announcement on their FB page -

Like other residents we hope that the trash will be collected soon.

NOAH Shares Which Areas Of Paranaque City Experience Floods

It is well known that Metro Manila experiences floods during typhoon season due to heavy rains. 

If you are a local of Paranaque City, you probably already know which streets and barangays are prone to flooding. If not, the extent of flooding in your area can be looked up online if you're unfamiliar with it.

An online web tool, made possible by the National Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), reveals areas vulnerable to floods, landslides, and storm surges. You can enter an address or see a map of your current location to see an instant visual representation of the affected areas. The map's magnification range extends from street level to barangay and city. The map is not a real-time tool for tracking floods; rather, it relies on historical information. Because of this, drivers may learn whether places are at risk of flooding without having to go through one.

To use the tool, go to https://noah.up.edu.ph, and enter your location or a different one. It will return results of possible places based on the street level of the address you enter.

Project NOAH is still in beta release. There are ongoing developments to stabilize the platform and complete the hazard maps.