Punchline
Our drinking water is not safe
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
For weeks now, the PUNCH has called the attention of the Dagupan City government about the dangers posed by the continued dumping of wastes from the Dagupan District Jail direct to the Tondaligan beach shoreline.
For this effort, the PUNCH has been criticized by some sectors in government for being an alarmist over what they insist as non-threatening!
Perhaps, after listening to the revelation of DOH regional Director Dr. Eduardo Janairo during a forum on water, those in the city government will now sense the urgency of acting finally with dispatch.
Dr. Janairo said it succinctly: “Water in Pangasinan is not safe the water by the shoreline is confirmed to be contaminated with e-coli!” He went on to say that even the water being produced by some local distillers have been found contaminated.
What a mouthful. In case the city officials still think the message is garbled, here’s a translation for them: They and the rest of the Dagupeños have been drinking water with fecal contamination over the past years and will continue to be subjected to the same filthy water, thanks to their indifference and negligence.
Truthfully, I never imagined that the jail’s wastes have already reached the city’s households! I was wrong to even suggest that the waste dumping at the Tondaligan be addressed immediately to protect and preserve the city’s tourism gains, little did I know that the situation was far worse than I had perceived.
Dagupeños are now drinking s**t! Perhaps, they should consider to start drinking a bottle of gin to detoxify their throats and stomachs after drinking a glass of water from the faucet (or even a bottled water).
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Guv Spines is undoubtedly doing a yeoman’s job upgrading the province’s government-owned hospitals so these can be at par with facilities of private hospitals. That, of course, takes care of the curative part of treatment. But he must not stop there. There is the preventive part which costs much less but requires full attention.
As in all bureaucracies, subordinates take to appeals of their superiors as mere motherhood statements that are largely ignored. So, I’m afraid his recent appeal to the complacent town and barangay officials to do their part has already fallen on deaf ears.
It’s time for Guv Spines to crack the whip on the barangay, municipal and city officials who pay mere lip service to his vision of a clean and productive province. A cursory inspection of the rivers around the province show that the degradation of the rivers continue unabated. Residents take to the rivers as a natural and free flushing system for their wastes.
Dr. Janairo has warned that unless something drastic is done today, a widespread epidemic will hit Pangasinan on or before 2012!
So what will it be, Guv Spines? Visioning is one thing, getting there is another story. Will you give Pangasinenses the chance to finally drink clean water?
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KEEP WRITING, SMILEY PD. You have to hand it to Smiley PD Barba, Pangasinan’s police chief.
He not only thinks smiling cops win public confidence and respect, but writing letters directly to the identified cattle rustlers will finally chase the latter out of the province. I guess, he surmised that if a businessman-cheat trembles upon receipt of an assessment letter from the BIR, a letter from the province’s top cop should elicit the same or worse reaction from the scums of the earth like the pesky cattle rustlers.
By using the barangay chiefs as mailmen, he also sends the message to the cattle rustlers that identifying them was not a case of “Bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaan ay huwag magalit”! Whoever gets the letter would know that he is a verified cattle rustler, condemned by the barangay residents. Smart move, Mr. Smiley PD!
This approach certainly beats the usual dire warnings issued by his predecessors- “Bilang na ang oras niyo!”– obviously for media purposes only! After the warnings are printed in bold letters and echoed in radio commentaries, media usually get wind of a report that 5 or more carabaos were stolen barely 2 days after the media blared with the top cop’s warning. This, of course, put the PNP in a serious dilemma – how to come up with another catchy warning for impact (in media) so no subsequent warnings are normally issued, the first warning best to be forgotten until the next PD issues his own warning.
Now that Smiley PD Barba got media’s and the cattle rustlers’ attention, what would he likely do if his letters are finally ignored by his identified targets? Will he stop buying stationery for his special letters and instead direct some motorcycle-riding experts to start buying cardboards and cartolinas that would bear the message: “Huwag tularan”?
Hmmm. Another unique approach worth waiting for. Go, go, go Smiley PD! Keep writing!
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