On the front
page of The Philippine Star (TPS) on August 13, 2014, a story about a
looming fresh water crisis appeared. It
was written by TPS’s Neil Jerome Morales, titled “Water Rationing Looms in 2015.” True, it was placed on the front page but
like any other environmental story it was positioned where it hardly generated urgency
and significance. It could have been treated more significantly
in terms of page placement, headline size, and column size. But we’re happy, just the same, because the
story appeared at all.
In this story,
Morales focused on the possibility that if the El Niño phenomenon becomes
serious toward the end of 2014, there is this possibility that fresh water
shall be rationed in Metro-Manila because the water level at Angat Dam, the
source of water for Metro-Manila, will not go higher than 200MASL. It is said that the ideal level should be at
least 210MASL. Without rains and perhaps
typhoons, the water level in that dam will quickly spiral down to critical
level, which could even mean water rationing until Summer 2015.
The treatment
of this story (considerably minor relative to others such as politics and
crime) is representative of how environmental issues are treated and viewed in
this country. Sure political leaders
talk about the environment during times of catastrophes, but that’s just lip
service. They talk about environmental problems
but they don’t do much in terms of plan implementation and budgets. The unfortunate part of it is that some may
even do not understand what the environmental problem is for us Filipinos. (Have you ever wondered why few appear to be
interested in climate change?)
To be fair,
however, let me cite that perhaps there are more things being done by
government and corporations to solve the problems of the environment but we’re
not aware of these. What could be my
verdict? There simply isn’t enough
information about these going around that people may become aware of.
This brings me
to the environmental summit yesterday (August 13, 2014) at the UPLB. This summit was organized by the Municipal
Government of Los Banos, UPLB, and the School of Environmental Science and
Management (SESAM). [Oh, I thought SESAM
was part of UPLB, but that’s another story.]
The very important issues discussed in the summit included fresh water
supply and surface water quality, disaster risk and management, and sewage and
solid waste management.
I was amazed
at the number of specific activities that both the Municipal Government of Los
Banos and UPLB have been doing to mitigate environmental problems, and more
amazed by the fact that there are only a few people who know enough about these
very significant activities.
During the
second half of the summit, the participants sat in a series of three workshops. The output of these workshops
were the documents which became part of the agreement that leaders of Los Banos
and UPLB signed in a covenant. The activities that shall be launched in Los
Banos during the next months are worth waiting.
From these may come out a model for other LGUs and educational
institutions to emulate.
Here are some pictures:
Dean Nards Florece of UPLB-SESAM explaining the overview of the Environmental Summit.
The Summit participants took this activity very seriously. Let's see what happens in the succeeding weeks and years.
Dr. Tony J. Alcantara, retired professor of environmental science at SESAM, explains the current envirponmental situation in Los Banos. He's the MENRO of Los Banos.
To watch out for is the issuance shortly of an Executive Order from the Office of the Mayor authorizing the drafting of an Environmental Code of Los Banos.
In his brief Message, Mayor Caesar P. Perez, said, "What is UPLB? UPLB is part of Los Banos and is a government institution. It occupies 55% of the land of Los Banos, and since government institutions do not pay taxes, the fund resource of Los Banos is short 55%."
To be sure, there are numerous issues that Los Banos and the municipal government of Los Banos need to discuss and agree upon. It is good thing that these two institutions are coming closer together in the discussion of issues and concerns.
There have
been summits in the past, most important of which was the one undertaken a few
years ago where the UPLB Chancellor and the Mayors of Los Banos, Bay, Calamba
City, and Sto. Tomas, Batangas signed a Memorandum of Agreement on the
conservation of Mt. Makiling as a rich biodiversity resource.
There are a
lot of things to look forward to. Kudos
to our leaders in Los Banos and UPLB. Abangan ...
