Honasan’s speculation?

Our common understanding of speculation is that it is the forming of a theory or conjecture even in the absence of firm evidence. If someone thinks or guesses about something for which there is not enough information to be certain, he is speculating.

I saw a social media post of former Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan. In a specific portion of his post, Honasan said “nag lindol sa Cebu. Wala akong nabalita-an na may foreign aid na naman. xx Seguro ang nasa isip nuong nanuno-od sa atin sa ibang bansa ‘magbibigay tayo nang tulong, kukorakutin na naman,’” I hope that I accurately quoted Gringo.

Let us break down Senator Honasan’s statement into recognizable parts. First, the former senator said that an earthquake hit Cebu. This was the tremor that devastated the northern part of the province on September 30. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, using the method first developed by Charles Richter, a seismologist based in California, reported that the quake’s magnitude registered 6.7. The Phivolcs also reported that it was a shallow earthquake and that was why it was more destructive due to its proximity to the surface.

In the second part of Honasan’s post, he claimed to have not noticed the presence of foreign aid to the victims. That was also the observation of my children and their friends. You see, the day after the earthquake, my children Averell, Byron, Beatriz and Charisse hastily organized a relief effort. With the help of their cousins and friends, they drove a wing van filled with water and readily edible goods to Bogo City and Medellin town. They delivered part of their relief goods to the office of Bogo City Mayor Mayel Martinez, a family friend, and City Administrator Max Suico, my former law student. Medellin Councilor Nino Lim, a blood relative, received part of the items. According to my children, they were probably among the earliest responders because there were not many noticeable relief operations although when they returned the following Sunday, the fifth day after the tremor struck, bringing forth another wing van of water and food to Tabogon and Daan Bantayan towns, hundreds of other relief teams already came.

In comparison, Bogo City and neighboring towns were also devastated by typhoon Yolanda, about 12 years ago. I do remember that my lady Carmen, I and our family went thru the same route to bring relief goods. The labor we put in gathering whatever little we could afford was more than adequately compensated by the grateful smiles of those who received our relief materials. More than that. The kind heartedness of many people from all walks of life was most evident. We were heartened to see several foreign national teams helping the typhoon victims. They travelled from distant shores. I could specifically remember Israelis helping repair damaged structures while their medical teams attended to the injured. The US navy sent their corps too as some other foreigners whose countries of origin I cannot now recall did. When my children went on their relief run, last October 2 and 5, they noticed such absence of foreign help teams.

The third portion of Honasan’s statement prods me to write the title of this article. Was the senator speculating when he said that foreign help was not forthcoming because relief givers from other countries knew that their goods instead of being given to disaster victims would just be lost thru all known tricks of corruption? No. Honasan’s statement was not speculative. In form, he might sound speculating but while he did not present material evidence to support his declaration, we heard then from unchallenged reportage following the Yolanda catastrophe that huge loads of American canned goods originally intended for typhoon victims were replaced with Philippine made sardines by heartless bureaucrats and selfish officials. And was it not that bundles of clothing entirely disappeared? The senator echoed a sad truth and not a speculation.