My car clock read 10:39 AM. It was Dec. 27. I was driving along the Circumferential Road when, just before the New Government Center, I saw a tricycle driver unloading unsegregated garbage by the sidewalk. Remember when they did this in the dead of night? Have we lost all shame? There’s no better way to bring a year to a crescendo than by giving credit where credit is due. There are members of our Sangguniang Panlungsod (that’s City Council, for my readers abroad) who have of late displayed their preference for being clean. These are councilors who have shown their enthusiastic support for the passage of what I call "clean" laws. I would like to celebrate these people in my column this week, starting with Councilor EM ANG who authored the city’s ordinance banning plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam, and the anti-littering law. I would like to thank Councilors EL CID FAMILIARAN and CARLO LOPEZ who, I am told, strongly support the ban on plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam. Councilor Familiaran must be genuinely green, because he also previously penned an ordinance on tree planting. I am reminded of the text message of Councilor Lopez’s mother during the campaign season, promising that her son will bring Godliness to the council. Councilor Lopez is now delivering on that promise, because in my books, cleanliness equates with Godliness. As I round out my list, let me give to Ceasar what is due Ceasar. I give Councilor CEASAR DISTRITO praise for writing the anti-vandalism ordinance. He is joined in this effort by Councilor Em Ang and Councilor AL VICTOR ESPINO, who now heads the Environment Committee. I am happy to note that the anti-vandalism ordinance prays for the collaboration of the Department of Education to launch an Information, Education, and Communication campaign. This is critical, because most vandals are school-age kids who spray paint walls all over the city. And you’d be surprised what schools these kids go to. It shows, vandalism knows no social status. Neither does UN-cleanliness.
Issuing this short-list of CLEAN COUNCILORS begs the question, are there only five clean councilors? For our sake, I hope that when the dust of the debates settles, there will be more than just five councilors standing, or these laws won’t pass. Perhaps, we should wait and see how all the councilors will be voting on all three ordinances, whether for or against. Only then will I complete my list of clean councilors. And only then will we know who needs a good scrubbing. You might wonder, how does vandalism fall within the realm of concerns of the Bacolod Anti-Baha Alliance? An anti-vandalism ordinance will go a long way in inspiring a cleaner lifestyle for us, and when cleanliness gets into our consciousness, the urge to segregate garbage will not be far behind. I recall how former Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando took her councilors to Singapore, a country where vandalism is painfully punished, to show them a clear picture of WORLD-CLASS CLEANLINESS, so they will be moved to support her solid waste management program. The trip paid off. And now that Mayor Leonardia’s administration is working on the sanitary landfill, of course in time for its promised opening on June 30, 2011, we should start talking about how to wean ourselves from these modern conveniences. Let’s start by clearly defining the objective of the proposed laws. The ordinance banning plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam forbids the use of plastic shopping bags (a.k.a. SANDO BAGS, film bags) only. That’s not to say that all other forms of plastic are okay. Not at all. This ordinance, in fact, only starts us on a journey to a zero-plastic lifestyle. And it is a substantial first step, considering who we are. And who we are as FILIPINOS, easily the world’s No. 1 abusers of plastic shopping bags and Syrofoam. Goodness, we even use these sando bags as human pooper-scoopers. And so obstinate are we that we claim our plastic shopping bags are biodegradable, that our Styrofoam boxes and trays do not contain CFC (chlorofluorocarbons). Fib most foul. Fabrication most perilous. But granted that the companies currently claiming these are being truthful, though I am yet to be convinced, what worries me more is this, that by their claims, the unscrupulous in their ranks would take their cue and pass off their own plastic shopping bags for biodegrable. In the event, we could end up worse off than before. For indeed, what’s to stop Tia Rosing, a market vendor, from claiming that the sando bag she uses to sell her tilapia is biodegrable, too? And there are millions of Tia Rosings. There are many industries that regularly use plastic shopping bags and Styrofoam in running their businesses. We should discuss them in light of helping them out of their tight spot, because their predicament is our predicament. We should bring their problem out into the open, because we need to have a say in the solution. Look at what our collective silence got us, plastic shopping bags flaunted as biodegrable, Styro packaging ballyhooed as CFC-free. Wet market vendors, fast food restaurants, even fine dining restaurants, groceries and supermarkets, department stores and boutiques. In future columns, we will discuss how these industries can re-tool themselves, and how we, as intelligent and concerned consumers, can help. By Alan S. Gensoli Negros Daily Bulletin
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