‘God-forsaken’?
October 11th, 2009 by bigenyaMany have described northern Philippines as ‘God-forsaken’ – cruel landscapes marked by a prolonged dry season and by generally rocky and sandy soil. Ilocos Sur, for instance, straddles the South China Sea on one side and the Cordilleras on the other – a narrow, dry strip of land.
Yet, we are a proud lot – we rarely ask for help and most of the time, we make do with what we have. Like @marocharim’s uncles and nephews, our ascendants learned to cultivate the forbidding terrain and in so doing, sociologists theorized, also led their lives along these three imperative values: ‘hardiness, frugality, and diligence’.
The past week, Typhoon Pepeng has – and still is – severely tested the people of Northern Luzon. As soon as the rains stopped, we are beginning to realize the extent of destruction to both life and property. We are being given footages from Cagayan Valley, Baguio City, Benguet, and Pangasinan. To this hour, ABS-CBN’s Sagip Kapamilya reports that it was able to reach La Union just now. We have yet see what has happened to our brothers and sisters from the other provinces.
And we are no Job.
Mitch Albom wrote this one line in his ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’: “I think…God overdid it.” May I second @marocharim’s plea in his posts? Pangaasi yo, apo. The North needs your help.
October 11, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Hi Bigenya!
I do’nt want to trivialize the suffering in Northern Luzon because of typhoon Pepeng. But if you revisit the recent natural and man-made calamities in the Philippines, you would see that each region in RP had its ‘fair share’ of nature’s wrath. Eastern Visayas, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, and the rest had suffered much as well. Not to mention the never-ending bloodshed in Western Mindanao.
Our neck of the woods has been called several terms: typhoon belt, ring of fire, etc. In fact, RP is the most disaster prone country in the world.
‘It’s nature’s way of telling you something’s wrong. Something’s wrong, something’s wrong..’
October 11, 2009 at 11:39 pm
“Something’s wrong…” with the people.
October 11, 2009 at 11:58 pm
But don’t me wrong. We hope the best for you up North, and that you may recover from the typhoon effects.
October 12, 2009 at 10:07 am
““Something’s wrong…” with the people.”-Chino F
Oh, I love responding to this dude, a virtual, virtual benignO.
So this time a typhoon passed by the Philippine’s north because something is wrong with the Ilocanos.
Brilliant indeed.
October 11, 2009 at 11:04 pm
UNICEF, World Food Programme, International Red Cross websites remain open to receive dollar- or euro-donations. One cannot say “..send this money to Cagayan”, but one can say “…send this money to Philippine typhoon relief.”
October 12, 2009 at 4:45 am
I happen to think the Philippines is the most gorgeous place on the planet, so it is like the silhouette you look at and see either a vase or two faces, depending on how your eyes (or brain) tilt.
It is also invigorating to experience a good storm, from inside a strong structure away from the river. It is like meeting God when he is feeling a bit peppy.
The Philippine problem is not its location or geography. Having ridden the earthquakes and run from the fire storms of Los Angeles, I can attest to the fact that Mama Nature is best dealt with wisely.
Joe
October 12, 2009 at 5:34 am
The Filipinos are resilient people. The Ilocanos were I came from; are very patient, tough and industrious people. We are proud, self sufficient and adventurous people. Some of my relatives went to
Hawaii, before World War II. To work in the pineapple and sugar
plantations.
Our forefathers, the Itnegs, were some of the builders of the Banawe Rice Terraces. They built it on Bayanihan Spirit. They know how to ask the mountains to give them land for food. The mountains gave them her lands to feed them. Up to now, after almost 5,000 years. It has not eroded. Landslides, typhoons, etc… Because it was a gift of the Spirits of the Mountains. I still remember when old people in our towns offered food, drinks and other gifts to the “Anitos”. The Spirit of Nature. Nature seemed to answer them by giving them bountiful harvests. Now, we dont know how to deal with nature.
“Tough times do not last. But,tough people do!”
October 12, 2009 at 7:37 am
L., you wrote:
A good question to ask our presidential candidates: how will you rebuild?
