Too Small for a National Alms - Manny Pacquiao in 5 Peso bill.

There goes our your hero, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao donated P3M to the victims of the typhoon Frank.

At first i thought it was a bad joke, or maybe, somebody forgot to type zero after the number three in his news report, but i was wrong.

So much for the good will crap, this is the real news in my opinion. Our pambansang Kamao supposedly got $5M or P225M from his fight against David Diaz, and he proudly gives P3M to the pitiful and unfortunate victims of Frank.  Want some math? P3M is just 1.3% of P225M. And what’s P3M compared to P255M? I’d say trash!

Frank devastated a large part of the nation. According to a GMA News report, the typhoon left 600 dead, 792 injured and 26 still missing. The damage to agriculture and infrastructure amounted to P10.7 billion. if you still need some numbers, here’s more. Frank destroyed 84,706 houses and partially damaged 254,744 others, displacing 813,374 families or 4.1 million individuals.

P3M is just disappointing. That’s just too small for a national alms!

If I were Manny Pacquiao, I would have donated far more than that. But that’s just me, I don’t know about you guys. What will you do if you’re the supposed hero of a country that got hit by a major calamity, leaving hundreds dead and thousands homeless? How much will you give? How much is the cost of your mercy?

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has declared every third week of June as the “Typhoon and Flood Awareness Week.” This is under the power of Proclamation No. 1535.

Sorry for the harsh title. I’m just a bit uncomfortable whenever I hear a blah, blah week, or a blah blah day, or a blah, blah month. I’ve just had enough of these holidays, occassions and celebrations. I mean, we only have 365 days a year and how many days out of that number are holildays? How many weeks are connected to a celebration or another awareness program? And to make things worse, President Arroyo has this habit of “moving holidays“, turning supposedly solemn and historically important days into convenient schedules that are always moved in weekends. I don’t know what history purists think about this but as for me, I’m not buying it.

Anyway, the week is for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to do its job. I can’t believe they need a special week to do that. The President ordered them to do a massive information and education drive on typhoons, floods, drought and other forms of destructive weather phenomena during this week.

And what are they gonna do the rest of the year? Prepare for that special week? Besides, how are they going to accomplish that if it’s raining like Noah’s time, all major roads are inaccessible, electric power lines are down and classes are suspended while the rest of the country stays at home drinking some hot soup?