Like the Christmas season, Undas also manifests the importance of kinship among Filipinos. Usually people working from the Metro travel back to their “probinsyas” to reunite with their families. This year, around 41,600 cops were deployed nationwide by the Philippine National Police (PNP) to ensure peace and order specifically within the vicinity of cemeteries, terminals, major roads and vital installations. This signifies how important the occasion is.

Our observance of the Undas is also a time where we delve into the mysterious rhythm of the night and be consumed with “Mga kwentong kababalaghan or Ghost stories”. Local television networks air programs making use of the holiday hype leaving people entertained or deliciously terrified on ghosts.

The Kapre, Tikbalang, Duwende, Engkantos and the White Lady are just some of our “Aswangs” that enriched our beliefs in the anonymity of the dead. These creatures of the dark are also portrayed in a similar manner in the Halloween traditions of western Christian countries where children wear costumes of witches and warlocks and do the rounds “tricking or threating”. My own grandchildren however wear lively costumes of “Fire Chief” (Max, 31 months), “Penguin” (Javier, 10 months) and “Little Angel” (Allegra 5, months).

But the dictates of Hollywood has prevailed over our tastes in movies and TV fares and the carnival of the macabre has only gone up in popularity over the years – either as remakes or serialized versions: “Halloween Night”;“The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre”; “A Nightmare on Elm Street”; “Night of The Living Dead”; and all sorts of zombies and the walking dead.

But we too have our own “nightmares” more deadly than those portrayed on the screens and the proliferation of the “almost living-dead” – courtesy of our system of governance.

Last year, days after the Undas, the World mourned with us when the strongest typhoon ever recorded in history hit the Philippines. Locally named as Yolanda (International Codename: Haiyan), this monstrous storm and water surge killed at least 6000 people and left about 1000 more missing on November 8, 2013.

The devastation was unfathomable. Lives were not only lost but we have our dead left by the roadsides and seashores untended for days. Homes, livelihood, infrastructures were destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of survivors were displaced and hope deemed gone.

As depicted in both local and foreign news reports at that time, the lack of preparedness and attention given by our local and national government contributed to the severity of the outcomes.

The immediate aftermath of the disaster brought the world’s sympathy and presented another face of the resiliency of the Filipino victims themselves –heroic efforts, not matched by government functionaries. This precipitated local and foreign aid to pour in.

Now, a year has passed yet the conditions in these areas remained inexcusable. News reports on Government inefficiency on rehabilitation are now exacerbated by corruption.

As IBON Foundation states:

“Millions of victims who were already in very poor and vulnerable conditions even before typhoon Yolanda continue to endure barely survival conditions."

"Approaching typhoon Yolanda’s first anniversary, real community development escapes them and they face a future of being put in a ‘new normal’ of an even lower level of existence than they had before.”

Another more appalling and nightmarish news has emerged. An article published from the Sun Star News Website confirmed that:

“Eight hundred thousand survivors of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international codename: Haiyan) are estimated to have suffered from various levels of mental health problems since November 8, 2013.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) official explained that “health problems found in Yolanda-hit areas are hallucinations, excessive anxieties, strong feelings of anger, social withdrawal, changes in eating or sleeping habits, substance abuse, excessive complaints of physical ailments, frequent outbursts of anger, hyperactivity, persistent nightmares, and frequent temper tantrums.”

Moreover, Julie Hall of WHO reiterates that: “We are wary that many survivors would either revive or newly experience depression and other mental health problems with the forthcoming commemoration of All Souls' Day.”

"A lot of grief and depression may come back with the commemoration of the Day of the Dead. More people will probably be in need of mental health support.”

We have in a manner of speaking created a class of the “almost living –dead”