Disasters Big and Small

The Philippines, though well-blessed, is prone to disasters. At least 24 to 26 typhoons batter us each year. From time to time, earthquakes shake our grounds, sometimes toppling defective buildings and raising the tempers of our seas to tsunami proportions. Volcanoes also throw up hot lava, forcing farming folk and their families to evacuate to safer grounds.

All these natural disasters are beyond our control. But we can learn to cope with and prepare for them. The Tinggians of upper Abra during summer, for example, stock on food and other basic items, which they have to buy from the central capital of Bangued. So during the monsoon and typhoon season, the Tinggians won’t starve and are safe and sound in their upland homes. They don’t have to go to Bangued for their basic survival needs because it is too dangerous to cross the swollen and raging Abra River.

The same is true with the Ivatans of the Batanes group of islands in northern Philippines where they are often literally at the eyes of storms. They have built their homes in such a way that these could withstand the rage of typhoons and cyclones.

On earthquakes, we have a lot of coping and learning to do. We have yet to learn from the Japanese whose earthquake preparedness has become part of their everyday lives. The Japanese are also consciously and continuously upgrading their science and technology in finding ways to help detect when the earth’s tectonic plates shake.

Volcanic eruptions are also part of the natural calamities that we have to live with. When volcanoes throw tantrums, all we need are systematic rescue, relief and evacuation programs that can help lessen the suffering of our affected brothers and sisters.

Given the proper support and foresight from concerned agencies, not to mention the innovations and initiatives of our own people, natural disasters need not inflict too much pain and suffering.

BUT there’s something much worse than natural disasters. These are the ones people create either through their sins of omission or commission.

The oil spill off the shores of Guimaras is one example. The finger of blame now points to the captain of the oil tanker, whom his employer said made the wrong decision to proceed to Zamboanga despite a storm. There might be other people to blame for the disaster, which has threatened the livelihood and ecosystems of coastal folk in Western Visayas. Clearly, the adverse impact of the massive oil spill is much worse than natural disasters. Although nobody was reported killed so far, the immediate and long-term impact of the oil spill on the whole marine ecosystems in central Philippines has killed the sources of livelihood of the people there. When livelihood sources are killed, people starve to death.

Also more painful than natural disasters are the continuing political killings, which have left widows and orphans. We thought we have learned our lessons from the pains and abuses under the reign of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. But the disaster that was martial law is resurrecting into Marcosian proportions under a lady president whose heart, as a woman, should have love and compassion. As a woman president, she should be a mother to all peoples of all creeds and beliefs in this supposedly democratic country. In fact, at one point, Ms Arroyo’s spokespersons tried to project her image as Ina ng Bayan (Mother of the Nation). But we don’t see a loving and compassionate heart. What we see is an iron-fist, which is generally perceived as belonging only to stone-hearted male tyrants.

From a larger picture, the political killings are related to the continuing rebellion and its roots, which have yet to be uprooted. But political killings cannot uproot the roots of rebellion such as the centuries-old question why only a few hold the political and economic power in this country. Political killings only add gasoline to an already raging fire. Political killings only force many sons and daughters to go underground and take up arms.

Since they are mainly concerned about maintaining their political and economic power, the few elites of this country do everything at their disposal to maintain and hold on to that power. Rigging elections and bribery have become part of the rules of the power game. These, in turn, have led to still unresolved questions of legitimacy and to crisis in governance. This is the bigger disaster, much bigger than super typhoon Florita and the eruptions in Mount Mayon.

In Mourning

Two current major issues are damaging the country. The first is the continuing killings of activists and journalists, which have worried and enraged the international community. The other is the reported leakage on nursing board examinations held last June.

To civil libertarians and human rights advocates such as the UK-based Amnesty International, no persons deserve to die for their political affiliation. But as we are writing this column, a farmer-leader in Obando, Bulacan was reportedly killed allegedly for his affiliation with a farmers’ group, which the military had identified with the Left.

“It should be a deep embarrassment to the government that people in the Philippines cannot freely exercise their rights of political expression and association,” said Tim Parritt, Southeast Asia researcher at Amnesty International in a report that came out August 16.

But a “deep embarrassment” apparently is not part of the conscience of those behind Ms Arroyo’s one-billion-peso campaign to finish off the 37-year old communist insurgency in this Southeast Asian nation. Killings, maiming, and sowing fear continue. So for fear of their lives, villagers in Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley are now rushing to get community tax certificates or cedulas, lest they be mistaken for being New People’s Army guerrillas.

