Maroon-clad Black Nazarene devotees urged to go green

Local environmentalists asked devotees of the Black Nazarene yesterday to mind the environment and refrain from leaving garbage when they celebrate the Feast of Quiapo on Jan. 9.

Waste and pollution watchdog Ecological Waste Coalition (EcoWaste) said tons of trash were “casually left” in Plaza Miranda and adjoining streets by thousands of followers of the maroon-robed Black Nazarene after the celebration last year.

“The unrestrained littering during the Quiapo fiesta is a disgrace to our age-old devoutness to Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, to whom many of us come begging for relief and freedom from all troubles, including life-threatening diseases, that could have resulted from a polluted environment,” said Manny Calonzo, president of the EcoWaste.

“Let us honor the Black Nazarene by blending the ‘maroon’ with ‘green’ towards an eco-friendly Quiapo fiesta,” he added. 

In 2008, the EcoWaste recalled, the streets of Quiapo were strewn with tons of plastic bags, drinking straws, plastic bottles, styrofoam containers, food wrappers, bamboo skewers and cigarette butts.

What made the situation worse, the EcoWaste said, was the large number of single-use plastic buntings and banners crisscrossing the streets, and later ended up as trash.

Soon after the Quiapo fiesta last year, the EcoWaste provided the offices of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo with photos of littered streets and “mini-dumps” in Quiapo to stir up church action.

However, EcoWaste anticipates that for this year’s celebration, politicians might add to the proliferation of unsightly banners with the 2010 elections just around the corner. The group expects that more politicians are likely to make their presence felt in the coming Quiapo fiesta.

To minimize trash at the upcoming Quiapo fiesta, the EcoWaste appealed to the public to minimize waste by using as few resources as possible at various events, avoid using plastic and disposable items, separate discards into biodegradable and non-biodegradable, and put them into their proper containers to facilitate recycling and make the work of cleaners and collectors simpler.

According to EcoWaste, the late Jaime Cardinal Sin outlined these “four basic steps” when he exhorted the faithful to make the 2003 World Meeting of Families in Rizal Park a “zero-waste celebration of life.” – Katherine Adraneda