A useless obligation and more.

I am not very fond of June. This is not because the month ends a long hibernation from work. While it puts to an end to an enjoyable summer, tours I have embarked on included, experiencing new cultures, making new and enforcing relationship with old friends, meeting new acquaintances and learning a lot of things, there is a different reason why I do not like the month of June. June is the time to work on my obligations, one of which is to register my old car at the LTO, purchase a new insurance policy and worse, take my car to an emission testing center to ensure that it is still street-worthy. Emission testing - what a hassle and a lot of waste of my valuable time. I would not have minded taking my car for testing if I am assured that the procedure does what it purports to do. Lessen, if not totally eliminate the terrible pollution on our air. What makes me angry is that I see vehicles which have just been registered, hence, supposedly have passed the test emitting a lot of dangerous smoke. Public buses and trucks are major culprits and the government could not do a thing about it.

Sadly, pollution in the country is so bad that this is the first thing my foreign friends who come for a visit, notice. Rightfully so because I have occasion to visit several countries and it has always been a delight to inhale their fresh air. Not so in the coutry. Try deep breathing and you won't last a single breath. The smog will stop your attmept making your lungs heavy and longing for clean air. If only government had a good political will to stop pollution, we could at least solve this problem. However, when police authorities do not care, probably because they have been bribed to look the other way, no emission testing or any procedure for that matter, will work. In the meantime, I have to worry about finding time to register my car and all the ramifications that go with it for I work on the days that these government agencies hold office. Pray tell me why these agencies do not open on weekends?

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Talking about cars, the increase in the price of gasoline seem to be unstoppable. Nothing can be done about this. This is a world-wide phenomenon. What we don't realize is that this entails a more horrific scenario than we think. It is possible that we are running out of this very important resource. Think about it. It took billions of years for an oil deposit to be built and this is not replenishable. With the way we consume this commodity, it is not impossible that we have used up all the oil this planet can provide. When this happens, we will have to go back to riding horses or walk our way to our destinations. No more planes or ships or even fast cars to take us to any far-away country or province in a short span of time. We will probably have to use the same kind of ships used during the galleon trade to go to America, for example. That is unless we find a substitute for oil.

Solar energy perhaps but research on this technology may been stunted by the powers that be for it would mean business loss for oil companies. However, with the advent of the depletion of the oil reserves, now is the time to look for substitutes and Filipinos, if given the chance and the encouragement, can face this problem head on.