RECENTLY, we saw the two faces of grief, caused by the infuriating flood control ghost projects that mirrored the excessively greedy and corrupt, and the major earthquake that rumbled underneath the earth’s surface in northern Cebu.
The first suggests the pain of loss, characterized by acute distress, and includes various painful emotions and reactions like indignation and even loss of trust in separate official public hearings the people find wanting in clarity and honesty.
These taxpayers, who feel they have lost their future after their trust in public servants was crushed to smithereens by officials and contractors who duped them when they were not looking, see in these hearings some theatricality and flamboyance and the speed they want does not appear to be there to address their forebodings.
While they shift to a new tomorrow, relying on their built-in capacity for enhanced resilience, they have as well lost hope they can live with the new reality, while they demand, rather loudly, not just identification of those accountable who should forthwith be meted out the concomitant punishment.
Short of that, they cannot be blamed for raising their fists with emblems that speak out their chagrin against the establishment and their abettors.
The other face of grief was reflected in the startled and tear-drenched faces of scores of thousands impacted by the 6.9 magnitude tremor in Cebu on Tuesday night, hurriedly waking up people from their sleep, including 20,000 displaced, many of whom are camped outside their mangled homes or in empty spaces as aftershocks, at least 1,000 by latest count, continue.
Reports have indicated widespread damage to homes, churches, schools, public buildings and transport infrastructure and at least two seaports have remained non-operational and several roads partially blocked, hampering aid delivery.
Officials have said the emotional roller-coaster disaster has extremely impacted health services, with hospitals in northern Cebu stretched beyond capacity and emergency medical teams deployed from neighboring provinces.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who immediately visited the booming sugarcane production and fishery city of Bogo, allocated P180 million in aid for Cebu Province, now under a state of calamity, and other quake-hit towns like neighboring Medellin and San Remigio.
He also ordered a “tent city” set up in Bogo City to temporarily shelter residents displaced by the earthquake, the deadliest the country ever experienced since 2013.
