FLOODS!

Water everywhere but not a drop to drink as hyacinths (with roots eight feet long and earth clinging to them) floated on the Pulangi River traveling downstream, pushed by the river’s current due to heavy rains. Water lilies that could serve as a helipad, that’s how sturdy their roots are intertwined. I saw bunches of them under the Quirino Bridge in Sultan Qudarat, named after the ruler who consolidated vast Mindanao, the neighbor of Cotabato City. These water lilies originated from Liguasan Marsh, pushed downstream to the Rio Grande de Mindanao, also called Pulangi, which opens up into the awesome Ilana Bay. Quick, get a map, that’s how I was taught 26 years ago by my mentor, the scholar Datu Michael Mastura.

Ancient times till today teach us that by rivers civilizations have always begun. These waters of the Rio Grande created datuships identified with geography and its inhabitants. The upper valley was Saraya all the way to the Sultanate of Buayan near what is General Santos today. Sailud or the lower valley was towards Cotabato City where traders and slave raiders conducted businesses.

Few people realize that the province of Maguindanao, now in a state of calamity due to the tropical depression, was once called “flooded plains.” Yet, the Magindanaoans developed through their Sultans Kudarat and Piang and their armies, a powerful state that extended south to the Sarangani Bay and Davao Gulf. Again its direction was referred to geographically as biwang and north as Kawanan towards the Zamboanga Peninsula and the deep Moro Gulf.

What brought this phenomenon of the traveling hyacinths? Deforestation across the Liguasan marshes, erosion, sedimentation and siltation in the delta of the Pulangi River. Things DPWH and DILG should address especially and because of the dislocation of thousands from their homes in barangays becoming a pitiful sight in evacuation centers. In Luzon, school buildings are used as evacuation centers. In Maguindanao, these victims are in tiny gyms or return to flooded homes filled with four meters high of water without any other choice. Others resort to sleeping on rooftops.

Datu Teng who is Governor of Sultan Kudarat Province and eldest son of my running mate Sultan Pax, the first Moro ever elected in the 80 percent Catholic province for the past two decades, first as mayor, governor then congressman, accompanied me to the gyms where the refugees now live. We all pooled our personal resources for several meals and medical missions.

They were on cement floors covered with canvas, malongs of different prints and cardboards. Nursing mothers lay on them, old women sat perplexed, young teens shared jokes, the men walked to and fro around the gym. One teen saw me and respectfully threw away his cigarette. One man lay unable to speak, a victim of a stroke. Women cooked a meal of fish and boiled rice. Some make money by selling cucumber, tinapa, bagoong and burong mangga obviously from their backyard.

At the centers the men and women lined up to receive the rice, noodles and sardines the usual evacuation meals. Clothes resulted in new surprises for children and adults, shoes and bags of whatever size. Thanks to Tina and Ricco Ocampo and China. We are running low on them so I appeal to you to send us some of your used clothing (if you have any, kindly e-mail me at tingtingcojuangco@yahoo.com). A man’s discarded clothes could mean another man’s sheer happiness.

The Maguindanaoan children are generally like any other. Some grabbed at the Styrofoam bowls containing arrozcaldo. But they were the minority as practically all the children were disciplined and said thank you and sukran. We had laid out huge kettles of arrozcaldo and frozen chocolate milk a livelihood industry in Sultan Kudarat Province. Our supply was good for 1,000 children. We covered five sites so that was at the least 900 in each center with Datu Teng’s and my staff. We were assisted by two surgeons, two dentists, 11 nurses and one pedia without the help of any national government agency. But what surprised me most was that government units lacked any major activity that could move heaven and earth to ease the sufferings of their provincial constituents. For Datu Pax Mangundadatu, Governor Teng, Datu Tocao Mastura, the Gianni’s, Datu Mike Kida and myself, it was imperative to do so. Toks waded through historical waters with mud and waste while bancas become the common mode of transport.

The Moro is no different from us yet they ask “Porque Moro kami wala ng pumapansin.” The Moros were not meant to be dealt with heavy-handedly. Now they are. Once upon a time they governed in vast areas of possessing their own adat (their laws) with pride and fortitude, these warriors organized their political and economic and socio-political stations intelligently. The Spaniards tried through conversion, the Americans for Mindanao to be American territory. The MNLF, the MILF for secession and always Manila! Some political leaders succumb, some remain dedicated to self preservation… a divided lot especially now again with the deprivation of their right to autonomy and cast their vote. No thanks to Manila leadership. Some Mindanaoan leaders are too comfortable to resist government pressure or perhaps the wars have rendered some helpless with hopelessness and the government struck a blow on them.

I watch the faces of the sad refugees and ask what happened to the proud resilient Moros…When and if the water subsides or, remains as it is centuries past, underwater, livelihood is what the Maguindanaoans need, not continuous doleouts. I am searching for water lily buyers to sell this menace and convert them into useful slippers and placemats and even coal. Marketing is always essential. The materials are available floating and immobile. If only we could transport these water lilies to the shorelines. I believe it can be done from watching two marine airboats push the lilies outward to the mouth of this river. 

With climate change in our midst, natural disasters are expected to visit us more frequently and with a higher degree of intensity. We must begin proactive planning to enable us to mitigate the effects of disasters. Local government units must come up with doable contingency plans that can serve as guides to the local populace in times of disasters. Self-help, as a principle in disaster management, is important as it will make us less dependent on the national government. But we must begin incorporating the principle of mutual assistance in our consciousness and disaster management plans.