Tacloban City Councilor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez (Photo by Jojo P. Panaligan)
Tacloban City Councilor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez refuses to dwell on why fate dealt her city and the rest of the Visayas a terrible blow in the hands of super typhoon “Yolanda.”
Though devastated that thousands are dead and properties are completely ruined, she holds on to her faith, believing that everything has a “reason.”
What’s important now, she added, is to rebuild lives as quickly as possible through the spirit of bayanihan.
The public servant admits that seeing and hearing how people from all the world are coming together to help the Visayas drive her to tears.
“Kasi grabe, it’s so heartwarming, the love – it’s the love eh. Hindi lang naman awa yun, diba? It’s the love, the sharing, the Filipino custom na bayanihan,” she said in an interview attended by Bulletin Entertainment.
Cristina brushes off criticisms that officials in the affected areas, including herself and her husband, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez, were not prepared for the calamity, and that they could not be found after the super typhoon left.
“Kami ni Mayor, we went around and showed people na walang iwanan. Wala namang camera dun…
“They were saying na si Mayor nawawala, ako nawawala. Siyempre, alangan namang nandun ka na, naano ka na, magpapacamera ka pa dun, di ba? There was a media shut down. No radio, no TV, no cellphone. None!
“Alam ng mga tao dun, when you go there, that we were walking with them. Sama-sama kami. We were walking with them, together with them…we were all victims. Everybody was down.”
Indeed, their home was wrecked as with everyone else’s in the city. At the height of the storm, she recalled her children asking her of they were still going to live. They, too, saw the dead bodies when the water receded. Like everyone else in Tacloban, they sustained injuries and went for days without food and shelter.
Cristina knows the city is going to start from scratch and while it will take a long time to get back on its feet, the councilor is striving to keep calm and try to look at things in a positive way.
“Maybe there will be a better city – that’s really what I want to think about. Because it’s going to be the start of something fresh and new. Yung mga old buildings, bago na iyan. Siyempre kasi build all new eh. So it will be better this time,” she said though a bit misty eyed.
But of course, they are coupling faith with action. Cristina reported that they are focusing on the delivery of the basics such as food, water and medicine. This will be followed by establishing shelters, livelihood and rebuilding infrastructure. By the time this is published, the councilor would have returned to Tacloban.
What lessons did she learn from the terrible calamity? Cristina cited faith in God and to not “put value in your possessions because ang importante, yung buhay talaga, yung buhay ng tao.”
In the end, Cristina said: “I see that there still paglaom. Paglaom is a waray word. It means hope. I still see that there still hope, with all these people helping.”
Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez clings to hope,prays for a ‘better’ Tacloban City in time
Source: Mb.com.ph (November 14, 2013 at 09:48AM)
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