Diocese urges LGUs to protect Palawan towns from degradation
By Ferdinand Patinio MANILA -- The Social Action Center of Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay, Palawan urged the local government to strengthen its laws to protect the island of Coron from environmental degradation. Father Ed Pariño, Social Action Director of the diocese said that the local officials of Coron and other areas in Palawan should be very cautious on what is happening in Boracay. With this, he said that as early as possible the people, not only in Palawan but in other areas of the country, should start protecting the environment and help preserve the nation’s beautiful islands, by not throwing garbage and polluting seas. “Ang nakikita ko dito sa Sangguniang Bayan kasi dapat magpasa sila ng ordinansa, kasi talagang dapat silang maalarma kasi yung Boracay ay ano na [dumumi na]. Dito sa Coron sa totoo lang wala pa kong naririnig, hindi siya talaga ganoon ka ano [aktibo] pagdating sa environmental awareness (What I see here, the Sangguniang Bayan (municipal legislative council) should actually pass an ordinance, they should actually be alarmed with what happned to Boracay as it’s getting dirty. Here in Coron, I didn’t hear they were so active in terms of environmental awareness),” he said in an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas. With this, the Catholic priest encouraged the public to start promoting proper waste segregation and disposal. He also called on the local government to pass an ordinance that would imposed proper waste segregation and recycling in municipalities. “Kaya yung homily ko ang sabi ko ay dahan-dahan, patience yung kinakailangan at sacrifice talaga yung segregation na dapat talaga ay comprehensive. Kung ginagawa sa mga household, dapat ay mayroong kaakibat itong ordinansa sa munisipyo na kung saan yung collection ng waste ay magkakahiwalay yung nabubulok sa hindi nabubulok at sa recyclable (That’s why in my homily, I said patience and sacrifice, segregation should really be comprehensive. If this is being done at home, it should have an accompanying ordinance that provides that biodegradable and degradable wastes should be segragated from recyclable materials),” he added. Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte directed several government agencies, particularly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to clean or rehabilitate the island of Boracay, due to the presence of coliform in the water reportedly caused by the non-proper waste disposal among resorts in the island. Based on the report of Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR in Western Visayas, the rate of coliform bacteria from one of the drainage outlets directly released to the Bulabog Beach in Boracay 47,460 most probable number (mpn) per 100 milliliter (ml), which is way far from the safe rate at 1,000 mpn per 100ml, the allowable rate for people to swim in the water. (PNA)