OVER the way the government, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in particular, has been fulfilling its mandate of protecting the environment in general and “rescuing” the dying and decaying Manila Bay in particular, we would like to think there is still hope for this country.
But the sad thing is, for some people, the communist bunch and the pseudo-liberals mainly, there is “nothing” that this administration will do —or any administration for that matter— that would pass their “taste” or their standard of what is good or beautiful.
Para sa mga taong ito, walang gagawing mabuti o maganda ang sino mang administrasyon.
They are so consumed by their own sense of self importance and self-righteousness that unless they are the ones in power or authority, whatever happens should be scrutinized, condemned and in the end, discarded.
And looking back, it is this kind of mentality, prevailing over the last 30 years, those years that the “Dilawans” and their communist consorts are in power, that contributed to our nation’s decay, as exemplified by the state of the Manila Bay.
For these people, it is easy for them to forget that the Manila Bay cleanup is a responsibility of not only the government but of everyone. And more than this, its clean up is among the clearest manner by which the Duterte administration has been upholding the rule of law.
Have they forgotten that favoring a petition filed by environmentalists and plain concerned citizens in 1999, the Supreme Court, in 2008, ordered a “continuing mandamus” to all subsequent administrations to clean up Manila Bay?
But what happened under PGMA and Noynoy Aquino? Nothing of note by way of compliance to the order of the Supreme Court.
And now that this administration showed commitment and sincerity in complying with the direct order of the country’s highest tribunal, the only way by which some people acknowledges it is by their usual route: reckless and irresponsible criticisms.
Looking beyond our shores, especially in this age of the Internet, other people and other countries must have been shaking their heads in disbelief that something worth of admiration and emulation are treated dirt and a waste by some quarters in this country.
They must have been saying to themselves that it is only right and proper that Filipinos and the Philippines should remain backward and retrogressive because there is simply nothing that can unite us; we are a nation of unending “factions” motivated by factional interests.
Oh well, our only word of consolation to DENR secretary Roy Cimatu and to Pres. Duterte is this: To persist in doing what is good and what is right.
For in doing this, the comfort to one’s conscience that this brings is already a reward to itself.
