ONDOY'S WRATH

For few days now, my sister had been trying to empty our closet and it really wasn’t hard to do since we really didn’t have many clothes (the last time I bought a new shirt was, ahmm, wait... Fidel V. Ramos was still president). My sister was looking for clothes to donate to Typhoon Ondoy’s victims.

They say it was a flood of biblical proportion, it’s just that Noah or his ark was missing. Our place in Manila wasn’t really affected—thank God— but that fateful Saturday, the cell phones in the house wouldn’t stop beeping and ringing. Some friends and relatives were asking for help because the flood was threatening to sweep them to kingdom come and since nobody in the house could fly, we weren't really of help.

“Every one who can afford to give must give,” my ever charitable sister said as she was taking a peek at my empty wallet. And I wholeheartedly agree with her. “Give” is the word these days and everyone should spread it. And it is heartening to know that a lot of Pinoys know that word.

This national debacle spawned many important and heart-tugging questions. Is the present government inept in confronting the crisis? Did Congressman Mikey Arroyo, the president’s son with the skyrocketing SALN really buy liquors at the height of Ondoy's onslaught? Did Richard Gutierrez really rescue Cristine Reyes or was it just a promotional gimmick for their movie? Did he really bypass some kids who needed help and his speedboat on his way to Cristine? Should we really blame Bayani Fernando for the destructive flood? Did Jacque Bermejo really say those hurtful things on Facebook?

Is there a message in what happened? Is it a punishment or a warning, a wake-up call?

Nobody knows, for sure.

But one thing has again been proven. Filipinos would always be resilient to any crisis. Watch TV and you’d see lots of them still smiling and waving while they’re submerged neck deep whenever a TV Camera is focused on them.

We're such a happy race.