Christian Debt Recovery

Public Debt Of The Philippines 2010

May 4th, 2008 |

Author: Gavin

“Awareness to Action” for Pasig River requires not just talking the talk but also walking the walk

Many believe that it only takes awareness to find motivation in rallying for a cause. If there is an inherent goodness in every individual right from the moment of birth, then knowledge of what is good and what is bad would be all it takes for one to determine which side to take and act upon picking that side. More than just optimistic, such view assumes that any and every individual capable of reason will act according to what he or she believes is right. Necessarily, the same view believes that action simply needs to be triggered by awareness.

Assuming for a moment that the said simplified view holds true, then awareness of a number of realities surrounding Pasig River should suffice for the aware to act. Presently the Pasig River is technically dead, as it is known to be very polluted with an accumulation of filth and garbage from various wastewater canals around Metro Manila. Knowing this, civil society and non-government organizations as well as corporate entities have held fun runs and fund raisers for Pasig River every year, with the necessary publicity so as to generate more awareness. In fact there is another fun run in October this year, and surely more people are expected to gain awareness from it. Certainly the media have created awareness for the fun runs and the state of the river itself, even the news that involve people falling into the river’s murky waters. It’s already 2010 – many years after so much awareness has supposedly been put into public consciousness. Yet the river is still filled with debris and waste, and has not been cleaned, rehabilitated, and protected.

Knowing that every year there are awareness-generating fun runs and events, and that the media have reported on Pasig River’s condition numerous times, and that big corporations exploit these media-covered events and fun runs for publicity and goodwill, and that people have now-and-then fallen into the river like Manolo Campued who didn’t survive his falling into Pasig River on August 15th of 2010, have yet to bring the Pasig River to any state other than dead. There is so much awareness, but no action.

One could argue the typical cop-out that there’s no budget, but funding is entirely dependent on whether it is one of the government’s priorities, and apparently the Pasig River’s sorry state hasn’t been a priority for as long as the Republic of the Philippines has been a restored democracy. Using the budget as an excuse takes away the responsibility from Filipino society. It’s like spending money that one hasn’t earned, and paying debt with more debt; if dumping garbage and wastes of varying toxicity onto the esteros or canals that drain into Pasig River does not stop, the pollution of the river will continue unabated. The Philippines’ sachet economy generates far more waste than can be currently managed, so perhaps the indiscriminate littering and irresponsible waste disposal could be done away with, at least in theory. But in practice, this appears to be too much to ask from most Filipinos.

This is where gaining AWARENESS of something fails to move people to ACTION. It’s KNOWING BETTER, but DOING NOTHING ABOUT KNOWING BETTER. There is no excuse. What will it take for Filipinos to demand real action from the authorities and decision-makers? How many years more of just fun runs are required before Filipinos urge the government to severely punish polluters of all waterways and bodies of water including the Pasig River? How many outbreaks of dengue do Filipinos need to put up with before they realize it’s their indifference towards their own environment that gives mosquitoes more opportunities and places to breed? How many typhoons the size and strength of Ondoy must Filipinos endure before they start using garbage cans?

Filipinos have had awareness of all this for some time already. Action is what’s really needed now.

About the Author

PasigRiverAvenger is an online activist whose main crusade at present is to get the Philippine government to pursue real solutions that would revive the Pasig River.

You may read more about his advocacy and let him know what you think on his blog Pasig River Avenger.