As stated by O’bryne et al.
(2015), Resilience refers to a variety of factors in disaster
management, including absorbing and recovering from the consequences of a hazard, as well as
conserving and restoring "important basic structures and services". Such broad definitions may wind up
being conflicting, as in the concept of "restoring equilibrium and escaping it by transferring to a new
system state. This narrative means that people are used to hazard that they think that they can still
overcome those that are coming. The tendency to interpret resilience as resistance to change is
widespread in the literature, as evidenced by the following quote from a famous resilience theorist:
"The more resilient a system, the higher the disturbance it can absorb without shifting into an other
regime." This happened during the Taal Volcano eruption where everyone living within 14 km (9 miles)
of the volcano with an estimated 300,000 evacuees has been ordered to leave and only 38,200 people
evacuated (Lopez, 2020).
During the pandemic, the Philippines remains one of the most badly afflicted countries in Asia
by Covid-19. The highest rate of new infections was reported in the most recent wave of illnesses on
April 3, 2021. With the exception of a small surge in the first week of June, infection rates have been
dropping since then. This good trend, however, abruptly reversed in mid-July. Since then, the country
has been slammed by a second wave, with daily infection rates reaching new highs. The Philippines is
dealing with various viral strains, including alpha, beta, delta, gamma, and theta. According the
Philippine Statistic Association, as of December 31, 2021, 51, 502 COVID-19 mortality rate were
recorded. PwC Philippines Chairman and Senior Partner Alexander Cabrera says, Filipinos including
government need to bring the economy back to life and the Filipinos don’t have to die trying. But then,
The Department of Health (DOH) failed to use a total of P6.649 billion of its COVID-19 funds for 2021,
significantly impacting the year's pandemic response, according to the Commission on Audit (COA). The
COA observed in its 2021 annual audit report on the DOH that out of the entire P104.546 billion granted
by Congress to the DOH for its COVID pandemic response for 2021, only P97.897 billion had been
obligated as of year end, leaving P6.649 billion in unobligated or unutilized funds.
An audit report identified "deficiencies" in the distribution of P185.603 million in COVID-related
goods bought by the DOH through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and
Management in 2020 and 2021. According to the COA, P166.21 million in supplies were meant to be
transferred to the Cagayan Valley CHD, Southern Isabela Medical Hospital, and the Ninoy Aquino
Stadium COVID site at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, but none of the three intended
recipients received any. "The confirmation replies for three recipient-agencies revealed that the items
were delivered to offices/regions other than (those) listed in the DL (distribution list)," according to the
COA. According to the COA, a portion of the purchased materials were redirected to the Office of Civil
Defense, while the majority of purchases went to unidentified individuals and offices. "Items totaling
P54,180,412 were instead received by the OCD, while persons whose offices/agencies could not be
identified received a total of P108,609,640," the audit report stated. (Morales, 2023). On the other
hand, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque emphasized Filipinos' resilience: 45.5 percent, or 27.3
million Filipino adults, are currently unemployed. "I'm still amazed at our resiliency; 45 percent of our
workforce is still unemployed." "It might have been worse because we were on complete lockdown," he
explained. Romanticizing resilience produces toxic positivity, which is a one-way ticket out of ineptitude.
Rather than accepting what we see, consider what could be improved.
According to Galang (2020), given that resiliency normalizes suffering and dismisses the
hardships of others, it also leaves no responsibility for the officials to do better. With the release of the
latest SWS survey,
Even before, during the Typhoon Yolanda that affected more than 13 million people in 44
provinces and more than a million houses were damaged with a total mortality rate of 6,352 people as
stated by the NDRRMC in 2012 also experienced shortage of relief funds. "Items totaling P54,180,412
were instead received by the Office of Civil Defense, while persons whose offices/agencies could not be
identified received a total of P108,609,640," the audit report stated.
