Lessons from Ondoy and Pepeng typhoons

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March Fianza

Biblical accounts in the Book of Genesis 6-9 relates how God sent a great flood to “destroy the earth because of man's wickedness and because the earth is corrupt.” God tells Noah, a righteous man in his generation, to build a big boat to save his family and a pair of each of the world's animals.

Last week I heard a friend who used to work in government in Manila say “what disaster preparedness are we talking about!” This urged me to ask: are we prepared for disasters? The way the guy explained his view convinced me that we were not really prepared for the floods in Manila that many thought would not happen.

My friend who understandably does not want to be named here said, politicians or the concerned agencies in Manila already knew which barangays could be hit in cases of severe flooding. But despite being familiar about that, they also knew that it would take real floods to force them to act accordingly.

Squatting and the tolerant attitude of authorities and politicians that allowed the construction of houses where they should not have been in the first place, have turned out to be situations that can not be hurdled – like wild animals out of control.

After transferring from the schools to bigger evacuation centers, government is now faced with the problem of providing housing for the evacuees since they may no longer be allowed to go back to where they came from, especially those who were tolerated by the government to build under the flyovers, bridges, beside subdivision walls, by the rivers and creeks. As of the latest count, there are 14 evacuation centers with roughly 1,800 families.

Whose faults are these? True, we can not go on pointing fingers at each other but we will not see an end to such man-made problems if we do not dig into the things that caused them. Typhoons and other natural calamities can not be controlled but peoples’ activities can, and floods can be avoided.

On the contrary, politicians and the powers that be are quick in approving the release of calamity funds for relief goods and rescue operations for pogi points but have the nerve to dilly-dally or even prevent the release of funds for much-needed flood control and environmental projects, especially if the requests come from non-party mates.

Residents in the flooded areas said the waters rose so fast. When that happened they became aware that their communities needed better flood control and drainage systems. Why is there none? Has the concerned agencies used up the money to pay TV commercials and print ads that project the head of the department as a candidate for senator in 2010 in the minds of voters?

I used to wonder how people who live in the esteros, under the flyovers and bridges, dark alleys, open sidewalks, shanties attached to the back walls of subdivisions, abandoned buses and container vans survive. My friend gave me a clearer picture when he said most of these people are self-employed and are part of the underground economy that contributes a few millions to the metropolitan’s daily income.

He said many heads of families from this sector are taxi and jeepney drivers while some are security guards. Their wives work as cleaners and labanderas, teenaged children are carwash boys, mobile cigarette and punas vendors, or sell fishball and barbecue while the younger kids sell Sampaguita leis.

They are the same people that opposing groups hire when fighting for causes for or against government policies. They are the same people that politicians hire during election campaigns and they are the same people who vote for the trapo candidates who, in the first place, tolerated them to occupy their so called dwellings. They perform a big role in the big economy of Metro Manila – the bigger reason why they are tolerated by our economists. And so, they were counted as evacuees when the floods destroyed their homes.

On the other hand, there are evacuees who lived in more decent homes of their own but these were built along the creeks and riversides. Their houses were washed away or heavily damaged, no longer livable and were recently recommended for demolition. Their houses were built with permission. They too are now called evacuees and are staying with their less fortunate counterparts from the esteros and flyovers.

Typhoon Pepeng, which battered Northern Luzon has already caused more than P500M damages to the agriculture sector, which is incomparable to Typhoon Ondoy’s P6.354B total worth of damages in the same sector.

On public works, the DPWH estimated that Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng destroyed roads and bridges in Ilocos Region, Cagayan, Cordillera, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Bicol Region worth more than P600M.

It is public knowledge that the country is visited by around 20 typhoons every year and yet national government agencies are not prepared to fight national calamities. It has been observed that government scampers around for assistance from the private sector, the UN and Red Cross in terms of rescue and relief operations everytime disasters caused by calamities occur.

Where are the calamity funds? In its disbursement alone, it needs Malacanang to announce that the country is in a state of emergency so that the calamity funds in the LGUs could be used. What about the LGUs that have not been affected so much by the typhoons? Surely, they will look for justifications to utilize their calamity funds.

The recent brouhaha in PGMA’s visit to the US revealed public officials spending so much for travel, accommodations and food. But we do not have the money to purchase rescue equipment, and we have to fight for the release of flood control funds.

Corruption is found in all levels from the national government down to the barangay. If only the money lost to the personal pockets of our leaders were instead spent on flood control systems; cities are decongested by not allowing people to squat along esteros, under flyovers and bridges, and houses are not permitted to be built beside rivers and creeks; maybe not so many Filipinos are suffering in the evacuation centers today. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com