EDITORIAL - A penchant for impossible dreams

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources appears to have a penchant for impossible dreams. Shortly before the Sinulog, the DENR appealed to the public to avoid throwing trash indiscriminately. Admittedly, it is a good appeal. With millions normally descending on Cebu for the Sinulog, the mere thought of the resulting trash can indeed induce nightmares.

But merely issuing an appeal is not good enough and the DENR knew it. Even if it had the personnel it did not have, the DENR knew there will never be enough persons in authority to deter the public from throwing their trash anywhere. In other words, the DENR was merely paying lip service to a situation it knew was beyond anyone's control. It simply wanted to look good ahead of a situation it knew would be bad. On a sinking ship, it wanted first on the lifeboat.

And then it happened again. The DENR once more issued an appeal for a garbage-free election, a situation it knows would not happen. Knowing the impossibility of having as election that is free from litter, usually from discarded campaign materials, the DENR promptly made the appeal to lay the ground for a future disclaimer in case election garbage becomes an issue.

There is duplicity in such methodology. It betrays a lack of real intent to control a situation. Instead, it underscores a desire to escape a situation without being accountable for its failure to control it. They have a term for it in Cebuano - "nanghunaw daan." Nobody really expected DENR, or any government agency for that matter, to control trash during the Sinulog and the elections. Trash is a given during events of such magnitude.

It is how the trash is dealt with in the aftermath that should be of concern. In the case of the Sinulog, Cebu City authorities have always made it a point to ensure that when people wake up the morning after, most, if not all, city streets are devoid of litter. Since the election is held nationwide, the challenge is how to clean up afterward, not before.

Perhaps the DENR would be better off keeping its concern to things that are within its capacity to manipulate or control. Unless, of course, there is nothing at all to manipulate or control, in which case, by groping around for things to do, it only reinforces, by its own actions, the growing perception that it truly has nothing to do, or is inefficient in the things it actually does.

This brings to mind its well-publicized adamance about keeping old and sickly trees in the city that have no real chance of contributing in a significant way to the health of the environment and yet neglecting to go after the illegal loggers who are truly committing murder against nature by wiping out what remains of our dwindling forests.