Ondoy aftermath

It came and shocked all of us. We never expected that it would come this early. Although we’ve been warning people that in the near future our environment would show us its full force, we never thought that the near future we’re talking about refers to the present already.

The destruction that Ondoy brought us made many of us realize that it is high time that we take our environment seriously. Being the stewards of the environment, we’ve been tasked to make sure that the next generation would still have adequate resources for them to be able to have a life that not only facilitates physical but, more importantly, human development. 

The problem, however, is that instead of working together, people, especially the powers that be, have started the blame game. Nobody wants to take responsibility (except for Bayani Fernando who, admitted his responsibility for the flooding). The DENR Secretary wants to sue the LLDA Chair. The LLDA Chair, on the other hand, blames the DENR Secretary. The local government officials concerned are very silent as to what they have failed to do to prepare for a deluge like Ondoy. These officials should be reminded that the management of the environment is one of the services decentralized to them.

I believe that every one of us should be blamed for what had happened. It is not just the government. The people’s way of living also aggravated the effects of Ondoy. The world has seen how we have been helping each other during and after the deluge that’s Ondoy. It is high time that we show to the world that we are ready to take our responsibility as stewards of the environment.