Solution to plastic pollution

WE JOIN more than 150 countries today in marking the 50th anniversary of the UNorganized World Environment Day event under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution.

While the leakage of plastics into the ocean and the subsequent impacts of marine life has been most studied, plastic pollution also affect freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.

ILOCANOS—their language is spelled out Ilokano—take pride in their folk song Pamulinawen, among other tunes they have in their music chests, a song addressed to, a euphemism, a stone-hearted lady.

Part of the lyrics: Pamulinawen/ Pusok indengam man/ ‘Toy umas-asug/ Agrayo d’ta sadiam/ Panunotem man/ Ti inka pagintutul’ngan/ ‘toy agayat/ agrayo d’ta sadiam.//

The loose translation in English by an Ilocano musician: Pamulinawen/ please hearken to my heart/the one appealing/ has been under your spell/ please think of me/ the one you keep ignoring/the one beseeching/ enamored with your charm.//

The Pangasinenses have their Malinak La’y Labi (Peaceful Night): Malinak la’y labi, oras la’y mareen/ Mapalpal na’y dagem katekep to’y linaew/ Samit la’y kogip ko binangonan kon tampol/ lapu’d say linggas mo sikan sika’y amamaywen!//

Loose translation: Peaceful night, quiet hours/ Gentle is the wind mixed with dew/ Sweet was my dream and once I awoke/ My heart insisted that I caress you// Bicolanos themselves take pride in, apart from “Katurog na Nonoy” and “Sarung Banggi,” the song “Babaeng Taga Bikol: Maogmahon sa Kabicolan (2x)/ Madia kamo sa Kabicolan/ Dae nindo malilingawan/ Babaeng taga-Bicol.

Which means—again loose translation – it’s nice to be in Bicolandia (2x)/ Come on over to the region/

Sadly though, this revelation comes as further testament to how the legal profession in this benighted land has degenerated from the lofty esteem our people placed on the likes of Quezon, Osmena, Laurel, Roxas, Quirino, Garcia, Macapagal, Diokno, Tanada, Recto, and others who mesmerized us with their intellect and ethical conduct.

Or is this the case when too many lawyers crowd their profession, and the justice system has become for sale?

How a gambling lord can be elected several times to Congress is no longer strange when firstclass grafters and their contractor-bribers also populate its halls, an intended result of politics becoming a money-making business enterprise.

At least Atong Ang, a recognized gambling lord, never became a candidate for public office.

But going back to the hypothesis stated in the title of this piece, isn’t this also a case of having too many practitioners in a profession our society highly regards?

Media, then and till now, glorify bar topnotchers in front pages and star-billing, but hardly feature engineers, architects, scientists, and even medical professionals.

When I was in Taiwan, and a diplomatic row came about when one of the three POLO’s (Philippine overseas labor officer) assigned there threatened a lowly OFW-caregiver who ranted expletives against our president on her Facebook page with “deportation.”

The labor officer who happened to be a lawyer and a member of one of the highly-regarded legal fraternities, did not know, or knowing so, haughtily disregarded the fact that immigration and deportation are exclusive rights of a host government, and not a labor officer, not even the office of the foreign representative of our country.

I confronted and reprimanded the guy, recommended his recall to the department which assigned him to Taiwan, made amends with the foreign ministry there, and had verbal tussles with some of our high officials who said, even if rightly so, that the OFW was excessively rude to our president.

Later, in light-hearted conversation with some other diplomats in Taipei, someone remarked that the Philippines had too many lawyers, far more than scientists and engineers, unlike other Asian countries.

Now don’t get me wrong. Some of my closest friends are lawyers, although to my knowledge they have been exemplars of ethical norms.

But let’s go into real talk. The legal profession has long been tarred by “fixers” and “bribers” infecting many “officers of the court” including prosecutors, judges and justices.

In an intimate conversation with the late Doy Laurel even before the murder of Ninoy Aquino, I asked what he thought was the first thing a postMarcos government should address.

