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Watchdog Says “Basurapamore” Taints Lenten “Alay-Lakad” to Antipolo City for the Nth Time

The
environmental watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition bewailed the dismal failure of
many Lenten pilgrims to put the familiar saying “cleanliness is next to
godliness” into practice.
The group cited the chronic littering that again sullied the roads leading to
the Antipolo Cathedral that enshrines the revered Marian image of the Our Lady
of Peace and Good Voyage.
“For the nth year, littering reared its ugly head as tens of thousands of
people braved searing heat on Maundy Thursday to perform their penitential
‘Alay-Lakad’ to Antipolo City,” lamented Aileen Lucero, Coordinator, EcoWaste
Coalition.  
“Litterbugs had a field day tossing all types of rubbish from cigarette butts,
snack wrappers, plastic bags and bottles, paper cups and bowls to bamboo skewers
and coconut fronds,” she said.
The places were pilgrims flocked to rest, particularly the open spaces fronting
shopping malls and convenience stores and street gutters, were dotted with
litter.  
“Even the hallowed grounds of the Antipolo Cathedral were not spared,” she
said.
At daybreak on Good Friday, the group found the church environs and the M.L.
Quezon and P. Oliveros Streets strewn with soiled newspapers and other discards.  Photos of the littered church and its
vicinity can be viewed at http://ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com
“It’s time for the faithful to seriously take to heart what Pope Francis said
in Laudato Si that ‘the earth, our
home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth’ and
ditch the dumping habit,” Lucero said. 
“Dumping defiles the environment and threatens the public health,” she
emphasized.
While exasperated by the apparent lack of environmental concern of some
pilgrims, the EcoWaste Coalition did not fail to admire the street cleaners from
the Antipolo City Environment and Waste Management Office, who patiently picked
up after the litterbugs.
“The city proper would have become a pigsty if not for the 24-hour round the clock
sweeping by the city personnel,” Lucero said. 
The group likewise applauded the dozens of waste pickers who collected discarded
plastic bottles and boxes to sell to junk shops.
“Their oft-ignored service for the environment has, among other things, reduced
the volume of trash sent to the dump,” Lucero pointed out.
Meanwhile, the EcoWaste Coalition scored the numerous election campaign posters
from national and local politicians and party list groups that were attached to
fences and lamp posts or plastered on the walls along Ortigas Avenue Extension
and Juan Sumulong Highway.
“The political tarpaulins appeared to be competing for the pilgrims’
attention,” Lucero observed.  
“While the candidates were not physically present, their posters were all over
the streets and doing exactly the campaigning for them,” she said. 
-end-

1 Comment

  • What a shame. Seems like littering has become a Filipino characteristic trademark all over the world where they can get away with it. Observe any airport gate — Inchon, Narita, San Francisco –where flights are headed to Manila and one will surely notice the garbage left behind at the waiting area by our countrymen. I feel embarrassed.