aldric de ocampo,
Opinion: Bridge the Gap between Interests and Responsibilities
Photo Credit: Ulap Coquilla, Cyñl Tecson
Milk tea, fast food, soda, and chips. What do these popular comfort foods have in common? Other than being unhealthy when consumed regularly, their containers are found in heaps, discarded and abandoned on the Katipunan-UP Town Center footbridge.
On your way to and from UP Town Center (UPTC) via the footbridge a few weeks back, you may have been assaulted by this wave of foul-smelling rot and greeted by these mountains of waste.
“Where o where might these vile wastes have originated?” you may ask. Why from us of course! Since we are the ones who regularly use the footbridge, we, too, are the ones collectively responsible for the state of the footbridge.
From the student who wants to buy school supplies at the mall, all the way to the contractual salesperson who is returning home after work, one way or another, we have all contributed to this littering phenomenon by the consummated act itself, or by negligence.
While the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) may have official responsibility for the upkeep of the footbridge, we should not rely on them to do all of the dirty work. Their workers usually work under brutal circumstances and blazing heat daily, with mediocre pay to compensate them for their labor.
Since we are contributing to the state of the footbridge, we are charged with the responsibility to help them maintain it.
We would not even need to exert that much effort to clean and maintain the footbridge if we were all law-abiding citizens who do not discard our trash wherever we so please.
Is it so difficult to keep our trash on us until we find a proper place for disposal? Are we so lazy and selfish to point that we would place our own convenience above the convenience of the greater masses? If so, we have a much bigger problem than these mounds of trash.
We should learn how to discipline ourselves on proper trash disposal, for if we want change to actually happen in society, we must be able to begin with ourselves.
A shining example of this mindset is JV Sangalang, an undergraduate of the University of the Philippines who noticed the deplorable state of the footbridge and decided to do something about it. On February 28, Sangalang and his friend set to clear the footbridge of waste. There, they chanced upon two members of the UPTC staff who were sent to clean the footbridge after the shopping mall received a complaint. Together, they cleaned the footbridge.
At the end of the day, they successfully removed four plastic trash bags worth of rubbish from the bridge. Up until now, only minimal amounts of waste and litter can be seen on it due to their efforts.
As fellow isko and iska, we must remember that we too uphold the values of honor and excellence in the academe. What better way is there to express these than doing our part as members of the community like what Sangalang and his friend did for the footbridge?
Cleaning up after public and private spaces not only improves aesthetics, it also prevents diseases or pests from spreading. In addition, maintaining discipline is an act that strengthens our principles as people, which simultaneously brings us closer to a higher quality of life. In short, hygiene gives us more benefits than troubles in the long-run.
Keeping the trash to ourselves or picking up the litter from the streets specifically, as mentioned, are small steps with big effects that can be done by anyone. Though they may seem insignificant at first, they do show their effects when done habitually and in cumulation.
For the DPWH, it would also be well to have community bins and signages installed on public areas such as the footbridge in hopes of mitigating the issue.
To top it off, even if no one outright asked any of us to step up and do something about this problem, our efforts and contributions still make up what our society is now. No matter how simple, believe it or not, it is our decisions as the people to determine the fate of the environment and society we live in, for better or for worse. //by Aldric de Ocampo and Gabe Ulanday
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