MAYOR Benjamin Magalong of Baguio City recently posted a video online, where he told a story about what happened when he spoke to an audience of mayors during a conference.
He said that he had everyone’s attention when he started talking about using technology for governance, but he lost their attention when he started talking about graft and corruption in government.
Without alluding to anyone, Mayor Magalong asked why is it that some mayors could not seem to satisfy their desire to get hold of public funds for their own gains. He said that despite the fact that these mayors already get a kickback from each project, they still want to become not only the contractor, but also the supplier to the contractors. They want everything.
Going straight to the point, committing graft is not only a crime, it is also a sin. Considering that there are only a few atheists in this country, it would be safe to assume that most of those who are serving in government positions believe either believe in God, or belong to a church, mosque or temple as the case may be.
So why are the incidents of sin so high among them?
The answer to my question is very simple. The incidents of sin nowadays are very high, because the system itself is corrupt. It is a system that not only enables graft and corruption to prosper, it also allows the sinners to get away with their crimes. As a matter of fact, nobody really sees them as criminals nowadays.
CORAL REEF PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION
We may not be able to eat the sea corals, but we can eat the fish and other marine life that are able to survive because of their dependence on these corals.
And so, the math for this is very simple. The less corals in the sea, the lesser fish there will be, and that would not only mean lesser food for us to eat, it would also mean lesser livelihood for the fishermen who depend on the seas for their survival.
And so that is my answer to the greedy people who would ask me “what’s in it for me?”. What’s in it for them is the food that the fishermen could harvest to bring to their tables, even if they may not care for the livelihoods of these fishermen.
And if that is not enough for them, I could tell them that if there are more corals in the seas, there will be lesser warming of sea temperatures that could also lessen global warming.
Years ago, my late friend Ernie Pelaez started an artificial coral reef project in Duka Bay Resort in Medina, Misamis Oriental. It is now being managed by his cousin, Jessie Pelaez.
The idea behind the project is very simple. After introducing the “fake” coral reefs, it will create the right environment for the real, natural coral reefs to grow back, and because of that, the fish will come back and survive.
A similar project was started by the Filipino Inventors Society in Malabrigo, Lobo, Batangas. It is aptly named the “Sea Bliss Artificial Coral Reef Rejuvenation Project, implemented in cooperation with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the local government.
