Everyone was in the middle of a shopping frenzy and partying, and Supreme Court battle, when the news of calamity broke. It’s alright to spend on the latest gadget, argan oil, a Burberry perfume or a new party dress and be able to share something. If not, that’s a battle only you can answer.
If you have been hit by Ondoy before, you would understand the severity of the disaster typhoon Sendong brought to Mindanao last weekend. Floods rose to 15 feet in the dead of the night sending people to their roofs, while others to their deaths. As of today, the body count has reached to around 700 already including people who had been missing.
Who’s to blame? The government does not have the monopoly of it, since accountability falls on various sectors – the local government that allowed deforestation and illegal mining, greedy business owners, poor technology of PAGASA and local folks who have been complacent since no strong typhoon has struck them for decades. What lessons have we learned? Given all the recipes for disaster, be ready and prepare for any eventualities. If the local officials asked folks to evacuate, flee your homes. Marikina City and the rest of Ondoy victims have learned that lesson bitterly.
The world was used to be divided among European powers. Naturally those who had access to the technology of that age and resources had an upper hand compared to numerous colonies that were dependent on their so-called benefactors. They were discovering places that had been populated by natives and would claim them later for the monarchy they represented.
Everyone can certainly make declarations of propriety. Everyone can make an ownership claim, like what Filipino explorer Tomas Cloma did in the 1940′s. He “discovered” some of these distant lands west of Palawan and named them “Freedomland” in his declaration to the world. But having no resources to combat Chinese maritime vessels patrolling the region, he ceded these islands to the Philippine government for one peso.
It was no wonder why Spratlys, among those numerous obscure islands which became suddenly desirable with news of oil-rich seabeds, had been a constant subject of dispute among five to six nations surrounding it. For this reason, the UN established the Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 that granted a 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone from the shorelines of the coastal States. This has put to rest traditional claims on maritime resources and further defined territorial boundaries on the seas.
With that 200-mile EEZ UN resolution, the Philippines, which owns seven of these disputed Spratlys, is in a better position to claim control over these islands. However, with China setting up guards, garrisons and who knows, steel building beneath the sea to pile up missiles in the area and sticking up to their traditional claims dated as far as the 14th century, and us with no military might or resources, bringing this matter to the UN is our only hope in the midst of constant bullying from a very powerful neighbor.
The moon is going to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter later at 3:00 a.m., Manila time. Therefore, the name “super moon”. Most people I’ve met today in the supermarket while checking on the sale of air purifiers have been looking forward to getting a good view of the super moon. Since it is a rare occurrence that happens every 18-20 years (the last one was in March 1993) on a full moon schedule, better go out and see the earth’s moon for all its worth.
According to some websites, the view of the super moon can be more amplified with a tree or a building on the foreground. Better get your cameras ready and find a spot on a higher ground. And hopefully, it would be less cloudy too later.
It’s just bad that this year’s super moon rose in the height of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But astronomers and scientists were quick to answer that the super moon has nothing to do with these calamities. While the moon’s gravity has an effect on our tides, it is not enough to make the earth shake or cause a tsunami.
Or maybe it does affect the brains of some.
If you have been hit by Ondoy before, you would understand the severity of the disaster typhoon Sendong brought to Mindanao last weekend. Floods rose to 15 feet in the dead of the night sending people to their roofs, while others to their deaths. As of today, the body count has reached to around 700 already including people who had been missing.
