Thursday, May 31, 2007

TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE

Philippines is not the only nation in the world where the people urinate in public. There is a major European nation where the average citizen pees in public almost everyday. (324 days a year). Even their women urinate in public an average of 22 times per year. That is not to excuse this unhealthy behavior, it just proves that the Philippines is not unique in this regard.

You will never see me standing beside the road peeing. It is not because I am afraid someone will peek and see all those stories about American men are not true. I do not pee for one reason… I LOVE THE PHILIPPINES. Urine is pollution. Urinating in public is unhealthy for all living things.

The average American urinates in public only 8 times a year. This is with good reason. In America this activity can be a very serious crime. It can be classified as a “sex” crime. This would require the peeing “criminal” to register with police wherever he went.

My objection is for health reasons alone. Everyday approximately 75,469 gallons of human urine pollutes our beautiful city. That is 2.6 MILLION gallons of pee a month. How can that be good for the health of each of us?

I am not political. It is not my place as a guest here to be involved in local or national politics. But I attended an open meeting of the mayor as he presented a program to clean-up pollution. I was impressed with the professional presentation and the comprehensive plan. Currently the water table is not polluted but that will not stay that way if we neglect to plan for the future. If you go to the boulevard on a hot day, you can smell the future .

Pollution and raw sewage are a threat to every man, woman and child in Oriental Negros. It does not matter if you are rich or poor; disease is an equal opportunity killer. We need to work together for the survival of this beautiful city.

Be an Everyday Hero. Stop pollution; get your septic tank pumped. Get familiar with the mayors new clean water program. You will never know whose life your might save. It could be your own or even your child’s.

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