WHILE Filipinos are widely acknowledged for their resilience amid calamities, Cardinal Pablo David is warning the faithful against treating climate change as a “convenient new version of an act of God.”
In a social media post, David said climate change cannot be used as a perennial excuse for every flooded highway, clogged drainage system, denuded watershed, unsafe manhole, failed flood-control project, and preventable death.
“There comes a point when resilience becomes dangerous because it teaches us merely to endure,” said David.
The Cardinal said Filipinos should also consider being defiant instead of always accepting calamities as the norm.
He called on the faithful not to be content with simply remaining resilient amid the numerous calamities experienced by the nation.
“We smile for the cameras, clean the mud from our houses, rebuild what we can, and wait for the next disaster. Sometimes we even shrug our shoulders and call these calamities ‘acts of God.’ I think it is time to go beyond resiliency, and to defiance,” said David.
“Filipino resilience is a beautiful virtue. But resilience should never mean passive acceptance of incompetence, corruption, or neglect. After every disaster, we are told to be resilient. This time, let us also be defiant,” he added.
In being defiant, David said, people need to go beyond angry Facebook posts.
He said there is a need for collective citizen action, such as motorists filing complaints with regulatory agencies, communities demanding public disclosure of flood-control projects and budgets, citizens seeking legal remedies where negligence has caused injury or loss, and taxpayers insisting that public officials and private concessionaires answer for services for which they have already paid.
“Let us refuse to normalize preventable suffering. Let us demand answers. Let us demand accountability. And where the law allows it, let us act together as citizens to hold accountable those who fail in their duty to protect the public. Beyond resiliency: collective citizens’ action,” said David.
David made the call following days of torrential rains and massive flooding that hit large parts of the country, particularly Metro Manila and Luzon.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the bad weather has adversely affected 8.4 million individuals, or 2.4 million families, across different regions. (Anton Banal/VoxPop Philippines)
