World Carfree Network,
Hello! A good day to all of you!
I am Cheloy V. Garafil, a lawyer from the Philippines. I live in a city that’s one of the most polluted in the world – Manila. As a mother to three children, I am very concerned about the quality of the environment we all live in. While there are efforts in my country to raise awareness on air pollution and environmental degradation, I feel a lot more should be made in order to convince our leaders to do more drastic steps towards making our country more liveable.
While I was watching Geographic Channel with my husband last month, I saw Jakarta’s implementation of World Car Free Days in its main roads – an endeavor that has reaped benefits for the residents of the city in terms of increasing their awareness on air pollution and actually improving their air quality. It was my first time to hear about World Car Free Day and I wondered why it has not been staged in my country.
As I began my research about the movement, I have come to know that World Car Free Day is also being celebrated in Manila but the event is more geared towards the promotion of biking as an alternative to cars. World Car Free Day is more than the promotion of biking, I have learned, but it is a more holistic approach towards making our cities more liveable, healthier and sustainable by finding ways to reduce our dependence on our cars in everything that we do. It is for this reason that I believe that a Car Free Day should be introduced in the Philippines in the same way that it is being staged in Indonesia and other countries in Europe and Northern America.
I plan to start the World Car Free Day movement in my country this year, to coincide with the September 22 worldwide celebration. I am just an ordinary citizen in my country but I believe that I have the drive to see this through. I will coordinate with the existing groups that have begun staging the World Car Free Day in the hope that I could help them make this world event the way it should be so that it would create a greater impact in the Filipinos’ consciousness.
Wish me luck and I hope your group will inspire more people like me to start this worthy endeavor in their own way, no matter how small it is.
More power to you!
Truly yours,
Atty. Cheloy V. Garafil
One Comment
Hi Atty. Cheloy,
Firefly Brigade, for several years, has been organizing the World Car-Free bike ride in Metro Manila. You may want to check their website http://www.fireflybrigade.org
I agree with you that CFD in Manila has been an activity where bikers and cyclists are the major participants and this is one reason why the global event should be recognized by cities, municipalities and even by the government agencies in the Philippines.
If you have ideas to push for the advocacy of non-motorized transportation – walking, jogging, as well as biking then the people behind this activity would probably be interested to here your ideas and you can be actually be part of the Car-Free Day in Manila for 2012.