By Digoy Fernandez

ONE does not have to be a genius to figure that any large city – Metro-Manila, for example – generates a huge carbon footprint by way of car and truck emissions, the generation and improper handling of waste, buildings and homes that are not green enough, and the lack of enough green spaces that can serve as carbon sinks while generating oxygen at the same time.

In the case of our own metropolis, short-sightedness on the part of many past administrators would find them making decisions on the basis of expediency rather than the consideration of the longer term suitability of the city as a habitat for man, flora, and fauna.

Thus, if a road had to be widened, any tree getting in the way would be immediately cut or destroyed, instead of seeking out a win-win solution where the road could be widened but not at the expense of such trees. Instead of encouraging the practice of separating garbage at the source in each and every single household and institution, we still have unsightly garbage dumps containing all sorts of detritus. This situation is what attracts the scavengers who seek to eke out a living by trying to salvage the recyclable or usable materials from plain garbage.

There are already too many environmental problems in the city begging for attention. For now, we will focus on the simple task of seeking empty spaces in the metropolis and converting these into green spaces.

As a example, I just have to point out what I have done within my own property and in the alleyway adjoining it. Not to mention the adjoining streets and some of the areas in our village park.

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By Digoy Fernandez

A few months ago, my kids introduced me to Facebook, and I have taken to the social interaction medium like a fish to water. It took a while, of course, but starting with my neighbors – specifically, their kids – my list of friends gradually spread out to former classmates, old friends, and even new ones who I have been pleased to discover.

One of the things that struck me is the love and care many of them show their pets, most of which are dogs. Some even have their dog’s pictures adorning their profile pages. My son, who inherited my love for pets in general, just sent me two amusing threads. One was of a puppy Retriever trying to sleep using a stair step to prop his head, to no avail. The other was of the Boston Terrier Breed, one we have grown to love ever since a bouncing bundle of Boston joy entered into our household four years ago. This little dog of ours has become truly one of the family and even sleeps between my two boys.

My friend Wilson Ang of BioResearch is in the business of selling pets to people. But few know that he also has some sort of animal rescue center where he takes in battered or abandoned pets, mostly dogs, and tries to nurse them back to health.

I have seen these dogs while walking through their area, and have been struck by their demeanor, wagging their tails and yelping for attention. Dogs truly are man’s best friend and crave for attention and love by instinct.

Contrast this with the naturally feral nature of even ordinary household cats, that have to be won over if one is to be trusted by them. There was a time when I could not resist picking up little kittens that had probably been abandoned or appeared lost, and have tried to either raise them or give them to friends. Keeping a couple of “house cats” has certainly helped in keeping the vermin population at lower levels.

Last week, my gardener found a baby python and promptly killed it. I was aghast and told him to never do that again, since I could have brought the snake over to the rescue center where it would become a nice addition to the menagerie there.

Some of my Facebook friends have invited me to support their causes, many of which have to do with the care of and stopping the abuse of animals. These are easy to support, given my love for animals in general. (Without demeaning the need to stop the abuse of people too!)

Many abandoned pets start off as whimsical purchases by people who think that they would just love to have an unusual pet, and then surrender to reality. But abandoning pets by literally throwing them out into the streets is a crime in itself. Not only is the animal left to fend for itself in a hostile environment, but the poor animal adds to the increasing number of strays in the metropolis.

It is this thought that has kept me from buying those lovely little crocodiles or boa constrictors.

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By Digoy Fernandez

FIRST of all, we must make one thing clear. We support and believe in the right of the state of impose just taxes that are to be used for the maintenance and development of a country and its people.

Unfortunately, this principle works well in theory only in a few cases. Because of very poor tax administration(i.e., the inability or unwillingness of our revenue collectors to properly enforce tax regulations) the government finance team is often pressed to make up for deficits that crop up because of the larger amount of expenditures over receipts.

