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Narrative Essay (Final)

Negligence of the Public Park under Marcelo Fernan Bridge

by Ry Jordane Reyes

Everyone has that special place in their neighborhood that they keep special in their hearts. It is the place which they deem important to them since it holds the most special memories that they want to keep from their childhood.This fact includes me in it. I was a homebody when I was a child and did not really want to stay outside longer than necessary and when I got home, I immediately headed to my bedroom. But something happened that made me realize that spending my time alone and not appreciating what the outside world had to offer showed me what I was missing out on. When I was in elementary school, I met two friends that I knew and still know now that I would be with until I die. I say that with sincere feelings. Our relationship did not start out smooth , it was bumpy as bumpy could get since we got to know one other after resolving a problem with a common enemy. One day , we all realized that we had the same route to go through when going home. We hated spending the two pesos we had left for a distance that we could just walk.Walking together, helped us feel safer and made the travel less dull since we had more time to talk to one another.One of our pit stops before actually reaching our destinations is the Public Park under Marcelo Fernan Bridge in Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City. To little sixth graders, it was like a haven that we could just use as an escape. Thinking back on it now, maybe it was bad but to little eleven year olds it was the equivalent to happiness since we could spend more time outside the house.

The park was under the Marcelo Fernan Bridge or is commonly known to locals as the New Bridge. It was very accessible, anyone could come and have a great time without spending money for entrance fees and to kids, that is the most amazing information you could acquire. There were two pathways that had several different attractions in between them which were : the basketball court, the playground and the huts that were free to be used by anyone. It had beautiful streetlights that illuminated the pathways whenever we walked by them when it was almost dark and the peaceful air it held that made even children feel safe hanging out there when it was almost ten o'clock in the evening. The basketball court which would be filled with people every month for friendly tournaments between barangays , playgrounds that we would occupy for most of the time that we spent in the park, seeing who can stand on the swing and seeing who can swing the highest between all of us. Afterwards when we get tired from playing, we would go to the edge of the park and there lied piles of flat rocks on top of the sea shore. We picked the rock pile that was the most stable and it was the one furthest from the edge, so we had to slip and jump atop many rocks before we could get to it but we all felt at peace. Talking about problems in school or at home, the people we were annoyed at and at the same time enjoying the waves that come over when a boat passes by. We did this habitually until we graduated elementary school. After I graduated I was not able to go there at all since I barely went home after I started studying in Saudi Arabia, namely in the cities,Riyadh and Jeddah for High School education. After four years, one boring afternoon during the summer of 2014, I decided to visit my friends who lived under the New Bridge, before I could even get into the pathway that lead to their houses I was shocked. What greeted me surprised all of my senses. I could see that only a few of the streetlight were in working condition, most were bent or had no bulbs. The roads that used to be new and smooth are now roads filled with dirt, oil, plastic and innumerable cracks. The one with the worst condition would especially be the playground that we held dear to our hearts. The swings only had ropes left on, children tied the two ropes together so that they could at least sit on it and swing.The monkey bars no longer had bars. The barely functionable slides and see-saws paint were gone and are now only left with the color of rusty metals. The fact that kids still tried to play and enjoy the park even when it has been ruined to that point breaks my heart. They could have had happier expressions, better memories to keep like ours, and a more comfortable playing environment but they ended up enduring the playground in that state.The huts roof are falling apart and people barely even had a place to sit on since the wood that made up the seats have broken. I asked my friends ,Jay and Mildred what they thought of the deterioration of the place we all held dear. Jay said that he felt sad too and several times he wanted to clean up the place but the damage was too far gone and he also said, "Busy kaayo ko sa school pud ato nga time, wala na ko'y oras para ana pud.", I was too busy and preoccupied with school during that time, I do not have time for that. Mildred seconded his statement since she could relate since both of them are on scholarship programs. The fact of the matter is, what makes the park more repelling is not only the visual state but also the scent. As soon as you step near the place, the strong and poignant smell of urine on all the walls and floors has spread all throughout the park. I was almost afraid to go in any further. As I walked and walked further, the only thing I hoped for was that the place we held dearest stayed as it is. But what I saw crushed my hopes even more,the rocks we used to hold dear to our hearts were scattered like a pile of rubble, making it improbable to sit down and hang out like we used to. That is not the only factor why we cannot do that. There is also the fact that the smell of the trash accumulating is very overpowering to the senses and to add to that is the oil that has accumulated in the sea provided by the boats that have frequented the water passageway underneath the bridge.

