Unlike the City of Baguio, the capital town of Bontoc, Mt. Province need not spend millions of pesos to dispose of their domestic garbage.  They do not have money to throw into the garbage pile but they have the political will and leadership emanating from a supportive community.

 

A minor news article on environment protection revealed how political will power can get things moving especially in the area of proper garbage disposal in this bustling town.

 

The article caught my attention because I recognized the name of Erlinda Apolinar-Bucaycay, the Punong Barangay of Poblacion in Bontoc, who is leading the movement.  She was the wife of the late Atty. Lizo Bucaycay who was a good company in the old days while toasting with Bacchus, the god of wine in Greek Mythology.  

 

An achiever in her own rights she has launched a program  saving the Chico iver by minimizing refuge thrown into it. She has asked businessmen to refrain from using plastic bags in packing goods for customers. Instead she wants them to use paper bags and recyclable materials to minimize the generation of non-biodegradable.

 

Erlinda who is easy to get along with is similarly gaining the support of households in segregating their domestic garbage with the use of separate containers for biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. “We have to arrest the problem at its roots by demonstration and training”, she said. “That’s the reason we also asked the traders of plastic bags not to deliver any to our barangay”, she adds.

 

Environmentalists frown at the use of plastic or synthetic bags. It is a common knowledge that these non-biodegradable garbage end up polluting parks, rivers, forests, and the community and would take some 500 years to biodegrade. Plastics become toxic when heated and burned. They are hazardous both to children and animals.

 

The Chico River which finds its source at the Mount Data forest reservation irrigates thousands of hectares of rice lands from Mt. Province to Kalinga thence to the Cagayan Valley. It is also a rich source of fish supply for tens of villages along its banks.   These villages downstream of Bontoc earlier raised protests over the dumping of garbage into the Chico River prompting Kalinga province to file a case in court to abate further pollution.

 

Earlier the remote town of Besao has passed an ordinance banning store owners from using plastic bags to pack grocery items.  Members of the League of Barangay Captians in the provincial level are reportedly planning to adopt similar measures in their respective turfs to ban the use of plastic bags.

 

Along this anti-pollution campaign, farmers are looking forward to the revival of the “buri” plant propagation in the province. Buri materials are used to weave hand bags or “bay-ong” for the use of housewives when going for their groceries.

                                                       

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TIDBITS: The country celebrated the 25th anniversary of the EDSA revolution which supposedly "restored" democracy. I guess it was a misguided democracy that allows government officials to commit graft and corruption with impunity. Democracy is fragile. We do not know how to handle it to our common good.

 

HEDCOR which generates cheap hydro-electric power out of Cordillera streamlets is contributing millions of pesos in the form of taxes to the La Trinidad, Benguet coffers. Other companies operating similar grants in the region should equal HEDCOR’s social responsibility.

 

Congratulations to the men and women behind "Panagbenga 2011. The affair showcases regional culture drawing tourism funds. This year we have not heard of “controversies”. Good. - hp