No, I am not talking about the death penalty when I speak of the penalty of death, but rather what it does to one’s soul, the spiritual decay and separation from God. This, however, casts no fear on those who must continue to bear the consequences for their actions in stealing from the people, the very same ones they swore to protect.
Then, to add to all the challenges that the country continues to face as we see more revelations about flood control, Cebu is hit by a massive magnitude 6.9 earthquake with at least 69 people killed and dozens of others injured. The province of Cebu is now under a state of calamity and thousands spent the night on the streets due to repeated aftershocks. It has also been reported that about 800,000 residents are without electricity weeks after Typhoon Opong and the most recent earthquake. Many residents are also reported to have no access to clean water after the back-to-back typhoons.
Most of the victims of the quake come from Bogo, which is said to be the place closest to the epicenter, with body bags lined on the streets and people being treated in tent hospitals. Not to mention the cracked roads and broken bridges that are making it difficult to get help to people fast. This is truly a tragedy and we are in it for the long haul.
Difficult as it may be to say, this is the real problem that we must set our sights on yet, despite all of our pains, there are those who choose to focus on matters that do absolutely nothing for our countrymen except to keep us divided or distracted from the bigger issues caused by greed and corruption that are literally killing our nation.
So what’s next for us? We are at a point in our history when our leaders and our people need to be united to fight for our country, regardless of color, because divisive factions do nothing for our nation’s future and progress. There is no room for more strife and conflict when the battle is clear – we need to fight against corruption and we can only do this together if we want to have a better Philippines. How many more communities or school buildings need to be destroyed by the wickedness of corrupt government officials and their supporters in order for us to decide on what we should do to collectively rebuild this country?
The time is now as we are drowning in the multiple schemes of corruption that have been created as acceptable and systemic. Multiple corrupt practices, as Mayor Benjamin Magalong explained, that is going on inside the House of Representatives point to its former leadership, where corruption is linked to the very top level of its ranks. Change starts from the top but sometimes, corruption can also come from the top as well. This is the hard and bitter truth that all of us must be brave enough to express so that we can all make the very idea of corruption extremely nauseating and revolting to people and make them fully appreciate and support good governance.
I don’t think we all completely understand how difficult it is for us to build our country on good governance, considering that corruption is so deeply entrenched in our society. Former US president Woodrow Wilson said: ‘If you want to make enemies, change something.’ Anyone of us who is involved in trying to make a change would likely agree with this statement because change does not come easy, as we have to unite in working against habits and behaviors that have been formed over a long period of time, and doing this involves people.
But first and foremost, in order for us to achieve this change, we must be compelling in our commitment to communicate the need for change so that more people will understand what the problem is and why this problem can no longer continue to persist. Corruption hurts everyone and erodes the trust we have in public servants who are supposed to act in our best interest.
At this juncture, we are facing one catastrophe after another and the question is, how much more can we handle and how prepared are we to endure potential challenges yet to come? In the aftermath of the Cebu earthquake, we are finding out that while the Philippines lacks the resources of Japan, a country that has achieved the world’s most sophisticated earthquake response and mitigation system, addressing the gaps we face in building safety standards and structural integrity of building structures, including taking earthquake drills and go bag reminders seriously, Filipinos can respond bravely and more quickly during crisis situations. This is why we need to act and tune in to the multiple scenarios that are happening in order for us to be part of the solution.
In the time of Noah, God saw how the wickedness of people became so pervasive that their hearts were filled with only evil. The sin of omission is disobedience to God’s plan for all of mankind, as this is a clear neglect of what is good because, by failing to help the very same people we promise to protect and serve, we actively participate in the process that is indifferent to the people’s right to a dignified life. What has happened to our countrymen is nothing less than evil and the consequences of this, as the Bible says, is death, the kind that is worse than any form of death penalty.
While some countries do sentence their corrupt officials to death, this has not stopped, even just by example, all those who have robbed and raped us. While this does not frighten them, perhaps we can take comfort knowing that the law of the Lord will give us the justice we deserve. The penalty of death represents all that we need to express in order to put an end to greed, apathy, corruption and love for power. The change is within our grasp and this is where we must place our firm resolve.