These days, it's difficult to find someone who hasn’t at least heard of Donald Trump, the millionaire former US president and leading Republican candidate for the 2024 election. Trump has been indicted four times, has four ongoing trial cases, and a total of ninety-one charges, all of them felonies. In his fourth indictment in Georgia, Trump even became the first US president to receive a mug shot. 

Trump has four trials going on and ninety-one charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, racketeering, illegally classifying/retaining government documents, and a hush-money scheme. It begs the question, why is Trump legally allowed to run for candidacy in the election and why is he winning?

According to CNN Politics, during the Iowa Republican Caucuses, Trump won about 51% of the votes. With 56,243 votes, he was nearly 33,000 votes ahead of the second-place finisher, Ron DeSantis who only got about 21.3% of votes. Plus, DeSantis dropped out of the race a few days later and endorsed Trump. Overall, Trump is almost guaranteed to win the 2024 Republican candidacy and proceed to the presidential election in November. 

Live data from TheEconomist.com and 270towin.com place Trump at about 45% in the polls, 2% over Biden’s 43%. This will, of course, change by the time the November election rolls around but it gives an idea of how Trump is doing in both the Republican Caucuses and the presidential polls. 

Good. 

Despite numerous criminal charges and controversy, Trump is doing very well in the run for the USA.

Alongside his current campaign for the candidacy, Trump is currently involved as the defendant in four trials with 91 total charges to his name. Firstly, a Georgia state trial involves 13 charges for his interference during and after the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump has been charged with 8 counts related to forgery or false documentation where he allegedly appointed fake electors and tried to cover up other related charges. There are 4 counts of solicitation/impersonation of public officials. Finally, Trump has been charged with a count of racketeering, which is organized crime in which a coercive or fraudulent scheme is set up to generate profit. Prosecutors are pressing that Trump refused to accept his election loss in Georgia and attempted to change the result.

Trump is also fighting in a federal trial with 40 charges of classifying or retaining documents in which Trump possibly kept national documents when he left the presidency. There are 32 counts for retention of sensitive national defense information that should’ve been given to the Pentagon. Trump then got an additional 8 charges for trying to hide the retained documents.

In a third case around the 2020 federal election, 4 charges are being levied against Trump for conspiracy to defraud the government, trying to subvert Congress, and overall attempt to keep Trump in power after he lost the election. 

With a final state trial in New York, Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records. This involves misclassifying 2016 federal campaign expenses and ‘intent to defraud’ the 2016 election. Letitia James, a New York attorney general has asked the judge to order $370 million from Trump and a ban on operating in New York. This trial is also connected to a hush-money scheme in which Trump paid an adult film actress to cover up an alleged extramarital affair. Trump then tried to hide the hush-money expenses. 

Finally, Trump faced a lawsuit from E. Jean Carrol – an advice columnist and writer – for defamation and sexual abuse. This lawsuit ended with Trump’s loss and he was ordered to pay Carrol a total of $88.3 million for defamation.

Never before has a president of the United States faced so many charges. 

Time will tell if Trump is proven guilty of any of these charges but in the meantime, Trump will continue to campaign for the presidency unrestricted. If and most likely when he wins the Republican nomination, Trump will be a tough competitor for the current US president, Joe Biden.

Monstrous skyscrapers extending up to the sky, attempting to touch the milky white clouds. Honking cars engulf the city; frustrated drivers grumbling. Twirling around, bland colors of gray and white swirl in your eyes. Then you see it. 

A tree. 

A sad tree. 

Twisted brown branches tangled in electric wires. Mousy leaves drooping and screaming under the blazing heat. 

The smell of gasoline invades your nostrils as the vivid sun attacks you. Plastics are piled up into mountains as the smell of rotten eggs slithers like an invisible snake. As a person dwelling in Manila, I can confirm that this is true.

According to the Sustainability Development Report, the Philippines is ranked 98th place out of 166 ranked countries in the world. This is low compared to other countries near the equator. An example of a higher ranked country near the equator is Thailand, ranked 43th place. You can see plastic piled up next to narrow roads. Flies clamor due to the smell of rotten eggs. The biggest pollution happening in the Philippines is air pollution and plastic pollution.

Air Pollution

One of the Philippine's biggest environmental crises is air pollution. According to the World Health Organisation’s health and environment scorecard, the Philippine’s air quality is 5 times the WHO air quality guideline value for PM. The annual mean for the WHO guideline is 5 μg/m3. Despite this, the Philippine's annual air quality is 24 μg/m3 which is around 5 times higher than the recommended amount. The measurement unit μg/m3 means mass per unit volume. Still, 53% of the population is unable to access clean technology for cooking. 

