Litterbugs beware, you can’t sit comfortably in this driver’s bus if you’re throwing rubbish out in the open.
Facebook user Theresa Calicdan shared a now-viral photo two weeks ago about a bus driver she identified as Nestor Picazo who called out some passengers for littering while heading to Dagupan in Pangasinan from Agoo in La Union.
Calicdan said in the post in Filipino: “[The bus driver] suddenly slowed down and said, ‘May I just request those who throw garbage out the window not to dump [trash] just anywhere. You are not in your yard. Just throw it here inside the bus. Here, someone cleans it, out there, there’s no one [who’ll clean it]. The road was so clean until you polluted it.'”
“I was really impressed by this driver. He has concern for the environment. He’s rare, I hope there will be more people like him,” Calicdan said. “I’m impressed by his bravity (sic) and concern to the environment, which is also my advocacy.”
In an interview with Coconuts Manila, Picazo, the driver, said that this happened on Jan. 2. He said he saw through his mirror two passengers who were seated together throwing their litter outside the window.
“I wanted to actually pick up the trash but I was running [the bus] a bit fast at the time,” he said in Filipino.
The 37-year-old said he started working as a bus driver in 2005. “Ever since I started driving a bus, I always remind passengers not to throw the cover of whatever they ate out on the road. They could request my [bus] conductor to have it thrown in our trash can,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“It’s painful for me to see people throw [trash] anywhere. The road was so clean then they pollute it,” he told Coconuts.
“Okay, let’s say there is someone who cleans it up. But we don’t have to throw it elsewhere when we can throw it in the proper place.”
He shared that it was heartwarming that a lot of people were happy with what I did. “I just want to remind them [to care about] the environment.”
The Facebook post had over 47,000 likes and 10,000 shares as of this article’s posting. Netizens commended Picazo.
Anthanmyres BG wrote: “Kudos Mr. Victory Bus driver!! So please be reminded, whether travelling locally or abroad or anywhere else, learn to throw your trash away properly and not just anywhere.”
Rachael Santos called those people who throw their trash outside “shameless.”
Villy Flores said the post should serve as a reminder to everyone.
Cianah Jay said: “I hope more people would be like him.”
Fernando Anluagui wrote: “We can be like this bus driver if we have discipline and have high regard to the environment we live in and call home!”
What a guy.
