Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Cebu Province suffered greatly under Typhoon Tino. Several areas in Metro Cebu and Cebu Province are under a state of calamity, with several deaths and damage to property after several rivers overflowed, overwhelmed their flood controls, and deluged adjacent communities. What went wrong?

Among the many factors, I can point out three that set the stage for this calamity. These are systemic evils caused by individuals who chose their own selfish interests over the common good and which became a culture that many participate in directly and indirectly.

The first systemic evil is corruption which led to a failure of policy and a failure of public services. The deeply entrenched corruption in DPWH, the congress and many other government agencies led to substandard public works that failed when they are needed the most. As many have said, the Philippines is flooded in corruption.

This also led to a failure to protect the environment, to regulate business interests, and to enforce proper safeguards for communities. The Mananga River in Talisay City reclaimed its land after many informal settlers have slowly crept and invaded its banks. Many of the flood control projects are substandard or did not allow for worst-case scenarios posed by climate change.

The second systemic evil is abuse of the environment where forests have been cut down, recharge areas for rainwater to enter natural underground aquifers are cemented over, mountains and landscapes are destroyed by irresponsible mining and quarrying, rivers are choked, drainages both natural and man-made are covered, and lands are inordinately converted to subdivisions and commercial areas.

The abuses are not just individuals, they are families, communities, villages, businesses, corporations, and local governments. It is a web of abusers who have disconnected themselves from the land and from the earth.

The third systemic evil is anthropogenic climate change which now is collecting its payback. For how many years have climate scientists warned the public and governments that climate change will make dry areas drier and wet areas wetter? As a collective we chose to disregard warnings and this is mirrored in how we plan developments, build our infrastructure, and manage our resources.

Things would only get worse. Typhoons will become stronger and stronger, more unpredictable, and will dump more water than the land could suck up and our drainages could manage.

The biggest challenge for systemic evil is that it needs a critical mass of individuals to make a u-turn and change things for the better. Every individual contributes to systemic evil in one way or another and so we need a majority of us to finally repent and undo the evils that we commit to ourselves.

Our collective guilt does not exonerate corrupt individuals. They must face justice. Truth must prevail and the common good must be restored.

Hope remains no matter how dark the storms are. Inasmuch as every one of us are capable of evil, each one of us is also capable of doing good and much more to repair the sins of the past.

Disclaimer: This section of the website is a personal creative writing of the author and does not necessarily reflect the official views, opinion, or policies of the Salesians of Don Bosco – Philippines South Province. For concerns on the content, style, and grammar of this piece, please contact us.