Her name was Kristel Mae Padasas, a 27-year-old volunteer of the Catholic Relief Services. She was one of many who traveled a great distance to work for preparations for the papal Mass at the Tacloban City airport last Saturday.
It was tragic that her young life was cut short by the steel scaffolding that fell on her due to strong winds and rain caused by tropical storm Amang which also forced Pope Francis to cut short his visit to Palo town, Leyte.
Her death won’t be forgotten, at least not immediately after the pope called on the youth at the University of Sto. Tomas to observe a moment of silence and pray for the eternal repose of her soul.
It was no small coincidence that the pope gave much emphasis on the youth’s untold potential to transform society and the world into a better place to live in.
Padasas’ father, who was reported to have been distraught on hearing her death, took comfort in the fact that hers was not a “loss of life but a meaningful death.”
The words a “meaningful death” had been bandied about a lot by soldiers out to wage war on foreign territory or in one’s home soil as a form of encouragement and reminder to each other that their sacrifice won’t be in vain.
To hear it come from their generals who plan for war in the comfort of airconditioned rooms sounds hollow, a lot more so from public officials who continue to pursue war to conquer and render enemies into submission.
To be fair, Philippine society had always been confronted with war on many fronts—the war on poverty, inequality, ignorance and even violence at home, in the streets and the countryside.
Volunteers like Padasas are just one of many who seek resolution of such conflict through assistance and community building and these are the volunteers that society sorely needs if they hope to overcome the social and economic ills that continue to plague them for so many years.
In Cebu, we have church organizations like Dilaab Foundation and C-Cimple that conduct voter information and value formation session months before the election to prepare the electorate in making informed choices of the leaders they would elect to office.
There are other youth volunteers who participate in protecting the environment and in caring for children abandoned by their parents or exploited through trafficking.
Padasas, in fact, was like one of the many student volunteers who use their spare time to help repack relief goods at the broken down Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) to be given to the families displaced by typhoon Seniang, Yolanda and Ruby.
Like Pope Francis, may we not only acknowledge but honor youths like Padasas who volunteer for causes to improve other people’s lives and make the world a better place to live in.