Think about it
Those trash in plastic bags amuse tourists
By Jun Velasco
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” – Nursery rhyme
AFTER Dengue’s devastation comes Mother Nature’s harmful fury.
But is it really Mother Nature?
Or greedy man debauching Mother Nature?
We Northern folk must have (again!) seen — and experienced — a tough test to our human endurance in stormy times like this.
But first we can’t help but smile at the methodical way government officials handled the storm- brought crisis.
We saw how Guv’nor Spines did proactive work with the San Roque Dam managers, which many believe prevented possible drowning or more harrowing incidents.
The key word was “monitoring.” They zeroed in on the ebb and flow of the dam and its dreaded releases believed responsible for the flood waters in otherwise high or safe places.
A neighbor of City Administrator Vlad Mata was horrified Thursday evening with “tubig baha” entering the master’s bedroom, eliciting expletives no one deserves.
It’s easy to blame Mother Nature about the mess, forgetting that the climatic reverses were due to man’s wanton abuse of the environment.
Government do-gooders usually don’t exercise a modicum of hindsight when they construct new infrastructures at the expense of the water-seeks-its- own- level principle.
You won’t understand the seriousness of weather monitoring and disaster preparedness unless you were among the hundreds rendered homeless by the typhoons.
Spines is right when he asked for concern for “our people,” the poor, the homeless who are literally thrown into just any open evacuation center. We always get the brunt when the climate changes drastically.
Back to the dengue terror.
We are still at it.
As if the floods scared off the dengue mosquitoes away, here comes Director Joseph Roland Mejia of the Regional Medical Center still raising the red flag.
“No, not yet, we are still at war; Dengue is still in town, and it’s still premature to relax our guard,” he warned.
He warmed at our column head a month back “We are in state of war” referring to the total measures we asked every government and private entities to effectively deal with dengue.
Never have we seen hospitals and clinics bursting with dengue patients, many of who have died. We have lost count of the hundreds of fatalities in so short a period of time.
Health authorities slam our propensity to ignore hygiene and sanitation. Dirt, you see, is an invitation to disease. But we take things for granted.
Before our friend Gonzalo Duque enplaned for the US last week, he denounced in no uncertain terms a common practice by residents who hang their plastic bags of waste or trash, refuse or garbage in front of their homes or on trees nearby.
Gons told us a tourist friend one time held his arm to inquire what were those clusters of colorful plastic bags which hit him like Christmas decors.
The tourist, says Gonz, stopped inquiring when he saw flies swarming around the “decors.” He just covered his nose.
Roland Mejia, the young man behind the many nice things happening at the RMC, says he’ll ask barangay councils to stop the ugly if unsanitary and therefore ungodly habit.
He says these reports about residents displaying their refuse in front of their homes insult our image as a nation of hygienic people. He says Filipinas have a reputation for being the cleanest and hygienic women in the world.
Our LGUs especially our barangay councils should make it their duty to not only to make people’s homes look clean but are clean.
Maybe we should ask City Tourism officer Rose Teng-Mejia to clamp down on these unsightly “Christmas” decors.
They are also hurting her program.
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NOTES: Condolence to the family of former Dagupan Councilor Hermie Casilang who succumbed to heart attack recently. He was a good and conscientious man. Dagupan will feel the void he has left….. Sorry, we tripped. Our former driver, Bernard Supsupin, was jailed for failing to post bail in our complaint of qualified theft. Crime does not pay.
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