Transportation System Revolution: A Gift for the Next Generation

By: Kristine Athena Monsanto- Nedamo

In the laws of nature: There is no right or wrong, there are no rewards or punishments, there are only consequences. Which consequences would you rather have? June 28, 2010, an ordinary day with extra ordinary impact in my life. As a freshman in the UCCollege of Law, initially, it was more for compliance that I attended a forum where we were tasked to go to by our professor, Atty. Gloria Ramos, a forum about the Environment and Revolutionizing Our Transportation System by Atty. Antonio Oposa. Little did I know about the great effect it is going to have in me. From the start of Atty. Oposa s talk, his passion on the subject matter was really overflowing and contagious. Every single word he uttered was full of conviction. On the other hand, in the course of his discussion I was also developing a strong feeling of anxiety within me. As a mother, all I could think of then were my two beautiful children, they are still so young and yet a serious threat in our environment is happening already? Something must be done or the worst is yet to come. I was scared, and then I understood the passion and the transpiring energy of Atty. Oposa as the speaker. Our environment is the greatest gift God almighty has given us. We will not be able to survive life without the sources of life land, air and water (LAW). These are the vital organs of life. But what are we doing to these sources we have? In our quest towards global development and economic growth, we are enriching our lives at the expense of our environment. We aim for globalization, progress, revenue and profit. Everyday, we aspire to become a fully developed country. But, does becoming a fully developed country mean that we will be sacrificing the original wealth given to us in our environment? Would there be a WIN-WIN solution wherein we can move towards development at the same time continuously enrich our environment and nature? According to Atty. Antonio Oposa, we are following the program of the Americans in their country. We want to become like them when in fact their system does not and will not work for us here in the Philippines. Geographically, they have a vast area of land while we have an archipelago. We have limited land area and we are surrounded by seas. Is it not that we are unable to recognize the true meaning of wealth and we tend to forget the richness we have in our country? Did you know that we are part of the center of the biodiversity in the whole wide world? In fact, Philippines is the Center of the Center of Marine Biodiversity on Earth Dr. Kent Carpenter, UN FAO study. A great wealth we have but we fail to recognize. It was amazing how Atty. Oposa conveyed the Paradox of the Diamond and the Water in his talk. Commonly, we would think of a rich person as the one having the most possession of diamonds not realizing that we can live without a single diamond but we cannot live without a single droplet of water. The same is in relation with us, as we aspire to be like the United States of America (the diamond) and we do not recognize the wealth we have in our seas and other natural resources (the water). We want to build more buildings and infrastructure, more concrete roads, reclaimed lands and less of the green land for forest and trees, seas and ocean. It is time for us to take action, or we will never know how bad it is until it is too late. We are bound with the consequences for what we have done and are still doing to our environment. We can not change things by doing the same things we previously and currently doing. According to Albert Einstein, Doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result is called INSANITY . Atty. Oposa said, The INERTIA of COLLECTIVE INSANITY, which resulted from our full dependence on cars for mobility moving from one point to the other, is a major contributor of the threat to our environment today . He mentioned several effects and disadvantages of

*Photos taken from the presentation slide of Atty. Antonio Oposa during the Forum held in UC-Banilad Campus last June 28, 2010

the current car based system we have in our transport system. Among these are the following: waste of space, production of metals, rubber and plastic, expensive cost of fuel, insurance and maintenance, accidents injury, damage and death, and lastly air pollution caused by the gas emitted by cars and the burning of coal for fuel and gasoline production. Indeed, we are literally burning our money every time we refill gas in our cars for our daily transportation. Everything goes to waste. How can we solve this issue? Where should we start? Atty. Oposa said, We can only resolve this by changing our mindset, thinking out of the box, jumping out of the box and shaking our heads out of the box . In addition, he said Sometimes words have to be a little wild because they are the assault of thoughts upon the unthinking. It is time for a revolution and to turnaround the mindset of each and every individual in our country today. From the mindset of Economics of Consumption and Extraction , we should change to the mindset of Economics of Conservation, Protection and Restoration . We should not get anything from nature without having something in return due for them. A simulation below was performed by Atty. Oposa s Team on how Cebu will become 20 to 25 yrs from now, if we refuse to act. Act now.
Cebu province submerged:

