Allegory of the flood

The floodwaters have abated but for almost two weeks from the end of August, newspaper and television reports focused on the sorry plight of people whose lives and property were ruined by the raging flood. Local government officials interviewed on television said that the floods were the worst that the area had experienced in 32 years. The dike that held back the Colibangbang River was not expected to erode. The flood in Tarlac wrought widespread damage not only to crops, but also more significantly to human lives.

"The Flood in Tarlac" is also a prize-winning short story by the eminent writer Gregorio Brillantes. The story is a disturbing account about a middle-aged doctor surnamed Caridad who was approached for help towards settling a land dispute between farmers and his in-laws. The farmers appealed to Dr. Caridad: "They claim this plot of land that we have been farming since before the war. It is part of the hacienda. They have begun to put up a fence that will enclose our land."

However, Dr. Caridad refused to intercede for the men: "…no longer relished having anything to do with any of these things, not since the old man had turned perceptively aloof, after that confused discussion they had had about the tractors…" It seemed simpler to not have anything to do with the hacienda than cause a rift between family members. As the torrential rains poured and floodwaters entered the Caridad’s upper middle-class home, intruders broke into the house, shot and hacked to death Dr. Caridad’s children and wife. He barely managed to escape death by shooting the interlopers.

As I re-read the story, I realized that it is a very apt warning to us in this country, where: "When it rains, it pours." The flood that inundated Tarlac and most of Central Luzon came almost heel-to-heel with the President’s pronouncement of an impending fiscal crisis. Undoubtedly, crop and property damage would intensify the poverty situation plaguing most of our population, but our president herself had been honest enough to tell the truth about our economic situation.

As I read the news and see laborers demanding for a P125 wage increase; as I see teachers on television who have gone on strike to demand for higher salaries, and as I watch representatives from the masses being interviewed on television angrily demanding what they thought the government promised them, I couldn’t help but think that figuratively, the economic "floodwaters" are threatening to inundate us, rendering us all victims.

For me, "The Flood in Tarlac" by Gregorio Brillantes has turned into an allegory. There were no "good" or "bad" characters in the story. All were merely prisoners of their personal situations. Dr. Caridad was thought to be indifferent when he was merely trying to preserve his relationship with his family, while the men may have resorted to violence because of sheer frustration and hopelessness.

In the same manner, this government is not indifferent. It wants to give much to the people, but is simply crippled by numerous problems, mostly inherited. The various groups who demand for wage increases and such, on the other hand, are only desperately trying to get by.

The flood in Tarlac, however, brought to the fore the genuine concern of most Filipinos who donated time, money, effort, and goods to help the victims. Hopefully, the figurative economic "flood" that the fiscal crisis presents will not bring about negative emotions and violence. This will only mean more problems for all of us.

The various crises shouldn’t sweep us Filipinos farther away from each other. Rather, we should marshall our efforts, emotions, talents and nationalistic fervor to keep us afloat until the floodwaters of difficulty abate. Peace.