Call for Nominations for Member of the Board of Chemistry

The Chemistry profession is regulated by the PRC through the Board of Chemistry. The Board of Chemistry has three (3) members and nominations are being invited for members of the Board.

For the list of complete requirements, click HERE to download the file.

Deadline of submission of entries is on 2 April 2013 (Tuesday).

ICP-Bacolod Technical Seminar and Induction of 2013 Officers

The newly-reorganized ICP-Bacolod Chapter marked its re-inauguration with a Seminar on Chemical Waste Management which was held at Sugarland Hotel, Bacolod City, last December 7, 2012. ICP-Bacolod was formerly known as ICP-Negros.

The guest resource speaker for the seminar was Ms. Edna C. Mijares, Vice President of ICP-National and President and CEO of JEFCOR Laboratories.  The seminar attracted a big audience from industry (sugarmills, distilleries, bottling plants, and others), academe, research institutions, hospitals, clinical labs and government agencies.

The highlight of the event was the induction of the 2013 officers: President: Roselyn C. Usero, Negros Prawn Producers Cooperative Analytical and Diagnostic Laboratory; Vice-president: Dida V. Gatanela, Sugar Regulatory Administration; Secretary: Mildred P. Bermejo, University of Negros Occidental Recoletos; Treasurer: Glenda S. Buendia, SRA; Board of Directors: Melinda M. Montaño, UNO-R; Leilani L. Crucero and Charity Huna B. Fabon, University of St. La Salle; Russell Guacena, Distileria Bago; Grace Tantengco, Aldrzt Corp; Ma. Elisa A. Alvarez, Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils., Inc.; Arlene C. Matti, SRA-Bacolod; Leo D. Pacalda, First Farmers Milling Corp.; and Mary Jonie O. Villanueva, West Negros University.

The event, which was sponsored by Molave Trading, was the perfect venue for rekindling the ties between ICP-Bacolod and ICP-National. The new set of officers expressed their commitment to give their full support and participation in the plans and programs of ICP-National.

ICP-Bacolod looks forward to more activities next year to boost the morale of not only licensed chemists but associate members as well to make ICP-Bacolod active again, productive and sustainable.
Another challenge for ICP-Bacolod is to produce more chemists in Negros and to revive hope as the organization continues to believe that the Chemistry profession will make a radical recovery back to the level where it once was.

Advanced GHS Training held in Makati

The Integrated Chemists of the Philippines held its second in the series of GHS Awareness activities by conducting the Advanced GHS Training last November 27-29, 2012, at the Makati Palace Hotel in Makati City.

This advanced training for the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) was intended for all of those who are involved in chemical safety in the laboratory both academe and industry,  research , production, transport and public health. The participants included those who completed the Basic GHS Training or had attended seminar on GHS Overview.

The objectives of the Advanced GHS Training were: to familiarize participants with the GHS criteria for classifying physical, health and environmental hazards; to learn the elements of hazard communication; and to practice application of hazard criteria to sample chemicals and to determine which GHS hazard communication elements apply.

The course was divided into four parts. Part 1 was the Introduction to Hazard Classification and Hazard Communication where the steps and guidelines on how to classify and communicate the hazards were discussed. Part 2 was about Physical Hazard Criteria, where the 16 classes of physical hazards were defined and characterized and the criteria for determining the categories, i.e., the severity, of each hazard class are discussed. At the end of the presentation participants were divided into 7 groups and given set of exercises to answer. Each group presented the process of how they arrived at the answers. Part 3 presented Health Hazard Criteria where the basis for classifying the ten (10) health hazard classes and their categories were explained. Similar to Part 1, a set of exercises were also provided where each group was asked to answer and present their reasons for their classification. Part 4 covered Environmental Hazard Criteria, where the basis for classifying the class of hazard and the categories were discussed. At the end of this presentation, a workshop was conducted to solve a set of exercises which was given to each group. Presentors from each group were asked to discuss and explain their answers.

