07/11/2025
An Open Letter: Is Negros Being Forgotten?
By Yzi Oquindo
To everyone who listens when others cry for help, we hope you can hear us too.
Negros is hurting.
As Typhoon Tino passed, our island was struck hard. Winds tore through our towns, rivers swelled, and communities were left in ruins. Families huddled in darkness, unsure of where to go next. While others receive help and headlines, Negros is left waiting, unseen, unheard, overshadowed.
Cebu has rightfully received attention for its suffering. Its stories shared, its struggles seen. But here in Negros, we are living through the same pain, only quieter. No headlines. No trending posts. No cameras capturing the faces of those who lost everything. Just silence.
And that silence is heavier than the storm itself.
We’ve always been among the first to rise when others fall. We organize donation drives, gather supplies, and send help even when we have little ourselves. But now, as we find our own homes destroyed and our people displaced, it feels like we’ve been forgotten, like the helper has become invisible when it’s their turn to need help.
What happens when the island that always helps is the one that needs saving?
What happens when the hands that once gave are now reaching out, and no one takes them?
This letter isn’t written in anger, it’s written in hope. Hope that those who have known the kindness of Negrenses will remember us now. Hope that the media will tell our story too. Hope that our voices will travel beyond the silence that surrounds us.
Negros is not asking for pity. We are asking to be seen.
Because we are also suffering. We are also struggling. We are also human.
Let this be a reminder that empathy knows no borders, not between provinces, not between islands. In times like this, may compassion extend across the sea, reaching everyone who needs it.
Negros has always been there for others.
Now, we humbly ask, please, be here for Negros too.
— From the heart of Negros
A plea to remember us.
