On Filipino resiliency

In the image below, you will see how a mayor in the Philippines described the ongoing crisis back home, a lazy and deeply appalling take. The Philippines is on its 16th typhoon this year, six of which were just this month. The author even quoted the US National Academy of Public Administration for its mention of “resilient communities.” It felt like he skimmed a research paper, hit CTRL+F, typed “resiliency” and called it a day. Lazily cherry-picking scientific studies is NOT research.

Yes, Filipinos are resilient. That’s true. And the media loves to showcase this by featuring images and videos of Filipinos smiling and singing amid floods and destruction. It’s even become a hallmark of our tourism branding. Foreigners have jumped on this bandwagon, making videos that highlight how Filipinos face calamities with cheerful determination.

But smiling through adversity does not rebuild home nor does it bring back people from the dead. Resiliency does not solve the systematic issues at play, particularly the lack of disaster preparedness and climate inaction. What it does is whitewash the sufferings of working class Filipinos, who are at most disadvantaged during catastrophes, and make them palatable to the ears.

The glorification of resilience creates a dangerous narrative that the we, as a nation, can endure anything. It washes the hands of the government under the notion of 'oh, at least you're alive and happy.'

Climate justice isn’t about applauding survival. Climate justice is about tackling the root causes of suffering and ensuring no one has to rely on resilience just to make it through.