So, what does the typical government bureaucrat do when tasked with thinking about ways to bridge the gap between expenses and revenues? The knee-jerk response would be to simply impose a new slew of taxes, the more the better.

Perish the thought that revenue agents should soil their hands with attempts to impose a more efficient regime to tax collection or administration on existing taxes! And yet, our country’s multilateral and bilateral creditors and donors have long said that our revenue people have to tighten the ship and undertake a more efficient collection machinery.

What seems to be the problem, then, in simply enforcing better tax and revenue collections? It is an open secret that the two or three main revenue generation agencies are plum posts sought by those seeking to increase their respective net worths.

I recall an instance when a supporter of Ka Jaime Ferrer visited the old man when I happened to be in his residence. When Ka Jaime asked the man what he wanted, he simply requested that he be given a position in either Customs or the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Ka Jaime–a paragon for honesty in government–shouted at the hapless man: “What? I will assign you there just so you can steal or make money illegally? No!!!”

This is why the onerous book tax contemplated by the brain-dead Espele Sales of the Finance department was pounced upon by book lovers and right thinking people both here and abroad.

First of all, it was a clear violation of an international convention, and no amount of stretching of semantics could or would justify such a stupid tax, all to raise a few bucks for the government.

Unfortunately for Ms Sales, just when the campaign against her and her tax scheme was escalating, the two Davids (Cook and Archuleta) visited the country. Their arrival, stay, and performances here resulted in the Philippines coming up in the top ten places being followed in Twitter.

Well, to make a long story short, local cyberspace mavens twittered Espele Sales and her ill-contrived tax scheme resulting in a rapidly mushrooming viral anti-Sales/anti-tax campaign that was likely to drag President into the more negative aspects of the fray. Whatever her motivations, she most likely saw the light and rescinded the stupid book tax. End of problem.

Once again, people in government were put on notice that they cannot assume a “business as usual” with respect to their shenanigans, because all it takes is a small band of intrepid cyberspace jockeys to put out the dirty laundry of these malefactors for all to see…and get very angry at.

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ONE of the stories related to me by my late father about his friends’ exploits while they were still students at the Ateneo (before the War), were the times they played hookey and swam across the Pasig River. Needless to say, they would often get caught and earned the ire of the Jesuit prefects of discipline. But the point being made here is that, in those days, the Pasig was clean enough to attract people to jump in for a relaxing swim.

Many years later, I found myself helping the late Roberto T. Villanueva, a good friend of my late father, as a consultant in the newly established office euphemistically referred to as the Coordinating Council for Philippine Assistance Program (CCPAP).

The CCPAP was charged with overseeing the inflow and expenditure of bilateral and multilateral funds meant to help spur or maintain economic and social development. One time, it was suggested that I look into the cleaning of both the Pasig River and Laguna de Bay. As a committed environmentalist, this was the sort of project that got me excited, until I made a series of phone calls to development agencies and donor institutions. In short, they said that there were dozens of clean-up studies floating around, and that only political will was needed to get the project off the ground.

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HAVING graduated from grade school in 1962, high school in 1966, and college in 1971 (all from La Salle-Taft) plus two years in graduate school (AIM in 1973), I have come to realize that my compatriots and I are part of the leading edge in the Boomer generation.

Since the Boomer generation embraces those born after the great War (WWII) up until the hated war (Vietnam in the 60s), my bunch is pretty much in our early 60s and feeling the heavy hand of gravity––falling hair and drooping stomachs on our physiques. In addition, we now have to contend with more senior moments as we tend to be more forgetful in both big and little things.

My La Salle classmates continue to whoop it up every quarter or so with a class party featuring the music of the 60s and 70s. Fortunately, we have sort of an in-house band composed of many who played the music of the 60s back then, the GGBB. What does that name mean? Anything from Great Green Boogie Band to “Gago Gago Bobo Band,” depending on how many bottles of wine find their way into my classmates’ constitutions.

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