Fires in Paradise

Fires, or any other tragedy for that matter, are not supposed to happen in Paradise. Paradise is heaven, as we have been taught. So when they do happen, even if not in the real Paradise as we have come to believe, but in places that just happened to be named after it, the irony just cannot be missed.

But just as tragedies happen, so do the ironies. And so it came to pass that not just one but two fires, one occurring half a world from the other, struck two places that are both named Paradise. A large wildfire has devastated nearly the whole town of Paradise, California, while another fire destroyed nearly two dozen homes in New Paradise in Pajo, LapuLapu City, Philippines.

I will not go to the extent of comparing both fires, on whether which fire was more tragic in terms of human losses or material cost. Not only is it inappropriate to do so, it also tends to brush aside the fact that all tragedies are what they are --- tragic. And so, they simply cannot be measured or appreciated in degrees of human suffering.

There is, however, one thing that simply cannot be swept aside by any need to sound kind or compassionate or even to give in to political correctness, which I personally detest and abhor. And it is the fact that the capacity to recover of those caught in the fire in Paradise, California, is almost infinitely greater than those caught in the fire in New Paradise, Lapu-Lapu City.

Chances are great that victims of the former fire can get back on their feet much sooner on their own, with less assistance from their government. The same cannot be said of victims of the latter fire. Those who belong to the latter are hopelessly on their own and can never recover even a shred of their tattered human dignity without government assistance.

And this is where I come to the other reason why I am writing this piece. It is because it is time the government in the Philippines, whether national or local, comes to realize that it is more practical, and thus cost-efficient to offer guidance and direction to communities vulnerable to tragedies than to keep responding with assistance when tragedies do happen. The New Paradise community in Lapu-Lapu City, for instance, is a slum community with houses packed so close together. In such an environment, threats do not come only from fires. They can come from health hazards and even crimes. In such a situation, any real expectation of good governance should come with prior intervention rather than swift response.

Take the case of fire. It is not so much how quick firefighters come or how much government gives in rebuilding funds. On the matter of fires alone, there are at least three government agencies --- fire, engineering, urban planning --- that could have paid periodic visits to make interventions to avoid or minimize the possibility of fires. Apparently no one did.

‘The government should realize it is more practical to offer guidance and direction to communities vulnerable to tragedies than to respond after

tragedies have happened.’