Factories that pollute our rivers – and particularly the Pasig River, should help the current administration in their rehabilitation work for the country’s vital waterways.
No less than the President encouraged the public to participate in rehabilitation efforts as they look back on the historical significance of our Pasig River, and also in the transformation of our waterway.
The program ‘Pasig Bigyan Buhay Muli’ (PBBM) which is a worthy project under the loving care of First Lady Lisa Marcos. The vision is to transform Pasig River into a “living river” with walkways and bikeways along its banks.
So how do factories complement this move now? We all know that they are the main polluters of the river, so it is only expected for them to contribute a hefty price for contaminating the river with their chemical waste.
Under EO No. 35 which constitutes the Inter-Agency Council for the Pasig River Urban Development (IAC-PRUD) tasked to facilitate and ensure the rehabilitation of Pasig and its nearby waterways.
As such, this will help minimize the pollutants such as factories along the river banks which also mandates the council to relocate informal settlers living along the banks with the help of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
This project will benefit the next generation.
More reason why we must compel the factories to help in the minimalization of pollution and pay a fine to help fund the rehabilitation efforts.
These factories have been by the banks form many years now and have greatly contributed to the deteriorating condition of the Pasig River over the years.
The MMDA can begin by enforcing its laws concerning waste water management. First, they can compel these factories to improve on their waste water treatment plants which may venture into collection, treatment, and reuse of water from factories and nearby facilities.
In doing so, these factories may also help the community from engaging into these kinds of systems. It can be done with simple enforcement of environmental laws.
Have we meth?
I think there isn’t any town left in our country today that has not experienced the devastating effects of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride or ‘Shabu.’
From tricycle drivers (which are everywhere), to jeepney drivers and even ‘kutseros’ to business executives to government employees – users everywhere numbering in the hundreds of thousands. It is the drug choice of 90% of substance abusers in PH.
But of course, the bigger drug lords are never touched, and whose profits go into the pockets of people in the trade when sold in smaller quantities reaching some P500 million per day.
And how much of these go to “protection money’? Half of it. And the recipients of this “protection money” who are in a position to offer protection, come from high places such as people in government and the police and military, all top officials from the three branches of government.
There is indeed enough to go around to bribe even members of the judiciary who handle drug cases hampering the justice system, and many times bringing it to a complete stop.
This is no longer just a legal matter as it is also a moral one, rendering PH a near narco-state involving officials in all levels of government. What opium did to China, shabu can do to PH, if it hasn’t already.
You see, narco-politics has been mentioned several times in the context of Philippine politics. Every time election nears, drug lords make sure that their bets are well-funded and supported. Such contributions make them beholden to the drug supplier in the same manner they are indebted to the other big contributors, legitimate or not-so-legitimate.
Take for example the PNP who are many times engaged in the distribution and sale of these drugs. This force can, if willed to be, cut the source in a given community overnight and is able to dictate on the price since the demand for it increases with its scarcity.
And in areas where the drug is readily available, and even lower in price, the demand stabilizes as the trade flourishes.
It is a social cancer that needs to be nipped from the bud. In this case, with a firm political will, get the big-time pushers instead of the lowly ones on our streets.
-o0o-
Random Memorandum: President Marcos rallied troops in the AFP-WESCOM to continue exercising professionalism, demonstrating courage while making sacrifices in defending the Philippines as he declared the latest re-supply operations in Ayungin Shoal as “mission accomplished.”
He noted the troops remained professional and courageous in the face of challenges posed by the hostile Chinese Cost Guard and militias (pirates?) during the Ayungin incident.
-o0o-
Factoid: Fidel Valdez Ramos is a recipient of an honorary knighthood from the United Kingdom – The Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, otherwise known as the GCMG, bestowed upon him by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1995 for services in politics and government.