IF MAYOR Reinaldo Bautista Jr. has washed his hands off the garbage problem because he only inherited the sticky predicament from his predecessors, who then should the blamed?
Should we point the finger at past mayors who did not have the political vision to solve this problem of a growing community. If so who among them? Mayor Luis Lardizabal, who opened the Irisan dumpsite back in the seventies? Or maybe Mayor Ernesto Bueno, who replaced Lardizabal?
Then again the blame could also be placed on past Mayors Ramon Labo Jr., Jaime Bugnosen, Mauricio Domogan, Bernardo Vergara and Braulio Yaranon. But then are anyone of them solely to blame?
Or is it more accurate to say past barangay captains are at fault here? If we will remember the immediate past, it was the inaction of these bocaps on waste segregation, which contributed to the stinking problem we have today.
Still, it is not precise to lay the blame on these officials because in the final analysis we are all to blame.
We are to blame because we refuse to follow our leaders' advice to reduce, reuse and recycle our trash like most modern cities of the world are doing.
We are too lazy to segregate our trash, the major requirement so City Hall programs on decreasing the amount of garbage dumped at the Irisan site. We are after convenience and practicality over concern about our environment. We want every vendor to put our purchases into plastic bags instead of using the bayong.
We even conveniently ignore the no littering signs posted in every street corner.
Truly we are all to blame...