Poetic justice

IT WAS a ghastly site, the heaps of trash dumped by currents along the Manila Bay area, famous for its beautiful sunset view. The sea, of course, bears no blame — it was merely hauling back to the perpetrators the rubbish they have indiscriminately dumped in the bosom of Mother Earth. Call it nature’s poetic justice.

That is not to say that we do not sympathize with the tragic flooding that has again befallen the nation’s capital, so soon, too soon, after what happened during Typhoon Ondoy in 2009. Pangasinan does feel deeply for this latest disaster, itself a victim of the wearying never-ending rains for two weeks now prompting provincial officials to declare a state of calamity, and similarly devastated in 2009 by Typhoon Pepeng which came right after Ondoy.

But while the province commiserates with the tragedy and goes about its own relief and reconstruction operations, our local government officials should take the Metro Manila lesson to heart. The parallelism with Pangasinan is striking. In a few years, the province could very well end up staring into its own mountain of garbage along the coastal towns at the Lingayen Gulf if municipalities and cities do not act now to set up long-term waste management plans. (The open dumpsite operated by the Dagupan City government is a disaster waiting to happen). Never mind that it is required under the law and is too long overdue; the impetus could simply be that we do not want nature getting back at us.

Poetic justice is not just about evil being punished but virtue being compensated. And we know nature is as generous in its rewards as it could be ruthless in its vengeance.

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Ang’s the answer?

IN September 2009, storm “Ondoy” sank almost half of Metro Manila and suburbs, killing scores and destroying millions of pesos worth of properties and crops.

Almost immediately after the deluge – and perhaps out of the inherent goodness of his heart – Ramon S. Ang, the president and Chief Operating Officer of San Miguel Corporation (SMC donated P500 million to “Sendong” victims in Cagayan de Oro last year), had proposed to undertake a flood-control project for the metropolis. But for no clear-cut reason, the government torpedoed Ang’s proposal in 2010, saying the Department of Public Works and Highways is working on a separate flood-control program.

This week, the metropolis and 18 Luzon provinces (including Pangasinan) were again submerged in floods due to rains spawned by storm “Gener” and a monsoon. Already, P125 million in crops and fish cages had been lost.  Nineteen are dead – and counting. We ask: Whatever happened to the DPWH’s flood-control project?

Only last Wednesday, Ang has revived his flood-control proposal.  For sure, Ang has an answer to our flood woes worth listening to. Will P-Noy lend his ears – finally?

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