After a minute of introspection, he sighed, “we have to clean up our justice system,” and added, “the legal profession is no longer what it used to be during papa’s time,” referring to the late Pres. Jose P. Laurel, who served the country with utmost distinction from the Commonwealth, through the Second World War, and the nascent Third Republic.

In the summer of 1981, in his tiny office as a fellow at Harvard, I was with Ninoy Aquino alongside a Singaporean businessman and two visiting Filipino scholars from Hawaii.

Ninoy asked us: “What do you think is the gravest fault of the Marcos martial rule?”

The legal scholars answered, “his trampling of human rights and the Constitution which he intentionally crafted to suit his authoritarian rule.”

I said, “Perhaps to my non-legal mind, and to many ordinary Filipinos, it is the increasing institutionalization of corruption which has become too pervasive.”

Ninoy’s Singaporean friend weighed in, stating, “we have a rather authoritarian rule ourselves, but our leader tolerates no corruption.”

It has been almost 40 years since Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in the tarmac of our international airport.

That event sparked the downfall of authoritarianism, and ushered in the “Constitutional democracy” led by Ninoy’s widow.

More than an entire generation has passed since February 25, 1986.

As lawyers keep declaring, “Res ipsa loquitor.”

What has happened and what is happening in worse degree to our politics, our justice system, our legal profession, could be gleaned from the conversations we had then.

The world, with nearly 7.9 billion people, including 114 million from the Philippines, is being snowed under by plastic, with 300 million metric tons of plastic waste generated each year.

A report by science journal, Nature, determined that currently, roughly 14 million tons of plastic make their way into the oceans every year, harming wildlife habitats and the animals that live in them.

Chlorinated plastic can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can then seep into groundwater or other surrounding water sources, and also the ecosystem.

This can cause a range of potentially harmful effects on the species that drink the water.

Once the plastic is in the ocean, it decomposes very slowly, breaking into tiny pieces known as microplastics, which can enter the marine food chain and become incredibly damaging to sea life.

The main source of ocean plastic

There is urgency in

call to hold hands and save planet Earth

pollution is land-based – 80 percent of plastic in the ocean originates on land.

Ecologists and preservationists say the toxic chemical additives and pollutants found in plastics threaten human health on a global scale.

Scientifically-proven health effects include causing cancer or changing hormone activity, known as endocrine disruption, which can lead to reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment. It threatens ecosystems, animal and plant species, impeding their ability to deliver essential services to humanity.

Marine species ingest or are entangled by plastic debris, which causes severe injuries and death.

Plastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change.

There is indeed urgency in the call to hold hands and save planet Earth, with trees identified as the lungs of the world, and therefore planting more trees is required to help save Mother Earth so the oceans will be blue, the planet green, and the animals safe.

And we see the hands of the staff of the Manila Standard the other day as they stood to the environmental challenge by planting 350 saplings in the 2,659-hectare La Mesa Dam which contains the last remaining rainforest of its size in Metro Manila.

The young trees they planted assuredly will eventually help contribute to a clean environment by improving air quality through the process of photosynthesis, the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar.

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology led by Secretary Ivan Uy has kicked off the National ICT Month in ceremonies with no less than President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. delivering his latest pronouncements championing the acceleration of digital transformation across sectors.

The President opened his statement with a sense of urgency “to adopt all of these new technologies to be able to compete properly in the global stage.”

“Our government must keep up with that frantic pace – and it is frantic – and facilitate the rapid development of our interconnectivity infrastructure to allow our economy to ride the wave and open up an ocean of opportunities for prosperity,” President Marcos Jr. said.

He rightly pointed out that “you cannot compete (in the global market) on an even basis unless you are highly digitalized, both in the private sector and as well in the public sector.” tricity Cooperatives (EC); Right of Way issues even in non-private roads in the Barangays, additional requirements from ECs; Lack of available meters, poles, transformers in ECs; Slow processing and payments of Bill of Materials and differences in fees of LGUs and Coops; Various post construction documentation and permitting issues in some LGUs.

