requested Catholic devotees joining the Alay-Lakad to Antipolo City on Maundy
Thursday to make the penitential walk free of trash and cigarette smoke.
At the same time, the group reminded the devotees to pay attention to the
advice made by Pope Francis for the Catholic faithful to
“counter the culture of waste and disposable.”
“We appeal to the pilgrims, particularly the youth, to treat the streets
leading to Antipolo with due respect and shun littering that has literally
turned past Alay-Lakad into Alay-Kalat, creating mounds of trash along the
way,” said Tin Vergara, Zero Waste Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition.
“We fear that litterbugs will again rear their ugly heads and defile the
sacrificial walk that hordes of people do in memory of Christ the Redeemer to
affirm their faith, seek atonement and ask forgiveness for past wrongs,” she
said.
“Even the hallowed ground of the Antipolo Cathedral is not spared as
improvised sleeping materials such as newspapers are left scattered by
some devotees,” she lamented.
Among the discards often left abandoned in streets and sidewalks are food and
beverage materials such as disposable plastic bags, bottles, containers, cups
and straws and snack wrappers, as well as bamboo skewers, food leftovers,
soiled papers and cigarette filters.
“We also often see pilgrims puffing on cigarettes as they perform
their act of penance and then throwing the butts anywhere, unmindful of the
hazards of tobacco smoke and the toxins in the butt waste,” she added.
“We hope that smokers will refrain from smoking during the Alay-Lakad for their
own health and the health of people around them. Please give up smoking
even only for a day. Of course, the better choice would be to quit
smoking altogether,” she suggested.
“Ensuring that this year’s Alay-Lakad will be litter-free and smoke-free will
be consistent with the Pope’s plea for environmental responsibility, and we
hope that everyone will heed his wise counsel,” she said.
Last year, during the World Environment Day, the Pope said “I would like us all to make a serious commitment to respect and protect
creation, to be attentive to every person, to counter the culture of waste and
disposable, to promote a culture of solidarity and of encounter.”
The
Pope further emphasized the need to “cultivate and care” for the
environment, saying it is part of God’s plan that man “nurture[s] the world
with responsibility,” transforming it into a “garden, a habitable place for
everyone.”
-end-
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