Storm watch

Yet another tropical storm, yet another disaster.

This is becoming a tiresome joke. In bad times, we pull together, extend helping hands, compassion comes to the fore. In good times, we frolic and laze about the beach, forgetting all about our duties as good citizens. Fine, that may be too harsh. Perhaps, we are just too focused on our jobs, exhausted when we get home so all we can do is switch the telly on.

Yet it’s precisely during these off-hours that our vigilance is most needed, when we should demand accountability from our politicians. This is when we should post social media posts designed to keep our fellow Filipinos abreast of abstract issues that have real impact on them. This is when, perhaps, we can peruse the news and filter vital social and political issues that have a very real effect on our neighbors come disaster time.

Not during typhoons or earthquakes because, hey, we have been duly apprised. During an emergency, our executive branch is, sort of, well, how do we put it. A bit of at a loss as to what to do.

Better let him focus.

What a joy to see former vice president Leni Robredo selflessly serving her city. Sure, she is running for mayor, but we know real effort when we see it, almost chest-deep in floodwaters, clinging on to a raft while directing relief efforts. Leni, why aren’t you our president? Unlike those other crocodiles who doled out a few hundred pesos to the flood-stranded from the safety of their designer kayak.

Climate change is coming faster than we think. Areas previously strangers to floods are now susceptible to inundation. There will be mass migration soon from occupants of low-lying areas seeking higher ground. Arable land will become neglected patches of swamp. Towns and cities will be abandoned.

No, this isn’t a dystopian vision from a science-fiction fanatic. It’s the prediction of think-tanks, calculating the rate of rising ocean levels and temperatures. The United Nations has predicted that by the end of the century, temperatures will rise by three degrees. Cataclysmic, by scientific parameters. Some islands will disappear under the waves in 50 years, and cities like Jakarta and Bangkok might be no more.

So what are we to do?

We can continue letting our politicians shovel cash into their pockets while pretending to serve us. Remember budgets and expense reports and audit trails? We can let all of that go without a murmur. Flood control projects that aren’t there when the floods come. Infrastructure projects that gulp money like a monster. Meaningless expenditures for beautification of offices while basic shelter needs are unmet.

We can continue electing comedians and television hosts into office. Remember we elected a boxer who racked up the highest number of absences from the chamber? We let it go because, man, he had to train for his next boxing match. Now, we utilize our vote to make sure misogynists and jokers who proclaim that they don’t have a platform to run on because they haven’t won yet, occupy the highest offices. Then they can design their platforms. Or not. Perhaps, all they will do is dance to entertain us.

We can continue laughing at our environmental officials for allowing the creation of dolomite beaches on marine reserves. Or resorts with pools in Chocolate Hills. Or the occupation of entire islands by oligarchs, never mind the ancestral people living there.

We can continue accepting crappy service from government employees. When we see staffers pack up at 4 P.M. because, hey, their day ends at 5 P.M. and so who cares if they’re being paid for an hour more. Tenured employees who like making people come back to their desk multiple times because they give varying requirements depending on their mood.

Even better, we call government hotlines that no one is manning, so we dial multiple times in the hope someone will pick up. In the end, we give up and trudge over to the office to speak to the person in charge. Before 4 P.M., of course. And definitely not on a Friday.

We can accept short-term gains and let go of long-term plans. Like the ?500 bill handed over to the woman swamped by flood waters, instead of demanding to be ferried to the nearest luxury condo in town.

Or we can do better.

There is a list of countries that are in high elevations and hence, will not be swallowed up by rising ocean levels. Now, where is that list?