God helps those who help themselves

With already so many man-made disasters such as political squabbles, military scandals and fiscal problems plaguing the country, we now have to contend with natural disasters aggravated by the man-made illegal logging. A US-funded environmental study concluded that the Philippines was losing more than 100,000 hectares of forest cover every year. Decades of kaingin practice and illegal logging have made floods in the country deadlier, loosening the soil of denuded mountains and triggering devastating landslides and mudslides. Adding to the misery, the three recent typhoons have destroyed at least P100-Million worth or rice and corn crops. Despite being a prayerful country, with a majority of devoted Catholics, why aren’t we spared from Mother Nature’s wrath? Is it because we are a double-dealing people with the likes of those who publicly preach good governance while privately engaging in fraud? I remember our spiritual adviser telling us once that these are all just tests of our faith in God. But how many more tests and trials do we have to take before we finally pass? It has been an accepted cliché to regard tragedy as a rude wake-up call. The trouble is we are like lotus-eaters who never wake up! Most of our problems are really man-made. Not too long ago, the Ormoc flood left more than 5,000 dead in its wake. Add to that the Payatas and the Cherry Hill tragedies and we see a cyclical pattern of public weeping, the formation of government task forces, and the inevitable amnesia to prevent them. The lack of foresight and short memories makes for a deadly combination for a people living in both the Ring of Fire and the Typhoon Belt.

Our youthful and energetic Environment Sec. Mike Defensor has the opportunity to make a difference and ensure that man-made environmental disasters like these never happen again. He should totally ban logging and prevent the rape of the environment. If we don’t mitigate the abuse of our God-given bounty in this decade, Mother Nature will be unrelenting in giving us sterner and more fatal lessons until we finally learn to respect her. The lack of respect results in the poor rural folk paying the highest price with almost a thousand of them already killed or missing. So many foreigners have gasped in awe at the wonders of this country’s beauty and natural resources. They tell us we are so blessed with forests, beautiful landscape, abundant coral reefs, teeming biodiversity, and the fifth largest reserves of gold and copper in the world with an estimated worth of $840-Billion. God has given this country so much bounty and yet we don’t appreciate these gifts – worse we even destroy them. The old adage, "To those whom much is given, much is required" simply does not exist in our thinking. Just maybe our insensitivity to Nature and our disregard of laws are the real reasons why God is allowing all these to happen.

I must commend, though, ABS-CBN for being at the forefront of environmental protection. It is doing a fantastic job with its Bantay Kalikasan environmental awareness and now with its Sagip Kapamilya telethon, they are soliciting funds and relief goods for the hard-hit typhoon victims. Our own Philippine STAR is doing its part too – launching its Operation Damayan to assist our fellow Filipinos. That’s the good news about Filipinos, they unite in times of crisis. The Bayanihan spirit really comes alive.Through our Defense Sec. Nonong Cruz, the government is doing its part with the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). I must admit that people were wary of Nonong Cruz because he was an unknown element from The Firm. But after getting to know him more, he is a man of high intelligence, a personable individual, and he knows exactly what he wants to do in reforming the military. He is the kind of person that the country’s national defense establishment needs at this time. He also has GMA’s full trust and confidence.

With the man-made disaster in the AFP, it is high time the military is reformed. Nonong has the opportunity to reform and modernize the armed forces with the Philippine Defense Reform Program (PDRP) by instituting comprehensive structural and systemic reforms. Nonong and his new team can certainly contribute in drastically changing the image of the military and preparing its role in the 21st Century: With a military better equipped to carry out its mission effectively, it can provide relief and rescue services during times of calamity. Despite its logistical problems, the NDCC is doing its best with the aid of other agencies to help the typhoon victims. At this point, the government can only ask for assistance from the United States, Japan, Australia, and the United Nations for its relief operations due to the lack of rescue equipment and logistics.GMA said the NPA, which continues to have outdated revolutionary ideas, is heavily involved in illegal logging and this was confirmed by US military experts. That is why these young and idealistic members of the Cabinet Nonong Cruz and Mike Defensor – should work as a team to preserve the less than three percent of our primary forests that remain intact. We certainly will need a lot of trees for watersheds for our rapidly growing population.

On the part of Cruz, all the more he needs to modernize and equip the armed forces to assist forest rangers and manage emergencies. They both have a lot of work ahead of them. The DND and the DENR should really help each other in protecting the environment. Only in tandem can they blunt these tragedies.

At the end of the day, an expanded view of national security coverage is the only way to address the threats of the next 20 years. In the short-term, the country faces overpopulation and environmental degradation.

In the book The Future in Plain Sight: Nine Clues to the Coming Instability, Eugene Linden projected economic disparities, plagues, floods and famines for the country by 2050. Let’s face it, this century certainly won’t be a lark for us if we persist in keeping our old ways and the Bahala Na kind of thinking. We simply cannot have this "God-will-provide" attitude to tide us over because leaving everything to Him and praying just aren’t enough. The reality is Bathala won’t be there for us because as the old saying goes: God helps those who help themselves.

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