By Uriel Quillinguing
GEOGRAPHICALLY detached, many Filipinos may be beyond the reach of volcanic ash falls, yet they cannot simply turn a blind eye to about half a million Batangas residents who are compelled to leave their homes due to Sunday afternoon’s Taal volcano eruption.
Since it was a non-working day, those in government agencies, including national and local officials could not be on the scene and volunteer their services, with the exception of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology frontline personnel.
Representatives from agencies, those who compose the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, were visible only the day after. It was only then when the state-run television station PTV4 started airing Phivolcs briefings, though still wanting situational live reports. They should have hooked up with privately-owned media networks.
Clearly, the Department of Health and Department of Trade and Industry were on the reactive mode in addressing N95 masks pricing and supply issues. However, local government officials within the peripheries of the Taal Lake must be commended for ensuring the safety of their constituents during mandatory evacuations, thus there was no report of fatalities and injuries.
Our thoughts, however, are with the grieving family members of three students of De La Salle-Lipa who died during and after a road accident Tuesday morning on their way home after distributing goods to evacuees.
Dr. Dante Amisola, president of De La Salle-Lipa, aptly reflected on a paradox that “there are things and others in this world that are worth more than and beyond ourselves and our own interests and therefore worth risking our lives and even dying for.”
On Facebook right after learning of the first fatality, Amisola described the incident as “making the ultimate sacrifice of giving up his life in the service of his fellow human beings in need.” He was referring this to 22-year-old Rio John Abel who, together with Maximino Alcantara III, 22, and Darwin Lajara, 26, died after their car hit a trailer truck in San Jose, Batangas.
Although their deaths were due to a vehicular accident, yet this was undeniably intertwined with how individuals and groups of people voluntarily respond to the urgency of extending the needed assistance to a crisis.
Those tasked, by virtue of their being salaried government workers, to extend assistance, must take into heart the De La Salle brother’s challenge, the example and self-sacrifice the three fatalities exemplified must not be in vain, honoring them by extolling the values they lived and died for.
The irony of a defining moment such as this—a volcanic activity—is that if one does not determine what he can do, the moment will reveal what it is for him. It is at this point when the essential nature or character of a person or group of persons is revealed and identified. Defining moments, including a volcanic eruption, reveal situations, challenge stakeholders, require choices to be made, and mold a person’s character.
(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club who had been editor-in-chief of Cagayan de Oro-based newspapers, including this paper. For reactions, email them to uriel.quilinguing@yahoo.com.)
