Bayambang mayor deserves praise & support

By Al S. Mendoza

TRADITION is the hardest to kick.

Take the sanitary landfill being mulled in Bayambang.

Since it is an entirely new thing, expect critics to come forward.

But I’m not about to join them.

For one, the times tell us to organize and manage our wastes to help keep the balance of nature.  Our environment is going nowhere; the planned sanitary landfill is a big leap forward in preserving Mother Nature.

For another, Danding Cojuangco, who is behind the company (WINS) bidding to build the 33-hectare sanitary landfill in Mayor Leo de Vera’s turf that is Bayambang, is a tested performer.  With Danding, one is almost assured of success.  His track record is beyond question. Did he and trusted ally Ramon Ang not turn San Miguel Corporation around when the country’s giant food conglomerate was in the red?

I have always believed that anything new is always met with skepticism, if not shunned outright.

I welcome change. We all love tradition, but if a planned change has the promise of a bright future, why, by all means, let’s go for it.

By tradition, we burn our waste. The smoke derived from burning would induce fruit trees, such as mangoes, to flower. 

By tradition, too, we dig pits to dump our wastes. In time, we cover the pit with land dug up from another pit. The covered pit will soon become fertile soil and conducive for a backyard vegetable garden.

Both are still being practiced widely in the country today.

But recently, findings show burning waste is bad for the environment. It damages the atmosphere as it punches holes in the ozone layer. 

It’s recommended today that our common household wastes (plastics not included, of course) be buried and compost. In no time, the wastes are transformed into fertilizer for plants, vegetable patches and trees that bear fruit or provide shade. The harvest is healthy since it is nurtured by organic, chemical-free fertilizer.

For a couple of years now, my bestfriend and I have this vegetable patch at home nurtured by organic fertilizer. 

Our organic fertilizer comes from composting and vermi-composting.  But we are chiefly into vermi-composting, a simple system of producing organic fertilizer through the wastes of worms a.k.a. African crawlers. 

We now have an abundance of organic fertilizer and, believe you me, vegetables nurtured by it taste sweetish and delightfully delicious. But the biggest bonus about it is, it is healthy food we eat every now and then because it is chemical-free.

But back to the sanitary landfill in Bayambang.

If, by chance, Danding Cojuangco reads this piece, I recommend   that he gets in touch with Ramon Uy, the nationally acclaimed inventor of a shredding machine that reduces wastes to a minimum, thereby cutting operational costs by more than 50 percent. Mr. Uy’s phone numbers are 0917-3002283 and 9296486. What I plug here are mainly guaranteed dependable people – such as Mr. Uy, whose product is now being enjoyed by satisfied customers nationwide. Heard Congressman Tulagan is about to buy one.

I wish De Vera’s ambitious P250-million project would push through as it’d redound to the benefit of not only Bayambang but most likely the entire province – and the neighboring provinces like La Union, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac. In fact, I envy the people of Bayambang. They do not only have a mayor that has a vision and a mission but one that’s got well, balls. 

Somehow, I feel De Vera fits this favorite line of mine: “The future belongs to the brave.”

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/)

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