Ondoy's wrath as we all of us know here from Facebook has brought a certain spirit of "bayanihan" in all of us. Time lines, geography, nor social status were insignificant during those times of need. Everyone pitched in with all the ongoing relief efforts, rescues and even updates from everyone, who to save first at this certain location or which orgs needed more volunteers and the likes. Blow by Blow accounts for one week, non-stop and more... But as typhoon Pepeng struck the north for a week now, it seems that after most of us prayed that it won’t land in Central and Metro manila, and landed on the north, the donations and the same charitable spirit seemed to dwindle...
I might be wrong, or might misinterpret the whole scenario but it really irked me a lot to have this inevitable conclusion that people were just extra concern because it was manila that was struck big time... proximity did a big role on the spirit. and now, since it was north, no matter how badly hit all the provinces were, its seemed an OK situation for most and it would take a good shaking before they would further on what they started with Ondoy... lesser updates from what was happening up north, lesser concern except for a few people who understood the significance of such natural disasters...
Maybe I’m ahead, or right away misjudging, but I’ll take the hit. It’s a subjective observation of mine that I can't seem to contain anymore. More people up north needs the all the help they can have, farmers almost to harvest loss billions collectively. Even Baguio with its altitude, has floods, Pangasinan is more than 90% underwater and the facts go on and on, probably the most expensive typhoon damage ever for our country since the great flood of 1972 when Central Luzon was in the same position... It’s time to light that candle of charity, of wider concern for our brothers... a collective effort once again to help out a greater population. If you don’t have time, prayers will do wonders, volunteer again and donate to your able charity that has the capacity to utilize and distribute all donations in this massive scale.
The government, civil society, private sector, common people and everything in between should be taking notes with what has happened. This is actually the time when people running for government positions next year should be tested with what they can do. But in the midst of all of this, I am actually proud to see that boundaries seemed to be in gloom for a while when groups actually function as a part of a whole. When the process of how a certain mission, though in individual, seemed to cohere in one and made the mission fan out to its original purpose. Help. Swift help.
We are continually tested for our spirits as a nation. Probably we are slated to be the first nation to actually feel the fury of nature because of man's deeds and materialism, global warming and the continuous conscious disrespect for our environment. But there’s always a silver lining for the lucky Filipinos if they would just see it in a different perspective. Studies for both urban and geographical model flood simulations have a better gasp now of what is to happen next time, funding scientific studies result to factual information on how to deal with very predictable disasters. There is a chance now for better urban planning and people have a better understanding that cheaper land isn’t really a good land, even being conscious with locations, types of housing and even safety precautions of so. Agriculture wise, there should be proper funding and support for all the people involved in it, that farms and primary crops should be dispersed and encouraged all over the country, that in case of this kind of disaster or any that would devastated our food supply, other provinces can be tapped. Let’s face it, we are built for agriculture not subdivisions. If only the government can make simple farmers into really capable experts with their crops, then probably we are exporting out surplus now. And individual people could actually make a difference by participating on a common purpose if they would just really work hard on it. For the past decades, we’ve been wailing to change the governance that the people we sat in office are doing, but we almost forgot that we can change as people and eventually a whole population with the same basic idea of an able country. A fresh start if you could put it that way.
Idealistic, but very feasible.
