Last week, I mentioned tips from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on how to keep the living room safe.
Here now are suggestions from Meralco on safety in the bedroom:
Use light bulbs of specified wattage for the lamp or lighting fixture. A bulb of improper wattage or rating or of the wrong type may lead to overloading and cause fire.
Make sure light bulbs are screwed in securely. Loose bulbs may overheat.
Do not place any electrical appliances near water, like in the sink or bathtub. Appliances used near water should be unplugged when not in use.
Keep combustible materials away from lamps and other sources of heat. Clothes, curtains, newspapers can burn or catch fire easily.
As for saving energy, Meralco suggests using natural light as much as possible. Reading tables may be placed near windows and skylights installed in working areas. Lamps that provide direct lighting over desks, beds and work areas save energy, as they do not need as much wattage as lighting used to illuminate an entire room.
Use low wattage bulbs in areas that do not need strong lighting, such as hallways, foyers and doorways. Lights that are not in use should be turned off. An episode of the television show “Mythbusters” on Discovery Channel showed that keeping the light on in an empty room, even if you are away for only a minute or so, wastes energy.
Lighting fixtures should be cleaned regularly. Dirt, Meralco says, lessens illumination by as much as 50 percent. And, of course, incandescent bulbs should be replaced with compact fluorescent lamps, if you have not done so yet.
When using an electric fan, lock the oscillator so the wind is blown only in the direction where it is needed. Fan blades and motor should be cleaned regularly to keep the appliance running efficiently.
Short-lived campaign?
Reader Thomas Keinath, who says he has been a resident of Manila for eight years, has a question for the city of Manila. Keinath says he was happy to learn about the smoking ban in the city. But now he wonders if it is still in effect as “I still see people smoking regularly in all the bars here in Malate. Even when (there is a no-smoking sign) posted, people still smoke, which indicates to me there is no enforcement mechanism.”
Well, I have repeatedly said that I suspect Manila is the designated smoking area of Metro Manila, which is why drivers of public utility vehicles smoke the moment they enter the city and throw away their cigarettes as soon as they are out of it.
Incidentally, Mayor Jun-Jun Binay may want to know that some people are wondering if Makati is starting to relax its strict smoking ban that earned it international accolades when his father, who is now vice president, was the city’s chief executive. They tell me that they have seen some jeepney drivers smoking and some establishments without designated smoking areas.
PhilHealth in the mall
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has set up help desk counters inside Robinsons Malls’ Lingkod Pinoy Center. Nine PhilHealth outlets are operational in different Robinsons Malls nationwide, with two more set to open this month—Robinsons Imus and Robinsons Dasmariñas.
That should make it more convenient for PhilHealth members to transact business with the government corporation as malls usually are easily accessible by public transport.
Visit https://www.philhealth.gov.ph; call 4417442 or 3970190 loc. 386.
Send letters to The Consumer, Lifestyle Section, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1098 Chino Roces Ave. cor. Mascardo and Yague Sts., 1204 Makati City; fax 8974793/94; or e-mail [email protected].
