Odette brought Christmas gifts
The closing days of 2021 are the times that test the resilience of our brother Filipinos—homeless, with nary a dry clothing on their back, without food, water and electricity and, worst of all, disconnected from the rest of the world. You can deprive a Filipino everything but not a communication line. That’s the extreme penalty you can impose on a social being. But a calamity brings out the best among our people.
Christmas is the season for giving, but the calamity named Odette provides us a cogent reason to give not only material things but also a part of ourselves to others. No one had the slightest clue that a gorgeously named typhoon would hit a major portion of Visayas and mindanao with such fury, causing destruction, bringing untold sorrows and sufferings to our hapless countrymen.
It’s the strongest typhoon so far to ravage the Philippines this year, spoiling the holiday cheers of so many people after the pandemic stole their Christmas last year. To our unfortunate Christian brothers in the south, this year’s Christmas was the gloomiest. Their homes were demolished, their animals and crops that provide them sustenance were destroyed and, most of all, their hopes were shattered. Just as when a glimmer of hope appears with the receding Covid-19 statistics paving the gradual opening of our slumping economy, another catastrophe struck, dashing all expectations of a better year in 2022.
The closing days of 2021 are the times that test the resilience of our brother Filipinos—homeless, with nary a dry clothing on their back, without food, water and electricity and, worst of all, disconnected from the rest of the world. You can deprive a Filipino everything but not a communication line. That’s the extreme penalty you can impose on a social being. But a calamity brings out the best among our people.
It is admirable how we work for a common good of providing assistance to the victims of Typhoon Odette. Filipinos go out of their way to come to the aid of their countrymen. Forget about their political color and affiliation, donors are color-blind when it comes to helping others in need.
Benefactors come from all walks of life, LGUS all over the country, businesses big and small, various organizations, sectors and professions, pour in their donations to provide relief to the residents of the severely affected communities. Celebrities and famous athletes exert their inf luence and popularity to solicit donations from various sources. ABS-CBN, despite losing its franchise, launched a fund-raising concert to help the typhoon victims.
Many schools and private foundations spearheaded donation drives, which raised significant amounts to rescue the starving and homeless people of the affected communities. I’m certain that the residents of Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo, Siargao, Surigao, Dinagat, Negros Islands, and Palawan who are all reeling from the impact of the typhoon are grateful for all the assistance extended to them.
The typhoon left close to 400 deaths so far, not counting those who are still missing; it left a wide swath of destruction, totally wiping out the people’s sources of livelihood, including the bancas that they use to catch fish, in the more than 10,000 villages along its path before it exited in the West Philippine Sea.
It may take us years to recover and rehabilitate the massive agricultural and livestock losses and infrastructure damages caused by Odette. The traces of destruction will remain long after the Duterte administration has left the scene. Affected LGUS may find that their bigger revenues scaled up by the Mandanas ruling will be hardly sufficient to nurse back the local economy to health. Rebuilding of homes and public infrastructure such as school buildings, bridges and road, repair and restoration of public utilities, and assistance to farmers and fisherfolks to return them to their livelihood will drain the limited resources of both the local and the national governments.
The costs of rebuilding and rehabilitating every damaged community will be gargantuan and will pose an insurmountable challenge to the incoming administration. We have not even completed the rehabilitation of Marawi, and many of the communities ravaged by supertyphoon Yolanda. What may be overlooked in our frantic efforts to extend much-needed succor to our distressed population is the significant efforts being undertaken by the private employers on behalf of their own employees in the affected places. The employers may have national or local operations. They may be based in Metro Manila or locally, but regardless, they are equally concerned and are looking after the welfare of their own officers and staff. Since they know the particular circumstances of their own people, they know exactly the needs of their employees and can directly focus their assistance to their specific needs.
They have better insight into their employees’ immediate concerns and thus, can respond to them more effectively. Responsible employers can give them paid leave while they are still attending to their basic and immediate needs like repairing their dwellings, taking care of their injured or sick family members, and relocating their family, if warranted. Most employers provide cash and material assistance to help their workers tide over the calamity. They also grant concessionary house repair loans and medical loans, as well as other financial facilities.
Concerned employers can mitigate the sufferings of their employees, which the government cannot readily do. This goes without saying that private philanthropy can do a lot to improve our people’s miserable conditions and complement the limited resources of the government. I know this because I serve on the board of the Insular Life group of companies and I have seen first hand how a company that places a premium on corporate responsibility promotes the welfare of their employees. They conducted in-house fund raising from their directors, officers, employees and business partners that Insular Life matched one-on-one. I understand that the company generated millions of pesos, which it distributed to their employees in all the areas affected by the typhoon. I’m sure that other companies have done similar things and their employees have something to cheer about this Christmas. And I’m mighty proud of my company, Insular Life, and similar others that taught us how to keep the real spirit of Christmas alive.
Odette might have brought untold sufferings to our people, but as writer Arathi Variar once said: “Thoughts are shattered…mind is chaotic… Feelings are unsure…but, hope is still alive!” Other Odettes may come in the future, more destructive than this one, but we can count on our fellow Filipinos. Remember this: “We rise by lifting others.”