Resiliency, hope will tide us through
We should not just rely on individual resilience and Bayanihan, but let the burden of resilience be shared by both government and the citizenry.
Daily TribuneWe should not just rely on individual resilience and Bayanihan, but let the burden of resilience be shared by both government and the citizenry.
The high level of optimism expressed by Filipinos in a recent Pulse Asia survey showing 92 percent are hopeful for the coming year is particularly impressive given the challenges faced by the country in recent months.
With inflation reaching a 14-year high of 8 percent in November leading to an average year-to-date inflation rate of 5.6 percent, it is indeed a big surprise that the majority of our countrymen remain optimistic about their prospects.
Only eight percent of the respondents were unsure and less than 1 percent said they have no hope in the survey conducted from 27 November to 1 December.
This feeling of facing 2023 with a positive outlook was consistent across all regions of the country, with 94 percent of respondents in the National Capital Region, 89 percent for the rest of Luzon, 99 percent in the Visayas and 89 percent in Mindanao.
Despite the economic challenges, many Filipinos said they are celebrating the ongoing holidays in a meaningful way. This is even though some 80,000 Filipinos were affected by heavy rains and flooding in the Visayas and Mindanao during the Christmas weekend.
The Office of Civil Defense said two people were confirmed dead in Misamis Occidental while nine were reported missing in Northern Samar, three in Misamis Occidental and one in Leyte.
In all, some 18, 407 families were affected by the rains and floods in eastern Visayas, Zamboanga and Northern Mindanao.
Many of us, our political leaders included, would always attribute this sense of optimism despite the perennial tragedies that hit us to the resiliency of Filipinos.
Resilience is not something new for our countrymen. The term is so overused by our politicians that's starting to have a negative rather than a positive connotation.
It is given that after every typhoon, flood, earthquake, and volcano eruption wreaks havoc on the population, the government often turns to this notion of "Filipino resilience" basically saying that Filipinos can and should be able to withstand anything thrown at them.
Resilience is definitely a good trait as it means being able to spring back to normalcy.
This, however, romanticizes resilience and places the burden on individuals in the absence of centralized planning and investing in climate adaptation infrastructure.
As experts have noted, the narrative shifts from disaster preparedness to the ability to bear suffering and trauma over and over again.
Resiliency and being hopeful are two distinct traits that should not be confused with each other.
It is probably high time for the government to have concrete plans to support hazard mitigation and climate action as disasters will happen inevitably. One thing is clear here.
We should not just rely on individual resilience and Bayanihan, but let the burden of resilience be shared by both government and the citizenry.
Being hopeful is a different thing altogether. Like most Filipinos, the country's top executives share the view that the worst is over as far as the pandemic is concerned and there was nowhere to go but up.
When oil prices skyrocketed and global supply chains were broken as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Philippines absorbed the painful effects of the global headwinds and bore the brunt of increased prices of basic commodities.
But despite the daunting challenges, the Philippine economy continued to recover from the pandemic restrictions as more sectors were opened up, allowing a good number of businesses to post profit numbers last seen before the pandemic struck.
Will the country's economic recovery continue in 2023?
With both businessmen and ordinary Pinoys brimming with confidence, we certainly hope that the New year will find us in a much better place, indeed.
