Editor’s Note: For this issue, we wish to reprint the sympathetic editorial of the Philippine Daily Inquirer that came out in its December 12, 2006 issue:
SUPERTYPHOON “Reming” was one of the most lethal and destructive storms to strike the Bicol region in recent years. It left more than 1,000 people dead, hundreds of others missing and hundreds more injured. Tens of thousands have fled to evacuation centers and right now, they have nowhere to go because their homes were either destroyed by the supertyphoon or swept away by the mudflow from Mayon volcano.
One has to go to the scene of death and devastation to realize the magnitude of the human tragedy that the supertyphoon has caused. What compounded the suffering of the typhoon victims was the delay in the transportation and distribution of relief aid in the first two days after the disaster, the time hen they most needed water, food, clothes, shelter and medicine.
But now, aid is being transported to the suffering thousands, and governmental and private agencies are working double time to give relief to the victims. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared state of national calamity and authorized the release of P1 billion for relief and rehabilitation. Foreign governments and relief agencies have sent aid, and private institutions and corporations have also pitched in.
A massive relief and rehabilitation effort is needed in Bicol to get the lives of tens of thousands of victims, including the displaced families, back to normal. It is said that “donor fatigue” has set in because of the series of disasters that have struck the country this year. We appeal to all kind-hearted people to continue giving what they can to help our suffering countrymen in the Bicol region as well as in Samar and Leyte which were hit over the weekend by Typhoon “Seniang”.
Christmas is a season of giving, and surely we can cut back on our parties and celebrations and give what we have saved to our less fortunate countrymen. This is one time when, as Christians and as human beings, we should remind ourselves that “it is more blessed to give that to receive.”
Gift
GIVING is at the very heart of human relationships. It enriches the human experience and makes life worth living. It enriches the human experience and makes life worth living. It’s hard for some people to understand or accept this basic fact, but when you don’t give, you become less of a human being. When you are selfish, you make yourself unhappy, because you make yourself less human. Human beings are the only ones among God’s creatures who share. All other creatures fight for themselves. Joseph A. Galdon, S.J.
