A week of unforgettable events

To say that last week was surreal would be a bit of an understatement. We encountered a series of unfortunate disasters, both acts of God and man-made, which left us stunned, confused, and in the dark — both literally and figuratively.

The first, of course, was typhoon Glenda that whipped across the Philippines leaving over a hundred dead and several thousand more homeless. The eye of the storm tore through Manila Bay, Cavite, and Batangas before leaving the Philippines. In its wake it caused severe destruction and devastation. Like typhoon Milenyo before it, Glenda was characterized more by its strong winds than its rain. It tore through the country with wind speeds of up to 120 kph and gusts of up to 165 kph — higher even than Milenyo before it (but less than super typhoon Yolanda) — and uprooted trees and poles and destroying all types of structures.

In fact, most of the casualties associated with Glenda include deaths caused by structural damage — someone getting hit by a pole, cars getting crushed by trees, or structures falling over homes. It was terrifying, to say the least, sitting indoors during the wee hours of Thursday and listening to the winds truly howling outside like a group of banshees. We could see tree branches flying by the window and of course, by the time the storm reached its peak, the power went out.

We had already anticipated a power interruption. I think everyone did. It was impossible not to considering the damage the weather was doing outside. What we could not know was how long the blackout would last. Like Milenyo, which saw blackouts lasting for four days, the power loss during Glenda was substantial. In fact, as I write this column, some of our neighbors in the subdivision still don’t have electricity. It’s really the luck of the draw and if you are on a power distribution grid that was really badly damaged, you were truly unfortunate and had to wait for your electricity to be restored. My daughter and her family found themselves without power for five whole days and — among other things — had to throw out almost the entire contents of the their refrigerator which they could not eat during the time.

Indeed Glenda truly shook the nation. Especially those poor people still living in tent shelters left homeless by Yolanda, who are still traumatized from the terror of that previous super storm. Entering this monsoon season (and with Henry following Glenda and Inday on the way), I can’t help but pray for them the most. They are still barely getting back on their feet and they have to deal with a whole new slew of typhoons. I truly pray we don’t see another super typhoon like Yolanda. I don’t think our country could withstand that.

On the positive side, however, despite the discomfort of loss of power (and in this aspect, I do have to applaud Meralco because they really did the best they could to bring back electricity as fast as possible despite suffering their own damages as well), we seemed much more prepared overall for Glenda. Our evacuations were done earlier, people were more updated on the news (and in advance), and it just seemed that precautions were taken earlier than usual. Though there is still much to be done in the area of disaster preparedness, let us hope this is a step in the right direction.

Then in addition to the storm, last Monday we also had to deal with President Aquino insisting on live television that the Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP was legal and lambasting the Supreme Court for their decision. He should have already known this was a losing battle because everyone already called the DAP just another name for the pork barrel fund or PDAF. He event went so far as to directly challenge the high tribunal and urged citizens to wear “yellow” in support of his DAP.

Honestly, I could not help but think that he must be hallucinating if he though the people, or his “bosses” as he calls the masses, would help him in this aspect. Almost everyone rebelled at the idea of wearing yellow and an internet firestorm began with people telling the president that their country was more than just one color – the Philippine flag, after all, bearing red, white, blue, and yellow colors. In the end, I think President Aquino felt the heat and backtracked a little — his media team even telling people to “lighten up” on the “wear yellow” issue.

I can’t help but feel that people are just tired of being asked to support projects, which they themselves don’t fully understand. Though a list of DAP programs has been provided to the public, you can’t blame us for taking those mere words with a huge grain of salt considering how much money was already stolen from us to fund other projects which turned out to be fake. People no longer want their tax money going to private planes and champagne flowing parties and mansions for public officials. The only way trust will ever be regained is full transparency every single step of the way.

I hope President Aquino understands the public pulse on this issue and instead of getting mad searches for a better way to communicate and get through. If he refuses to listen to the people he could open himself up for more ridicule, anger, and even attempts at impeachment. Listen to your “bosses” this time around, Mr. President, and truly follow your touted “daang matuwid.”

And, of course, capping off an already terrible (in so many ways) week was the news of the Malaysia Airlines commercial flight that was tragically shot down from the sky. The terrible tragedy cost the lives of 298 passengers — many of whom were women, children (3 infants), and AIDS experts on their way to an AIDS/HIV summit. It’s so terrible and unfortunate that this had to happen to Malaysia Airlines, which has still not gotten over their missing flight 370, which would have already been the worst aviation tragedy and loss of life in Malaysia Airlines history. Who knew it would be topped a mere 131 days later?

At this point, many of the world’s leaders are still trying to find accountability for this tragic accident. Surely the Russian backed rebels will have to pay for this heinous crime. We hope whoever is responsible will be brought to justice and I hope it happens as peacefully and quickly as possible. We already know the United States government is heavily involved and it would not be a good idea for anyone for two countries (namely the USA and Russia) — both heavily armed and already upset and suspicious of one another — to clash violently over this matter.

In the end, I pray for justice and for the families of those who lost loved ones in the wake of another senseless tragedy.