A Little Appreciation Will do

In commemoration of a tragedy 7 years prior on February 7, 2014, marked a history that happened yet an incredible story of how my fellow men act as one in that moment of despondency and misfortune.

I am proud that my hometown is one of the most hospitable barangay in Bontoc, the capital town of Mountain Province.

Even though we receive discriminations from others. Most noticeably awful, they are our kindred Filipino, we keep on shouting out to the world that we exist as legitimate individuals and are turning out to be more renowned the more pessimistic individuals perceive.

Discrimination is everywhere.Though we get used to it and we tried our best to keep on correcting the wrong information circulating around social media about us, there are still others that don't know our kind.

One best quality of us Igorots that I am proud of is being a decent Samaritan. We were gathering the benefits of appreciation regarding being friendly and fast with regards to crises. We don't pick the recipients of our guide. The best model I can give was during a mishap that occurred in our general vicinity. I recalled the most stunning accident happened 7 years ago. This episode offered different thoughts from netizens. I was hurt by the negative remarks towards us as I read it in social media. Concerning now, the posts have been removed. Possibly they were struck by the reaction the Igorots shots back at them. 😅

Here's my story.
On the morning of February 7, 2014. I was occupied with my home errands when I heard a siren someplace yet I can't sort out which part of our neighbourhood it came from. My heart skipped a bit and beats faster as though it realizes that there's something wrong.  It began during my younger brothers demise on a vehicular mishap and at whatever point I heard alarms, it startled me and my heart automatically skipped.

Our town is encircled with national roads going to various bearings and territories and our place is located lower than the level of the roads, so now and again I raised my head to recognize where the sound came from. I proceeded with my tasks however later the alarm turned out to be sequential. I can't focus on the thing I was doing so I left my chores and headed outside and ask our neighbours what's the alarm all about, however, they are all pretty much as clueless as I am. We don't know what's going on. A couple of moments later, news spread in our whole town that a mishap happened close to our place. A transport named GV Florida who heads out from Manila to Bontoc fell into a slope after losing its brake according to the informer. The transport has approximately 40 passengers and 14 tragically, didn't endure and was dead on the spot. r incorporates kids, craftsman, a famous comedian in our country ,foreigners and other different personalities that dwell outside our area. May they rest in peace.

At that time of wretchedness, one may begin crying uncontrollably in the wake of seeing the terrible circumstance the casualties went through. Dead bodies all over, body portions of dead casualties dispersed in the dry paddy field. You can hear wailings of the survivors, others in distress brought about by the wounds, shock while others were brought about by losing their love ones. The top of the bus was nowhere and the destroyed transport doesn't resemble a vehicle any longer.

All walks of life in our town rushed to the area and expecting to save whatever number lives as could reasonably be expected at that point. One of my cousins revealed to me his experience while conveying the cadaver and the survivors that it's difficult to carry out the bodies since they were affected by the horrible sight. He said they were accustomed to conveying weighty burdens before in their work. However, that second appears to be an unfathomable length of time. The bodies appear to be heavier than the typical weight. Who might not be influenced by the disastrous scene? This is certifiably not a typical circumstance in our general vicinity. We have mishaps however not this grievous.

Mothers from our town embraced the poor orphaned children. It doesn't make any difference if they have drenched with blood yet the warm sympathy that runs in a moms heart streams automatically feeling their despondency towards the little ones. We felt pity for the plight the children have to suffer in one blink of an eye. They lost their parents unexpectedly and thinking who would be going to watch over them created a tight grip in our mother's hearts.

In our nearby General Hospital which the survivors were brought, residents from different sectors and different institutions came and gave anything they can provide for the victims. From nourishments, towels, covers, garments and different things they think is significant including comforts and prayers.

With these modest actions, what do you think?  Do you think, if we happened to come upon an accident in your neighbourhood, would your people think and act the same? Would it be more thrilling to be there and take pictures and share on social media and gain viewers and followers? Would it be exciting to ransack the stuff of the casualties, anyway, they are dead and the survivors won't notice because they were occupied with their agonies? The police aren't there yet. There are gadgets, money and valuable stuff that could be looted from the baggage dissipated everywhere. Oh, how exciting it would be!
I am not generalizing but I hope we think the same.

It happened to us when a jeepney with our brothers and sisters as passenger met a vehicular accident outside our area. The accompanying jeepney with our other brothers following came to the rescue. But what's most heartbreaking was, the occupants in that specific region were more occupied with prowling in our brother's belongings than aiding the doomed one's. 😥

We were blamed for the Florida bus accident as if we pulled that bus down especially when famous comedian "Tado" was included to the perished one. We were insulted. We even receive comments saying, it's a good thing we didn't eat the bodies!😏. Some said we took some valuable belongings from the passengers. Our efforts we're disregarded. Yet, we simply think emphatically and stick on to positive remarks as reassurance. We have in our psyche that helping is our goal, no matter what race you came from.

I would like to share one important point I want to to tell you. Here in our place, being an Igorot, we stand as one. We help as one, blood or not. We extend our hands to others even they are not one of our tribesmen. And one more thing, being an Igorot, it was marked in our culture that plundering from someones belonging especially from vehicular mishaps and burning house or any establishments is unlawful to our culture. We call it "paniyew" meaning not good. Misfortune will come along to anyone who will do the actions like "karma". Believe it or not, it does happen. Whatever impressions you have in mind, the conclusion is, we have deep respect to individuals who met tragedies.

"We do live in the mountains however we act and live as human beings not zombies We are not just active in Facebook if she is too uninformed to even consider knowing Facebook is the only social media we are present."

Though we receive discriminations from other people. Worst, they are our fellow Filipino, we continue to shout out to the world that we are civilized people. We are even more civilized than those who seem to view themselves as great as Alexander the Great. We are even more beautiful from the inside than those who claimed to be beautiful like goddesses. And we have a genuine heart that is willing to extend our hands in any circumstances we are needed. All we need is recognition, not insults. ❤️

Photos credit to CordilleraSun.com and Facebook.

#Long Live Igorots!

>Xzeon<