By Fernan Angeles
PANDEMIC or no pandemic, Christmas is with all certainly coming to town – specifically to the town known for its giant Christmas trees made of plastic bottles, used cardboard and scrap from local junk shops.
Interestingly, the lakeshore town of Binangonan, Rizal hardly spends for their giant Christmas trees that have already won them the top awards for four consecutive years in the provincial government’s Annual Recycled Christmas Tree Competition.
This year, Binangonan local government would welcome the holidays with another giant Christmas tree and with a sustainable twist, says the woman behind the LGU’s four-peat victory – Dr. Rose Martha Callanta Ynares, the incumbent mayor’s wife.
Dr. Ynares hinted at sustaining the use of recyclable materials collected and donated by local folks who have been literally lending hand in putting it up at the municipal compound for the last four years even as she assured that their Christmas tree would hardly cost a dime to the local government.
“Most of what we’ve been using is basically garbage and donations from personal friends,” the mayor’s wife candidly said.
She even recalled that in the previous years, many were surprised to learn that their holiday pride was from trash as it looks more like made from high-end material. For 2019, Binangonan built a 25-feet high Christmas tree predominantly made of plastic food wrappers and was made even better with its circular motion made possible by a recycled motor that used to be part of a ‘lechon manok’ grilling kiosk.
“This is the fifth year that we’re doing this and hopefully the fifth top award, in the event that the Rizal provincial government decides to push through with the competition. But more than the recognition, what we are after are just two things – making our local folks, especially children, feel the spirit of Christmas while we effectively reduce the volume of garbage,” Ynares averred.
The provincial government usually gives away an ambulance or dump truck as top prize. Binangonan has so far won both since 2016.
Incidentally, Dr. Ynares is also the President of the Barkadahan ng Kababaihan ng Binagonan.