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| House of a widow |
By now, many would have seen the devastations caused by the two typhoons Karen and Lawin. To many, the perception is that what is typical. A region destroyed by a natural disaster. This country is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. An average of 20 storms and typhoons visit it annually. Not to be cavalier about it but we are a people used to calamities and disasters. And what is remarkable is that we seem to get up after every disaster. This is regardless of how many casualties, the homes destroyed and the crops lost. Others would say that we do not learn our lessons. That we are stupid as a people for letting such misfortune visit us year in and year out. That we have a government that perennially fails to help its people and does not “build better” after every disaster.
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| Farmlands and ricefields |
I pose an anthropological answer. As compared to the Dutch who built dikes to protect their country from the ever rising tides that beset their lands that is below sea level. The Filipinos never behaved and much less plan as such. One only has to look at the North Atlantic. The skies are always grey, the waves high and menacing, the water so cold and the winds freezing. Their shores have no fine white sand. Maybe that is why they always come here.
In the Philippines, typhoons and storms are vicious. There are high winds enough to uproot the Acacia (not an indigenous species) but not enough to uproot the coconut tree. After every storm, the sun will come out full and bright, the waves will be gentle and the sand will remain white and powdery. It is the collective experience of a people so used to such vagaries of fate and climate that they will just carry on. The government officials elected came from such racial stock and institutional memory. The Filipino will always know that the sun will shine after every storm. That is what makes the Filipino resilient.
Such resiliency is put to the test now. Owing to the economic and social history in contemporary (relatively) times, failure of all governments and administrations to address the economic needs of a growing population destroyed the socio-economic equilibrium of the country. Failure to industrialize meant that no work for the burgeoning population both in the urban centers and the rural areas. Such industrialization is what spelled the difference between developed and undeveloped countries. Now we have a large population that needed work.
The typhoons devastated regions that are dependent on agriculture. We are an agricultural country with 60% of the population residing in the rural areas. That is why, those who are experiencing poverty accounts for 60% of the number. But there are dynamics, since the Filipino is resilient even in poverty, a considerable number of farmers were able to send their children to school and a great number of them, unable to find employment went to work overseas.
This is where things are intertwined. Those who went abroad try to support their families left behind. But that is getting ahead of the story. The agricultural sector remains bound by unequal distribution of wealth. The Comprehensive Land Reform Program dating back to 1988 failed to address the main problems of the agricultural sector. A greater number of farmers remain tenants and that is supported by statistics of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). The CARP was subjected to what my mother would say Philippine Problems (they had that subject with Mrs. Pagulayan in their HS class in the 1950s). There is the “Palakasan” system for beneficiaries of the CARP with the Municipal Land Reform Office, the Mayor and the Governor and maybe even connections to Satan himself. Tghus, they remained in a state that is like an eternal quagmire.
Fe is an OFW. Her father is still a farmer so as her brothers. Her educational attainment precludes her from being in the “skilled” category of OFWs. Thus, her skills are typically classified as “Semi-Skilled”. But she braved the challenges of going abroad and sought to serve her family as best she could. Subject to indignities by foreign employers she persevered. Managing to send money, send gifts and packages home and send emergency remittances owing to the exigencies required. What is remarkable is that she is able to generate savings for her. Fe knows that she cannot be an OFW forever and wants to secure her future.
With the savings generated, she would invest in palay farming, buy land and even invest in hog raising. But the land where that her grandfather tilled and currently tilled by her father never belonged to them. CARP never reached them. She would plow her hard earned Php100,000 to 4 hectares of ricefield with a projected profit of Php20,000. Fe thought she can have enough income for her savings and for her father. This has happened so many times before and Fe and her neighbors never got any aid or assistance from the government. They can only drool at the assistance and aid given to the victims of Yolanda. Fe wondered how come in the case of Yolanda, aid kept coming in for one month. Now, it is zero and Fe had to work harder for her family and community.
Karen and Lawin came. The ricefields were devastated. She not only lost her savings, investments and projected income but have to shell out money so that their kitchen roof be repaired. She was told that electricity will be restored after 3 months and a generator be bought. Fe was lucky. Her neighbor who was a widow had their entire roof torn off by the typhoon. In that barangay, every family had at least one OFW. The social cost is just too much to bear.
But the cost was not only to be measured in these terms. Such a system could not support the needs of the present and of the near future.
This is a depiction on what the country and its people face. Kailangan bang ma-kuba ang mga tao ditto at yung mga nasa abroad? Yes the sun will shine tomorrow but having clouds of despair in the horizon is by now unacceptable.
It will take the goodwill of everybody in the country and all those who are abroad and even those who are not Filipinos to get us out of this morass. There will be more Karens and Lawins in the near future.
The Center just cannot hold.