October 12, 2009 at 10:09 am
cocoy,
I don’t like the term “rebuild”. It sounds like trying to do again what was done poorly in the past, same o same o.
If every city took this damage to heart, they would be reworking zoning laws and building codes to assure better structures, even if it means freezing construction in existing places to migrate building to solid ground.
And poverty, poverty, my what a penalty the impoverished pay while the wealthy sit secure in their concrete and steel bunkers.
Joe
October 12, 2009 at 10:09 am
I think it’s unfair… A little bit that people really helped Luzon a lot because of the powers that be live there… Yet I still remember bagyo Frank and the devastation in Visayas… There was help, but briefly only. I don’t know, some part of me is still resisting. Mayhap its because most of the politicians live in Luzon, still I don’t see why the rest should suffer.
Reading Mitch Albom’s line… Oh well.
October 12, 2009 at 12:42 pm
In the past 3 days, I received five e-mails. One of them had this:
==============
Citizens of Cagayan and Ilocos Sur may not be aware, but fund-raising appeals continue all over North America, Europe and Australia.
October 12, 2009 at 11:18 am
Sadly, this will be a yearly occurrence.
We are already conditioned to it in the Visayas. If you take a look at our houses, it’s obvious we don’t care to make it look good. We buy very few cars, and usually this is spot cash. No big LCD TVs, even though we can definitely afford it. Maybe Manila should rethink its lifestyle.
October 12, 2009 at 5:56 pm
How could the Philippines be God forsaken when its the only Christian nation in Asia?
October 13, 2009 at 4:53 pm
maybe…
http://manilatimes.net/index.php/top-stories/3856-priest-kidnapped-in-south
October 13, 2009 at 4:10 am
‘the Itnegs, were some of the builders of the Banawe Rice Terraces”
The Itnegs are from Apayao. People from Ifugao, where the Banaue Rice Terraces were built are called Ifugao, not Itnegs.
I supposed you are not an Igorot. No self-respecting non-Ifugao will claim that their ancestors built the rice terraces because they give the due credit to the Ifugaos..unlike many Filipino who look down on the Igorots in general then wopuld proclaim that “THEIR” ancestors built the Rice Terraces in Ifugao.
October 13, 2009 at 9:15 am
“Man-forsaken” would be apt to hazard a differing view.
The havoc wreaked by Ondoy in the floodplains of Metro Manila and NCR and Pepeng in Northern Luzon is not what would qualify these affected areas as “God-forsaken”.
To my mind, the recent disasters, considering that typhoons are mere natural events, are man-made.
Our LEADERS have failed to build the dams, dikes, or watergates that would save us in the next 100 to 500 years. National roads throghout the country that do no live to be 40 years are symptomatic of the sad reality that infrastructure projects have become “breeding” as well as “nesting” grounds for corruption especially on those over 5 billion peso projects.
If every peso went into the no-nonsense construction of vital infrastructure, then people should have no cause for worry that any kind of rain, storm, or typhoon can be mitigated.
Problem is, government leaders always find it profitable to siphon off monies from the large money basin – each and every time.
All we probably could see are instead of “engineering wonders” are in fact, “engineering blunders” all so because, the funds allocated for the purpose are really just messed around with.
Next time, let those who mess around with public funds be shot by firing squad. But how can we do that if the office of primary responsibility, in this case, the DPWH itself is accused of being involved in ‘riggins’ in World Bank-assisted projects?
Option left is to accept the “curse” – be a Filipino.
October 13, 2009 at 12:28 pm
God-forsaken…
Read my keyboard…. where did you get that idea? marunong kang tumanggap ng mabuti pero dika marunong tumanggap ng masama?
childish!
October 13, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Overpopulation is the most pressing problem right now in the Phil. and the church is the biggest enemy of the people because they oppose responsible parenthood by opposing effective birth control methods not sanctioned by them.
October 13, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I dont think overpopulation is the church’s fault. The church, just like any “club” can believe whatever they want to believe. What’s frustrating is when citizens allow their government to be dictated by a church. Reminds me of the Taliban.
October 14, 2009 at 1:05 am
More frustrating is when the government itself allow being dictated by a church.