Letters to the Editor
Letters to the
editor are welcome on this page. Only those with complete name,
signature, contact number and return address for verification
shall be considered for publication, subject to editing and space
limitation when necessary - Editor-in-Chief.
Painful lessons
No sooner had the dust after the ULTRA stampede settled than
another tragedy, this time some gigantic landslides that
practically buried a whole barangay and wrought havoc to its
populace, struck in Southern Leyte. And more foreboding signs of
imminent disasters which are feared to happen in some other parts
of the country including “48 towns in the Bicol region” were
reportedly disclosed by government meteorologists from the
Philippine Atmospheric, Geo-physical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA).
Tragedies usually leave on their wake some messages that those in
our government and community can ill-afford to ignore or fail to
do something, if not to avert their occurrences, at least to ease
up the immensity of their devastation.
And one thing that seems positive about tragedies is that they
tend to stir humanity into action or awakening. One has only to
read the papers and watch TV newscasts to see how peoples, here
and abroad, manifest their humane concern over their fellowmen in
distress through rescue efforts, raising funds, doling out relief
goods and extending words of sympathy for the victims and affected
families.
But while it is consoling to really find there are many who are
just willing to help others in times of misfortune, yet it would
seem silly not to do something to at least cushion the impact, if
not prevent, forthcoming catastrophes. Can we afford to have
another disastrous events of such magnitude as that recently took
place in Southern Leyte? When will we, as a nation, ever learn
from the painful lessons that tragedies bring to the fore?
In the ULTRA stampede, the message was explicit. Apart from the
lack of human discipline or contingency measures that those
responsible should have put in place, the real problem is that a
lot of people have been languishing in poverty so abjectly and for
long as to risk themselves lining up for days at a no-brainer show
in the hope of getting a crack at some fabulous cash prizes that
could have helped bail them out from their dire financial strait.
Is this too difficult a lesson for our so-called leaders to learn
from? What have they been doing to tackle the age-old problem of
poverty? And how? For one, they should put an end to their greed
and stop looting the public coffers. Instead, they should see to
it that any poverty-amelioration programs of the government are
adequately funded. Over taxing our people is already painful
enough. Continually robbing them blind of their taxes is too much.
As to news reports that some towns in Bicol are calamity-prone
areas, let’s see if the authorities concerned will heed the
foreboding signs or competent enough to act accordingly. It’s no
denying the fact that our mountains have been heavily, if not
overly, logged or deforested. Such a situation will certainly not
help prevent landslides, mud flows and flash floods that may, God
forbid, result in immense loss of lives and properties. Will they
care to stop logging, indiscriminate or not? Will they start
de-clogging our drainage systems and devise effective contingency
plans before any environmental disaster happens?
Or, will our so-called leaders rather continue giving priorities
to political posturing and self-serving agenda instead of the
common weal?
MANUEL A. COLLAO, via e-mail.
