Tragic Christmas lesson

Without a doubt, this Christmas season is probably one of the worst times people could ever remember in the country’s history since the Japanese attacked Manila and Clark Field in December 1941. Adversity could best describe December 2004. First and foremost the Yule season started on a bitter note with the tragedy of the environmental disasters brought on by a series of typhoons and flashfloods that were caused by indiscriminate logging. We have dearly paid for it with the loss of over a thousand lives and millions in properties and crops in Quezon, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, and in other Luzon provinces. We’re still reeling from those tragedies. No one is exempt, whether rich or poor, from Nature’s wrath because these now affect our pipelines and in the near future, our watersheds will be adversely impacted. And all of these were caused by our wanton disregard for nature, indiscriminate logging, and overpopulation. Lacking the opportunity to join the information economy, the residents of craggy-terrained Quezon and Baler have to make a living by becoming carriers of water and hewers of wood much to the detriment of our severely deteriorated environment.

The tragedy of FPJ’s death is once again a reminder to each and every one of us that  we are such a divided country. The outpouring of grief for the Da King mostly coming from the poor estimated by foreign journalists to have been a little over two million and what had been seen and heard over the past week is a clear indication that the rift between the country’s rich and the poor is getting wider by the day. Undoubtedly, the elections that was meant to unite the country had divided us even further all because we did not take the necessary measures to make the elections credible to the people and in particular to the followers of FPJ. The delay in modernizing the election process by computerization like India – where the results were clear in less than a day – would have unequivocably showed who won the election. As a result, the divisions in the country have become even deeper. This is another clear case where if we had done it right from the very beginning, then we wouldn’t have this double red alert situation. This is a reminder that we really have to start moving fast if we are to continue along the democratic track. Electoral modernization and credibility are necessary to get the majority of the people on board of what should be a collective effort to rebuild the country’s institutions. To make matters worse, globalization has not helped in preparing the people, in fact it has widened the gap due to the lack of safety nets.

The tragedy that happened to Speaker Joe de Venecia and Gina also sent people into shocked disbelief. The death of the De Venecias’ youngest daughter KC is a reminder too that the rich and the powerful are not exempt from the fate that affects the poor. Like the proverbial thief in the night, tragedy can strike anyone of us at anytime. We can blame anybody or everybody except ourselves but we know that the proliferation of smuggled and defective Christmas lights had been the cause of fires during the holiday season. In fact, Joe himself admitted to me at the wake that our firefighters and disaster and emergency management personnel are ill-equipped and ill-trained. An asbestos-suit garbed fireman could have saved the life of KC.

Once again, it is a reminder to our politicians that they simply must do what is right because even their own life could be at stake. No one is truly exempt until we get our act together. Dick Gordon, who was at the wake and is also the chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, told us that we don’t even have the kind of equipment to handle the magnitude of a crisis if a major earthquake hits the country because ever since we kicked out the Americans from the bases, our disaster and emergency forces have been left with neither the capability nor the equipment to rescue Filipino lives. Simply put, the government doesn’t have the resources to adequately rescue and save lives. In fact, the Americans had to send 600 Marines and helicopters from their base in Okinawa to help the rescue/relief operations in Quezon province. And can you imagine, the 1987 Constitution clearly states that the government’s primary responsibility is to protect and defend the people and its territory?

Still clear-headed despite his grief, JDV assured DILG Sec. Angie Reyes during his daughter’s wake last Tuesday that he will devote a large portion of his congressional development funds to make sure that the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) acquires the necessary equipment to save lives. If the firemen had the asbestos suits and the circular saws to cut through those grills, Joe’s daughter could have been saved. 

For years we have been crying ‘Reconciliation with justice.’ Perhaps, the leaders and the politicians of this country should just do what is right and this country will unite. Less politics and more effort in doing what is ‘right and just’ – that is all what people want from all sectors of society. Maybe that is the only wish we could have this Christmas.

The lesson we have learned from these tragedies is that there still is an opportunity to reverse the situation but as many have warned time is not on our side.  The problems with the environment, the population, smuggling and the economy must be met head on. Otherwise, the worst tragedy that is yet to come is when the leaders of the country and those of us who can make a difference and change the ways things are, will tell ourselves, "We could have done something and we did not."

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In spite of all the tragedies that have occurred during the Christmas season, I am told that we have more balikbayans this year than last year. More foreigners married to Filipinas or Filipinos have come in droves to enjoy the country’s festive season. I guess Christmas in the Philippines is still the best.