Estrada can’t afford to lose this one

HE DID not lose by a shocking knockout like Manny Pacquiao but, like it or not, it’s a great shot at redemption Mayor Joseph Estrada has taken with his bold bid to reshape Manila into one liveable, respectable capital again.

No need to ask Mayor Erap how Manila, the city of his affections, has fallen into dreadful decay and disrepair.

Even before he got elected President—and eventually kicked out of Malacañang—Erap knew all too well the urgent need for a total rehabilitation of the city whose mayorship he grabbed from the fighting Alfredo Lim— among the heroes of the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolt—in the last midterm polls.

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Sorry, but it has come to a pitiful point when Erap has to dig and rescue the city from gargantuan garbage before he could even start to try rehabilitation.

In short, he must first wage and win a war against insurmountable garbage—a war he can’t afford to lose.

Actually, Erap need not even declare a war again. It’s a challenge staring every self-respecting city-dweller in the eye.

There are more than enough willing soldiers (count me in, please) ready to volunteer.

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Needless to say, garbage is the mother monster, the beastly root of all disasters, the generator of decay and paralysis all over the capital that has sunk and stunk into a city of countless infections.

Of course, Erap need not be told that the fight—a revolt, if you please—would be both bloody and messy.

For starters, maybe they should start with stinking, rotten values and check how and why mindless citizens have assumed it their right to dispose of trash anywhere, any way, 24 hours a day.

These people who have ceased to care must be told and taught to use the garbge can.

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But, come to think of it, where have all the garbage cans gone?

Proper trash disposal has visibly gone out of mode in Manila ages ago.

Now, if going back to the basics of cleanliness has suddenly sounded absurd and useless, it’s all for the stinking fact that countless citizens in Manila have independently  owned a franchise to mess up the place in their own careless way, the dirtier, the merrier.

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Sorry again, but if Erap decides to wage this revolt against insurmountable city garbage, he must be warned it could be the hardest fight of his career.

He had tried it half-heartedly before, using a decorative big broom.

As expected, he failed miserably.

This, you bet, was not the case with the great and respected Mayor Edward Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa, who has remained on top of the garbage situation in all his years in office.

The solution was simple: There ought to be a law.

Erap must attack the garbage problem head-on.

Or are we dreaming another Erap dream again?

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(ALIVE & KICKING:  Aris Bautista, former national martial arts standout, turns a solid 69 tomorrow. The 1966 Asian and Philippine karate champion, brother to movie actress Perla Bautista, also served as television program director in many shows, including Student Canteen and Discorama. Aris suffered a stroke (cranial aneurism) in January 2001, but has since recovered fully. “Reports about me being no longer around are grossly exaggerated,” he told the Inquirer. Keep punching, friend.)