According to the Mental Toughness Partners (2017), it is possible to imagine instances in which
people are overly resilient for their own sake. This icludes people who are resilient could persist too long
with unattainable goals.Most people invest a lot of time and energy pursuing unattainable goals, even
when their experience indicates that the goals are unrealistic and likely unreachable. This is referred to
as the "false hope syndrome." The same article states that too much resiliency could make people overly
tolerant of adversity and too much resiliency can limit leadership effectiveness. Even former Senator
Leila de Lima said that a nation’s grief should not be manipulated.
The use and promotion of the resilience concept in policy making and funding regimes
concerned with development and sustainability transitions, where issues of power, conflict, and agency
are often regarded as key, is at best, unnecessary. If oppressive power or denial of agency cannot be
questioned, it is doubtful that they can be comprehended, let alone transformed.
We must address "the politics of resilience" for these reasons, as well as the fact that resilience
seems conservative when applied to social change and social interactions. This can be accomplished by
asking precise questions about resilience "of what" and resilience "for whom,". Someone's resilience
could be another person's vulnerability. This is especially problematic in the context of poverty, where
resilience has serious limitations: it is not a pro-poor concept; there is no automatic connection between
resilience building and poverty reduction; efforts to reduce poverty cannot simply be replaced by
building resilience, which offers no direct path out of poverty; and, finally, an emphasis on system-level
resilience may work against the interests of poor people
According to Lssibot (2020), During the typhoon Ulysses an urgent appeals for assistance came
in online, local governments requested rescue boats, and photographs of drowned houses went viral on
social media, Typhoon Ulysses exposed flaws in the government's disaster response. In response,
Filipinos channeled their bayanihan spirit to organize online and assist people harmed by the typhoon.
Netizens, however, refuse to romanticize this common act of perseverance. For them, the moment has
come for Filipinos to demand national government leadership and improved, coordinated disaster
response. Netizens underlined that the tenacity of the Filipino people should not be lauded. Instead, the
public demands responsibility from those in authority in order to build a better system to decrease the
devastation that the Philippines suffers during disasters.
The West Visayas State University publication also called out the government through a wake up
call saying Through the years, Filipino’s resiliency has become over-exploited and romanticized by many
and has been taken advantage of the people in power. Resiliency should not be a reminder that “there is
more to life than suffering,”.
Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro also appealed to the private sector on Thursday morning to
lend and contribute rubber boats for rescue operations. He said that the Marikina municipal
government cannot handle the rescue on its own. Donor weariness was also mentioned, which is a
situation in which the government largely relies on private entities to assist victims and fill gaps of the
government’s lapses. (Libot, 2020).
Care should be taken in catastrophe management, particularly during the recovery
period, to avoid replicating the tragedy of the same circumstances of exposure and susceptibility that
caused the calamity in the first place. Yet, recuperation is merely one of several stages in which action
might be taken. Preparation entails effectively anticipating the consequences of a hazard before it
occurs. Being prepared is essential the mix of governments', organizations', communities', and people'
knowledge and capacities. 25 Individuals and communities are on the front lines of conflict disasters,
and how successfully they implement disaster relief knowledge and readiness activities, in conjunction
with government assistance, have considerably increased influences a disaster's outcome (Alcayna et al).
Instead of focusing on the Filipino’s resiliency, the government must try to also improve disaster
resilience. Emergency management planning should be risk-based and linked with government and
community strategic planning. It should take into account hazards and risk remedies in the social, built,
economic, and natural settings. It is past time for the government to develop actual policies to
assistance in prevention and mitigation and climate action. Resilience should not be defined solely by
the acts taken following the disaster. It should not only be defined by 'how well you recover from a
disaster.' It should be a design that requires years of constructive preparedness, engineering, and
proactive action to be able to fully adapt and mitigate the hazards and disasters brought about by
typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural disasters (Laborte, 2022). Disasters are inevitable, but the
quality of preparedness and response can mean the difference between life and death, or recovery and
loss. The weight of resilience must be shared by government and citizens, and sustainable development
can only be achieved through collaborative efforts (Molina, 2022).
Getting acclimated to the thought of romanticizing Filipino resiliency only permits mediocre
people to rise to positions of prominence. “Bayanihan” is an optimist move of the Filipinos. However,
our team firmly believes that the Filipino people deserve better.
