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Saturday, December 13, 2003
Sienes: Open rejoinder to Cenro Madrazo
By Cris G. Sienes
Different Strokes
'I have likewise been reprimanding people that I see throwing garbage on the road near our house to the point that those who do not care for the environment and do not value health and sanitation have called me very strict. Thank God there are also people who believe in what I am doing and stand behind me.'
BEFORE all else, allow me to recap some of the things I wrote in my column last September 23, 2003, which was referred to your office by the Public Assistance Unit of the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao.
I wrote that, when Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang referred my complaint about the garbage problem in our area to your office, some of your Cenro people came to see me.
After being apprised of the problem, your people told me that much as they wanted to, they could not possibly take care of all garbage problems in the City all at once because the city is so big. Besides that, at the barangay level, it is the responsibility of barangay officials to see to proper garbage disposal. I agreed with them.
Proper garbage disposal is not just the concern of Cenro. Even at the barangay level it is not just the concern of barangay officials. It is everybody's concern. But some people are simply stubborn.
Not long after your Cenro people left, one of our barangay officials, purportedly a member of our barangay health committee, also came to see me.
I discussed the problem with him. I even suggested that a barangay policeman or tanod should be stationed at the area to prevent people from dumping garbage there.
Our barangay councilor assured me that something would be done about the problem. But when weeks passed and nothing was done abou the problem, I wrote that column piece out of frustration and exasperation.
Like I said, when I was still in the government, whether at my DSWD home office or the Office of the President in Mindanao, where I was detailed for several years, I handled public assistance as one of my main tasks.
As I believe in true government service, I always acted with dispatch on all matters brought to me. The reason why I get piqued when, as a private citizen, I do not get the kind of public service that I gave people before.
I have no quarrel at all with you or with your office. I know that your garbage collectors are religiously collecting garbage in our subdivision and we have been cooperating with them as far as proper garbage disposal is concerned.
But just as you said in your letter, many residents in our subdivision do not follow proper garbage disposal despite having been told by officers of our homeowners association of the garbage collection schedules.
Some residents in our area are no exception. By they way, I did mention in my column that the specific problem area is the barangay road to Ciudad de Esperanza which is just at the back of some houses, including our own. It is there that some of our undisciplined neighbors dump garbage whenever they find it convenient to do so. That area is part of Cabantian.
These people have been repeatedly told by me not to dispose of their garbage there because it is against the law to do so. But they refuse to listen.
The only way to stop these people and discipline them is to catch them, make them pay fines or put them behind bars. The reason I suggested to our barangay councilor to station a barangay policeman or tanod there. But this has not been done.
That area is rarely visited by garbage trucks, that's why piles of garbage accumulate there to our worry and apprehension for reasons of health. Last December 4 and 5, however, garbage trucks visited the area and collected all the garbage there. I believe this was due to the intervention of the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao.
But the day after your garbage trucks left, some people again began throwing their garbage there. They usually do it early dawn or late at night so as not to be detected.
Unless a garbage truck visit the area weekly, garbage will again pile up in the area.
So whose job is it to catch these people? It's certainly not mine, is it? I do care for our surroundings and for our environment. Would you believe that I even sweep the main subdivision road a few meters away from our house of plastic bags, plastic food containers, plastic softdrink containers and other garbage thrown by irresponsible jeepney passengers and passersby?
I have likewise been reprimanding people that I see throwing garbage on the road near our house to the point that those who do not care for the environment and do not value health and sanitation have called me very strict. Thank God there are also people who believe in what I am doing and stand behind me.
The best proof that I do care for the environment was that column I wrote denouncing the improper disposal of garbage in the area I mentioned.
Point to ponder: "Health is the greatest of all physical possessions; a hale cobbler is better than a sick king." (Bickerstaff)
(December 13, 2003 issue)
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