A call for Cebuanos to help Northern Cebu first

For our Straight from the Sky Special Presentation we bring you the second part of our Holy Land Pilgrimage Travel Series with Delmar Travel & Tours. This time, we arrived in Israel and we went straight to Mt. Tabor, the high mountain that our Lord Jesus Christ went up with Peter, James and John where they saw the face of our Lord turn to dazzling white and he was with Moses and Elijah…then the Shekinah Glory cloud hovered over them and the voice of God was heard, “Here is my chosen Son, Listen to him!” Call us lucky that as we were looking up towards Mt. Tabor on a very clear and cloudless day, there was a solitary cloud hovering over the summit.

The other half of the show is about the Primacy of St. Peter where we went to the very spot that our Lord Jesus Christ first met Peter and he asked them if they caught any fish. Saying that they fished all night and caught nothing, Our Lord Jesus told them to drop their nets and when they did, their nets were tearing. After the resurrection, Our Lord Jesus once more found them in this same spot (there is a chapel there now) where he prepared breakfast for them where the Lord asked Peter if he loved him…to which Peter replied three times that he did love the Lord.

So watch this second part of our Holy Land Pilgrimage Travel series, which is the first time that a local TV show has done this for all to see. You can watch this on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8 p.m. with a replay to immediately follow on MyTV’s channel 30 and replays on M-W-F.

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While Cebu City literally dodged the proverbial bullet and escaped unscathed from the wrath of Super Typhoon “Yolanda”, it is sad that Tacloban City, Ormoc City, parts of Panay and Antique, Daan Bantayan and Bantayan Island got very badly hit. That’s because we could see the TV coverage over ANC and CNN. However, these TV networks were focused mainly on Tacloban City and some parts of Leyte. There are only trickle reports coming out from Northern Cebu, which was just as badly hit as Tacloban City, but few people especially here in Cebu City realize this situation.

I’m sure many people here are more than willing to help our beleaguered brothers, but since Tacloban City is now the focus of ANC’s and CNN’s TV coverage, the people of Northern Cebu, notably Daan Bantayan, Bogo City, Medellin and Bantayan Island are literally left out; I dare say that we Cebuanos shouldn’t get confused on who or where to help…and focus our efforts to help our fellow Cebuanos in their time of need. Let’s focus all our efforts to help Northern Cebu. Tacloban City will certainly get International help including the people from Manila. But it is time for Cebuanos to help ourselves first, not because we’re selfish but because no one else is going out of their way to help our fellow Cebuanos in the north!

Last Saturday morning, I saw someone upload in Facebook photos of the Sta. Fe wharf, which was badly hit. But I learned that there are beach resorts that survived the typhoon. We’ve only heard rumors of the numbers of the dead but we cannot confirm this as of press time. We heard that Bogo City and Medellin was very badly hit…including Daanbantayan. I saw only a single photo of what has happened in Malapascua.

I met Dr. Wyben Briones last Saturday and his team of Rotarians that were the first to go to Bohol after the Oct.15th earthquake is prepared to bring supplies to Bogo and Bantayan Island and I think he went there yesterday. Last Saturday night, we heard Department of Interior & Local Government Mar Roxas giving an update to ANC. But I gathered that civilian aircraft are not allowed to fly to Tacloban because the Philippine Air Force has turned it into their emergency relief operations base.

CNN’s Andrew Stevens who went to Tacloban City last Thursday reported that there was widespread looting in many stores in the city. We did see on TV that looting and lawlessness at the Gaisano Store in Tacloban City. CNN also reported what the Philippine Red Cross reported to them that as of Saturday, there were already some 1,200 casualties of Super Typhoon Yolanda. This is the first time that we heard of lawlessness in a calamity. Mar Roxas must restore the peace and order in Tacloban City otherwise people who bring in relief goods may also become victims of the looting.

In his press briefing, Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III reported that there was still some P16 billion in reserved funds waiting to be released. So what is he waiting for? Those people need those funds just to live on a day-to-day basis. He must release them right away in order to prevent further looting. It is high time that the Philippine government accepts that they cannot handle the situation by themselves and seek international help. As for us in Cebu…let’s help ourselves first before helping those outside Cebu because they really need our help because no one else knows their dire situation.

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