The anti-insurgency drive should be directed at the NPA guerillas, who are definitely armed. And the fighting should be done in the hills. But spare the simple farmer who toils and helps produce food for this agricultural country. Spare the community-based doctor who opted to serve the helpless and the needy; otherwise, he would take up nursing and join the legions of Filipinos leaving the country.

Sadly, the sitting ducks of this anti-insurgency campaign are those legitimate community-based leaders of farmers, workers, indigenous peoples and students, who are exercising their constitutional rights of dissent and peaceful assembly. This worries Amnesty International and even the international church community, which has also denounced the killings of pastors, church workers and lay leaders involved in justice and peace ministries.

Given this situation, some members of the diplomatic community are contemplating of advising their investors not to do business in the Philippines, according to sources. This is akin to some international campaign not to investment in Burma because of its iron-fist rule and widespread human rights violations. The message of the diplomatic community for Ms Arroyo is clear -- the rule of law, and not of men, should be restored in this supposed democracy in Southeast Asia. Otherwise, they won’t do business with us.

The leakage in the last nursing board examinations is also giving us a bad name. It continues to help project the image that we are a nation of cheats. Honesty, as one song says, is such a lonely word, which may be true to many of us from the lowly to the mighty in this troubled land. For its rarity, a news story about an ordinary cab driver returning a wallet or package left by a passenger gets front page or prominent air time. If honesty is part of our psyche and everyday lives, an honest taxi driver should be as common as the common tao. And this should not be news any more.

Honesty is also a lonely word among those who hold power. We have yet to clear the air about unanswered questions over alleged electoral fraud in 2004. These unanswered questions contained in the “Hello Garci” tapes and followed by the “I’m-sorry-for-lapses-in-judgment” presidential confession continue to put into question the legitimacy of Ms Arroyo.

These lingering unanswered questions about Ms Arroyo’s legitimacy are holding her down. Unless these questions are sufficiently cleared, it would be hard for this country to move on. Unfortunately, those who continue to question and challenge Ms Arroyo’s legitimacy under the democratic principles of free expression and right of dissent now fear for their lives. We thought Ferdinand Marcos was long dead and gone in 1986. Apparently, the ghost of those dark martial law years has resurrected from the dead. Now we are again in mourning, and the international community sympathizes with our loss – the loss of our democracy.

On Leaving and Staying

Some years ago, some people tried to convince me to find work overseas. These people wanted me to become part of the legions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) now scattered worldwide.

Another suggestion was for me and my family to apply for migrant status in another country.

I declined both. I could not imagine myself laboring hard in some sweat shop overseas and sending my earnings home for my family’s upkeep. I already knew it was going to be lonely for me and for my family. Maybe I could endure the separation from my family for at least two years before I could renew again a job contract.

But my first consideration was that I wanted to be with my two growing sons. I wanted to be with them when they would seek some help for their school homework. I wanted to be around when they needed my take-it-or-leave-it advice when they would be in trouble. It is painful enough for a child to be growing up without a father, or a mother for that matter. Depriving a child’s need for his or her parents would be tantamount to being orphaned. The dollars that you, as an OFW, would send would not pay for your absence as a mother or father to your child.

Applying for migrant status in another country appeared to be a better option for me and my family. This was especially so because I am family-centered. But I didn’t entertain the suggestion. I couldn’t imagine myself renouncing my Filipino citizenship and becoming a citizen of another country. This, for me, was also renouncing my roots, my cultural heritage, and all my closely-knit clan and kin folk. There’s just no place like home. I just love staying and making life here – despite our country’s leaders who seem at a loss on how to govern us.

But it’s not surprising that three out of ten Filipinos, says a recent reported survey, are willing to take the last plane out and leave the country for good if given the opportunity. That’s 14 million Filipinos. We cannot blame them.

Every political season, politicians would promise us a Garden of Eden. But once they are in power, these politicians fail to deliver. These politicians have made our once glorious country into the mess we are in now. Maybe we have too many politicians. Politicians are the only species in this country that are never in danger of being extinct. Maybe what we need are real governors and managers, not politicians who are good only at grandstanding but who lack vision and the ability to make that vision come true. Good people in government are too few and are becoming extinct species.

