The recent earthquakes that shook parts of Visayas and Mindanao have rattled the entire country – and with good reason.
Set against the backdrop of revelations of massive, unchecked corruption inside the Department of Public Works and Highways (DWPH), the tremors have served to remind us ordinary Filipinos of the price that we all have to pay for the unmoderated greed of our public officials.
That price we have to pay: substandard, potentially defective infrastructure that might as well be called death traps should the feared “Big One” strike Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
The images of crumbled and cracked public edifices in Visayas and Mindanao have not only demonstrated how corruption and incompetence have become a part of governance but have also served as a stern warning from Mother Nature itself.
While Luzon has been spared of the high-energy earthquakes that have struck Visayas and Mindanao so far, it could be said that their seismic impacts go beyond ruined infrastructures and damaged lives.
These series of tremors have also served to once again shake the conscience of a public that has become too complacent with the unfettered robbery of our public funds.
History has taught us that large-scale natural calamities are always inevitably followed by large-scale political action. The “Trillion Peso March” last month can be seen as a prelude to that.
Will the recent earthquakes also shake our conscience to the point where we will finally stand up and demand not just concrete (in both the literal and figurative sense of the word) action but accountability and justice?
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