It’s Never Too Late for a Change

Laguna de Bay, located between the provinces of Laguna and Rizal, is the largest lake in the Philippines and third in Southeast Asia. With a shape like a stylized ‘W’, it has an average depth of 2.8 meters and serves as one of the primary sources of freshwater in the country. There is also a large island in the lake, Talim Island, under towns of Binangonan and Cardona, Rizal.

Since moving to Sta. Rosa, Laguna in 2001, I have experienced dipping in its water and seen its quick ‘evolution’ in the past 10 years. I still remember when we used to swim and do plywood surf almost every week. The water is colored brown back then and though it’s already smelly and dirty, a kid like me doesn’t mind those waiting bacteria enter my body.

Different ‘varieties’ of fishes like gurami, milkfish, St. Peter’s fish or locally known as tilapia, kanduli, janitor fish, and alike were somehow abundant at that time. There are also times when you’re walking at the waters then suddenly you’ll feel a rough, tingling sensation embraces at your feet and sometimes bite. Yikes! Snake! But don’t worry, they’re not venomous.

But that was a long time ago.

Today, things are now different in our place. The water is now brackish and black. The odor is now almost intolerable. Garbages now dumped at the coastal areas. No more crawling snakes, at least. And most especially, the lake is no more beautiful.

My girlfriend lives in Brgy. Caingin, a coastal area. We used to hang out at the sea wall there before. One time we decided to take a dip-walk at the lake. There we saw the new species inhabiting it. There you’ll see sunken shoes, bottles, tires, scrap metals, and if you’re lucky enough you’ll encounter those ‘unidentified’ floating objects contained in diapers and plastics. Gross!We regret not bringing alcohol (i’m not OC) for right after taking a dip, we were swarmed by an army of dirt-loving insects!

Seriously folks, today, not tomorrow or next week, is the right time to at least save our dying lake from it’s condition. Various efforts were done by groups and the LLDA but none of these will last a lifetime if people won’t take serious care for the lake.

Clean-up drives and other efforts are good for these fire up the passion of those few people to keep the lake clean. But like every environmentalists and concerned citizens always say, DISCIPLINE and POLITICAL WILL are the key factors here! Policies, like clean-ups, are not worth it if no one follows it, right?

Why people in Davao and in the cleanest barangays in the country have discipline? It’s because enforcement of laws exists. And so because of this will why discipline is slowly being developed. If these two elements be successfully combined, then I assure everyone of you will never read an article like this anymore. 😀

Update: With the realization that it’s not a corny thing to do when I read Sony’s blog, I have started doing it. Every morning, I used to buy rice meal in 7-11. Instead of taking the meal with plastic and disposable spoon & fork, I just carry it without the plastic & the utensils since I have my utensils in the office. At first, it sounds funny but later on it’s starting to be a habit and now I find it cool and different than others. With this simple things, who knows it brings BIG impact on others right?

Source credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_de_Bay

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