00:00Good rainy Monday evening to all. Yours truly, Denise Osorio here for PTV News Now.
00:08Starting off our breaking stories this afternoon.
00:12With the wider distribution of the 20 peso a kilo rice program on a roll and making a dent in slowing down food inflation,
00:20the Department of Agriculture is sustaining the momentum with its follow-up launch of its Farm-to-Market Development Bridge program.
00:27This latest DA initiative which was conceived to improve the country's food security received the green light from the President-Chair Economic Development Council
00:37and is to be bankrolled by the official development assistance from France.
00:42In a meeting last Wednesday at the People's Palace, Aggy Chief Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. in a presentation
00:48cited long-standing logistical challenges brought about by maximizing farm productivity and market access.
00:56300 steel panel bridges, 4 single-lane and 259 extra-wide single-lane ones covering 52 provinces in 15 regions
01:06will be constructed from 2026 to 2029 under the plan.
01:11The site locations for these constructions were vetted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Engineering or BFAE,
01:18which led the site selection process, prioritizing area with potentially strong agricultural output amid poor road connectivity.
01:27Ultimately, the project is expected to substantially cut down transportation costs and post-harvest losses.
01:34After a not-so-encouraging results that obtained in the midterm polls,
01:41President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vowed to hold government agency heads into greater account
01:47in getting the job done and serving the public.
01:50Earlier today, the President flew south to the heart of Maranao Muslim country in Marawi City,
01:56Lanao del Sur, to see the status or progress of government rehab work in ground zero
02:01of the war between government forces and the rebel-mounted group known as the 2017 Marawi Siege.
02:09Greeted by an eager Marawi Muslim community,
02:12the President headed to a public elementary school in Barangay Sagon Songan
02:16for an up-close inspection of the temporary safe learning spaces in five schools
02:21put up as interim campuses and classrooms serving 720 students.
02:26He also brought up with him multiple Starlink internet systems out of his own pocket,
02:32which he distributed to two elementary and two high schools in Marawi City
02:37for fast, stable, and reliable connectivity to both student and teacher users.
02:43Likewise, school bags and supplies from the Office of the President were handed out for even greater student support.
02:50The temporary learning spaces, or TLS, was conceived and took effect in the aftermath of the 2017 Marawi Siege
02:57that left much of the city in rubble and utter destruction.
03:02These learning spaces consist of makeshift structures, tents, or repurposed buildings,
03:07and designed to provide continuing education to learners despite the challenges of displacement and ongoing recovery efforts.
03:15VOA's Natasha Mosgovia went to the University of Washington to see for herself
03:22how tiny robots find their own sources of energy to function and get the job done.
03:30This tiny robot can fit on your fingertip, but don't let the millimobile size fool you.
03:35It's more independent than most of its bigger competitors.
03:39Kyle Johnson is a millimobile co-creator.
03:41There are photodiodes, which are little sensors that can detect light on each of the corners.
03:47And so what it can do is actually move towards the gradient of greatest light
03:50so that it's actually seeking out its own energy source.
03:54The robot can basically run forever harvesting ambient energy, such as light or radio waves,
03:59without using batteries that contribute to electronic waste.
04:03This University of Washington team specializes in using environmentally friendly materials
04:07to develop small-scale electronics, including fully biodegradable computer mice
04:12and origami micro-flyers packed with data-gathering sensors
04:15that can change shape in flight to adjust course.
04:19Everything is built by hand, which co-creator Vicente Arroyo says can test the team's patience
04:24working with tweezers under a microscope.
04:27Electronics has been a passion from childhood,
04:29but to work at the small scale and at this scale is something I couldn't have imagined.
04:34We have all the equipment to make our prototypes here in-house,
04:38including things like this laser micromachining system that we use to build circuits
04:43and the microscopes and soldering tools that we use to assemble them.
04:46This robot the size of a penny can carry nearly three times its own weight
04:50while gathering data in different environments.
