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What We Can Learn From Typhoon Ondoy
In these times when even small acts of compassion are needed, let
us help in any way we can the victims of this recent calamity. If you
have not been affected, share what you have, volunteer your services in
the relief efforts, mobilize your community and organizations in the
relief efforts for the affected urban poor communities whose entire
homes and belongings have been swept away.
Now for a second look at what happened. Many Metro Manila residents
of communities and villages whose homes were deluged in the floodwaters
had to go to their rooftops, texting and calling the police and the
authorities, and radio stations and television asking for help. They
were sending distress signals even through public television and radio
stations. Water was fast rising and many had to retreat to the second
floors of their houses (if they had any), or on their rooftops. No help
came from the authorities, and citizens and neighbors had to fend for
themselves. Government did not exist except on radio and television.
Citizens could only help one another with their own resources. A
resident of Provident Village in Marikina exhausted her celfone load
with text messages calling for police assistance while dripping wet and
shivering on a rooftop, but nobody came. She was eventually rescued by a
neighbor. Countless citizens of MetroManila and the rest of the country
experienced this last Sept. 26, 2009.
The National Disaster Coordinating Center (NDCC) is useless. It
claimed at the height of the Ondoy floodwaters that it only had 13
rubber boats available. The Navy only two amphibian vehicles to go to
the rescue. The Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro who is
supposed to be pointperson was clearly caught unprepared by events - he
did not know what to do. He should have resigned as Secretary of
National Defense the day that he announced weeks ago that he was running
for President under the the Arroyo administration's party. And Arroyo
should have immediately appointed a new defense secretary who can focus
on his work as defense secretary and disaster management pointperson,
instead of campaigning as administration party candidate.
The national government is supposed to have at least P 2 billion
pesos for calamity funds available. Why did they not have enough rubber
boats and amphibians to use for calamities like these. And, is it true
that P 800 million pesos of the P 2 billion calamity funds which are
itemized as "contingency funds" of the Office of the President were
reallocated for Presidential trips overseas? We are just asking.
What was the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo talking about
during her July 27, 2009 State of the Nation Address last July
27, 2009 when she proudly announced to wit :
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"
Fifth, international authorities have taken notice
that we are safer
from
environmental degradation and man-made disasters.
(applause)
As a
country in the path of typhoons and in the Pacific
Rim of Fire, we must
be
prepared as the latest technology permits to
anticipate natural calamities
when
that is possible; to extend immediate and effective
relief when it is not;
the
mapping of flood-and-landslide -prone areas is
almost complete.
Early
warning, forecasting and monitoring systems have
been improved, with
weather-tracking facilities in Subic, Tagaytay,
Mactan, Mindanao, Pampanga.
We
have worked on flood control infrastructure like
those for Pinatubo, Agno,
Laoag,
and Abucay, which will pump the run off waters from
Quezon City and
Tondo
flooding Sampaloc. This will help relieve hundreds
of hectares in this
old
city of its age-old woe. (applause)
Patuloy naman yung sa CAMANAVA, dagdag sa Pinatubo,
Iloilo, Pasig-
Marikina, Bicol River Basin, at saka river basin ng
Mindanao. (applause) "
We are not pointing fingers nor do we want to blame
anyone for a natural disaster. But the authorities
whom we have entrusted with taxpayers' money and the
vast resources of government are expected to do
their part, and anticipate disasters (natural or
manmade) like these. Many distressed citizens cursed
their government for not moving to assist them last
Sept. 26 and 27, 2009. As Philippine Daily
Inquirer columnist Ramon Tulfo wrote: " If only
curses could kill".
Since the country is geographically typhoon and
disaster-prone because we are also in an earthquake
belt, may we suggest the following:
1. An entire Department of Calamities &
Disaster Management should be organized with
priority given to disaster-prone areas of the
country. The so-called contingency fund normally
allocated under the Office of the President should
be managed by this new department which should have
meteorological scientists, climate change experts,
etc. The PAG-ASA and Philippine Volcanology Service
can be placed under this new Department.
2. Schools and universities can integrate in
their curricula modules on disaster preparedness and
management. Communities and neighborhood
associations should be given similar orientation and
seminars as part of their preparedness for
calamities.
3. Instead of involving them in
counter-insurgency operations for which they are
useless since they are most vulnerable to "agaw
armas (disarming)operations " of rebels, the
Citizens Armed Auxiliaries and the Citizens Armed
Forces Geographical Units should be directed solely
at disaster and calamity response in all
communities. Anyway, paramilitary units and private
armies are supposed to be prohibited by the
constitution. Of course, they should be disarmed,
and only equipped with rubber boats, and other
disaster management equipment critically required
for such operations.
3. The entire Armed Forces of the
Philippines(AFP), the Philippine National
Police(PNP) and all law-enforcement agencies should
be fully oriented and equipped for calamity and
disaster management operations. Many units of the
AFP and PNP didn't know what to do last Feb. 26,
2009 because in the first place, they did not have
the equipment and facilities to move to the sites of
the calamity. It was too late, or the citizens just
had to fend for themselves.
We hope that all these observations and
recommendations will not again be taken lightly by
those whom we have entrusted with the vast resources
of authority. Power and authority is entrusted for
the public good, not for private / or personal gain.
We do not know who said or wrote that, but we think
that is the reason why governments exist.
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* Article by Roland G Simbulan - For a full
professional background of Professor Roland G. Simbulan (Click
Here)
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