The huge mess the morning after
Now that the Sinulog is over, it is time to clean up the city. It is time too for the tourists to fly back to their home cities and countries. It was quite a successful celebration, except for some minor hitches here and there. But in totality, it was a swell celebration. We have to congratulate the organizers and the police and military for keeping peace and order. It was not easy to manage such a huge festival where hundreds of thousands of people were in revelry and merriment, street dancing, partying, eating and drinking the whole day and night, and many were, of course, also praying and deeply reflecting. What matters most is that the terrorists were not successful in exploding any bomb or killing any innocent civilians.
The only big problem is the mountains of thrash and the many truckloads of garbage that the people left behind and just scattered around. It will take longer to clean up the streets, the parks, and the public places. No government can really control people who recklessly spit anywhere and even relieve themselves in the sidestreets and esteros. Well, the authorities did not put up enough toilets and restrooms. There were simply too many people and too few facilities. There was too limited space for too big a multitude of people coming from all nooks and crannies of the country and the world. Our garbage collectors will have to put in more hours and faster work to expedite the cleanup of the city.
It was a big business too, as usual, and as expected, for the hotels, the restaurants and even for the street vendors. The taxi and jeepney operators made money too, even the entertainment workers, the tourists guides and the tour operators, everybody made a large bundle here and there. Water was sold in the streets beyond the suggested retail prices, soft drinks, coffee and other beverages sold like crazy. And street food vendors also made a killing with people having no time or means of transport to go to their hotels and eat there. The Sinulog this year, if business revenue and profits are accepted as barometers for success, was a tremendous and whopping success.
But then again, big profits, huge sales also produced a gargantuan garbage problem. People do not remember to care for the environment. They were throwing away papers, plastics, bottles, styrofoam cups, paper plates, and all sorts of wrappers, bags and what have you. There were even a number of used condoms that were thrown away mindlessly. It could only mean that the Sinulog was not only celebrated spiritually and religiously. The millennials found time, occasions, and exciting opportunities to experiment on adventurous explorations of the human body. I hope and pray that next year, the organizing committee shall form a garbage police who shall apprehend and penalize the many reckless purveyors of pollutions and dirt. The Sinulog was never meant to be a time to leave such a stench and too much trash. I pray that we should learn to be cleaner next year.
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