Major environmental crisis waiting to happen

FOR over a decade now, the daily pollution of the Tondaligan Beach by occupants of Dagupan District Jail along Paras Street – officials and personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the almost a thousand inmates is nearing crisis level on two fronts.

The “unli” wastes of the occupants continue to be flushed out to the beach through three channels, making the Lingayen Gulf as the District Jail’s own septic tank. Talks and negotiations between BJMP, the Dagupan City government (and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources?) have been reported in the past but nothing concrete has come out of these talks. And all through the years, the concerned government officials have done nothing but pay lip service to the problem, simply pledging solutions and nothing else.

Clearly threatened are the health not only of the residents of Barangay Gueset but the guests that swim and picnic in Tondaligan Beach, and oh yes, the long beach coast of Pangasinan.  

Directly threatened as well is the tourism industry of Dagupan. Recall that in the 60s the Matabungkay Beach in Batangas was prime beach destination in Luzon, and later became the beach to avoid after neglect of the local government and the abuses could no longer be ignored and contained. Wastes were all over the place. It finally rebounded but only after years of intensified cleaning and clearing in the area.  

The city has a major environmental crisis in its hands waiting to happen. Who will be responsible? The Dagupan City government? The BJMP? The DENR? But will it still matter who’s to blame when diseases have spread, and humans and animals have died? And the word that the Tondaligan Beach is the septic tank of inmates has already spread?   

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‘Banana republic’

 PRECEDENTS are either good or bad. The good will definitely benefit future generations.  The bad will absolutely tarnish the future.  Very recently in a major ruling, the Supreme Court set free Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.  It raised quite a storm as Enrile was in jail since last year facing plunder, a non-bailable offense.

Citing weak evidence in his plea for temporary release, Enrile walked out of prison on a P1.4-million bail via an 8-4 vote from the magistrates. Justice Secretary De Lima lashed out at the decision by saying it transformed the country into a “banana republic.”  Meaning, it made us the world’s laughingstock.  Worse, decision-author Lucas Bersamin even unabashedly aided Enrile by citing humanitarian reason as one reason; Enrile is 91 years old. Without a doubt, the verdict reeked of a bad precedent in the justice system. 

Who would now stop those similarly facing plunder charges from doing another Enrile? Shame on Bersamin & Co.

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