No Baby Talk
By Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga
Dampened fireworks
How sad it was that the monsoon rains dampened the
fireworks display on July 1.
My son and my nephews had anticipated watching sparks fly to
the sky in merry colors exploding in gigantic shapes. But the rains came and we
just had to send them to bed dreaming of fireworks for 10:30 is way past kid's
bedtime.
Fireworks, a few minutes of display is worth hundreds of
thousands. It doesn't fail to amaze me that despite our stark poverty and the
budget cut that gets larger and larger every year, we and many other cities and
municipalities (like Calatrava) in the country can still afford to throw money
into the sky and let it dissipate like smoke.
There is nothing wrong in making merry of course. A people
stricken with the hard bondage of low-paying jobs as in what we have in our
city deserve some form of recreation like seeing magnificent display of
varicolored fire turn the night sky into a theater stage. But wouldn't it be
more fun if the form of recreation we turn to are those which we can afford
regularly out of the excesses of our budget for daily and life-saving
necessities?
Our hospital runs out of supplies forever that nurses,
especially those who are working there as volunteers, bring their own
disinfectants, hand soap, and bandages. The single-use syringes used to
administer intra-venous medicines are used for almost a dozen times for if the
patient can't afford to buy a new one at every dosage, the nurse will have to
improvise. Many told me that single-use is only for college. At our hospital,
it is many-use.
Our Public Library is only blessed with donations from locals
who are now living abroad. Without this generosity, there would be nothing in
it than antiquity for every time the budget is cut, the library's fund is the
first to be deducted and the last to be added. And yet, we speak of education
every time. Without the unconditional love of several volunteers the library
beside the suffering hospital would have long been a forgotten threshold of
worlds undiscovered.
Several school children go to school on an empty stomach
especially in far-flung barangays. Most public school teachers have to wait for
eons before non-government organizations would give feeding programs. Yet, we
boast of participating in the yearly Nutrition Month.
The already neglected special children in one of our public
schools are made to be contented of whatever special education tools are
available and of very few (I think there are only two) teachers giving them
instructions. No one ever pays them attention and no one ever gives them as
much budget as that the fireworks display gets.
Our athletes, sans for those who belong to the upper middle
class, always suffer from badly maintained sports centers and lack of equipment
for training. Not to mention, even their trainers lack the proper training! And
they themselves have to wait for the blessed visit of foreign coaches and
foreign funding before they get the education necessary for their job.
Oh the long list of ills!
What I am ranting about is that, we easily spend thousands for
a few minutes that give haphazard smiles but we clasp our hands ever tightly
when societal problems that have been here for decades cry for attention and
budget. It will definitely be more fun if there is proper fund for the hospital
and its dying patients, for the library and its old books gathering dust, and
for the children who certainly cannot be eating fireworks for breakfast.
I am glad that the stressed employees of the City Hall and all
other government agencies are treated to the yearly bahug-bahug during Charter
Day. But I cannot help thinking of those without work or those who are reduced
to measly jobs like street sweepers, what are they eating on Charter Day? How
about the street children whom the City Social Welfare Department placed under
the Mobile Education Program, do they ever get a piece of chicken joy every
July 1, just one for every year?
And the suffering patients at the city hospital, are they ever
graced with the blessedly seldom, if not non-existent, visit of our government
officials? Maybe our politicians here are not millionaires to afford dole-outs
during hospital visits but for sure they are lucky and healthy enough to afford
a handshake and smile.
I shall wait for when our Charter Day would go beyond a long,
tiring parade and a fireworks display often dampened by monsoon rains. Indeed,
there are things that not even the rain could stop nor can the fire destroy.
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