The Killer Quake in Baguio City July 16, 1990 got everyone on their knees praying to God for salvation. Deaths were everywhere. There was darkness all around. It revealed how dark our “souls” have become, and how our thinking retrogressed into the animalistic level. It showed us that our progress in the material plane have had a converse effect on our morals or in our sense of propriety.
Take the cement structures that were standing then around the city. The old ones which appeared top heavy and would at first glance cause some concern as to their ability to withstand strong earthquakes. But what happened was the opposite. It was the new buildings that crumbled while the old ones remained standing, safe and sound.
The old buildings were put up when people around still had traditional values—those we learned in kindergarten like honesty, do not steal, respect, industry, etc. Thus, when a contractor was hired to put up a building, he did it with due regard to safety and engineering basics. He did not cheat the owner by installing undersized steel bars, and he poured the right cement mixture. He did not cause the delivery of a huge chunk of the construction materials to his private yard instead of the construction site and reduced by about 40% the amount of steel and cement for the building he was contracted to build. In short, he did not swindle almost half of the budget for the building that would have resulted in an edifice weaker by one-half of what was standard.
So we actually progressed in reverse. We forgot all that we learned in kindergarten. We have become a society of cheats.
A reminder for us to redeem ourselves from this dastardly situation are the natural occurrences being foisted on us by Nature. Just last Thursday, a relatively strong earthquake happened in Leyte. We in Baguio should take stock of ourselves and learn from it. That we should not forget the deaths and darkness of July 16, 1990.**