NO FILTER

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BY RHICK LARS VLADIMER ALBAY
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What the water gives us

IN Visayan mythology, Magwayen, the formidable goddess of the waters and seas, was also the deity of death and the underworld — calm, vast and tranquil but with the potential to raise violent hurricanes and cause widespread havoc when angered.

She represented not only a caring mother, provider of plentiful harvests at sea and nurturer of livelihood and nourishment, but also a bringer of destruction that could level villages, with her waves and storms causing floods that can swallow entire towns.

Often pictured as a beautiful woman in a gown that flowed like streams and adorned with an elaborate crown of gold and jewels, Magwayen was also believed to be the ferrywoman of the dead, guiding souls to the watery depths of the ancient Visayan hell. She was both worshipped for her care and benevolence, and feared for her ruthlessness and power.

Magwayen’s rivers and shores allowed our ancestors to thrive and build growing communities and barangays,but with a snap of her fingers, she could easily take them all away. This is a lesson we learned the hard way nearly three years ago and a crisis we’re still trying to come to terms with today. Super typhoon “Yolanda” rammed through our eastern coasts, the Filipino people unprepared for the calamity that was upon us.
As connections were gradually rebuilt in the days after that unfortunate November day, and as news and communications started to trickle to the media, we found ourselves a nation united in awe.

We were shocked by the images flashed on our screens and saddened by the stories we heard and read about: orphans roaming around in search of families, body bags lining the streets, a mother and child who hid inside a refrigerator thinking they’d be safe there found dead, mass graves, rampant looting, and endless wreckage and chaos.

You’d think a country that faces more than 20 typhoons every year would be more or less used to these disasters. But until now we have yet to adapt to this pressing problem. Every new hurricane still manages to catch us unguarded. “Sendong,” “Milenyo,” “Frank” … the list goes on and on, each new typhoon serving a hard blow to the spirit of the Filipino people.
We casualties each year, but instead of raising awareness among citizens and owning up to their mistakes, politicians resort to pointing fingers after every national calamity, not wanting to be weighed down by the blame for the deaths and millions of pesos worth of properties destroyed.
The Philippines is blessed with the generosity of the sea. We are the Pearl of the Orient, once called the Land of the Golden Sunset, and our waters provide us with commerce, tourism, livelihood, and nourishment.

Since the time of our ancestors, we continue to reap the bounty of the ocean. It is important we keep in mind to take care of her, our waters, as she has done for us for all these years, because when angered, she can very easily take it all back./PN

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