Taal Volcano eruption brings out the good and the bad

By Al S. Mendoza

THE good and the bad are at their best whenever a calamity strikes.

Man, by nature, wears two masks in every scenario of any era.

Take the Taal Volcano eruption.

After exploding on January 12, a stunned nation saw a slew of events that gripped even the sensibilities of the most callous in our midst.

The good folk assembled themselves to help the victims. 

They collected donations for the evacuees, ranging from food, clothes, water and anything that could help sustain our beleaguered brothers and sisters displaced by the Taal explosion.

Help coming from virtually all nooks of the archipelago kept pouring in, another testament to the Filipino’s inherent nature to do bayanihan in aid of our disaster-stricken brethren.

But, alas, on the other side of the fence are the so-called bad eggs.

They did their despicable thing of taking advantage of the situation the inhuman way.

Because face masks became necessary to cover our noses and mouths for protection from ashfall, a strong demand for it had become the order of the day.

Enter the opportunists, the greedy bunch.

As disciples of the devil, they overpriced their wares to the utter disbelief of everyone with a pure heart for our less-fortunate neighbors.

They only stopped their evil ways when authorities started to file charges against several of them.

And, aside from these money-driven scums of the earth, some engaged in looting, attacking towns abandoned by folk seeking shelter in evacuation camps.

Thieves went to work under cover of darkness, carting away valuables and anything they could lay their hands on.

In the daytime, they enter abandoned towns disguised as owners of animals like cattle, carabaos, goats, pigs, dogs, chickens and others that were left behind by fleeing residents.

They quickly sell them to unsuspecting buyers at the cheapest of prices if only to dispose of them quickly to elude arrest.

Only God can make them aright and let’s pray they see the light soon enough.

Whenever a brother is hit by disaster, we suffer with him.

Taal Volcano has always been explosion-prone and, each time it erupts, destruction comes in massive proportions.

Billions of pesos in crops, infrastructure, animal lives and private properties have already been damaged—not to mention human projects, priorities and directions severely affected with no clear remedies in immediate sight.

Perhaps, it’s about time that those living around Taal, whose “tiny” volcano is found to be within a larger, much deadly volcano, be relocated somewhere—finally?

It’s not easy leaving our original homes. 

We are creatures of habit, so to speak, and departing for good and living in a new place is the hardest to decide on.

But during desperate times, desperate measures could suddenly become the only option.

As the Good Book says, the Boss provides.

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments