Solid Waste Rehabilitation

In the documentary – Saving paradise, it is very evident that our country has a lot
to show off with regards to its bodies of water. For one, the video exhibited how beautiful
Manila bay once was and how people would not have doubts about the abundance of
fishes living in there. Now, everything from the past is literally written in the past. Trashes
are seen everywhere, floating around the bay, human wastes floating and sinking around,
styrofoam and plastics waiting to decompose for hundreds of years. A lot of fecal coliform
is stranded in these waters. What do you expect? We Filipinos really lack the discipline.
We are the ones who destroy what we benefit from. Let’s face it, Manila bay was teeming
with aquatic life and yet, here we are, trying to save the remnants of that past when we
could just have been great stewards of each bodies of water we have in our country.
Imagine, having to clean up all of the bodies of water that connects to these larger bodies
of water when we could have just been good citizens from the start. And now, we are
giving all the blame to the government. Well, yes, the government is in fact, not doing
their job. But we do have to take the responsibilities of us also not taking care of our own
resources. There are people that inhabit the coasts of these bodies of waters and in the
estuaries. In the documentary, I learned that the blame shouldn’t be put all on those illegal
settlers because there are those people not from around the estuary that casually throw
garbage in them. Also, this is because of the lack of support of the government to the
poor, leading to illegal settling. A part of the documentary shows that in Boracay, there
used to be 9 wetlands within the island but now, there’s only 4 of it. It serves as a filter for
island’s water and it also prevents flooding. Because of the recklessness of the people
around Boracay, the water system around them becomes contaminated. Another part of
the documentary is in Coron Island. As the tourists’ numbers went up, so did the garbage
around the waters. There were good people, the native people that do their best to
properly dispose those garbage in the waters. There also was a big dumpsite near the
waters of Coron, and I can’t help but think of how just a long rainy season can get the
waters muddy there. There are a lot of ways to help conserve and protect the beautiful
bodies of water here in the Philippines and we should act now, before everything is too
late. Not because we benefit from it, but because it is what our country is.