Vancouver Filipinos bat for beleaguered ConGen

Members of the Filipino community in Canada have expressed support for beleaguered Consul General Joey Ampeso who was sent home to air his side over a YouTube video that showed him raising his voice at a passport applicant. Ampeso is popular with the Filipino community particularly in Vancouver, and many are expressing hope that he would be able to stay on in his current post.

Ampeso admits losing his temper, but the diplomat has maintained that he did so because of the insulting remark thrown at him by the passport applicant – something that was corroborated by witnesses who said the man uttered disparaging remarks against the person of Ampeso.

However, it looks like the investigating panel formed by the DFA is leaning towards relieving Ampeso of his post, which is probably the prudent way of doing it considering the online comments from those who have seen the YouTube video (“edited,” clarifies Ampeso’s supporters).

This is rather unfortunate because being a Filipino career diplomat for over 40 years, Joey had hopes to serve in Canada until the time of his retirement. The consul general said he is ready to accept whatever decision is made by the DFA panel – in which case he will wrap up his responsibilities in Canada and “return” to Manila to finish his term once instructed and, like a “good soldier” – “just fade away.”

More on bad air

We received a lot of emails reacting to our Tuesday column item (“Another polluted day in Metro Manila”), saying they, too, are seriously concerned about the worsening air quality particularly in Metro Manila. Runner Noel Medina says he can definitely see and feel how bad air pollution has become when he is running around the Metropolitan area, and expressed puzzlement at how smoke belching vehicles are able to pass the LTO motor vehicle emission test despite their failure as evidenced by the thick black smoke spewed by these polluters.

Pepe Santiago, whose wife has a doctorate degree in Chemistry from UP, disclosed the possible connection between pollution and breast cancer in Metro Manila. Perhaps this is something that the DOH can try to look into and see if pollution is indeed an aggravating factor, considering the latest reports from the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology saying that breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most prevalent form of cancer in the Philippines. Even more disturbing are revelations that the Philippines has now become the country with the lowest survival rate for breast cancer which accounts for 15 percent of all new cancer cases (for both men and women) in the country.

Environmental Network Center Inc. president Rick Ramos, whose group conducted an air pollution study commissioned by the Asia Foundation in 1993, said the air quality is worse now than it was 20 years ago due to the increased number of motor vehicles in the country. Rick is batting for the use of CNG (compressed natural gas) which he claims has no noxious emissions and in fact, is being widely used in many countries like Thailand and India whose air quality is said to be just as bad as China’s.

Rick has recently returned from Bangkok and he says that despite being hotter and more humid there, the air quality is “far, far better than here. That is because their quality of fuel is far superior than the Philippines since 25 years ago.” The 3,000 buses in Bangkok now run on CNG, he says, adding that if Thailand can do it, the Philippines can perhaps do it as well under the current administration.

Others like Elso Cabangon say they mix GTO (Green Technology Oil) with engine oil because it helps reduce carbon emissions from transport vehicles and industrial equipment. GTO reportedly helps reduce maintenance expenses because it does away with the need to change oil and oil filters, aside from making the engine work more efficiently.

Mr. Cabangon shares that vehicle owners only need to mix a 250-ml bottle of GTO in the engine oil crank case of a 4-liter engine, with the mixture reportedly helping boost engine performance especially for poorly maintained vehicles such as jeepneys, smoke belching trucks, etc.

Clearly, people have to do something about the worsening pollution levels in Metro Manila and many parts of the country. There are so many ways for people to contribute in helping improve the quality of air and ultimately, their quality of life.

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