Published in Manila Standard Today
By Elizabeth Angsioco
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!
So goes the big, white, long-bearded, deep-voiced, jolly man from the North Pole as he and his reindeer (led by the red-nosed Rudolf) magically travel on air, go from one snow-covered chimney to another to deliver his Christmas presents to kids who made it to his list for being nice.
The naughty ones would have to wait, and only receive Santa’s gifts if they are better the following year.
When I was a kid, this was one of the most common Christmas stories children were told. Santa on his sleigh-full of gifts is a vivid Christmas imagery. Greeting cards, building displays, magazine and television advertisements, even homes would have this.
Never mind that reindeer really cannot fly, that it doesn’t snow in the Philippines, and our homes have no chimneys. Christmas is a magical time.
However, this year’s Christmas season is different. Personally, I approach the holidays with sadness. There’s so much going on in our country that makes it difficult to really celebrate. In the middle of political turmoil, so much poverty and criminality, killer Sendong strikes.
More than a thousand lives snuffed in the middle of the night, more or less an equal number still missing, tens of thousands of families homeless and livelihood-less, farms destroyed, infrastructure demolished. The whole country is bleeding.
That’s why I would want to be Santa even just for this Christmas. And these will be my gifts:
Time to grieve and then, a new beginning to Sendong’s victims. Losing a loved one is never easy. Losing several of them in one go, together with everything one has is nothing short of depressing. Our affected brothers and sisters need the time to grieve and vent their emotions.
As of now, many are clutching at whatever they can to survive. Perhaps real grief has yet to kick in. They need to be able to grieve for the loved ones they lost, for the life that needs to be rebuilt.
And then, our brothers and sisters need to be helped to start anew. Government and citizens who were spared by Sendong should come together in this effort to enable fellow Filipinos to pick up the pieces and move forward.
The gift of giving to all of us. This catastrophe has again proven that Filipinos are willing to help when needed. Despite comments that many of us are apathetic to what happens around us, the “bayanihan” spirit is alive.
However, it seems to me that we react more, give more, when there is drama—in this case, a tragedy. And as headlines change, usually, the spirit weakens.
As Santa, I will make sure that the gift of giving will remain strong, drama or no drama.
This will enable us to continuously give and make things happen not only in the face of tragedy but in our everyday life as a nation. This will make us involved socially and politically because surely, we will care about things we put a stake in. In the end, the gift of giving will help make for a healthier democracy.
Foresight, planning, and efficiency to government and its various entities. We need government to be proactive. As the President himself rightly said, government should have been able to better prepare for Sendong.
Mother Nature has punished us several times. Ondoy devastated us. We should have learned our lessons but why haven’t we? It’s not as if we lack information. We know what could hit us. We know that abusing our environment doesn’t pay. We can plan and prepare so that people do not die by the hundreds and our losses are not as catastrophic.
We may lack some technology but that is something that government can invest in. After all, we are dealing with our people’s lives.
We have good laws and policies. A total log ban should be in effect but the thousands of cut logs made visible by Sendong showed that the ban is not being efficiently implemented.
Congress passed Republic Act 10121, or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management law in 2010. This is a good law that outlines a comprehensive, holistic framework to DRRM. The law needs efficient implementation to work and it is government’s job to do this.
The gift of sensitivity to media practitioners. Sensitivity is a sign of respect. And respect should be given not only to the living but to those who passed on as well. Media people need not graphically capitalize on people’s miseries to do news. The nation need not be assailed by visuals of bloated, decaying bodies.
Each body was a person and each had a family and friends who lost a loved one.
What’s the use of focusing cameras on grieving people? Why show faces of those desperately scrambling for relief to assuage their and their family’s hunger? We really do not need these.
Thousands of our people lost everything. We should at least let them keep their dignity intact.
A sense of history to our young people. This is a very special gift that as Santa, I will give to the Filipino youth. iPod, iPad, and iPhone are popular gadgets that virtually all young people would want to have. Ever noticed why they all start with “I”? Whatever happened to the word “we”?
Levity aside, I hope the young generation would better understand and appreciate our nation’s history, our people’s story. Perhaps knowledge of our heroes’ deep patriotism that led them to mount the revolution against Spain will inspire them.
Perhaps knowing that our national heroes were young when they fought for our country would make the youth realize that they have a crucial role to play now – not later.
Perhaps then the word “we” will be as important as “I” for more of our youngsters.
Ah, yes, it is Christmas. And for once, I wish Santa were real. And that I am him.
Santa or not, I wish you all a meaningful Christmas!
eangsioco@yahoo.com and @bethangsioco on Twitter