Last week felt like the day after tomorrow for most parts of the Philippines. Not just one, but two typhoons gatecrashed into the country, one after the other. The result? Weeklong rains and stronger-than-average winds, along with the usual flooding in several parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces. The worst thing about it, however, is the landslide in several towns in Quezon province, which killed about a thousand people.
Now that the storm’s over and with search and rescue operations winding down, we Filipinos are again playing our favorite game, finger-pointing, with most of the fingers pointing to the usual suspect: the government.
In order to prevent yet another similar tragedy, our president, Gloria Arroyo, has ordered the banning of all forms of logging in the country and the launching of a massive reforestation program. She has also ordered the arrest of all illegal loggers. Most Filipinos, naturally, hail these moves. “Hang the loggers!” “Save the forests!” These seem to be what everybody’s saying right now. Although these are all positive measures, which should have been done much, much earlier, I’m afraid we’re getting a little too emotional about it again. Before implementing such drastic measures, we should stop and think really carefully about the repercussions of such actions. The first question that needs to be answered is: where are we going to get wood once logging has been banned in our country? Also, is it necessary to ban logging completely? Or should we allow responsible logging companies to continue their operations?
The government has already promised to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again. I only hope that whichever action it chooses, it will be well-thought out and that our government will really stick to it.