The unexpected tragedy, again.

Editorial: Please, don't say this is the first time

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on June 30, 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PANGI river overflowed again, and this time, didn't just deluge the houses at NHA-Bangkal, but the subdivisions in Matina Pangi as well. The Pangi Bridge is impassable. This is not the first time this happened although the death toll is higher now, with 19 as of press time and counting.

Sometime 1997, Pangi River overflowed, deluged the houses at NHA-Bangkal and the house of then Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte along Taal Street in Royal Valley Subdivision. When the floodwaters subsided, his red Volkswagen Beetle was bobbing right in the middle of Talomo River, the other river that along with Pangi River, encloses NHA-Bangkal, Central Park Subdivision, and Royal Valley Subdivision all in Bangkal. The Pangi Bridge at that time also broke, isolating the residents of Matina Pangi. But Matina Pangi then was populated by a few farming families living in huts and wooden houses. Now, right along Pangi River in Matina Pangi, separated only by a concrete hollow block wall is a high-density, low-cost subdivision. The families living here, along with those at NHA-Bangkal, were the most affected.

The 1997 flashflood was also not the first time.

A decade earlier, we cannot quite recall when, but which remains a vague but fear-inducing memory of those stranded in the south, the waters of Pangi River reached way above the Matina Balusong bridge.

Nature has been telling us something, but we refused to listen. And now this: a flashflood that rampaged through sleeping families, killing mostly the very young, the elderly, and the unprepared.

How high-density subdivisions were ever given the permit to be built in this historically flooded area points us to official lack if not sheer absence of concern, and this has been how it is through the four decades that subdivisions have been flourishing in the city. Sometime in the 1970s, the Central Park Subdivision and Royal Valley Subdivision, in the 1990s, the NHA-Bangkal and all the other low-cost subdivision along the riverside of Matina Aplaya, and then the Samantha Homes in the early 200s. Another subdivision is being built up there beside Samantha now, downstream.

But this no longer surprises us.

Just yesterday, when we didn't even know that such a heavy rain would fall, Sun.Star Davao's editorial rued how we continue to destroy our waters and mountains every day. How we favor investments over environmental concerns, and brushing aside sustainable methods of development as too expensive. 

But what could be more expensive than the cost of lives? Is it enough that we hurt and cry at the sight of a dead toddler caked in mud? How much sadder should we all be before all of us, national and local government officials included, listen to what nature has been telling us all these years?

And thus, we list from what we wrote in yesterday's editorial, just to make sure that today's editorial is seen as but a continuation of our constant cry for the environment.

"If we continue with how we are allowing environment to be abused, and how we look at environmental protection, then what we will see next are our environment officials smiling and having their photos taken with the last of one other species, just before it is declared extinct. That's not a far-out thought considering that our environment department's idea of stopping illegal logging is impounding logs; an action that comes after the fact, when the trees are already dead and cut up." And may we add, that's not a far-out thought if our local officials see disaster management as having rubber boats and relief goods in stock, and a battalion of rescue workers all trained and ready to go, when the people are already floundering in flashfloods that can render even the best-trained rescuer and most recent rubber boat inutile with its rampaging currents. Unlike in typhoon-prone areas where heavy rainfall can be anticipated, in Davao City, it rains almost every night and floodwaters can rise in a split second. 

REACTION:

 

         Why do calamities exist? When will this happen?  Who are responsible for this? These are some of the many questions that most people have it in their minds.

 We were all aware about what happened last June 28, 2011. But this is not the first time in Davao’s history. That recent tragedy was very alarming to my parents. It already happened last 1997, when I was only 3 years old, but the only thing that differs is that the death toll now is higher compared to the past years. I asked my mother about how she felt last few years ago and how she felt with the recent tragedy.  She answered, “I was very frustrated at that time when you and your elder brother were left in our house. I never wished that to happen again. And now... I was surprised about the recent incident. I was scared that night and I humbly ask the Lord’s guidance. Thankfully, we were not affected but I felt pity for those who were victims of the flash flood.”

That night of June 28, 2011, I was happily sleeping for I love dark cold nights. But I did not expect that when I was having a good night sleep, there were many people struggling just to get out of their houses, save oneself and their families.  I was also surprised when I heard the news that many were killed especially the very young, the elderly, and the unprepared. Feeling pity, I and my family helped them because we know how it feels to be a victim.

We cannot blame somebody and we cannot also blame the rain. But rather, blame our own self for the reason that we are allowing our environment to be abused. We should not wait for the time that we will all be penalized for our bad acts. I know it is late already but we can prevent the “upcoming disasters” by doing simple acts. Such as following the rules implemented and by following/doing what is morally right.