As someone who is dwelling in Manila, black smoke pipes out of all the cars stuck in the heavy traffic. IQAIR states that 2 million cars in the Philippines cause 80% of the air pollution. It produces nitrogen oxide, black carbon and carcinogens. This only gets worse during New Years festivals.

December 31. 

10:00 pm, 

Firecrackers burst into the silent night sky. Scarlet sparks crackle, leaving trails of gray smoke behind. They continue this for two hours. From every house, fireworks explode. 

The Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) announced, “The air pollution levels in Manila and Marikina exceeded the safe standards during the first two hours of January 1, 2022.” After the explosions died out, I stared out the window. Thick gray smoke clamored as I shut the window close. Even the next day, the sky was completely gray and the smoke seemed to hide the vivid sun. 

There is almost no public transport in the Philippines which is a big problem. One of the main forms of public transport used are Jeepneys. Jeepneys are cheap and used by many local Filipinos. However, they run on diesel which is a great source of air pollutants. So, what effects does this have on the environment and us? 

The World Health Organization states that air pollution causes 32% of deaths caused from stroke and ischaemic heart diseases. The Philippines has the 2nd biggest number of deaths due to indoor air pollution. The World Health agency recorded 84 deaths per 100,000 Filipinos due to air contamination. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) elaborates,“In the Philippines, air pollution is the third highest risk factor driving death and disability due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and is also the leading environmental risk to health,” (IHME 2020).

Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution is another predominant reason why tThe Philippines is facing so many environmental issues. The World Bank (2021) elaborates on plastic pollution in The Philippines, “A staggering 2.7 million tons of plastic waste are generated in the Philippines each year, and an estimated 20 percent ends up in the ocean.” This is an astounding amount of plastic produced. Here in shops, they give out plastic products. There are often plastic piles dumped on sides of the roads, attracting all sorts of bugs and insects. This is very unsanitary for people living near the dumps since it often creates a nasty smell. 

According to Earth.org (2023), “The Philippines had the largest share of global plastic waste discarded in the ocean in 2019. The country was responsible for 36.38% of global oceanic plastic waste, far more than the second-largest plastic polluter, India, which in the same year accounted for about 12.92% of the total.” 

So means that the plastic produced not only reaches land but also reaches the oceans. Although plastic does not enter the ocean directly, they travel through rivers and streams, impacting and polluting the ecosystem there too. “51 trillion microplastic particles litter the world’s seas, a quantity that outnumbers the stars in our galaxy by 500 times,” (Ramos, 2023). If this continues, the oceans are going to be polluted and will definitely disturb marine life.

So, what is hiding behind the Philippine's plastic pollution crisis? In the Philippines, people buy small quantities of products that are often mass produced. They buy them since they are mostly cheaper than the regular sizes. For example, they buy small quantities of shampoo instead of the regular size. 20 million people are living under the poverty line and they target on buying cheaper products for their needs. 

The Philippines has one of the world’s most diverse marine ecosystems. The Philippines has glamorous corals and all sorts of different fishes. The marine ecosystem relies on these precious jewels in order to survive and thrive in the ocean. Denise Ramos from Earth.org (2023) explains that, “A 2018 study showed that, without the presence of plastic, coral reefs have a 4% likelihood of contracting a disease. With plastic, the risk dramatically increases to 89% due to the spread of pathogens.” Linking back to 2.7 million plastics entering the ocean, the coral reefs have a higher chance of catching diseases or getting damaged by all the waste. Evidence shows that the Philippine’s waste management is poor and most of the plastic is dumped into the sea or the streets.

So, What Can We Do?

There are in fact a lot of things that you can do in order to help fight against the environmental crisis in the Philippines. There are projects such as Clean Cities, Blue Ocean (CCBO) is a flagship program organized by USAID. The organization USAID (2023) elaborates,  “In the Philippines, CCBO (buy-in) helps develop, test, and implement new models that promote the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and enhance solid waste management; facilitate partnerships and investment around key needs such as infrastructure; and strengthen local systems to build the Philippines’ resiliency.” This will help reduce plastic waste and teach people how to recycle, reuse and reduce . 

Another project organized by USAID is the U.S. Peace Corps Small Project Assistance (SPA) V for Environment. “USAID continues to support the Peace Corps through small grants, training, and program design and management assistance on sustainable coastal resources management, effective marine protected area management, and climate adaptation,”(2023). As mentioned before, the Philippine’s waste management is very poor as all the plastic travels through streams and rivers. This project will definitely help with waste management and efficiently.

Another project that can help with the Philippine’s environmental crisis is the Manila Bay Environmental Management Project. This project is actually organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. You can learn more about this project in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines. 

If you are not interested or have insufficient time to join these activities but still want to contribute in making a better environment, you can do simple things at home such as recycling and turning off the lights when not needed. Simple actions can impact the environment significantly. As many say, we need millions of people helping imperfectly instead of one doing perfectly.