Most, if not all, citizens of this beautiful archipelago of delicious coconuts and smiling carabaos have heard of the phrase, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.
We are a predominantly Catholic (or Christian) nation, after all. It seems, however, that many Filipinos merely give lip service to this adage and not really put the words into action on a regular basis.
I could be wrong but when it comes to physical hygiene, most of us are on point, but many miss the mark when it comes to maintaining the cleanliness and orderliness of our respective surroundings.
This matter came to mind when City Mayor Benjamin Magalonghas reminded residents of Baguio to keep their surroundings clean and orderly including the proper disposition of garbage, as he claimed that many are still remiss and not taking these concerns seriously.
“Malaking bagay na iyong linisin ang harapan o tapat (ng tahanan) mo. Maski iyon na lang ang contribution mo. Pero nakakalungkot na meron pa ring mga miyembro ng community na hindi ito ginagawa,” he lamented.
The lackadaisical behavior was noticed by the mayor during several clean-up activities where only the barangay officials and volunteers are doing the cleaning while most of the residents in the community just watch and don’t help out.
He admitted that changing this type of mindset and behavior of people is difficult and will take quite some time as well as requiring a long-term solution.
Magalong said the most prudent way is to start with the youth sector.
“Turuan na natin ang mga tao habang bata pa. Hopefully, it will be easier to integrate into their systems that it is about time that we take cleanliness and orderliness seriously including the proper disposition of garbage,” he said.
Meanwhile, The city council adopted Resolution 308, s. 2024, confirming the memorandum of understanding between the city government and Youth With A Mission, Inc., represented by Director George Eng-enga, to strengthen the implementation of the pre-marriage orientation and counseling (PMOC) in the city.
“As an emerging PMOC program concern and as part of the priority issues identified by the city PMOC team, the partnership serves as a primary action to address the insufficient number of PMOC counselors and streamline PMOC counseling within the city,” the resolution stated.
