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“BE
careful what you pray for, you just may get it.”
After
three typhoons hit the country in a little more than a
week, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Manila archbishop,
lifted the Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam, or the
prayer for rain he issued last month.
In a
circular dated August 15, Rosales directed all parish
priests, rectors, chaplains and school directors in the
Archdiocese of Manila to lift the prayer for rain as the
weather bureau announced the end of the dry spell.
“The
rains have come and the weather bureau has pronounced
the end to the dry spell. We thank God for this
blessing, a sign of His providence and love for us,”
Rosales said.
The
cardinal on July 31 directed all priests in Metro Manila
to recite the prayer for rain every Mass starting August
3.
“Our
relief will come from nature. And so we implore the
Master of all creation, God, our Father, at whose
command the winds and the seas obey, to send us rain,”
the Cardinal said during that time.
Heavy
rains in Metro Manila caused the flooding of large areas
as well as the suspension of classes in the metropolis
and nearby provinces.
The
Oratio Imperata Ad Petendam Pluviam is a five-paragraph
prayer both in English and Filipino, and was recited
together with the regular prayers during Mass.
In
lifting the oratio, Rosales urged the faithful to
continue to pray not for the coming rainy season but for
people’s enlightenment to care for and protect the
environment.
“The
floods and landslides are not all the result of too much
rain, most of these come because of the denudation of
our forests, the silting of the rivers, the clogging of
esteros and waterways with nonbiodegradable waste, and
other harmful practices,” he said.
The
cardinal called on Filipinos to repent for destroying
the environment and to change their “destructive
actions” toward nature.
“We
cannot continue to test God’s mercy and kindness with
our destructive actions toward nature and the
environment He has provided us [with] our habitat, our
home. In this time of gratitude for the rains, let us
acknowledge our offenses against our beautiful land and
habitat. Let us be truly sorry for them and promise not
to commit them again,” he added.
In the
past few days, the country has seen the destructive
effects of typhoons Chedeng, Dodong and Egay that
rendered many areas flooded, caused landslides and
destroyed crops while failing to fully address Metro
Manila’s water-supply crisis.
Alarmed
by the massive economic productivity losses and human
dislocation owing to repeated flooding in Metro Manila,
Sen. Gregorio Honasan has filed a bill seeking to
install a totally new and reinforced national disaster
risk-management plan.
“Whatever disaster-readiness plan we have now is
definitely flawed and grossly inadequate, judging from
the ill-preparedness of local governments and
communities in coping with this week’s crippling
downpour,” Honasan said.
“We
cannot allow the national capital or other parts of the
country to be forever held hostage by the forces of
nature,” the senator said.
Honasan
filed Senate Bill 1444, or the proposed Comprehensive
Disaster Risk Management Act, “to address both
predisaster vulnerabilities and post-emergency
recovery.”
Under
the bill, the nation’s highly centralized disaster
management system, currently grounded in the Office of
Civil Defense, would be effectively decentralized down
to the community or barangay level. |
