By Ermin Garcia Jr.

 

IN the mid-50s till mid-60s, the world found the bright illuminating moon as the epitome and symbol of one’s endless love for the other. Going out on a date with the full moon shining overhead was a plus for a couple… they who promise the moon and the stars to love one another… “till death do us part”. Mind you, they weren’t talking about marital vows, just the romance of being able to claim the moon as their be-all and end-all of their commitment to love and care for each other. A fantasy.

Then the romantic moon was suddenly kicked out as a prelude to sweet nothings in 1969, when 19 years later, Apollo 11 landed on the moon with Commander Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on board. Suddenly, reality set in. The moon “magic” was gone. Everyone stopped invoking the brightly moon as the sign of their everlasting love.

It was back to basics. Just “you and I”.

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FROM SURREAL TO REAL. Similarly, in 1995, the movie ‘Waterworld’ that starred Kevin Kostner, was a sci-fi blockbuster viewed by millions. It was as fiction as it can get… imagine Kostner developing gills after surviving “the melting of the polar ice caps.”  No way!

We were entertained and amused how the earth turned into a violent world with no land in sight. “Waterworld” of 1995 was surreal and unreal. Anyone who thought it could happen had to be exceptionally imaginative bordering on fantasy. After all, who would think that the Earth’s oceans would be rising 25,000 feet, inundating continents. The world’s closest image of a “waterworld” was Venice in Italy, a tourist destination.   

Fast forward to 2023, 28 years later.

Dagupan City and many other towns and cities suddenly woke up to see “Waterworld” a real world! It’s not 25,000 feet above sea level… just 1 meter below sea level and the city was literally surrounded by a body of water, not from the ocean, not “from the melting of ice caps” but from rivers that overflowed from upstream.

But whatever, wherever the origin was, my notion that the 1995 ‘Waterworld’ movie was a class A fiction, was lost. It then dawned on me that the futuristic theme of the movie was in fact a depiction of what the future held for us – meaning today. That global warming is right in our doorstep. 

Last Sunday, July29, mid-morning, I was dumfounded as I drove out of Star Plaza for my morning trip to Metro Manila. I found myself in the middle of a ‘waterworld’, and there was nothing entertaining nor amusing about it. It was a gloomy sight. A number of people were slowly walking, wading through the floodwater, seemingly aimlessly… like zombies. Of course, they were cautiously watching out for unseen sudden deep hole or a sharp object that they might step on. Risking a leptospirosis infection was farthest from their mind since people had no choice but wade through.

The presence of a number of kuliglig and bancas ferrying residents reminded me of the boats, motorized rafts that the movie featured. 

As I drove through A.B. Fernandez Ave., the sunken plaza, the island that was St. John’s Cathedral, out to the waist-deep flood in Burgos St. and Perez Blvd., the whole scene was plain surreal. There were no roads in sight… just people walking in the middle of the “road”. (I was temporarily distracted and relieved when I crossed the path of Marcel Novales (with his family on board). He asked me where I was headed, I said to find a route to get me out of the city for my travel. He suggested that I postpone my trip and wait for the floodwater to recede). I was tempted.

I couldn’t help but begin to think of what could even be a worse scenario than this since I also never thought this could happen at all. How could families survive another week of this… with little access to food… moving around knee deep flood water inside their houses.

On reaching Calasiao, the highway was clear of floodwater but the image of Dagupan ‘waterworld’ never left me. Then I became more anxious on finding myself in the middle of a gridlock on NLEX, the area before San Simon town. I managed to move to the shoulder that I knew would move faster than those on the “overtaking lane”.  After 45 minutes (that I normally can reach in 10 minutes), I got to the area where the bottleneck started – it was a 20-meter stretch of 4-feet deep floodwater. Fortunately, I was driving a Toyota Hilux that easily made me cross without any effort.

On reaching Skyway 3, I began to wonder if the safe environ that the Skyway 3 offered will be lost, too, in decades ahead. But I decided that should already be for my kids and apos to worry about.

Upon reaching the safety of my home, I felt very exhausted, mentally and physically on realizing that ‘waterworld’ will soon be our real world in years ahead.

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NO DIPLOMATIC SENSE AT THE SENATE. As Northern Luzon fought to survive Egay’s onslaught, there was a contentious debate raging at the Senate.

The issue was a proposed resolution by Senator Risa Hontiveros threatening China with the filing of a case for enforcement of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea) decision issued on July 22, 2016 before the UN General Assembly. The proposition was clearly lodged on populist basis – to defend PH sovereignty and protect fishermen t from China military’s harassment. Beat that!

At first glance, most everyone in the senate were in agreement except Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, a former DFA secretary who was once at the frontline engaging China on the UNCLOS decision. His opposition eventually blocked what was initially deemed an easy sailing for her resolution.

Mr. Cayetano had to point out that 1) Any activity involving foreign relations is exclusively the responsibility of the President, and 2) The move to elevate the issue to the UN General Assembly will surely aggravate economic relations between CH and PH.  He strongly advised proceeding with bilateral talks like what other country claimants over the disputed area are pursuing with CH, and leave it to President Marcos Jr. to decide, as the constitution dictates.

To cut to the chase, fortunately for the country, the senate listened to reason and finally amended the Hontiveros resolution, merely to suggest that the elevation of the issue to UNGA will only one of a set of recommendations to be submitted to the executive.

Why many of our senators today cannot think beyond nuances of local politics is baffling. Foreign relations-diplomacy is not a bit like local politics.

I hope a debate on foreign relations will be staged among the senator-wannabes in 2025 elections so the ignoramus will be exposed.

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