Independence day in the CA

Netnet Camomot

SEN. Alan Peter Cayetano said he rejected Gina Lopez’s appointment as environment secretary because of her “unwillingness to comply with institutional processes” which “would have embarrassed the President in no time.”

Juice colored. Justify pa more!

Money, along with actions, could speak louder than words. Its supposed influence on the rejection by the Commission on Disappointments, er, Appointments, remains to hover above the commissioners, er, committee members. That speculation may remain for a long time with the way politics survives in this country.

But is this exclusive to Pinas? Nah. Money is and will always have a loud voice wherever it goes. It reportedly all starts during the campaign season to fund a political candidate’s wishful thinking. Once he wins, money allegedly continues to be a main player as it props him up through commissions.

The spineless politician needs a lot of propping up otherwise he could fall onto a pile of his own bones. Skeletons in the closet, anyone? Especially for the politician who’s nagmamalinis, believing he’s the angel sent by God to cleanse ordinary mortals of their sins.

But the politician, despite the spine, should be able to stand on his own, with “stand” not exactly to mean he’s physically standing but refers to his ability to think and decide wisely. But since we know how most politicians behave, their “wisely” may not exactly have the same meaning as our “wisely.”

There are many other speculations on Lopez’s rejection. More precisely, let’s call them conspiracy theories. A committee member’s political campaign was allegedly funded by the brother of a fellow committee member, that brother who happens to be in the mining industry. Wow. Talk of six degrees of separation.

A committee member has a brother in the mining industry, and that member decided on whether Lopez’s appointment as environment secretary should be accepted or rejected. How I wish it’s June 12 today so at least we can say, Happy Independence Day!

Some Pinoys are now saying Lopez should have acted nice and sweet to misbehaving mining companies before the confirmation of her appointment, and only cancelled their permits after getting that precious yes from the Commission. But I guess she didn’t want to waste time. A day of being nice and sweet to mining companies is one more day of disaster to the environment. The clock is ticking. Tick tock tick tock.

The sound of money is loud. If you’ve been to a live concert and the only space available is the one right next to the humongous speakers, that kind of loud. You can’t help but hear it, and even listen to it. Well, what else is there to do? You’re already there, right there. Not even anti-money protesters could stop you from listening.

Yup, the anti-money protester–the foolish kind that ignores money and follows his passion. Can passion fill his tummy? Can passion feed his kids? Can passion send his kids to school?

He grins and bears it, even if his conscience tells him, This is wrong! You should follow your heart! What does your heart tell you?!

Someone once told my mother about the survival of the fittest. And her question was, The fittest for what? And she laughed.

I found it funny that other people also reacted that way to this survival of the fittest.

Life is not a competition. Each of us here has a path to take, with unique talents that only we can call our own. No one is exactly the same as the other, not even twins can be the exact copy-paste of each other. So, why compare? Who has more money, who has more power, who has more whatever? In the end, will it matter?

Have you seen someone close to you die? Up to the point where nurses are removing tubes from his body. That’s a Realization 101. With all this survival the living does, there’s still no assurance he’ll live forever and ever.

Meanwhile, the environment continues to suffer. Although the environment has proven it will live forever and ever, we can’t afford to let it die momentarily until someone finds a way to resurrect it on the third day.

Cagayan de Oro started its waste segregation system only a few weeks ago. I don’t know if Cagayanons have become zealous in segregating their garbage, or if the city’s waste segregation department has the time to segregate the garbage that Cagayanons may fail to segregate.

I heard, though, that in other places—meaning, not CDO–all kinds of garbage are still dumped into one place once they’ve reached the dumpsite. I guess in those non-CDO places, segregation is merely used as exercise by those who wake up late for their daily early-morning walk around the village. In other words, they have the “unwillingness to comply with institutional processes.”

There’s a much brighter future then for CDO since Cagayanons have the willingness “to comply with institutional processes.”

Segregate pa more!