Eerie feeling

Ben Contreras .

I DIDN’T notice the heavy rain until past 5 am when I was awakened by it. The sky looked gray, a sign of more rain to come. There was an eerie feeling, like the world stood still, prevailed in the air.

During the times when the Limketkai area was flooded whenever it rained, people rushed home to avoid the rising floodwaters. No one wanted to get stuck in the road. What used to be a busy highway became like a deserted area at 6 pm to 7 pm. The sight floodwaters and floating cars was a nightmare.

As I write this, I am wondering what it’s like outside. I didn’t want to know. The silence is eerie that I didn’t want to even go out and find out.

Rolly Ilogon posted on Facebook a brief narrative on how some people, or his forefathers in particular, chose not to buy land known to be a basin for rainwater. Perhaps, people decades ago chose to live simple lives in simple dwellings. Knowing that the city proper today is below sea level and as such, flood is always inevitable.

Again, the planners of yesteryears didn’t see that the urban area should be on higher grounds, and the poblacion of today should have been a food basket or an agricultural area. Sometimes, it makes people wonder why despite the history of floodings in the area, investors continue to come in and build highise buildings and malls there.

Anyway, “Sendong” highlighted the need for us to move to higher grounds and make the price of land there soaring beyond the capacity of ordinary people to buy.

“Ondoy” flooded Metro Manila, and Architect Jun Palafox was quoted as having advised the government to go higher grounds when talking of developing new areas. He had the same advice for us, if I am not mistaken.

Marikina was inundated and so with the famous SM Mall. Would Cagayan de Oro suffer the same fate in the future? I think it will. It’s just a matter of time and depending on the weather conditions.

At the rate we are destroying our mountains and rivers… “thank you,” DENR, for allowing this to happen for we shall reap what we sow.

The wind is cold. I can feel it from my window as I write this. I have important things to do outside. But the cold wind whispers to me: don’t go out yet.

***

We sometimes do things others see as unusual or even vulgar on the spur of the moment.

I never had that “beso-beso” experience until I turned 50+ years old. Is “beso-beso” part of our culture? Perhaps, it is. I first experienced it from people who were just friendly or warm. Then, I got the “virus” and started doing the same to people I consider close to my heart or close friends.

Was that a kiss or a smack? It depends on one’s biases. Duterte haters consider that as vulgar and unbecoming of a President. But supporters see it as just a spur of the moment. Whatever, there were similar incidents before by known figures identified with the “yellows.” So, where is the beef?

But haters will always capitalize on what they perceive or choose to see as “bastos.” Day in, day out, they wait for the next mistake the President makes or if he says the wrong words, and then they blow it up and make a mountain out of a molehill.

But that’s politics, Philippine style. That’s democracy. Or is it demo-crazy?