By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
One of the most depressing and infuriating facts about us Filipinos is less than five percent of us are conscious about proper waste disposal. Except for the confines of the places we live and stay in like our homes, offices and cars, we treat the entire environment as one big trash can. Evidence for this abysmal cultural flaw is every where you look and every where you go in this country specially in the population centers. The waterways and water bodies that are teeming and clogged with multi-colored wastes. And yes, the bodies of water themselves which are black and dead due to being treated as gutters for generations. The human excreta in nooks and crannies of public places including parks which the electric lights cannot penetrate during the night. The clutter in grade school classrooms and campuses where ironically, cleanliness and proper waste disposal are being discussed ad nauseam. I can go on and on.
There is no need for me to prove that Filipinos are among the worlds most notorious litterbugs and least environmentally-conscious people. That is a well known fact nobody in his right mind would dare dispute. If you know of anyone who is offended by the sweeping opening of this column, bring him to the nearest psychiatric clinic before it’s too late. Only the insane believe that 95 percent of Filipinos know the meaning of “proper waste disposal” and more importantly, demonstrate it in actual life.
But the good news is Filipinos can learn how to exercise cleanliness and proper waste disposal under certain circumstances. Whether we admit it or not, unlike among other races where placing wastes where they belong and where they could do no harm is automatic, we Filipinos require some conditions in order for us to refrain from wrecking havoc on the environment. The first well known instance is a little problematic though because it requires a lot of money. You put a Filipino on a plane bound for a progressive country and you can be sure that the moment the plane lands, he is cured of his “the world is one huge trash can” mentality. We hear a lot of stories about Filipinos getting arrested and thrown in the slammer in other countries but as proof that the plane ride cure works all the time, I still have to hear of a Filipino abroad who got nabbed for littering and other improper waste disposal violations. The bad side of this solution is not only is it very expensive, it is also not permanent. The magic only works while the Filipino is abroad but the moment he comes back to the Philippines, goodbye cleanliness and back to being a Filipino in truth, in deeds and in wastes.
So let’s forget about the air plane solution.
I am not denying that there are clean places in the country. I said in the opening of this piece that less than five percent of Filipinos know and practice proper waste disposal. You can be sure that the enclaves of the rich in this country like Forbes Park are spotlessly clean. That is irrelevant to our discussion because of the impossibility of making all Filipinos rich and therefore practitioners of proper waste disposal. What is relevant for our purpose are the towns and cities in the country which have attained some degree of success in inculcating proper waste disposal values among their citizens and where the surroundings happily reflect such miracle. According to the Internet, there are a handful such LGUs but unfortunately, I could only vouch for two as I did not have the chance to see and verify the claims of the others. I am referring to Puerto Princesa, Palawan and Olongapo City, Zambales.
As frequent visitor of the latter city way back in the early 80s, I was witness to how then Mayor Richard Gordon established the proper waste disposal system there. The last time I was there in 2009 I was happy to see that the streets are still clean relatively speaking. The river between city and the Subic economic zone was not also a dump unlike other waterways passing through populated areas in the country.
That Puerto Princesa and Olongapo City could do it means that it could be done. It is actually a shame that the rest of the country instead of following suit, prefer to continue wallowing in their sea of trash.
We in Tabuk City have a choice – to follow the lead of the enlightened places in the country or to let things remain as they are. The move of the LGU to install a better waste disposal scheme and to rally the citizenry behind the endeavor gives us the opportunity to rid ourselves of our deplorable habits and mentality relative to waste disposal and in the process improve our environment and set the LGU on the road to joining the league of Puerto Princesa and Olongapo City in the not so distant future.
(Note: For lack of time to write something exclusively for this space, I “borrowed” my column in the first quarter issue of the Tabuk Life, the Tabuk City LGU official publication, which will get off the press first week of May. )**
