THE BUREAU of Immigration at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) confirmed that the American business magnate Bill Gates arrived on private plane as early as April 4, not in Manila but in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.
From Palawan, Gates and his entourage went to the exclusive Amanpulo resort in Pamalican Island also in Palawan.
On Wednesday morning, Gates flew to Manila and proceeded to the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna and later returned to Manila.
Gate’s private plane, a US-registered aircraft (N887WM), was parked at the Asian Aerospace Hangar in the General Aviation Area of the NAIA.
Gates apparently went to IRRI as part of a project of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which supports IRRI and other partners to develop Golden Rice, a type of rice that contains beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A.
The foundation has extended a grant to support a range of activities to develop Golden Rice varieties that are suited for the Philippines and Bangladesh.
Since a large proportion of vitamin A-deficient children and their mothers reside in rice-consuming populations, particularly in Asia, Golden Rice should substantially reduce the prevalence and severity of vitamin A deficiency, and prevent at least hundred of thousands of unnecessary deaths and cases of blindness every year, the foundation said in its website.
Golden Rice is still currently under development and evaluation. It will only be made available broadly if it is approved by national regulators and shown to reduce vitamin A deficiency for the world’s poorest populations.
