BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
THE GOVERNMENT officials playing these dirty games abusing their authority and failing to serve the people do not understand that it is very dangerous for corporations to pay bribes. They are under international scrutiny and surveillance. They will be fined millions of dollars if they are caught. Also, where will the corporation source the “facilitation” money from and account for it? All that takes a long time and secret negotiations and clever strategies to make the payment or not to. The corporations say they never make such payments. The coal-fired power plants and the automobile industry that dominate the transport sector cause great global warming every day. They also cause death-dealing pollution. The industrial emissions poison the air with millions of micro chemical pollutants suspended in the air that we breathe. Nationwide, they are the cause of 3.6 percent of deaths in the Philippines.
The chemical toxic particles that float in the air cause chronic lower respiratory diseases like pneumonia, whooping cough, bronchitis and many more. A report says “that in 2019, air pollution from coal power production alone resulted in 630 deaths, 1,300 new cases of childhood asthma, 149,000 missed days of work, and an annual cost of US$165 million to the Philippine economy.”
These pollutants can affect the blood and that in turn, among many other reasons, can cause cancer, heart diseases and heart attacks. These conditions kill 17 percent of Filipinos every year. All due to the coal-fired electric generation power plants that we rely on. They have to be replaced sooner than later. They have been killing thousands of people over the years.
The quality of life has decreased by the overcrowding in the cities where transportation is mostly by automobile. The vehicles on the roads are another dangerous source of death-causing pollution. The micro particles from vehicles contribute to the death toll.
The ballyhooed introduction of big tax cuts for the promised electric car industry has apparently fizzled out. Allegedly, the Philippine automobile industry and the oil industry like Petron, Shell, and others lobby the government to prevent the importation of low-cost quality Chinese electric cars. They would quickly dominate the market.
These corporations may also use their influence to campaign against legislation mandating gas stations to install solar powered electric car recharging stations. The availability of low-cost electric cars and trucks and charging stations everywhere would revolutionize the Philippine transportation industry. We would have a clean, pollution-free and people-friendly environment and a peaceful, noiseless transport system beneficial to society. Since President Ferdinand Marcos has control of Congress, he could break the cartel and save the Filipinos from the curse of coal and car pollution. (preda.org)/PN
