Honoring all our heroes
WE SET ASIDE one day (November 30) to honor our traditional heroes of old. We reminisce their good deeds and sacrifices for the freedoms we currently enjoy. We heap praises upon them for their significant contributions. We believe they deserve every tribute we extend them.
But our focus should now be on our modern-day heroes. We should set aside a particular day to honor them, probably a year and more to salute their self-effacing deeds for our countrymen.
The first heroes we need to honor are our Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs. They sacrifice their time and allow themselves to be separated from loved ones for long periods of time in order to earn something to send back home. Their remittances definitely shored up our country\s dollar reserves and economy and keep afloat their families.
Next to be honored should be the frontliners or medical workers who give their time and skills to attend to the COVID 19 patients; they, who risk their lives in order to care tirelessly to the victims. And yet, they are underpaid but overworked and the last to receive the perks and benefits accorded to other similarly-situated workers.
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takes effect on December 1 yet but the damage done or inflicted on infrastructure and agriculture which runs into billions of pesos has all been summed up. Now, the government expects to solve its perennial flooding and landslides problem? I doubt it.
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The now active House of Representatives has summoned officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the local chief executives in Cagayan and Isabela to inquire on the damaging floods that submerged two provinces and parts of Metro Manila and Rizal during the rampage of typhoon Ulysses last week.
Fine, but what could this inquiry do except perhaps expose the ineptness of NIA and the local government unit officials who were caught incapable of handling disaster situations.
"We have been experiencing difficulties in breathing especially the elderly who gasp for air each time Clean Leaf releases the smoke into the air that rapidly spreads within the community. We have to cover our noses with pieces of wet cloth to avoid inhaling the smoke," the locals furthered, adding that their sources of livelihood have been greatly affected due to the alleged air pollution.
Inhabitants of surrounding communities including Barangay Cutcut ll and nearby Barangay Anupul in Bamban town, have similarly turned to social media hoping their plight will reach the office of the local government unit.
"Sumasakit po ang sikmura ng mga taong nakalalanghap ng mabahong amoy and we're not going to wait for a member of family to suffer health problems because of air pollution," they said.
In its website, Clean Leaf International Corporation describes the plant as a “waste management and treatment, materials recovery, storage and disposal facility, and treater and transporter of waste in compliance to Republic Act 6969” or the “Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990”.
The Clean Leaf website notes that “It is a duly registered company that deals with materials recovery, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste. It also provides hazardous waste transport services to its clients, which empowers the company to directly oversee the strict implementation of in-house standard operating procedures from waste transfer, to processing, and to the final management of residuals.
Hazardous wastes collected from different industrial plants in Central Luzon and even Metro Manila are reportedly being transported into the Clean Leaf waste facility for processing, informed sources said.
SunStar Pampanga tried to reach Clean Leaf authorities for comments about the villagers worries and concerns but was unable to reach them at press time.