For 2024 Sinulog, there were 3 million attendees, 202.3 tons of basura.
For 2025 Sinulog, there were four million attendees, 290 tons of basura collected with 85 garbage trucks and 800 sweepers from 6 p.m. Sunday, till 7 a.m. Monday, January 20.
Despite 37 eco-stations prepared for Sinulog basura management DPS head Poloy Gelasque remarked:
“It boils down to the discipline of the people, as we cannot deploy too many garbage bins because the right mindset should be to hold onto trash until a bin is found or dispose of it properly at home. Sad to say, this mindset is still lacking among many.”
There is also the mindset, even among those in DPS/government/the Church, that unavoidably, there will be more waste with more attendees.
The higher the population, the more attendees, the more wastes produced, yes?
Not necessarily, if people/producers are encouraged to reduce and properly manage their waste/products, then more waste does not necessarily mean more waste just allowed to be produced/generated/thrown/ disposed of indiscriminately/irresponsibly, right?
Consider these costs of basura, shared for everyone’s reflection by an environmentalist:
“1. hauling fee (kung apil ang private hauler), 2. tipping fee sa landfill (nga nagpasamot kadaghan sa basura nga gi-reklamo pod sa namuyo duol tungod sa baho ug dagkong langaw), 3. fuel cost, 4. personnel cost sa nagbuntagay og hipos sa basura, 5. sanitation cost kay limpyohan ang mga trucks ug ubang gamit inig kahuman, 6. increased carbon footprint/emission, 7) global warming, and more.”
The costs from Sinulog basura extend beyond the festivity itself and affect all, especially the poor and our earth.
Clearly, Pope Francis’ 2015 Laudato Si call has been drowned out by the festive revelry/ worship of the Sinulog attendees.
Who remembered/who heard this?
“The earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22).”
Who heard Pope Francis’ words in his Ladauto Si?
“There is “inseparable bond between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society and interior peace” (No. 10)“
“… we face an urgent crisis, when, thanks to our actions,the earth has begun to look more and more like an immense pile of filth(No. 21).”
In our May 23 PERSPECTIVE column, we shared: “In Laudato Si, Pope Francis clearly addresses the gravity of the climate crisis and his “concern for an urgent ecological conversion of all people of good will”not only to “respect the Earth but also to praise/honor God through their engagement with creation.”
In this 184-page encyclical, Pope Francis sounds off his important message in the encyclical’s subtitle “Care for Our Common Home.”All are enjoined to live out our faith by caring for our common home.
The Italian Laudato Si translate to “praise be to you,” a quotation from St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures” that “praises God by meditating on the goodness of sun/ wind/Earth/water/other natural forces.”
Did not the Sinulog raise praises to God, to Baby Sto. Niño?
Why did the praises not include praises/care for God’s earth, for God’s creations?
Why were there praises only in thought/in words, not in action and protection for God’s creations?
Why leave behind basura while lifting praises and petitions to God?
In Laudato Si, these gentle reminders from Pope Francis: “We must…[resolve] to transform our hearts/our lifestyles/and the public policies ruling our societies. The world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. (Paragraph159) What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?”