Resilience

Netnet Camomot .

PRESIDENT Rody Duterte and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo had a tête-à-tête. “Vice presidentiable” Bongbong Marcos and former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had a tête-à-tête. If you change that e to i, it could be as green as the “i-pepe-dedealismo” video where Duterte’s non-fan first noticed blogger Drew Olivar.

And that’s not green as in environment. But the Pinoy does wish for the government and those who want to be part of the government to prevent another landslide from happening in these 7,641 islands.

Two major landslides in less than a week. How about that for the Guinness Book of World Records, right next to former First Lady Imelda Marcos’ 3,400 pairs of shoes.

Mining is blamed for the landslide on Sept. 15 in Itogon, Benguet. Quarrying for the one on Sept. 20 in Naga City, Cebu. Is the government waiting for the third one, since third time’s a charm?

On Sept. 24, four days after the Naga tragedy, Apo Land and Quarry Corporation had a half-page ad on a national broadsheet which printed it right below a piece on the 46 bodies found so far at the site.

Apo’s quarrying has been blamed by Naga residents as the cause of the landslide. And, no, that’s not Apo Marcos nor the Apo Hiking Society.

In the ad, Apo said, “We are one with Naga.”

“We grieve with the City of Naga, Cebu and all the families who lost their loved ones in the tragic landslide incident that happened last September 20. Co-citizens of Naga, WE are strong and resilient; WE will rise above this. Nakikiramay po kami. We are one with you during this difficult time.”

Apo also promised to “fully comply with the Cease and Desist Order of DENR and shall temporarily suspend all its quarrying operations in the City of Naga, Cebu.” DENR is the acronym for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The ad had other blah blah blah to complete its seeming attempt at public relations.

Grieving and the necessity for that ad could have been avoided had Apo been barred from any quarrying.

There’s a problem with the word “resilient,” though, as pointed out by mainstream media and netizens such as this tweet by Millennial of Manila on Aug. 12: “Filipino resiliency isn’t an entirely bad concept pero maiisip mo rin baka kaya tayo naka-develop ng ganoong ‘resiliency’ ay dahil nasanay na tayong laging palpak ang mga leaders natin. Na hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin nila naaayos ang drainage systems kaya tayo binabaha.”

Define palpak. Well, there’s Senate President Tito Sotto on Sept. 18 suggesting to change the last line of “Lupang Hinirang” from “ang mamatay ng dahil sa ‘yo” to “ang ipaglaban ang kalayaan mo.”

In case you haven’t noticed, Sept. 18 was three days after the Itogon landslide when rescuers and families were still hoping to find survivors.

Then on Sept. 21, a day after the Naga landslide, a seemingly exasperated Sotto tweeted, “Maraming mahina intindimiento. Ayaw niyo? Huwag! But I will support Joey Ayala’s version of singing the national anthem. Tama pronunciation and intonation.”

Juice colored. Enough already.

I could almost hear “Frozen’s” Elsa singing to Sotto, “Let it go, let it go.”

As if that’s not enough, there’s a Senate bill to increase the sun’s rays in the Philippine flag from eight to nine. This is the bill that somehow inspired the senators to also change the national anthem’s lyrics.

A Facebook friend then shared this post by Ronald Roy: “A senator wants to change our national anthem, and another our national flag. Why don’t we just change these senators?”

In “It’s Showtime,” Vice Ganda joked that the national anthem’s last line could be, “ang mamatay ng dahil sa bukbok ng NFA.” That’s the National Food Authority, in case you’re asking.

Vice also shared other possible changes that the senators should consider, like the last line of “Leron Leron Sinta” from “humanap ng iba” to “bigyan ng second chance.”

He added that the song “May pulis, may pulis sa ilalim ng tulay” should make one wonder why “walang nabanggit na ginagawa yung pulis, so, huwag niyong palitan yung kanta; palitan nyo yung pulis na walang ginagawa, nandoon lang sa ilalim ng tulay!”

For “Sitsiritsit, Alibangbang,” Vice said that its lyrics, “Mama, mama, namamangka/Pasakayin yaring bata/Pagdating sa Maynila/Ipagpalit ng manika,” connote human trafficking, thus, the need to change the last line to, “Ibili mo ng manika.”

And here’s more. For, “Ale, ale, namamayong/Pasukubin yaring sanggol/Pagdating sa Malabon/Ipagpalit ng bagoong,” Vice commented, “Kawawa yung bata!”

“Laughter is the best medicine,” as the saying goes. I wonder if the families that the landslide victims left behind can still laugh despite their loss.