A sign of survival

The recent natural calamities that ravaged many parts of Cebu island and brought unquantifiable misery to many Cebuano families also affected the trees that I have planted in Barangay Paril here in Cebu City. Sadness gripped my heart when I discovered that a row of Tugas trees, with trunks already about eight inches in diameter and which I planted along the river, was swallowed by the raging floodwaters spawned by Typhoon Tino. Few other trees including an already tall Ilang-ilang were blown down while others had many branches broken.

I suffered much lesser damage compared to many Cebuanos, some of whose family members lost their lives during the floods. In the days that followed the calamities, I did what limited I could do to restore the vibrancy of my plants. Honestly, I was selfish enough to attend only to my own interest. Philosophically speaking, I was not among the men Plato referred to when he said “the price good men pay for their social indifference is for evil to triumph over them” or words to that effect. Certainly, in the context of social involvement, I was indifferent and I deeply regret.

Regretful words are not enough but really I regretted to be more selfish last Sunday than socially concerned. I thought that caring for my Barangay Paril trees was more important than joining the culmination peaceful rally. The march, described in the internet as a series of mass demonstrations held on September 21 and November 30, 2025, and organized by church groups, civil society organizations, student organizations, labor unions, and political coalitions, was done to protest against corruption in the government’s flood control projects.

To atone for my social indifference, i sank to my seat in the past few days trying to imbibe the significance of the Trillion Peso March and its effect upon our government. Initially, I grappled with the thought that the demonstrations were not only to express our collective national indignation against the unbelievable plunder of our taxes thru the ingenious flood control projects. The earlier shouts in the midst of the mass activities was a call for the resignation of top officials. Indeed, there were whispers clamoring for President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr to leave Malacanang. In my earlier column, I wrote about the revelation of Senator Panfilo Lacson that he was invited to join a planned civilian-military junta and that he politely turned the offer down.

In my reflection on the November 30 rally (which i did not join because of my selfish motivation to attend to my plants), I learned that the marchers desired only for government transparency coupled with a rightful demand to prosecute the grafters and the corrupt. The combative words did not invoke violent acts against the government. The chants aired in the previous marches asking virtually for the president’s head were significantly mellowed. There was no more disgraceful conduct as the speech of Senator Imee Marcos displayed. The seemingly seditious language of Mr. Mike Defensor was not repeated. Most speakers implored divine intervention in our quest for good governance.

With how the November 30 rallies were peacefully done and the visible ongoing investigations that have resulted in the publicly announced filing of cases against hitherto untouchable officials, I dare say that President Marcos has survived. He successfully quelled the rumors of people aiming to establish revolutionary government. Even in my lonesome, I claim that it is much to our nation’s sake to give a chance to authorities to proceed with the investigations and prosecute the corrupt rather than change the administration. Why not? After all, President Marcos Jr., was elected by our countrymen, the allegation of massive electoral cheating notwithstanding. A civilian-military junta as proposed by equally selfish individuals, is both dangerous and unpredictable.