Plastic is defined as “a synthetic substance that is non-bio-degradable. We use it indiscriminately in almost all day-to-day products. Environmental contamination comes from plastic accumulation. Land, rivers, and oceans are plagued by its accumulation.”
Everywhere we go these days, we encounter plastic. It has become the constant companion of anyone living in this world – and it will engulf him one day.
I read from an article that more than 430 million tons of plastic are produced yearly. More than half of that number is cast aside as garbage after just one use. If this continues, plastic garbage will grow three times more by the year 2060, with serious consequences for the ecosystem and public health.
The harmful effects of plastic spills include the ocean ecosystems. Plastics are known to absorb contaminants like organic pollutants. Plastics also alter the livelihood of people as they contaminate the rivers and lakes, among many other harmful long-term effects it produces. Fishermen tell tales on catching more plastic than fish in many fishing areas, and sad to say, many of these plastics come from ships passing through maritime lanes.
By reducing the need and the manufacture of plastics, we contribute to the solution. Here in the Philippines, plastics everywhere continue to be an issue due to lack of sanitary landfills and stringent restrictions when building new ones.
And since plastic wastes are mostly managed by LGUs, no less than the DENR has been pushing for the establishment of sanitary landfills in clusters. This is doable with the help of our local officials who need to be aware of the long-term harmful effects of plastics in their communities.
Several environmentalists insist that the plastics industry has been peddling a lie that plastic is recyclable. Yes, you read that right. They claim that the process of recycling is too expensive, and only very few facilities have the capacity to do it.
Thus, most of the plastics that are segregated end up in landfills or are burned which also produce harmful smoke.
The best way to help eliminate these dangerous after-effects is to reduce the use of plastic in our homes and offices, and in our communities in general. In doing so, we have a better chance of allowing our eco-systems once again to flourish.
Abusive armored vans
Coming back home recently, I witnessed a common traffic altercation involving an armored van and a taxicab.
What looked like a simple ‘gitgitan’ case turned out to be quite ugly soon as a guard alighted from the van and positioned himself to poke his shotgun at the cabbie in the presence of several ‘usiseros’ like me.
By the looks of it, I’d say the armored van was at fault, having counter-flowed his way at the inconvenience of many motorists on the road while infuriating them.
Indeed, drivers of armored vans have acquired a deserved reputation of being arrogant and reckless.
I recall several years ago when one of them tangled with the wrong guy when he ignored and ran over a man who was directing traffic one fine day in one of the major thoroughfares in Makati. The man turned out to be the late former Vice-Mayor Arturo ‘Toro’ Yabut.
That incident subjected the youthful city official to hobble around on crutches for a few months, saying this won’t deter him from cracking down on abusive armored van drivers, who justify their recklessness by saying they simply want to avoid street holdups.
And that wasn’t the last we heard from Yabut directing traffic. Some months after that, right after shedding those creaky crutches, an incident between him and an American motorist over another traffic violation occurred, which could have sent our two countries at war with each other.
But seriously, it led to a bad precedent. The American provoked the incident by violating a traffic rule, while Yabut was directing traffic. The former flashed a dirty finger at Yabut when the latter tried to apprehend him.
The US embassy, claiming Yabut mauled their citizen, filed a diplomatic protest with the Philippine government. Yabut was subsequently ordered suspended for 60 days by the DILG.
Because of this, it won’t come as a surprise now if local government officials have been lax and toothless in enforcing the law especially if it involves a foreigner, particularly an American.
Would the local officials now dare to enforce traffic, anti-pollution, zoning, health, anti-littering, anti-jaywalking, and other ordinances against Americans, who might just run to the US embassy for help?
Well, at least it cannot be said that the US embassy does not look after and take care of its people no matter if they’re right or wrong.
And can you imagine the Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. filing a diplomatic protest on behalf of a Pinoy involved in a traffic incident along Pennsylvania Avenue?
Slowsweep and hardtrip RFID
What is the point in getting an AutoSweep or an EasyTrip for your vehicle when one still has to have his card scanned before that boom rises to let you pass?
I mean, it defeats the purpose of the whole concept. It’s no different when waiting long lines in a fastfood store, or having a cashier ask you for coins like a peso.
Sometimes, one is better off just paying cash to the toll attendant instead of waiting for someone there to scan your card. In the meantime, the ambulance you were tailgating is already two kilometers away from you.
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While writing this, I received breaking news of Vice-President Sara Duterte’s resignation today, June 19, 2024 at 2:21 p.m.
The news reads: “At 2:21 p.m today, 19 June 2024, Vice President Sara Z. Duterte went to Malacañang and tendered her resignation as Member of the Cabinet, Secretary of Education, and Vice Chairperson of the NTF-ELCAC, effective today, 19 July 2024. (should read as 19 June, or maybe she’s asking for a month). She declined to give a reason why. She will continue to serve as Vice President. We thank her for her service.”
It’s a beautiful day. On this note, I strongly recommend DepEd USec. Epimaco Densing III for DepEd Secretary.
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Factoid: Rodrigo Duterte once compared himself to Adolf Hitler and said he would kill millions of drug addicts. He also cursed Pope Francis for the huge traffic caused by the pontiff’s 2015 visit in PH.
In 2016, he was heavily criticized for his tasteless and offensive comment during one of his campaigns.
He was angry over the rape and murder of a female missionary saying that she was so beautiful, and that a mayor should be the first to do such criminal act.