Nobody, nobody

Before Kim Chiu, there was Sandara Park.


But Filipino show biz fans are so fickle-minded, Sandara quickly fell into oblivion and went back to Korea, where her true home is, to give way to Kim, who is very much a Pinay as Sandara is very much Korean, as one of Philippine show business’ princesses.


Years later, Sandara is back. But she is no longer simply Ms. Park, but as the leader of the Wonder Girls, whose song, "Nobody, nobody," has become a staple dance ditty in children’s parties, you’d wish you can shake it off your system and not haunt you in your dreams.


One day it did haunt me, but it was a welcome dream as it was a sweet repeat of what I saw the day before when a couple of toddlers, unmindful of the presence of soup mud in the streets, bobbed to the tune coming out of a relief truck’s blasting stereo, while we were busy unloading some relief goods ourselves to help some relatives in distress somewhere in Cainta.


It is uplifting to witness our folks trying to rebuild from the mess left by typhoon "Ondoy," relying on themselves as it would be a pity to seek further help from anybody else, this despite the sense of bayanihan pervading the air until today, when most of the victims whose houses finally showed up after being completely submerged in floods for a couple of days last week try to regroup, recoup and remake whatever their could, including their right to be happy in spite of everything, as shown by the children who buried their trauma with Sandara’s "nobody, nobody but you!"


There is something in the song that makes children dance. And when they do, they seem to transform into a light aura when they clap and point their fingers, two guns like John Wayne’s, to whoever they like, and that’s how it goes… "nobody, nobody but you!"


The relief workers could be nobodies but their own saviors, the packed goods they bring becomes their sustenance for a couple of days.


The many unsung heroes who emerged during those extraordinary moments, some of them sacrificing their lives, could be nobodies but the extension of many other lives.


The soldiers, the teachers, the Red Cross volunteers, the church workers, members of the media, the firemen, the honest MMDA and police forces who gave their all, they are nobodies but the new faces of heroism after typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.


Yet more needs to be done, and what the people need are the nobodies who will make this nation work again, those who will rebuild the country like our forefathers did after three great wars and the other deluge of their times.


How we wish there is a government in the middle of this.


Slow to react to Ondoy, Gloria Arroyo now seems taking urgent, bold yet questionable measures in prolonging a state of calamity that becomes suspect especially when she is preparing her proxy candidate to attain a hard, yet Garci-workable victory in next year’s presidential election.


It has become the Pinoy’s curse that its government quickly sees opportunities in such a dire mix of bad governance and people’s apathy to their environment that brought about the unprecedented floodings. But there are still high moral values that would refuse to be eaten by this system that makes us need them, or maybe us, to raise their/our fists at the first sign of government exorbitance.


While government cannot yet explain where its funds went, that Gloria could no longer promise additional fundings to help alleviate the plight of Ondoy’s victims, much more rehabilitate the affected areas, families and businesses, here she goes making another attempt at scraping the bottom of the country’s coffers, and extending her time to do so, by wanting a year-long state of calamity, maybe so she would leave a legacy that is worse than the worst president this country has ever had, if she has yet to earn the tag, or maybe she had already.


Finger-pointing is expected soon, when everything is back in order and if we are serious in determining where the problems that brought these floodings lie and find measures to correct them. But before we can rebuild, where do we point to our own and say the fault lies in nobody, nobody but you?