Our public urinals should be improved

First, we want to make it very clear that in no way are we criticizing the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) or its chairman, Bayani Fernando, for putting the present public urinals in major highways and streets. It is an inconvertible fact that those urinals improved sanitation and hygiene in our public thoroughfares. Before that, people used to urinate anywhere and everywhere in public. We agree, however, that now it is time that they be upgraded. And the main problem here is, of course, the needed funds.

We have about 418 public urinals and they cost about P37,500 each or an approximate total of 15 million and a half pesos. The best public urinals are those found in gasoline stations. They are private and sanitary and available to the public. Those in private restaurants and stores are made only for their customers.

The best public urinals we have seen are those in Paris, France. But we certainly cannot afford them at the moment.

Again we say we commend MMDA Chairman Fernando for having initiated the move of installing public urinals where they are most needed. Several Metro Manila mayors even opposed the project but they offered no alternative to the problem. Now some quarters maintain that those urinals don’t make any difference. All it does is legalize urinating in public. The fact is that people have to urinate and not all of them have access to gasoline station, restaurant or store urinals. Where, for instance, does the common pedestrian relieve himself when he gets the urge? We need public urinals and MMDA Chairman Fernando was the very first to recognize and provide this need. He should be praised, not criticized.

The problem we must face is the upgrading of those existing urinals. They should, first, be more private and, second, more sanitary. But as we said they are much better than openly urinating against a building, a wall or anywhere in the streets. To this day, one of the most common signs we still see almost everywhere is the sign that says: Bawal umihi dito.

Let us improve our public urinals, but be thankful to MMDA Chairman for establishing the very first ones in the country. It was a necessary step in the right direction. What is needed perhaps are public urinals like the ones in Paris but funded, not by the MMDA but by the private sector, meaning the owners of the commercial buildings around the area.

In short, upgrade and multiply existing public urinals. Present public urinals, for instance, are strictly for men. There should be urinals designed strictly for women.