OBLIQUE OBSERVATIONS
By Atty. Gilberto Lauengco, J.D.
Yesterday, Filipinos in many parts of the country were treated to a rare sight of a total lunar eclipse or what many call a blood moon. Throughout history, Filipinos, especially in rural traditional communities, believed that the blood moon or red moon was a harbinger of bad events.
Today, this belief and dread of the blood moon still persists, with some elders saying that this phenomenon normally precedes disasters, wars, death, supernatural occurrences, or general bad luck. My college history teacher once told me that this fear goes back to our pre-colonial days and is deeply rooted in our oral traditions.
When I was a child, I remember an aunt once warning me never to go out during a blood moon because monsters and other evil beings could roam around during this time.
In many parts of the world this belief is shared by many cultures. Even in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome blood moons were believed to be signs of impending war, defeat, doom, death of a king, disasters, famine and violence.
During the Battle of Guagamela (331 BC), a blood red moon appeared days before Alexander the Great defeated the Persian empire and many seers on the Persian cited the blood moon as a sign that they would be defeated. Similarly, before the fall of Constantinople (1453) a blood red moon appeared over the city and the defending Byzantine army took it as a sign of impending doom, which indeed happened after a week.
There were even times when the blood moon actually affected some battles. During a battle in the Lydian Meridian war between the Lydian and Medes a total lunar eclipse caused both armies to call a truce thinking that the red moon was a sign of disapproval from the Gods.
Strangely, this time around, the coming of the blood moon has coincided with the present conflict between the U.S.-Israel coalition and Iran. As missiles rain down in the region and expand into the surrounding area, many cannot help but feel a sense of dread that the red moon can be a bad omen insofar as this conflict is concerned.
The thing is we in this country have no say in that war. Unfortunately, we are very vulnerable to the effects of the said conflict. We have been told of oil price increases in the coming days which in turn will cause increases in the price of transportation, utilities, food and other basic goods.
What is worse is that there is upwards of a million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the area who are in potential harm’s way. In fact, one OFW in Israel has already lost her life due to a missile attack. In Iran itself, there are about 1,000 Filipinos who can be directly affected by this conflict.
We have no way of knowing if this blood red moon is indeed a precursor of worse things to come. We have no way to affect the war, no matter how much we rant and rave. What we can do both as a people and a country is to find ways to ameliorate the effects of the conflict. As of the moment, there are no immediate plans for repatriation, but there are contingency plans available for this scenario already in place.
There are already potential staging areas for possible evacuations and routes that our OFWs may take. Air assets are on standby. Our naval assets are ready to do a Dunkirk plan for an evacuation by sea. When I was stationed in Taiwan, I had the opportunity to be briefed on the various contingency plans for OFW evacuations. Let us support these efforts if and when the need arises.
