Not all about the whale

Have you heard the one about the dead whale that washed up on shore, its belly bursting from all the plastic it ingested? The next day, they suspended the elections. Apparently, there was no candidate remaining to campaign.

Our apologies for the irreverence. To the whale. As for candidates for public office, they do deserve the label though no one deserves to be swallowed up. We’re seeing more and more plastic these days in all the distortions and contortions of principle in the name of the vote. Cuaresma is a sacrifice but when it coincides with the general elections and the campaign period every three years. It’s as if we descended down another circle of hell.

Return to myth. The whale’s misfortune is a metaphor here but the true story on which it is based is innately tragic. Whales, with their increasingly rare sightings, have become the unicorns of the oceans. The narwhal species, with its protruding horn, is called precisely that. The death of any one whale owing to our negligence is a wound we can hardly treat. It’s a stark reminder of how delicate the balance of our marine ecosystem has become. And also of how our carelessness will come back to haunt us.

The episode in the Philippines was preceded last year by similar incidents around the world. Just this week, there was another one in Italy. Whales of different species have been washing up, killed by all the plastic they swallow: Sperm in Spain, Pilot in Thailand, Sperm in Indonesia, Cuvier’s beaked here in Compostela Valley, Sperm in Italy.

Whales are the obvious avatars of the multitude of marine species that are affected by the crisis of plastics pollution – fish, birds, turtles, seals – all are victimized directly. You and I, being on top of the food chain, are the ones prejudiced indirectly as when the microfibers of the plastics ingested by our marine diet transfers to our own digestive systems.

Tragedy of the commons. According to scientists, every single piece of plastic ever made still exists. Unless something is done to regulate plastics production or to treat it as the hazardous waste that it actually is, the projection is that by 2050, plastics will outweigh all the fish in the sea.

The Philippines has a starring role in this horror story. We are a world leader in marine pollution, the 3rd largest marine pollutant what with our “sachet economy” coupled with our shameful absence of discipline. Here are some of our numbers: 60 billion sachets per year, 17.5 billlion shopping bags. Don’t look at the whale. Just think Manila bay clean up, Binondo estero clean up and wonder where the plastic in your home ends up ultimately.

Initiatives like brand audits conducted by NGOs at waste disposal sites show that its the multinational corporations that are top contributors to the detritus. This only highlights the urgency of tapping the private sector to cooperate in whatever niggardly effort government undertakes to achieve a modicum of success.

In all endeavors to find a solution to this crisis, the keyword is sustainable. Only by insisting on development that does not compromise the future’s needs can we hope to succeed in meeting the needs of the present.

Emperor’s new clothes. Add Senator Panfilo Lacson to the growing number of statesmen chomping at the bit each time Sec. Sal Panelo turns from spokesman for the Philippine President to spokesman for China, specially on developments in the West Philippine Sea. Lacson’s credible solo, added to the Del Rosario-Carpio Morales duet, affirms in crescendo the voice of that segment uncomfortable with the progressive surrender of our prerogatives. Yes, there remain a few, a happy few, band of brothers, endowed with the courage to rally even against the most frightful odds.

The good senator cannot fathom the reasons why we would refuse to act when it’s a stronger country that we face across the ring. This is weakness according to Lacson. And it is compounded by further impotence when it is advertised and even advanced as a justification. This will invite heightened bullying. Yes, why not just lay down, allow them in and occupy the entire country?

President Benigno Aquino III faced the same bully and the same fearsome missiles. But he didn’t fold his cards. He went to the Hague. And what he did there and what he won there is a paragon of what little fellows can do and achieve when he decides that he can face down giants.

Warmer days ahead. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…” When Herodotus wrote this immortal line from his epic “Histories”, he may not have anticipated how it might be used someday in a context other than the relay-like postal system employed by Persian couriers. Of course it has been informally adopted as a motto by the US Postal service. But in the present setting, we use it to reference the unflagging assault by our candidates on an anxious electorate.

It’s been a struggle for them, thus far, having to campaign in this intolerable heat. Not only are they debilitated by the high temperatures, even their targets are wilting with their receptiveness turning into reproof. And its only going to get hotter. By the time election day comes around, it might just be a case of last man standing wins the vote.

Universidad de Manila. Yesterday, 3,000 new graduates were conferred their bachelor’s, masteral and doctoral diplomas by the Universidad de Manila at the PICC Plenary Hall. This brings to 39,930 the total number of Manilenos that the UDM has graduated ever since it was established in 1995. Congratulations Mayor Joseph E. Estrada and the City Council of Manila. Their sustained support for the University through the years has made an enormous difference in the lives of these graduates, their families and their communities.