SPICES
by J.C. Narag

Early on, some noisy, nosey sideliners were insistent that the Clean and Green program should be renamed "Clean and Brown." The greenery on the roadsides were scraped and good mother Earth was showing in several parts. Worse was that the soil was being eroded -fast.

But since then, the managers have given the proper instructions, so the greens are just trimmed. Now, one young lady echoes a popular comment: a third adjective should be added, to read: "Clean, Green and Beautiful."

The Clean and Green program is a boon to the Ivatan family. Since grandpas and grandmas can be employed, some extra food - including a few spices, of course - can be bought. Actually, life has become spicier for a good number of men and women: suddenly they discover the joy of seeing their names in the payroll and receiving their wages shortly afterwards.

By the way, the Clean and Green also keep the principal streets clean five days a week. But on Saturdays and Sundays, some main entrance points to the barangays are not so clean. "Paligid ko, sagot ko" should continue to be observed by each family as suggested by a young mother. Barangay officials should see that "paligid ko, sagot ko " is carried out in earnest. The Clean and Green workers should only do the back-up part of cleaning, greening and beautifying. Let them clean up where there are no residence nearby.

If all of us are involved in cleaning, greening and beautifying our surroundings, our hearts will be healthier. Because as the expert say, those who are active participants in worthy projects, especially those who live in clean and beautiful surroundings, are healthier and happier.

One big problem faced by townsfolk, including the Clean and Green brigades, is stray dogs. Dogs just do their thing anywhere, especially in clean spots, and they spoil the clean-up efforts. Can something be done about that? A barangay mother is so sad because the chairman of her barangay lets loose his dogs day and night in spite of an ordinance against stray dogs. There is "no care" attitude, especially on the part of a barangay chief, is a sad, sad thing. Everyone else is likely to violate, without any guilt, the ordinance prohibiting dogs from roaming around.

But that's not the only hot and spicy thing about the Clean and Green and other employment programs. While some friends and foes alike are singing alleluias for the employment opportunities and environment pluses from the Clean and Green projects, some are hurting very badly. They are asking some questions that are getting spicy hot:

Why are some hired again and again - even those who had enjoyed ten privilege years before 1999? Are there some who are getting too opportunistic? Too ambitious? Too abusive? Are there some who are too accommodating? Or too cowardly?

The only answer I can think of is that the new leaders are not vindictive. Friends and foes are treated well. Other answer are just "blowing in the wind" and I have tried to get answers but the one above sums up all the possible answers.

To my mind, the important point is that more and more opportunities for employment are coming our way. And if there was just a little more care in distributing these opportunities, the beautiful people of these blessed Batanes Islands would have the "honest-to-goodness" "spicy" lives.