Villagers condemn execs for politicking after Kayan disaster

By Dexter A. See

TADIAN, Mountain Province – The grieving community of a village here heavily devastated by Typhoon Pepeng strongly condemned harassment and politicking committed by some provincial officials and their supporters during the conduct of search, rescue and retrieval operations as well as the burial and cleansing rites for the victims.

While expressing the heartfelt gratitude of the people of Kayan to all those who extended their support to them during the difficult times, some community leaders denounced the blatant politicking acts displayed by some provincial officials and their supporters who went to the place in the guise of giving assistance from the government but cursed instead some houses of people who were not included in the tragic accident.

At least 35 people died and four others were injured when an avalanche of mudslide buried 18 houses below the road evening of Oct. 8, considered the height of the third landfall of Typhoon Pepeng in Northern Luzon.

Since all the indigenous rituals remembering the departed ones were completed, representatives of the villagers said it is high time for them to also air their observations on the behavior of politicians and their supporters who went to purportedly give their assistance to the calamity-stricken victims.

According to some residents, an elderly consultant of the provincial government who went to visit the place, together with her boss, even went to curse the houses located above the road which were not included in the landslide, during the height of the rescue operations which is considered by them as unethical and against the culture of indigenous people.

Moreover, it was reported that during the conduct of the peg-as and daw-es, two cleansing rites to be performed after the burial rites for the victims, some provincial officials and their supporters demanded that relatives of the victims and barangay officials should attend a meeting which they had called for to distribute the financial assistance for the deceased and the injured.

While they recognized the effort of the provincial government to extend assistance to the victims, the villagers claimed the concerned officials and their supporters pointed out they should have the patience to wait for the rituals to be completed in the spirit of respect to the grieving people since the distribution of financial assistance could wait for a little time.

The concerned residents said the ambitious local officials and their supporters did not show compassion to the grieving community and instead tried to impose their will by sarcastically insinuating that concerned community leaders reportedly insisted on following their system in the conduct of the operation of the disaster management.

Elders in the village criticized the unprofessional, unethical and inhuman behavior of the politicians and their supporters, saying that people are now awakened to reality that the political ambitions of some officials are far more the priority over the interest and feelings of their constituents as evidenced by their unforgettable experiences during the aftermath of Typhoon Pepeng.

To camouflage their mistakes, the concerned provincial officials and their supporters are now resorting to character assassination of some members of the Kayan disaster coordinating committee which was created through the consensus of the people in order to assist barangay and municipal officials implement appropriate strategies during the hard times, local folk said.