FACED with the very challenging task of rehabilitating Manila bay, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said that “some form of culture change is needed if the pollution-challenged Manila Bay is to be restored and preserved for the long-term.”
“If they ask me what is the most difficult part in rehabilitating Manila Bay, I would say it is to change our people’s behavior and attitude,” Cimatu said on February 4, 2019 during the regular flag ceremony at the DENR office in Quezon City.
The Secretary is right. The problem is attitude. It is seen in the NIMBY (Not-In-My-Backyard) mind set on garbage. How else can you explain the action of a person in a BMW or Mercedes Benz throwing trash out of the window of their expensive cars? These people are supposedly educated. But they don’t give a damn on where they dispose their trash as long as their cars are clean.
This behavior is not limited to the rich. I once saw a bus passenger throwing a corn cob out of the window. Other symptoms of this problem are candy wrappers on the street, chewing gums stuck on pavements and cigarette butts on sidewalks. It’s sad that we treat the world as a big trash can, while keeping our own houses clean.
Indiscriminate dumping of garbage is a serious problem. It may be out of sight, but it is certainly not gone. That trash will re-appear with a vengeance in sewers and rivers, block drainage system and cause flooding. Then we blame the government for doing nothing about the flood. Worst, garbage will show up unnoticed in the food we eat and the water we drink in the form of micro-plastics. These are plastics that have been broken down into tiny pieces.
So how do we address attitude problem? Awareness through education may be one solution. I think this is the reason why we have laws that require environmental education in all levels from kinder to college. The problem however is that kids also absorb information from their surroundings. If they see adults, especially their parents, indiscriminately throwing waste anywhere, they are most likely to follow.
Is there hope? Secretary Cimatu said that “the seeming enthusiasm and willingness of a lot of people to take part in the effort to rehabilitate Manila Bay shows that there is still hope for such change.” For this we have to watch out for another attitude problem - ningas kugon. If the momentum cannot be sustained, this project will not succeed.
Lastly, attitude is important in encouraging people to participate in the Manila Bay clean-up but it has to be supported by appropriate legislation, enforcement, infrastructure and adequate funding. The good news is that the project got an allocation of P42.95 billion for three years. It’s a good start.