Carina: The Filipinos Deserve Better

by Seneca Moraleda-Puguan

It’s summertime in Switzerland! Everybody is out and about and many flock to nearby lakes to bathe under the sun and escape the heat.

Just recently, we brought our children to the beautiful lake of Schwarzsee in the Canton of Fribourg and they were so happy playing with water.

But as I looked at my children enjoying and splashing water on each other, I couldn’t help but remember the many who were devastated by the flooding in Manila and nearby provinces.

Water, a beautiful blessing, became a curse to those affected by Typhoon Carina.

“Please help! Please call for rescue on our behalf. The water is rising fast in our house. We have a newborn baby, a senior citizen, and three adults in the house. Help!”

“We are already on the roof of our house. We have a senior citizen with us. The rescuers passed by but they said they needed to rescue a pregnant woman first. Please help!”

Messages like these (written in Filipino) have been shared over and over on social media. Countless people were asking, begging, and crying for help for their families to be rescued.

I wanted to help but I felt helpless. If only I could call the emergency hotlines on their behalf. If only I could send help their way. But I couldn’t.

All I could do was pray for God to have mercy on them and miraculously send rescue their way.

I also had a lot of friends who were so affected that they had to leave their houses to find shelter. They had to walk on flooded roads to keep their families safe.

It was terrible. I was brokenhearted, I wanted to cry.

But what bothered me more was that this kind of calamity or tragedy happens every year. It’s no surprise.

It has been a perennial problem that encompasses generations.

Nothing is happening. Nothing is changing. Instead of improving, things are getting worse.

Just a few days before the monsoon hit the country, President Bongbong Marcos proudly announced in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that the government has allotted over 225 billion pesos for 2024 flood control projects.

But where are those projects? What is the government doing? Are we content with rehabilitation and just distributing relief goods after every calamity?

I was struck by what my friend, Belle Baldoza, 41, said in her Facebook post:

“Born and raised in Marikina, I grew up wading in flooded streets in my bare feet. I grew up scrubbing mud and salvaging what was left of my stuff in the aftermath. Looking back, it’s only a miracle that I never once got leptospirosis or hurt by floating sharp objects. It’s been ages since I lived back home. But it’s been like this then, and it’s still like this now. We shouldn’t even celebrate resilience anymore, because it’s just a glorified excuse for the hard truth that we- the Filipino people- deserve better.”

I couldn’t agree more with her. Though I only experienced walking on flooded streets once, I experienced countless landslides growing up in Baguio City.

The government shouldn’t be content with just addressing the issue after so many lives have already been wasted. They have to think of ways to protect lives, families, and communities.

As Filipinos, we pride ourselves on our resilience and being joyful in the midst of storms and calamities. There’s nothing wrong with this but we need to demand from our leaders to protect us and serve us better.

It’s been weeks since Typhoon Carina hit and caused destruction in Luzon. So many events have happened like the Paris Olympics and its controversies.

The rest of the world will go on with their lives. But those who have lost loved ones and properties, are still picking up the pieces and trying to get back on their feet.

They will have to face life once again, hoping that things will get better. But with the Philippines in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the cycle will continue.

I hope the government does something to prevent major destruction of properties and loss of life. Because just as I always say, Filipinos deserve better. We really do.