By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Basura, not the type bulging and coming out of a maleta, is a problem throughout the Philippines. And in many other countries, I should definitely add.
The redeeming value here is that there are some cities and municipalities in the country that have good garbage management system or program. Baguio is a prime example. I would like to believe that La Trinidad is fast catching up. Congratulations to both.
A little troubling though is the proposed ordinance of Baguio city to increase its garbage collection fee from PhP20.00 to PhP100.00/household/mo. The issue is not the increase itself but the rate of increase is-it amounts to 500%. They Baguio city council could argue that the PhP20.00 had not been changed for some years, so the high percentage increase is justifiable. If that is so, then it is an admission of lack of legislative foresight on their part, which is certainly not a sound basis at all for such an increase.
You increase suddenly rental fees for stalls, apartment, etc by more than 30% and you will face not only brick walls but swinging bats as well. It would be more advisable to impose increases on a less earthquaking mode.
It is said that there are 146,000 households in Baguio which means that a fee of 100.00/HH will fetch a total collection of PhP14.6M/mo. The higher garbage fee levied on commercial and other business establishments, will certainly jack up the amount to more than PhP50.0M collection/mo.
Interestingly, they are now trying to redefine what household is. According to some councilors, they are mulling at describing a household as made up of only 4 members which does not jibe with the current average number of Filipino family as about 6; the 2 parents plus 4 kids. Defining a HH that way runs counter to the acceptable definition of social research like surveys. It will be confusing, to say the least. If they insist on that 4 number, then they should use another term, not HH.
Whatever, it would result to increase in collection, which sounds like the city is trying to earn something from the garbage of dutifully tax-paying households (more than one could actually be individual taxpayers), instead of providing service to them.
And talking of basura, recent rallies done at EDSA and at Bonifacio freedom Park in Manila resulted to tons of garage left by the rallyists. Sadly, that is true also in other rallies or big activities in various parts of the country. It is an unfortunate commentary to our little regard of our living environment.
Let us learn from the Japanese. There was a time when a Japanese resident in Baguio picked up litters especially in a pedestrian overpass. He was showing to us how to clean our own environment. He was praised no end by many, but did we learn from it? Nah!
The Japanese take that culture of theirs even when watching events while abroad. Visualize this. In the current FIFA World Cup of football being held in USA, Japanese fans went to Dallas, Texas to watch the match between Japan and the Netherlands. The result was a tie between the teams. After the match, the Japanese fans brought out their plastic garbage bags and picked up all debris left in the stadium. They left it spotly-clean. I saw some glimpse of this in some foreign news network.
This was amply elaborated in an article of a local broadsheet last week. The article went on to paint this based on interviews. “It is a Japanese culture. A habit first learned in primary school”, said an expert.
Cleaning chores are a part of Japanese education from an early age, and children can be seen scrubbing floors and tables at school everyday.
Calling the attention of Dep Ed.
A fan added, “We were told that when we use a place, we should make tidier than when we arrived-when we leave. For example, at school, we tidy up our classrooms before we leave, without our teachers telling us to do so. We have to think of everyone else”.
Public waste cans are not common in Japan, and people are expected to take their rubbish home with them
In Japan, if one person starts picking up litter, those around them feel they have to join in. If they don’t, the people they are with think they are bad people
[In here: people just say, ang sipag mo ah. Or, bakit ikaw ang nagpupulot niyan? We don’t join the fun]
One Sociologist said: “We usually do not tell children to do it, We just show them our actions and behavior and the other people follow.”
While many of us care about the environment and cleanliness, many others just don’t care. I even heard in one TV interview much earlier where a woman said, “uunahin pa ba namin ang kalinisan ng kapaligiran kung wala naming makain?”
If the basura strewn around came from a maleta, am sure the street will become clean as the basuras are picked up mainly by those in power and well-off. But they deny to death that they had done the “good job” even if so many unblemished pairs of eyes have recorded them doing it. **