Neglect for both the environment and man-made property is evident in this park in our community. In the past, it was always swarming with kids, teenagers and elderly, basically different people in different age groups gathered in the park to meet friends or relax and enjoy sceneries or have races with their skateboards but sadly, it has now become like a ghost town. Whenever I pass by the park while commuting to go to school, I just sigh in silence. For the government to save it, I think it has come to the point where they have to destroy and rebuild everything from scratch and enforce numerous policies around the park most importantly, the 'No Littering' signages. Now it is swarmed by flies and trash both floating on the water and flying around in the air carried by wind. The accumulated trash carries a foul smell. When we were kids, we would sometimes see little fish occasionally by the shore but now, the water has turned to black and basically has deteriorated adding to that the oil residue left by the boats and ships, making it impossible for any form of marine life to survive around there.

As stated by Marye Audet in her article "Effects of Ocean Pollution on Marine Life" :

Oil affects coral reefs in a negative way. These reefs are not only beautiful, they provide a habitat for many sea creatures. Oil also clogs up the gills of the fish that live there and suffocates them. When oil floats on the surface, it blocks sunlight and prevents marine plants from utilizing the light for photosynthesis. (para.6)

As I have observed during recent events, in order for all public and government-made property to be maintained and taken care of, preventing any sort of damage is hard to do. Even the Jose Rizal statue in Quezon City has seen better days. The surrounding environment has been damaged even when there are people guarding the statue almost all the time, what more if the property is for anybody to touch. People often see citizens enjoying the property for as long as it can be squeezed out and when it is damaged leaves it as it is. After all this is a bandwagon situation. If people see that it is all right to throw trash since trash is everywhere, that is it is all right to urinate since apparently it is okay to do seeing as urine is almost everywhere and that it is all right to neglect the used to be haven for the people in Pusok,Lapu-Lapu City, then naturally people will feel the same since no one is doing anything to clean it up.

References:

A. Marye, "Effects of Ocean Pollution on Marine Life" , (para. 6)

Online Link:

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Effects_of_Ocean_Pollution_on_Marine_Life

Word Count: 2013 words

OUTLINE: Intro:

Past conditions of the marine life in the Philippines Introduction to never ending pollution Body:

Listing or enumerating of oil spills that happened for the past decade. Governments efforts and negligence Economics vs. Morals (Money vs. Right) the possible damage and percentages the livelihood of the Filipino people will be affected. Effect of flowing water or traveling water onto our Mother Earth

Conclusion:

criticisms and possible solutions recommended by environmentalists to save what is left and preserve them

Reality Check : Effects of Frequent Oil Spills on Marine Life

Reality Check : Effects of Frequent Oil Spills

By: Ry Jordane Reyes

Oceans, seas, rivers and lakes have always been a natural existence to Filipinos , after all, our country is surrounded by these wonderful creations of Mother Earth. It is natural that one will eventually end up bonding by the beach and having fun with their loved ones together every summer or numerous times within a year. In order to experience , to enjoy and to explore more , some scuba dive or snorkel , some swim until their heads can only be conceived as a spot by their peers, while others enjoy just simply lying down on the sand basking in the suns rays.

