The country has not even recovered from the damages wrought by past typhoons but now, it is besieged with yet another – Typhoon Paeng. As in the past, the nation has no semblance of any decent defense nor preparation against storms. Hundreds of millions of properties are destroyed and lost. Because Bikol is one of the most badly hit, it was declared to be under a state of calamity for six months. But Bikol has long been in a state of calamity. It has long been suffering from the incessant ravages of oppressive laws and state fascism that bore unimaginable damage and distress to the Bikolano masses.

Under Marcos Jr., the reactionary state’s disinterest in the nation’s welfare has become even more flagrant. While people died and their livelihood destroyed, the dictator’s son sits comfortably in his throne. Aside from feigned dole-outs of relief goods and surveys of the typhoon’s damages, Marcos Jr. have not done anything else. He did not provide adequate agricultural support aside from more loans and loan extensions. He did not push for any law that could have immediately ceased environmentally destructive activities such as rampant mining and logging. He does not have any clear step to ensure just compensation for all destroyed properties and sufficient aids for the recovery of communities.

The daily damages that this rotten semicolonial and semifeudal society that Marcos Jr. represents are far more harrowing than any typhoon. The poor masses are being buried even further in slave-like conditions. The nation is divested of their democratic interests and civil rights. Marcos Jr.’s regime turns a deaf ear towards the masses legitimate calls and demands.

In the end, putting Bikol and other parts of the country under a six-month state of calamity is not enough to undo several decades worth of damages incurred from the existence of this system that has unceasingly raged against the masses and their livelihoods. Only through the victory of the people’s democratic revolution can genuine national recovery from the deep wounds of semicolonialism and semifeudalism truly begin.