TOO consoling—and perhaps spiritually
assuring, too, for the most of us who are the grips of fear, grief and
uncertainty brought about by the Super Typhoon Yolanda—was the pastoral
advisory issued by the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines, Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu.
While
he called for a novena of prayer and charity from November 11-19 for the
victims of typhoon Yolanda and the earlier calamities, he assured the faithful
that, paraphrasing St. Paul, the earthquake has no sting for one who hopes in
the Lord. These are his powerful
words: “The typhoon was the strongest in
the world according to the reckoning of scientists, but our faith in the Lord
is even stronger. No typhoon or flood
can diminish the strength of the Filipino soul.
No calamity or natural devastation can quench the fire of our hope. The Filipino soul is stronger than Yolanda.”
On
the anthropological side of things, a netizen, perhaps a foreigner—who immediately
posted a comment on the feature story of CNN about the super storm that was
published online while the storm was raging on November 8—invested confidence
on the Filipino psyche. Going by the
alias “Dudesk001”, he wrote: “Time to
get to know the hardy Filipino people…unbelievably resilient, long suffering,
good natured, uber friendly, loyal, ingenious, and a bunch of survivors. At the end of the day, the Filipinos will
just shake off the dirt from their clothes and thongs and go about their
business…and smile. They do not complain
much, they will bear as long as they can.
Maybe this is why they were given the “privilege” of bearing the burden
of the strongest typhoon ever recorded.
The indomitable spirit at its finest.”
On
the ground, however, six days have already passed since this most devastating
typhoon in history left the country. And
yet, dead bodies still litter with the debris in the streets of Tacloban City and
neighboring towns as if, in the global reports of CNN and BBC, apathy has suddenly
dawned on a people famed for family values and care for their dead—or perhaps
everybody are just too preoccupied with survival and the government going in
circles and blaming others instead of lifting a finger. People, getting hungrier and desperate by the
day, are desperately clamoring for food and water which despite government
promises of immediate relief have yet to be realized. A Tacloban resident was quoted by ABS-CBN
saying that while he survived typhoon Yolanda, he is not sure to survive hunger
due to government’s inefficiency. Lawlessness
that may have been triggered by hunger and need, or sheer criminality as two
senators involved in pork barrel anomaly pointed out, has driven people to loot
business establishments perhaps because the national government has just been
talking on TV instead of executing a crisis management plan.
The
breakdown in communications is a catastrophe in itself, especially for
Filipinos abroad whose loved ones are residents in heavily devastated
areas. For days now, they have been
calling radio stations no end asking for updates. A priest from Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Fr.
Edgar Abucejo, drove on his motorcycle all the way to Manila just to be able to
communicate the situationer of this town which was the first landfall of
typhoon Yolanda. Since cell sites
operate on wireless microwave or satellite technologies, mobile sites could
have been temporarily installed in a day or two by telephone companies or the
national government if this were given due attention.
In
a situation such as this, hope is seemingly illusive especially for a
government leadership that thinks differently—or sluggishly. It may not be easy then to shake off the dirt
from thongs and go about regular business with a wide grin.
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