Reconsider signal shutoff
I would like to reiterate my plea to the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Region 7 to reconsider their proposal to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to have parts of Cebu and Bohol put under a signal shutoff during the Sinulog festivities. If they don’t know, the reality in Cebu is that very few homes have landlines, which cannot be shut down, except if the phone company shuts their facilities down. So if anyone has a heart attack in the hinterlands of Consolacion or in Toledo City and they can’t use their cellphones, these people are going to die.
If this happens to someone important, and the family would sue the PNP, certain people are going to be held liable as it is, as I already said, a curtailment of the freedom of speech. What if there’s a fire and you can’t call the Fire Department? It could turn into a major conflagration because the PNP didn’t want you to use your only means of communication. So reconsider now before a huge disaster happens and people blame the PNP.
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If I’m on cloud nine these days, it’s because my Tuesday column on the cleanup of Manila Bay must have been read in Malacañang Palace because that evening, no less than President Rodrigo Duterte warned hotels facing the bay that he would order their closure if they throw their wastes into waters. This triggered a flurry of activities that actually started way back in 1998 when the Supreme Court (SC) ordered 16 government agencies to clean up the Manila Bay. But these government agencies didn’t comply with the SC order and when the Aquino presidency took over, six years was wasted and the Manila Bay was forgotten.
Then came the case of Boracay that Duterte ordered closed from business in order to clean up the environment. In six months, Boracay reopened with a fresh outlook for local and foreign tourist to enjoy. That act showed that President Duterte is a president with the political will to do what most people thought is impossible. So now, Duterte has ordered the Manila Bay cleanup which, in my mind, is a bigger issue than Boracay.
Because I was the first columnist to write about cleaning up Manila Bay when the Manila Yacht Club (MYC) elected my good friend, Sir Bobby Joseph, as its newest commodore, I challenged him to spearhead the cleanup of Manila Bay to restart what has been literally forgotten. Soon, most of our media personalities took notice and the Manila Rotary Club supported this endeavor and this was followed by no less than Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu.
Because of my involvement in this endeavor, DENR formally wrote me a letter inviting me to a huge meeting of all government agencies and local government officials in the DENR office in Quezon City. Unfortunately, this means flying to Manila to attend the meeting. So instead, I requested Commodore Bobby Joseph to brief me on the details of that meeting. True enough, the Jan.15 meeting happened and it was a huge meeting with everyone making commitments to really work on the cleaning up of Manila Bay, which starts on Jan. 27. So my Tuesday column in the Philippine Star said it correctly -- the cleanup of Manila Bay starts right in this year.
President Duterte was more realistic saying that this cleanup would take at least seven years; as it means, checking up how dirty the water is. And they found out that Manila Bay is 330 times dirtier than Boracay. Then there has to be a general cleanup of all esteros that are linked to the Manila Bay. Then illegal settlers living along the banks of Manila Bay have to be relocated and finally a task force to maintain what has been cleaned up to stay clean has to be created. But at least the cleanup scenario is now ready.
While I was in Manila during our discussion on the cleanup for Manila Bay, some people started asking, “What about the Mactan Strait between the Mactan and mainland Cebu?” I told them, “Let’s do this after you are successful in cleaning up Manila Bay because that’s the time that the illegal settlers who are living along the Mactan Channel would realize that this time the government is serious in their cleaning up the environment.”
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