The three-day training was concluded with the awarding certificates to the participations by the trainers, Ms. Tessie B. Corpuz and Ms. Marila Palisoc.

ICP holds much-awaited seminar on Practical and Cost Effective Solutions to Laboratory Chemical Wastes, Part II

By Ms. Mutya Samonte

It was in 2008 when the ICP held its first seminar on Chemical Laboratory Waste Management. As a result of this seminar, a number of laboratories initiated changes in their chemical waste management practices.

Two participants from first seminar have now come full circle and were speakers in the second seminar, entitled “Practical and Cost Effective Solutions to Laboratory Chemical Wastes, part II”, which was held on October 24-25, 2012, at MetroClub, Makati.

Two of invited speakers who presented their respective programs and insights were Mr. Joel Ballesteros, PCO for UP Diliman Institute of Chemistry, and Ms. Lilia Molina, Head of the Analytical Services Laboratory at IRRI.

Other speakers included Engr. Edwin Navaluna, Supervising Environmental Specialist of DENR-EMB and Dr. Veronica Migo, Head of the Central Analytical Services Laboratory of Biotech, UP Los Baños, shared the process for Hazardous Chemical Identification and the relevant laws applying to chemical waste management.

Ms. Tess Cayton, former plant Manager for Bayer Crop Science and now a private Environmental Consultant, presented an overview of the best practices on chemical waste disposal as practiced at Bayer (Philippines), to comply with local regulations and national laws, in particular with respect to pesticides.

Dr. Luerne De Sales, General Manager of All Wastes Services, Inc. (formerly Inchem) showed how chemical wastes are treated in their facilities and Mr. Mark Castillo, an Applications Specialist of Merck Millipore, provided a review of innovations in chemical waste management.

The seminar was capped by a workshop which involved exercise on how to identify, estimate and classify chemical wastes based on procedures from laboratory exercises and analytical methods.

The main coordinator and lively emcee for this seminar was Ms. Edna Mijares and the workshop exercises were developed by Dr. Fabian Dayrit.

The 118 participants from government, academe, and industry were able to take home valuable information and skills. Many were inspired to start and improve on their lab waste management process.

The two-day seminar was well worth the wait. The ICP plans to bring the seminar to the regions in the near future.

Basic GHS Training conducted in Ateneo de Davao

By Dr. Toby Dayrit and Ms. Tess Corpuz

The Integrated Chemists of the Philippines (ICP) conducted a one-day Basic Training Program on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) last October 27, 2012, at the Ateneo de Davao University.

Ms. Teresita Corpuz

Ms. Marila Palisoc

This Basic GHS course was conducted by Ms. Teresita B. Corpuz and Ms. Marila Palisoc as trainers and was attended by 65 participants mainly from the Mindanao area from academe, government, industry, and chemical transport sectors.

The objectives of the Basic GHS course are: to provide background on how and why the GHS was developed, to discuss the purposes, objectives and benefits of the GHS, to present the scope and application of the GHS and its basic elements, and to understand the GHS in relation to other international agreements and standards.

The GHS training program is being undertaken by the ICP through funds provided by the the Board of Investment (BOI) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The BOI is the focal point of the the country’s project called: “National Strategic Plan to Implement GHS”, which is funded by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

Through this project, the ICP is tasked to assist the BOI in the conduct of GHS awareness seminars and workshops and to strengthen the involvement of stakeholders, such as industry, public interest and labor organizations.

The GHS is a new internationally-agreed tool for chemical hazard communication, incorporating harmonized chemical hazard classification criteria and provisions for standardized labels and safety data sheets.

GHS seminars and workshops will enable the concerned chemistry community to be able to understand how to classify the hazards of chemical substances and mixtures and be able to properly label them.

The seminars and workshops include Basic and Advance GHS Training. The ICP shall be conducting an Advanced GHS Training on November 27 to 29, 2012, at the Makati Palace Hotel.