But would these moments still be possible if you are eating and bonding by the sea that has been filled with oil? Will snorkeling, scuba diving and swimming with only a swimsuit on still be considered a good idea , knowing that you are risking yourself with the possibility of absorbing deadly and toxic chemicals while swimming through floating dead animals? Of course not. It is a fact that it is human nature to avoid these kinds of places and search for a beach where there is clear water filled with swimming little fishes and white sand.

Philippines is an archipelago, brimming with potential and overflowing with marine biodiversity. Why was the Philippines gifted with so much marine biodiversity ? How was this possible? Carpenter (as cited by the website OneOcean has stated that the “Philippines forms an ocean region that has long been recognized as the world’s center of marine biodiversity” ("The Philippine Marine",para.1 ) and (Carpenter,2005) added that our country is not only the center , but the “epicenter of marine diversity”. Their research was conducted for a decade and proves that our country has always been considered home by marine animals that are of abundance and are of diverse species. It is common knowledge that our countrys marine life is both a source of economic livelihood and a tourist attraction that is in fact envied by our neighbors all around the world.

To add to this , the Philippines is part of the “Coral Triangle” (Philippine marine biodiversity: A brief profile , para.1) it is called so because of the abundance of coral reef life. The countries part of the Coral Triangle is the Philippines,portions of Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Malay archipelago that is composed of Indonesia and Malaysia. Some 400-500 species in 90 genera of reef-forming corals are believed to exist in this region. They say that the from a total of 2,500 species of fish, the Philippines has seventy-percent, Indonesia has twenty-percent and Malaysia has ten-percent. Our country is blessed with not only coral reefs but also "seagrass beds, mangrove and beach forests, fisheries, invertebrates, seaweeds , marine mammals and many others (The Fourth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity,2009 , p.45)”. Specifically, “168 scleractinian corals, 1,755 reef-associated fishes, 648 species of mollusks, 19 species of seagrass and 820 species of algae, (Fishbase 2008 & BFAR-NFRDI-PAWB, 2005) and “the country harbors about 3,212 fish species 731 of which are considered commercially important”

Dorente stated that the government is trying to conserve the Philippines biodiversity , seeing as it is a large asset to the country and to protect them from those that can cause damage. There are “five major categories – chemical pollution and eutrophication, fisheries operations, habitat alteration, invasion of alien species and global climate change. Primary threats are habitat loss due mostly to destructive human activities such as mining, logging and hazardous and solid waste disposal (para.8)”.Commonly observed from the surroundings,It is saddening that pollution is now natural to people. Also one of the major culprits for dying ecosystems, polluted water, extinction of a unique specie and dead marine animals are oil spills.

What is an oil spill? According to Encyclopedia Britannica , it is the leakage of petroleum onto the surface of a large body of water. They are caused by overloading and bad weather which causes them to spill. Large oil spills by supertankers happen once in a while, although

Encyclopedia Britannica states;

thousands of minor and several major oil spills related to well discharges and tanker operations are reported each year, with the total quantity of oil released annually into the world’s oceans exceeding one million metric tons Combined with natural seepage from the ocean floor, these sources add oil to the world’s waterways at the rate of 3.5 million to 6 million metric tons a year.

It is quite amusing how governments never bother to prosecute those that have inarguably damaged so much resources. As (Cobert,B.,2014) said in his article The Government Listens to Lobbyists and the Wealthy , Not You and Me ,” When organized interest groups or economic elites want a particular policy passed, there’s a strongly likelihood their wishes will come true. But when average citizens support something, they have next to no influence.” This statement rings true, capitalism does win most of the time in the case of oil spills, large corporations only need to say they will handle the situation, pay compensation and admit they are at fault and barely deal with any consequence, after the oil spill has been forgotten and people are not outraged anymore, business will go as usual. The government knows it is wrong to choose money over morals , they should know what the logical approach is. Prosecuting and giving corporations punishments they deserve prevents more disasters from happening in the future. Being too short-sighted and blinded will end up badly, and as it will end up, there will be nothing to protect.