6 months later:

Would you allow this to happen? 20 to 25 yrs later, I envision myself enjoying life, sharing my blessings with others and thanking God almighty of the success me and my family have achieved. My kids by that time would have just graduated in college and would be starting to make their dreams into reality. How do you see yourself, 20 to 25 yrs from now? Would you deny yourself and your love ones to reap the fruits of labor from the efforts you had while studying and working for your goals in life and let it perish just like that? I admire Atty. Oposa and his colleagues on how they are passionately acting on every possible way there is to prevent the consequences of the things we have done to our environment.

It is the foremost desire of each one of us to have a comfortable and efficient way of living, in everyday of our lives. Maybe because of the lack of existing system that would give us options on how to do things and live life more comfortably, we are forced to go with the flow and be one of the crowd adding traffic to our roads, pollution to our air and destroying Mother Nature. I agree with the speaker that, Our insistence at individual mobility has resulted in serious collective immobility . Our roads are filled with cars carrying one person inside, transporting from one point to another. And yet most of our fellow countrymen are sacrificing in jeepneys in the middle of a heavy, tiring and irritating traffic jam. Article II, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution provides that: The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature. In relation to Article II of the 1987 Constitution, is Atty. Antonio Oposa s design on a Revolutionized Transportation System. A collective transport system, which is non-pollutive and operated by the locomotion system such as trains, in response to our concerns in the threat of Environment and the consequences we are bound to face. He designed the Bus Rail Train (BRT) for collective mobility with the existing resources we have, he converted in his prototype our existing transport system to an environment friendly set-up. A road where everything has its own place: bike lanes for bikers, walk lane for walkers, bus rail train for commuters and emergency road for emergency cars with emergency functions for the security of our government. He said, Those who have less in wheels must have more in road . The revolutionized transport system comes with the implementation of the principles of CPR Economics:

*Photos taken from the presentation slide of Atty. Antonio Oposa during the Forum held in UC-Banilad Campus last June 28, 2010

Conservation, Protection and Restoration. Go back to basics, apply and use the existing resources we have such as Wind Energy for our electric power, restore marine ecosystems and revolutionize our transport systems. The CPR should be implemented through Education, Engineering and Enforcement.

Under RA6735 of the Local Government Code on Initiative, The power of the people under a system of initiative and referendum to directly propose, enacts, approves or rejects, in whole or in part, the Constitution, laws, ordinances, or resolutions passed by any legislative body upon compliance with the requirements of this Act is hereby affirmed, recognized and guaranteed . Therefore, being part of the Filipino people we are entitled to our rights to participate, do our share and have the initiative on resolutions that would be beneficial to our country, most for our environment. We have the power to implement CPR economics and the Bus Rail Train for the collective transport system here in Cebu via our signed petitions and letting our voices be heard in our society. In this way, we could take part in making a dream of better future reality and not be threatened by the consequences we are bound to face because of what we have done to on our environment. Everyone, together we can make a difference. A dream no matter how big and impossible it may seem, so long as we continuously believe and have faith in it will be realized. If we can think about it, we can have it in our hands and in the future it will become. It is never too late. In the part of our local government officials, I hope you would have the heart to do your part as well. Republic Act No. 6957 is an act authorizing the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure projects by the private sector, and for the other purposes. Under section 1 of the said act, it is the declared policy of the State to recognize the indispensable role of the private sector as the main engine for national growth and development and provide the most appropriate favorable incentives to mobilize private resources for the purpose. It is with great appreciation that I would be carrying for the rest of my life and to the next generations of my family for the support that you will be giving to this project towards conservation, protection and restoration of our environment. The rule in life is to get as much as we can and be the best that we can without hurting the other party, WIN-WIN. With CPR economics and the revolutionized transportation systemBRT, a WIN-WIN solution was designed by Atty. Antonio Oposa and his colleagues that could bring us to a developed, progressive country as we continuously enrich our God given wealth in our environment. It is now out time to take action. Act now!

*Photos taken from the presentation slide of Atty. Antonio Oposa during the Forum held in UC-Banilad Campus last June 28, 2010