Very interesting is the launch of the beta version of the eGov PH Super App which the President said will be the citizen’s interface to a “digitized bureaucracy.” The Super App is envisioned to be go-to app that would make day-to-day government transactions simple, efficient, and minimize corruption.

Users will be able to do e-payments, banking services, receive news and information, e-tourism, and even a people’s feedback mechanism.

I tried downloading it to my smartphone and was able to register already. Check it out.

The National ICT Month banners the theme “Connecting Communities, Enriching Lives, Forging a Digital Future for the Philippines” which encapsulates how strategically critical digital technologies have become from both the macro and micro socio-economic perspectives.

Now that we have this exciting vision to become a competitive digital economy, building the digital infrastructure needed to deliver the broadband connectivity that will enable each Filipino to tap into the empowerments of a digital ecosystem should be the first priority.

When it comes to building this digital infrastructure, the heavy investments have been by the private sector especially dominated by the aggressive expansion and upgrading of networks of the telecommunications companies.

There have been enormous bureaucratic roadblocks that have been streamlined resulting in faster telco tower and fiber optic network expansion in the last couple of years.

But this needs to be sustained further and even improved as internet connectivity is now as indispensable as water and electricity utilities.

As all these technologies and digital infrastructure are powered by electricity, speeding up the electrification of new telecommunications towers has become a major concern of the telco sector.

Mr. Ernest L. Cu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Globe gave insights on the challenges in energizing telecommunication towers bogging down the industry.

“I think one of the biggest bottlenecks today is the energization of particular sites – we can build them but we can’t power them up,” Mr. Cu said.

The group will further pursue initial recommendations to address the delaying factors that were raised.

This was the major issue raised during the recent Telco Workshop convened by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) held on May 19 at the Globe Telecom Tower in Taguig City. The meeting had 114 participants from telcos, tower companies and the energy/electricity providers of the country tackling the challenges of existing processes that are delaying the energization of telco towers and how the sectors can work together with government on effective solutions.

The main problem that was identified by the workshop participants is the long turnaround time across all the many steps and procedures to connect telco towers to electricity services.

Among the issues identified were lack of manpower, undefined timelines and schedules of Elec-

Some of the suggested solutions are: unify application and documentary requirements, boost the manpower and delegation authority of LGUs for final permit release, standardize and compliance to Service Level Agreements and turnaround times of processing transactions; standardize government connection and permitting fees, eliminate redundant steps in different cooperative processes, documentary requirements for Occupancy Permit and Certificate of Final Electrical Inspection should be same and not be dependent on national permits; strict compliance to the provisions of the Revised JMC 1-2021 and RA 11032 in processing permits and licenses related to electric service applications, align with DPWH on streamlining of permits and requirements, among others.

ARTA Director-General, Sec. Ernesto Perez expressed confidence President Marcos Jr. will sign the final draft of the much-anticipated executive order aimed at institutionalizing and further streamlining the tower construction application process.

Most of the delaying factors identified in the ARTA workshop involve processes in the LGUs and Electricity Cooperatives, especially in the rural areas where broadband connectivity will actually bring the most benefits.

Further feet dragging from these parties will be unacceptable and a serious disservice to their constituents whose welfare and interests they are supposed to serve.

Are PH’s regional folk songs in morendo? (Part 2)

and don’t you ever forget/ a lady from Bicol.//

In the Cordilleras, the Bontocs have a funeral song on Inan Talangey. This is about the life of a dead person and is sung by two or three groups of people during the evening wake, a practice common in northern Philippines.

The Kalingas also have their folk songs, like Banao, a lullaby song which relates the story of a baby sitter – perhaps a sibling or a close relative -while the child’s parents are out there in the farm.