An example is in Marya Salamats Article (2013) , Cavite Oil spill caused by Petron was downplayed by the Governor of Cavite,Jonvic Remulla. He blatantly said that the oil spill had evaporated and told the public he would eat the fish from the bay to prove to everyone it could be eaten.Remulla belittled the problem and said “fisherfolk can go farther out at sea to fish” (para.1), that is just like he was telling them that it was not his problem and the fishermen should figure it out by themselves.

Kalikasan PNE stated that :

“A study published in the IAMURE International Journal on Marine Ecology estimated that the damage to the affected ecosystems and the fisheries sector may last for up to two generations. Petron is claiming the situation in Cavite is under control, but coral reefs have reportedly been smothered by oil sludge, and reported fish and shellfish kills mean the oil slick has also affected the functions of marine species.”

Fisherman

Oil pollution will affect economically dependent citizens. Especially the livelihoods of fishermen who live by the sea. Their home could be surrounded by remnants of the oil spill, if they are taken in, it could harm their families which may cause them to move even when their livelihood is near the sea. If commercially important marine species are ruined because of these continuous spills and pollution, everyone will be affected. Fish will be more expensive which will cause citizens to purchase a different kind of meat to save money which affects fishermen since they will barely earn money.

COAST GUARD workers are the first to respond to the call for a cleanup of the oil spill in Estancia, Iloilo

One of the greatest tragedies of the Philippines was the Guimaras Oil Spill that reached the "Top 25 Memorable Oil Spills for the Past Decade". It occurred on 11th of August,2006 releasing 1,540 tonnes(2 million litres) of oil "over 200 kilometers of coastline have been affected including the traditional livelihood in the island(Barnuevo,A.P. & Sadaba,R.B. ,nn.d.,para.1)." They added that numerous marine fauna and mangroves died, after two years, the mangroves that were impacted had "exhibited decrease in leaf sizes"(para.1). It came to the point that the administration in Guimaras asked for help due to the gravity of their situation, Cebu Inquirer reports that Guimaras Governor JC Rahman Nava asked for assistance for his province that is suffering under what is considered to be the largest oil spill for the country. (Barnuevo,A.P. & Sadababa,R.B.) research showed that after three years after the oil spill hit the mangroves , water and soil around it showed the level of Quantification of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are "within safe level" (para.2), they recommended monitoring in order to know what will happen to the species of marine animals that were affected.

Guimaras Oil Spill , A group of fisherman cleaning up

http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/multimedia/slideshows/the-guimaras-oil-spill-inciden/

Recently, the country has suffered the wrath of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) , the bad weather caused another mayhem of oil pollution in Iloilo,Visayas called Estancia Oil Spill which occurred between the 21st and 23rd of November,2013 which had "800,000 litres of oil having leaked. As the ruptured tanks continue to leak and up to 600,000 litres of oil remain in the tanks, the amount of spill is increasing steadily ("Oil Spill in Estancia",2013).

So as the water traveled from Iloilo, affected the mangroves ten kilometers downstream. And the wind contributed to blow the free phase oil, which could complicate the situation more. This pollution is bad enough as it is but that fact of the matter is , water travels. If an oil spill occurs in another city or another country, in this case, the Philippines, it will affect the entire world. Little by little , the remnants travel and infect other bodies of water nearby. One oil spill can damage numerous ecosystems from different countries. Just because it did not happen in your country, does not mean that you will not suffer the consequences as well. We only have one planet, we are all interconnected, it is foolish for people to disregard the gravity of the situation.

Such oil spills are considered forms of pollution. Oil spills also have highly adverse effects on the environment. These oil spills greatly affect animals, which may in turn sometimes lead to animals getting endangered. Animals may be affected because oil spills may cause hypothermia, inducing low body temperatures. Oil may also enter the lungs or livers of animals, in turn poisoning the animals. Oil may also kill animals by blinding them, affecting their natural predator prey instincts, resulting in which they will be unaware of their predators, and will eventually be preyed on.

