“(I)f this country will be a good place to live in, we must clean up even the hopelessly polluted waterways such as the Pasig River, Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay.”
by Ducky Paredes
Our biggest problem in our country is man-made. We are continuously destroying the environment that sustains our lives and this destruction comes directly from the humans who actually need a cleaner and more balanced environment for them to survive in the Philippines.
Our forests are now less than 20% of our land area. In flying over Mindanao as a child, one remembers seeing mostly green forests below; now, a flight to Davao reveals that most of what was green before has turned to brown or into settlements and logged-over areas. Every year, according to available statistics, we lose more than 850 square kilometers of forests.
Of the mammals and birds whose natural habitats are mostly within Philippine forests, 50 mammal and 67 bird species are on the list of species threatened by extinction. There are also fish and plant species that the world will lose when they would have grown extinct in our country.
We have 419 rivers with a total basin area of 40 square kilometers and 59 lakes with the largest in Laguna de Bay (992 sq. km.) and in Lanao Lake (347 sq. km.); but, most of our rivers and lakes are unclean from being used for waste disposal by lakeshore, river bank bay area settlers.
Add to all these the problem brought on by the air pollution that comes from vehicles and factories in the urban centers. To be sure, the urbanization of the Philippines, which is now only 40% rural, is a continuing and unstoppable trend. With urbanization also come problems of how to handle sewage, garbage and that of other problems brought on by urbanization such as the informal settlers who move into the urban areas looking for jobs. Then, there is the added problem of overpopulation. While a lot of our problems can be attributed to loggers- legal and illegal, miners and others who use up our natural resources, a lot of others are also just as at fault.
For instance, I can confess to killing off a lot of birds and small animals from the time I was a kid, using slingshots and BB guns, and, when I was older, air rifles, a cal. 22 rifle and a shotgun. The solution to the problem of the degradation of our environment is not only that of the DENR policing those who have commercial access to our forests, rivers, mines and mountains, it is also one of educating the rest of us who have been, at best, uncaring of the environment. When did we, as a country begin to realize that our environment was rapidly deteriorating? Just in the last 20 years and this is not even accepted by a lot of us. Imagine the lack of concern of most of us about throwing our garbage in the street or dumping sewage in our rivers.
Yet, if this country will be a good place to live in, we must clean up even the hopelessly polluted waterways such as the Pasig River, Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. Can one imagine living in Metro Manila with the Pasig River a dead and stinking waterway? The only way that Metro Manila can become a city to live in is for the Pasig to become clean enough for fish to live in and for recreational sports such as boating and swimming. A Metro Manila with a Pasig River even more deteriorated than it now is will not be a great place to live in. Certainly, this must be cleaned up and it has to be done in earnest in the next decade or else it may actually be too late to do anything about it.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) cannot do this alone. This I support is why the present thrust of the DENR, under DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, to rely on the Local Government Units (LGU) to, in effect, be the agent of the DENR for policing the environment and for speaking with the local NGOs that worry about the local forest, the local river, the local mining industry and everything else on the environment as it affects the local community. The new thrust has to be a good thing because, in realty, it is the only way to go. People have to care about their environment; the national government and the DENR cannot save the environment while all the rest of us are concentrated on polluting the earth and destroying what is left of its the environment.
The issue of global warming is a real one. In reality, as an archipelago, the warming will affect us only when the sea comes into the land with the melting of the ice glaciers. Still, if we want to have a good place to live in, we must clean up the environment that we have.
What needs doing is not only policing the environment and working at halting the downward slide towards degradation, more important is empowering the local community to take care of their environment and for the DENR to go on a massive re-education campaign to teach us all what we have forgotten about caring for this planet as if it were the only home that we have, as in fact it is.
The earlier concept of a national agency being responsible for and writing rules for the mining and logging companies and on the uses of the waters, forest, bays and marshes located in an LGU will no longer work. While the overall supervision must stay with the DENR, without the support of the local community, there is just no way that the DENR can do its job properly.
In a recent statement, Atienza said: “Mining is beneficial to the community and the country as a whole if done in an organized and responsible manner. This can be done, aside from undertaking responsible mining, by providing basic social services to the host community, paying the require taxes and good management.”
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The Fund-Raising Golf Tournament of the Federation of Philippine Amateur Senior Golfers (FPASGI) will tee-off from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 16, 2007 at the Intramuros Golf Club. This tournament is open to the public. In fact, we would like as many players as can play to join in. Those still under 55 who will be joining the seniors eventually are also especially invited to play so that they can see the organization that they may be joining in a few more years.
We do need the funds to expand the activities of the FPASGI. We promise you a fun-filled tournament with raffle prizes for everyone and trophies for those who play exceptionally well.
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Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com
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hvp (11.04.07)
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