"It may be difficult, but it can be done."
It is 2019 and like everyone else, I am hoping that the New Year will be better than the past year.
Fortunately for old fogies like me who wore a uniform, there is reason to be hopeful. We are expecting the implementation of the increase in our pensions which will go a long way in ameliorating the lives of many retirees especially those who are battling various medical conditions associated with people who are advancing in years. I really hope that we will not be disappointed. After all, if the government can easily set aside P8 billion for two small municipalities, there must be funds to make the lives of those who served and fought for the country better in their remaining years.
Sociology is not my field but sometimes the way we do things define us as a people. Take the case of our driving habits. We have one of the worst driving cultures in the world. We demand solutions and blame almost everyone else for our traffic woes except ourselves. If only motorists can be more patient and obey traffic regulations, a lot of our traffic troubles could be avoided. But almost everyone wants to be exempted from following traffic regulations. Where else is the world could you see drivers routinely disregard traffic lights or cities fencing roads because it is the only way to keep drivers on their lanes to prevent undisciplined drivers from swerving all the time?
The funny thing is that we drive like the way we do only when we are in our country. When we go overseas, we become the epitome of how a driver should behave on the road—courteous and always following regulations.
Another bad practice that we cannot seem to stop is our inability to clean our litter during All Saints Day or when we attend large gatherings like rallies. This is not the only instance. We also see this in bus passengers throwing their litter on the road. The worst display of this bad practice is when people go to cemeteries and leave tons of trash when they leave the place. Another is Christmas and New Year when people go to the Rizal Park in Manila to celebrate the occasion for the whole day. They leave so much garbage that several trucks are needed to collect the waste.
Just before Christmas, my daughter-in-law suggested a photo shoot for the family. So we went to Camp John Hay to do it. Because of the number of the people around, it was a bit difficult to find a place but we soon settled on one secluded place. We soon found out, however, that the place was full of trash of all kinds. There was paper and discarded plastic bottles. To top it all, the place smelled of urine and we had to be careful not to step on you know what. John Hay has deteriorated so much compared to the old days. The place that we happened to select was located along the old John Hay hiking trails.
I used to bring my young children to hike these Camp John Hay trails called red, white and blue trails during weekends. Those are now gone. In their place are litters everywhere which the management cannot seem to clean.
Boracay was like that until the President demanded action. Now, people can go back to Boracay and enjoy the place. At least the beach is now clean and healthy, devoid of sewer and trash. Maybe this is what is needed—force people to clean their trash.
During the Football World Cup in Russia, the world did not only watch the games on TV but also witnessed how a people should behave. This was about the Japanese who went to Russia to cheer for their team. They occupied one part of the stadium and were boisterous and noisy as everyone else. The difference is that after every game, the Japanese took out their rubbish bags and cleaned the place before leaving. They left the stadium exactly the same way as they found it—clean. This elicited a lot of cheers and admiration. For the Japanese, this has become standard practice. They did this also during the last Olympics games.
It will probably take a small miracle for us to be able to emulate that, if we can at all. We have to remember also that the country has another distinction. We are the third-worst plastic polluter in the world after China and Indonesia. We have a long way to go. We have barely scratched the surface with the cleaning of Boracay. If we Filipinos want to be accepted in the community of nations as one of those up-and-coming progressive countries that we have been trying to be, we have to start with the basics and start learning how to clean our trash instead of leaving them behind for others to do the job.
To think that the country has many very aggressive non-government organizations all wanting to clean up the environment which is fast degrading characterized by disappearing forest covers and polluted urban waterways. Manila Bay, one of the most beautiful in the world because of its spectacular sunsets, is dying together with the Pasig River which is as filthy as ever in spite of attempts to clean it.
This is not encouraging but let us work on it. It can be done.