The song says the baby-sitter lulls the baby to sleep by rocking it in a forward-backward movement of the torso and bending the knee a little, while singing: O-wah, o-wah, o-wah-wi-iyi-i/ Nasigab man-tagibi-iyi-i/ Maid suyop no labvi/ Anosan ta’n bvobva-i-i-i/ Siya’t kopyan dji bvobva-i/ O-way adjo’t ligatmi-i-iyi/ Man-i-goygoy no labvi/ O-wah, o-wah, o-wah-wi--iyi-i.//

The loose English translation by someone who has gone to the area: O-wah, o-wah, o-wah-wi-iyii/ Baby sitting is rather difficult/ No sleep at all at night/ We women can only bear/ That’s what women are born for/ Although there is much to suffer from.//

The Kalingas also have their “Dang-dang-ay,” another traditional song which became popular during the second world war in the 1940s.

Kalingas say the guerrillas sang this song while they bade good-bye to their sweethearts, the women not wanting their lovers to go away while the men were promising they would return.

Culture connoisseurs say there are other regions rich in folk songs which need wider dissemination and appreciation by the younger generations

Part of the lyrics: Ading di ka agsangit/ Agsubliyak mabiit/ Ading di ka agdanag/ Mabiit a mabayag/ Urray innak mabitay/ No diak gasat a matay/ Kastoy gayam ta ayat/ Pangkitaan ti rigat…//

The English loose translation: My young one, don’t weep/ I’ll be back before long/ Don’t worry / It’s not that long/ I might be hanged/ If it’s not my fate to die/ This is love after all/ Mirror of difficulties.// One is reminded of the “Ballad of the Green Berets, “ a patriotic song in the ballad style about the Green Berets, an elite special force in the US Army.

It is one of the very few songs of the 1960s to cast the military in a positive light, yet it became a major hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts for five weeks in 1966.

It was also a crossover smash, reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart and No. 2 on Billboard’s Country survey.

The song was written by Robin Moore and Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, while the latter was recuperating from a leg wound suffered as a medic in the Vietnam War.

The lyrics include: “Back at home a young wife waits/ Her Green Beret has met his fate/ He has died for those oppressed/ Leaving her this last request/ Put silver wings on my son’s chest/ Make him one of America’s best/ He’ll be a man they’ll test one day/ Have him win the Green Beret”// In the lahar-devastated province of Pampanga north of Manila are several folk songs, but one, according to patriotic minds, particularly stand out.

This is the song titled “Capampangan Cu” whose lyrics include Ing balen cung Capampangan/ Sale ning leguan at dangalan/ Paraiso ne ning cabanalan/ Luclucan ning catuliran/ Mibait la qng candungan na/ Ding bayani ampong biasa/ Balen co uliran ca/ Lalam ning bandera.//

Sources from the province say this is a patriotic song which elevates Pampanga, described as the place of the righteous, religious and law abiding citizens.

Those in the Queen City of the South have their “Usahay” whose lyrics, partly, say: Usahay magadamgo ako/ Nga ikaw ug ako nagka higugmaay/ Nganong damgohon ko ikaw/ Damgohon sa kanunay…// A loose English translation puts some graphic image: Sometimes I am dreaming/ That you and I love each other/ Why are you the one I dream of/ And always dream of my loneliness…//

The Tausugs of Sulo have their “Unu In Hi Langan” whose lyrics include: Unu in hi langan/ Sin hidlaw kan jungjungan/ Ayir bajanggang/ Sukkal banding di kapasangan/ Hi ula katumbangan/ Bang maisa kulangan/ Dayang in pagngnnan.//

The loose English translation: What can I sing/ (To ease my) yearning for my beloved/ (Her) incomparable presence/ cannot be matched/ (My) dear idol and lover/ When lying in the chamber/ I utter the name of my beloved.//

Culture connoisseurs say there are other regions rich in folk songs which need wider dissemination and appreciation by the younger generations – if only for the message of patriotism, love for kin and what the songs say of the community, the aspirations of the people, their laughter, their grief, and their dreams.

As the Cebuanos say, “Daghan na mga Pilipino ang miuyon,” endorsed by Bicolanos who say “Cadacul an mga Filipino na o yun.”

And the Ilocanos chase that with “Pudno, atanud, adu ti umanamong.”