We pride ourselves as the only democracy in Southeast Asia. But under our brand of democracy, the justice system does not work as it should be, the rule of law is a farce, and that a few are “more equal” than the rest of us.

Those who leave have their valid reasons. And they cannot be faulted for leaving.

Similarly, the Philippines is one of the densely populated countries in the world and it is just fine if some Filipinos can help inhabit less populated continents such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

I also have my reasons in opting to stay put and to stick it out here come typhoon, volcanic eruption, coup threats and impeachment. Life maybe difficult here, but we can still count our blessings. We may have typhoons, but we don’t have cruel winters. We may have less money, but we are happier.

Where in the world can you find children still caring for their parents when they grow old? Only in the Philippines. Elsewhere in the so-called developed world, you have to work hard and invest for your old age because no one will take care of you later. Even love has to be bought in the developed world. That’s why you have to go to a psychotherapist, who charges you fees for pouring out your heart. Not here. We have enough friends, relatives, and elders who can help us out in our psychological and spiritual crises. And they don’t charge us fees. They help us out because they love us. In return, we also return the favor by trying our best to be of help to others. So unlike the Beatles, we don’t have to sing, “I can’t buy me love…”

State of the Nation

The real state of the nation began to unfold during the days after Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her SONA (state of the nation address) last 24 July. The well-scripted SONA ended after the well-scripted 166 sets of claps reverberated at the four walls of the Batasan Complex.

The real state of the nation was revealed in the way our government leadership responded to the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. While other countries had already rescued their people, we heard our president on TV appealing to the Israeli government to ensure that our overseas Filipino workers would be out of harm’s way as the Israeli Army fired its missiles on Lebanon. As if Israel’s bombs would be kind enough to spare our migrant workers. We clearly saw on TV how the bombs had snuffed out the lives of even innocent children and their parents who had nothing to do with the conflict.

Through the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, we came to learn about how government allegedly misused millions of OWWA funds during the last elections. Like the GSIS and SSS funds, government should not dip its fingers into the OWWA cookie jar, which belongs to overseas Filipino workers. As a country that exports its brain and brawn overseas, the Philippines should set aside emergency funds for its foreign embassies to spend when tragedies such as the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict occur.

Thanks to the noise of the Senate, which sought to probe whatever happened to the OWWA funds and why the administration didn’t immediately send a single cent to the embassy in Lebanon. It was only then that our officialdom began acting to really bring home on chartered planes our troubled brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

That some Filipinos opted to stay in Lebanon despite the war also shows the real state of the nation. These Filipinos would rather take the risks in troubled Lebanon rather than go home to the Philippines and die of hunger and poverty. This, despite Ms Arroyo’s claims in her July 24 SONA of a rosy Philippine economy and of a country with less poverty.

The nation under Arroyo also revealed its real state in the continuing breakdown of the rule of law. Sadly, Ms Arroyo’s envisioned “super regions” are turning out to be fields for the extra-judicial killings of government’s perceived enemies such as social activists and critical journalists.

We thought extrajudicial killings and disappearances were facts of life only under the former strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law regime. But reports now say extrajudicial killings happen almost daily, a trend which both domestic and international human rights watch groups say should not be happening in a supposed democratic nation committed to the rule of law.

Dr. Constancio “Chandu” Claver, a medical doctor, opted to serve his people in Kalinga rather than join the legions of doctors and nurses who seek overseas jobs abroad. But serving his people proved dangerous to his health because he happens to be connected with the Bayan Muna, a militant organization perceived by government as among the fronts of the underground Left.

Bayan Muna’s leaders apparently have been marked for death and Claver, who is well-loved by his people in Kalinga because of his services as a doctor, was not spared. Claver is now fighting for his life due to wounds from armalite bullets but he lost his wife, Alice, during an early morning ambush last July 31, which also injured a bystander and left his daughter dazed and traumatized.

The killings continue. As we write this column, reports say a farmer leader was also killed in Albay. Even while we are already mellowing with age, we continue to ask the question Bob Dylan has been asking since the 1970s: “How many deaths will it take till they know that too many people had died?” The problem is that the answer, as Dylan has said, is blowing in the wind.

The killings are unnecessary in this country, which just abolished the death penalty. Unfortunately, killings are now part of the current real state of this country of our hopes and sorrows.