Picture this: A group of people standing at a river bank when suddenly they hear the cries of a
baby.
Shocked, they see an infant floating–drowning–in the water.
One person immediately jumps in to rescue the child. But as this is going on, yet another baby
comes floating down the river, and then another! People continue to jump in to save the babies
and then see that one person has started to walk away from the group still on shore.
Accusingly they shout, “where are you going?” The response: “I’m going upstream to stop
whoever’s throwing babies into the river”
Of course there were no babies thrown in the river. However, I cannot help but use this analogy
to what has happened in the Philippines lately. The tragedy that hit mostly Cagayan de Oro and
Iligan is one for the books. The initial reaction to such an anomalous occurrence is that of shock
like that of those people standing by the river bank upon seeing baby after baby thrown into the
river. The second response is to rescue like how those people plunged into the river to save the
babies.
The next logical thing to do is to investigate and depends on the findings, act on it. This is what
the one who went upstream did in the story above. Away from the mayhem, he went to find out
the source of the problem and stop whoever was doing it. This is what should the authorities do
in the aftermath of Sendong’s wrath.
Malaya, a daily Philippine national broadsheet in its editorial had this to say in part:
In nature’s wake, we do what we almost always do best: we scramble to help. With huge
bleeding hearts, we to try to salvage what can be salvaged for those who escaped with their lives
and now need to worry about a future. There are email appeals. Text appeals. Even telethons.
Celebrities pitch in. Civic-action groups too. And yes, the big corporations too!
But all these have gotten to asking: Why? Because just a few months ago, nature struck and
hundreds died. A year or so ago, nature struck too and hundreds died too. And a few days ago,
nature struck again and thousands died.”
Why everyone must ask, too, because it is indeed not the first time that nature struck with such
vehemence. Ondoy is still fresh in most recent memory; and remember the Aurora mudslides,
the Bulacan and Pampanga floods and other previous natural onslaught that maimed, killed and
swallowed properties.
Were there investigations made? And if there were, were those responsible like the unregulated
miners, illegal loggers, the kaingeneros, those who make the rivers, the seas and any open space
their own garbage dumps, made to account their wanton disregard to the environment? And
those in government, who are supposed to take care of the people’s welfare, made to answer their
disregard of the law when they allow, in fact encourage, people to build houses on sandbars like
the Isla de Oro in CDO?
Meanwhile there are also those who raise funds, here in Toronto, and God knows whether there
would be an accounting, too? In not too distant past almost every group in Toronto raised funds
for the victims of Ondoy capitalizing on the miseries of their so called kababayans even if they
were not from the village that the catastrophe struck. Worst, did those monies really reach the
beneficiaries? And if they did how much of the total collection did reach the victims?
They would claim they did. They went to the Philippines they claim, sent the money via
remittance they claim; but where is the receipt? Just asking.
While we wait for the answer, more babies are thrown into the river. Give your donations to
those organizations with a trusted track record, like the Red Cross.
Last December, two world leaders of moral opposites passed away. Vaklav Havel, a victim of
communist dictatorship of what was then Czechoslovakia, the other Kim Jong-il, the communist
dictator of North Korea.
While ordinary citizens and global leaders mourn the death of Havel, not even Kim Jong-il’s
cousins in South Korea shed a single tear. The dissident playwright who became leader of
the Velvet Revolution, the Philippine’s equivalent of People Power, Havel is credited for the
eventual fall of the Soviet-backed communist regime of Czechoslovakia. He became the first
president of what has become the Czech Republic.
May the death of Vaklav Havel, revered reformist of the Czechs bring forth more reforms and
freedom not only in the Czech Republic but in its neighbouring countries as well. And may the
death of Kim Jong-il signal an end to the dictatorship in North Korea.
Speaking of endings, the Year 2011 has just come to close and looking forward we see the
sunrise in 2012. May this year bring peace to the world through loving the environment by
conserving everything that surrounds us, including the rivers. Happy New Year to All!
P.S. Happy birthday to Myrna Soriano, a friend, and wife of Tenny Soriano my next page
neighbour here at Balita. Myrna, cheers to you!