The World as a Watery Grave

By Apolinario Villalobos

It seems that the world is going back to the time when everything was under water as told in a popular legend about Creation. Another legendary deluge was mentioned during the time of Noah…but such disaster was God-inflicted. Today, if ever similar calamity shall occur, there’s only the irresponsibility of man to blame.

It cannot be denied that water which is among the basic necessities for survival is causing catastrophe throughout the world. This is the result of man’s disruption of the natural cycle of nature. The oceans and waterways are being choked and polluted by the various forms of human waste. The forests that control the upward and the downward flow of water are practically felled without let up, eventually denuding the mountains. Smoke-belching factories are dotting the face of the Earth.

Many developed communities that grow into towns and cities are left without effective drainage system resulting to floods during rainy season. Many of them have no honest-to-goodness planners. What these pretenders have in mind is the zoning of the surface without giving due consideration to what should be laid down underneath – the systematic drainage that would provide an outlet for the various wastes from these communities that multiply by the year.

In the Philippines, floods caused by defective drainage system and unfinished projects of the government such as abandoned dug-up roads and uncovered canals can be blamed to corruption. But concerned government officials who have the habit of washing their hands have their own alibis – delay in the release of budget and non-cooperation of involved agencies. This traditional finger-pointing is among the reason why the country is having difficulty in moving on even at a snail’s pace. And, though idiotic it may seem, this finger-pointing habit has made many officials millionaires at the expense of the helpless grassroots.