Commentary
“For Whom The Bell Tolls”
Baguio City, Philippines., Oct 15, 2009
The World As I See could not see the world for nearly two weeks when tropical storm Parma (local name Pepeng) slammed Northern Luzon of the Philippines leaving 269 dead excluding hundreds of deaths when Ondoy struck Manila a few day earlier, leaving thousands hopeless, homeless and without food, water and personal belongings ravaged by heavy flash floods and landslides. Dams, dykes and canals played their sorrowful part. Destruction to infrastructures are not known yet. Communications--roads, telephone lines, television networks, internet and hand phone providers, all cut off.
I survived in Baguio but my family almost did not cornered in the second floor with ground floor flooded and rising waiting to be claimed by Parma. They were about 75 kms from me in a small municipality of Natividad of about 25,000 population in the flat province of Pangasinan in Central Luzon. I can’t help but mention the crucial roles of the Mayor Andrea Supnet and Vice Mayor Lito Noveda in saving their constituents from the worst. Personally I am grateful to the Vice Mayor who was in touch with me with updates during the crisis. Contact with him gave me some hope which was the only one left. There are hundreds of other unsung heroes out there unknown to CNN.
We are not the only ones. There were thousands upon thousands of young (kids, babies), old, healthy and the sickly trapped pathetically and desperately in other parts of the said province and mountainous Benguet province where I reside. Local governments, military, civil defense and civic organizations did what they could under the circumstances saving thousands more and are still continuing their relief operations. Thirty two towns still remain submerged while the dead remain in wakes for short of coffins. Death toll from the two typhoons exceeded 710.
Surprisingly, while the capital Manila was being shattered by depression Ondoy, Parma visited Northern Luzon quietly from the north and moved out silently back to northern coast giving a false impression it was leaving for good, only to revisit us from the north without warning with fury without mercy. This seldom happens, that is, thrice by the same code named Parma within a week. To be fair, the Philippines had ample notice from international and local weather forecasts. It is just that the country is either unprepared or caught off guard, as usual, from its annual tropical depressions during this time of the year.
What is done cannot be undone. What is undone remains to be done---good governance,
in practice, not in theory. There is a limit to blames. Finger-pointing among politicians, local government officials, weather forecasters and operators of dykes and dams will not help or resolve, and will never. Meanwhile President Gloria Magapagal-Arroyo (GMA) is asking the “rich nations” to help her as she is a “victim of climate change.” Does tsuami stricken American Samoa and flooded India qualify also?. Are earthquakes caused by climate change too?. If so, then Indonesia also needs the attention of the rich members of the international community. If one blamed change of climate, then we are all victims of it and we all need help from former US Vice President Al Gore.
While we pen this piece, we are also reminded of those who perished in tsuami in American Samoa, earthquake in Padang, Indonesia and floods in Central India which are part of the international system. This human tale reminds us of sudden pain and or death in calamities similar to what is expressed in John Donne’s first poetic line “no man is an island” in “For Whom The Bells Toll” which is also Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 film title on the 1936 Spanish Civil War.
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