Having been affected by the Typhoon , people who depend on fishing for livelihood suffered more seeing as their livelihood was instantly ruined by the oil spill. Tourism of the city is affected , seeing as they may perceive that the water may possibly be polluted.

The Sulpicio Express 7 shows the damage from its collision with the ferry St. Thomas Aquinas 1

http://ens-newswire.com/2013/08/23/cebu-oil-spill-spreads-as-ferry-sinking-inquiry-opens/

One of the most recent drastic oil spill occurrences in the Philippines was the collision of The Sulpicio Express 7 with the ferry St. Thomas Aquinas on the 16th of August,2013 at Cordova, carrying "120,000 liters of bunker oil, 20,000 liters of lube oil and 20,000 liters of diesel oil" ("Cebu Oil Spill",2013)

Shangri-La Mactan Resort

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, are the ones who are usually in charge in cases of oil spills and other disasters. They stated that "oil spill has so far affected 26 villages, in the town of Cordova on Mactan island, where five-star resorts line the shore" , this statement proves that oil spills affect tourism , businesses and livelihoods extremely, especially five-star resorts that are near the shore.

People have always been oriented to improving , developing and evolving. It is natural that in order to achieve these, sacrifices should be made. But realizing that temporary achievements and developments in exchange for life and biodiversity that supports our major ecosystem, the Earth , is not called improving. Currently, deterioration fits the state of our lives best.If we want to keep using the advance technologies that we have , including petroleum , corporations need to start taking more than precautions.Some propose different and unique ways to clean up these oil spills. The top Five green ways, (Yoneda,Y. 2010) enumerated ”constructing a water dome underwater which could “contain (p.1,para.1) the oil , “absorbing the oil with mushroom and hair (para.2) , called mats, which has been proven and used before for the “Cosco Busan Oil spill 2007(p.1,para.2). The third way is to “utilize the bacteria to eat up the oil (p.1,para.3) , called Bioremediation , it is where we make use of the bacteria living in the ocean who eat oil when it enters their natural habitat. (Yoneda,2010) also recommended soaking it up with peat moss which can be “scooped right out together with the oil”(p.2,para.1) and the last one is to utilize excess pet hair and stockings. Some may say it is ridiculous but no one can be nit-picky when the situation has gone bad.

Such pollution that can affect the whole planet to this extent should be limited and prevented in the future if everyone expects the planet to last long for future generations to witness what beauty nature possesses today.

References:

Online:

Barnuevo,A.P. & Sadaba,R.B. (2013), Oil Spill in Estancia , Iloilo,Western Visayas,Philippines, Resulting from Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)

Link: http://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/assessments/Estancia%20Oil%20Spill%20Initial%20Assessment%20Report%20FINAL%282%29.pdf

Environment News Service (2013)

Link : http://ens-newswire.com/2013/08/23/cebu-oil-spill-spreads-as-ferry-sinking-inquiry-opens/

The Chemistry of Oil Spills

Link : http://oilsplat.wordpress.com/about/

Recovery of Mangrove Deforested Areas from MT Solar Oil Spill in Guimaras Philippines (2013)

Link : https://www.academia.edu/8083464/Recovery_of_mangrove_deforested_areas_from_M_T_Solar_oil_spill_in_Guimaras_Philippines

News: Cordova Oil Spill (2013)

Link : http://ens-newswire.com/2013/08/23/cebu-oil-spill-spreads-as-ferry-sinking-inquiry-opens/

News: Green Peace Organization

Link : http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/recent-oil-spills/

Link : http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/press/releases/greenpeace-statement-on-the-gu/

Oracle : Green Market

Link : http://www.thegreenmarketoracle.com/2013/07/top-25-oil-spills-over-1000-tonnes-in.html

OneOcean : Philippine Marine Biodiversity :A Unique World Treasure

Link : http://www.oneocean.org/flash/philippine_biodiversity.html

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