THE rains have come, the blooms of the narra and the flame trees now fall to the ground, which has turned green with revived grass. In my garden, a small miracle has appeared: the little tree sapling that I brought from a Manila Golf tree, which we termed a cherry tree because of its cherry-like blooms of small pink flowers after shedding all its leaves, has burst into complete bloom. It took almost 15 years. First, it grew tall and branched out. Then it would shed its leaves once a year and be naked and leafless. Then it should have bloomed, but for years it did not. It would just get back its leaves. It was frustrating because my friend who had taken the same kind of sapling from the same tree would have a tree in bloom yearly. She would send me a photo and cause a fit of envy from me. Well, this year, during this very hot summer with everything turning brown, leaves falling in huge quantities, I passed by the tree which was then in its totally leafless state and decided to say something like, “Isn’t it about time you bloomed?” It is hard to say that it listened, but not today. I woke up this morning to see a galaxy of small pink flowers standing out against the other trees, over the green grass and against the blue sky. It listened and bloomed. A miracle of nature.
Speaking of trees, may I remind our government agencies that give permits for expressways, tree-cutting and other egregious public/private partnership projects to go easy on redoing our cityscape with its trees, heritage sites, monuments and other features that compose and reflect the soul of the city? It is time we demand critical thinking from everyone, including project proponents. The car-centric compulsion to build expressways for cars when only a fraction of the population has access to them is nihilistic. The more roads, the more cars, the fewer public mobility as the rest of the car-less are doomed to congested roads on inadequate public transportation. In fact, even the car riders will find their own congestion. It is a fact, the more roads you build, the more cars will swarm on them bringing no relief to mobility problems.
Critical thinking demands more and wider public transportation composed of trains and subways. No city proud of its identity allows expressways to mar its center and its landmarks. To say that this is detaining progress is to be self-serving, ignorant and maybe worse, like money-grubbing at the expense of the public.
Moreover, the big earthquake is coming this way. It has hit Mindanao, it will eventually come to Luzon. Manila will get it. When, we do not know, but that it will eventually materialize, we already know. When it does, all those expressways and flyovers will disintegrate and paralyze the city. Death and destruction that will take a precious long time to overcome.
Progress is not measured in someone’s ability to make projects for private gain. It is never really public service as can be seen when public opinion is discarded, government agencies are pressured and friends in high places are used to force them on the public despite opposition that is backed by facts. Here we meet “palakasan,” the use of power acquired illicitly for private gain. Here we also meet impunity where public opinion, public knowledge and the public good are ignored. Of course, these proponents have their own definition of public good which is really their private good.
So, please note your surroundings, the identity and character of the city you live in that is a part of you, your ancestors and your progeny. Appreciate your landmarks, your heritage sites, your history and the geographic location you are in, including God-given natural environment and fight to protect it. Today is Independence Day for which we must strive to keep on the work of nation-building for our country in the best possible way for the good of all who belong to it.
Meanwhile, the rains will renew the face of our hot and dried world but already some trees are missing, killed by those who do not think or are in the spell of what they think is progress but is nothing more than their lust for lucre.